COOKBOOKS GALORE

 Not been around for a while because I haven't been well. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and a belated Happy New Year! It's January, so must be Galette de Rois time again! I love these and made several of them to take to our French group's postponed Christmas get together. One of them was apple; I know I have already put 2 or so recipes for apple ones on here, but this one is so quick and easy that it's almost a must make! You need: 2 sheets of puff pastry, 125g caster sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 500g apples, peeled and sliced, 1 tspn cinnamon and 1 egg yolk.  Pr4e4heat oven to 220C/gas7                 You need a baking sheet Put the apples in a pan with the sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Simmer for 20 mins then put aside to cool. Roll out of the pastry sheets and cut a large circle [I drew around my biggest flan tin]. put this on the baking tray and spread the apple mixture on top, leaving a 3 cm edge all round. Wet this edge...

A Happy New Year! Bonne Année!  I can't let Epiphany pass without a Galette, and I think we all need something sweet to keep us going in these difficult times.  I asked my French friend for ideas for something different and she sent me this recipe. I found the ground hazelnuts in Waitrose, or you could grind your own. So you need: 2 sheets of butter puff pastry, 125g ground hazelnuts, 100g dark chocolate, 100ml single cream, 1 egg, 75g caster sugar, 50g melted butter, 1 tspn vanilla extract and 1 egg yolk Preheat oven 200C/gas6                       Baking sheet Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water. Beat the egg with the sugar till fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and mix well. Add the hazelnuts and vanilla extract and stir together. Roll out the first sheet of puff pastry and cut out a circle using a large dinner plate or something similar. Place on the baking she...

I always try and make a galette in January. You can find them in all the pastry shops and supermarkets in France, as they're made to celebrate the arrival of the Kings on January 6th. Have sadly lost all my little fèves that I collected [the little china figures that go into the galette des rois]. Whoever finds the fève is king or queen for the day and gets a crown! Decided to make it a bit different this year and added chocolate to the frangipane. It's so useful to have the puff pastry ready cut out into a circle, as in France, but a large dinner plate used to cut round to make the circle is fine. You need: 2 packs of butter puff pastry, 200g dark chocolate, 125g ground almonds, 125g caster sugar, 125g soft butter, 25g plain flour, 3 eggs and 1 yolk, and 1/2 tspn almond extract Preheat oven 200C                             A baking sheet Beat the eggs and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add the alm...

Lovely Autumnal look to the trees around here, so thought of making something with apples. I love apple cakes, but having just made 2 for a leaving lunch, thought I'd make a tart. Having yet another sort out in a cupboard, I found a bottle of Calvados with just enough left to put in my tart! Got to be a Normandy Tart with Calvados! This is yet another recipe I got from my lovely neighbour in France, and I've made it many times for friends and family. You need: 1 pack of butter puff pastry, 4 medium apples, 160g caster sugar, 50g butter, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, 2 eggs,100ml crème fraîche, 1 tbspn Calvados and some flaked almonds Preheat oven 210C/gas7                       Grease a tart tin lightly Peel and core the apples and cut into thick slices. Melt the butter in a pan and add the apples, 30g of the sugar and the cinnamon. Cook gently for a few minutes, but be careful they don't stick to the bottom and burn! Roll the ...

My lovely French friend sent me some some French cookery magazines, and this tart was in one of them. The gingerbread isn't like our Parkin, it's a 'Pain d'épices', a spice cake. There's a recipe for one here https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/10695184/Pain-depices-recipe.html I love trying out new recipes with apples, and this tart was very different from the usual apple pie. You could buy a gingerbread loaf and crumble it. 2 packs puff pastry, 6-8 apples [I used Gala], 8 slices gingerbread, 50g butter, 50g sugar, 1 egg yolk, cinnamon Preheat oven 200C/gas6          you need a tart tin Roll out with of the packs of pastry and line the tin. Prick all over with a fork. Crumble the gingerbread and sprinkle over the pastry. Peel the apples and cut into quarters. Put these onto the gingerbread. Cut the butter into pieces and put these in between the apple quarters. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and cover with the second puff pastry. Make s...

I love to make one of these traditional French galettes, but wanted to make it a bit different so added some apples. You need: 2 packs of puff pastry, 3 eating apples, 200g crème fraîche, 200g ground almonds, 100g caster sugar + 40g, 3eggs and 1 egg yolk Preheat oven 220C/gas7                 A baking tray Cut the apples up into small cubes and put into a pan with the 40g of sugar. Caramelise for about 10 mins. Add 1 tbspn of the cream and mix together. In a bowl mix together the rest of the cream and the 100g of sugar, the ground almonds and eggs. Put this in the fridge for 10 mins. Roll out the pastry sheets. Cut out 2 large circles [I used a large dinner plate]. Put one of the circles on the baking tray and cover with the apples. If you have one, put a bean or little fêve in then spoon over the almond mixture. Cover with the second circle of pastry and pres the edges together. Dilute the egg yolk with 1 tbspn water then brush ove...

This is a very quick and simple appetizer  I made for New year's Eve. I used Roquefort cheese as that's what I'd bought, but Blue Stilton, Bleu d'Auvergne etc would do just as well. You need 1 pack puff pastry, 200g blue cheese, 1 egg and some chopped nuts - I used a mixture of walnuts and hazelnuts whizzed in a blender, but not too small. Roll out the pastry; beat the egg and cheese together and spread over the pastry. Sprinkle over the chopped nuts. Roll up the 2 long sides towards the middle then cut into 2cm slices. Bake on a tray lined with baking paper for about 15mins at 200C/gas6. Not a wonderful photo, but only had a chance to take one before they all disappeared! A tasty appetiser, and one which you could easily vary - change the cheese, add herbs, add chopped up bacon or ham. The list is endless. I liked the combination of the blue cheese and nuts - different textures, the nuts adding a bit of crunch. Must have a problem with my fan oven, as some...

Wanted a quick and easy dessert, so used 3 ripe pears from the fruit bowl and made an easy tart. Chocolate and pears are a marriage made in heaven for me, but if you haven't got a bar of chocolate, you could use Nutella spread over the pastry. You don't have to make the pastry - use a ready made butter puff. Preheat oven 220C/gas7                23cm tart tin In a bowl, mix together 100g soft butter, 100g ground almonds and 125g caster sugar. Mix together then add 2 beaten eggs and beat together. Roll out the puff pastry and line the tart tin. Prick with a fork. Peel, de-pip [is there such a word?] and cut 3 ripe Conference pears each into 4 pieces. Melt 100g chocolate [you can use cooking chocolate if you want] in the microwave or over simmering water, then pour over the pastry in the tin. Spoon in the batter then spread the pears on top. Bake for about 30 mins - keep an eye on the tart at the end so it doesn't burn! Nic...

  I recently picked up a book in a local charity shop about 'Food of the British Isles'.It's a compilation of recipes from restaurants and cooks. I was especially interested in the Cake Section, as I've been wanting to try some of the more unusual British cake and pudding recipes for some time. This one isn't very unusual, but thought I'd try it as it's called a Bakewell Pudding and not a Tart. In the book, the writer says says that a Pudding is made with puff pastry and the Tart with shortcrust. Is it that simple? I bet a lot of local people would disagree with this definition! The writer made her puff pastry from scratch, but I bought mine, butter of course! For the Pudding you need : 500g butter puff pastry, 3 tbspn raspberry jam, 150g butter, 150g caster sugar, 3 eggs plus a yolk, beaten, 150g ground almonds, zest of a lemon,2 tspn almond extract, 1 tbspn flaked almonds and some icing sugar to dust the top. Preheat oven 190C/gas5        ...

I bought a pack of puff pastry from Waitrose, and having defrosted it, discovered that there were 2 lots of pastry in the box. I used one to make a seafood tart, so what to do with the other one? I wanted something easy and quick so decided to try a recipe my friend gave me.  1 lb (approx 450 grams)  puff pastry 100g caster sugar   30g unsalted butter, melted 1 tspn cinnamon [or more if you like it!] Directions Preheat your oven 180C/gas4.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll pastry out to about 1/8th inch thick. Brush the pastry with the melted butter and sprinkle the sugar evenly all over then sprinkle with the cinnamon. Roll the pastry into a log starting from the long edge of the rectangle that is closest to you. Cut the pastry into 1 inch pieces, and place cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes, until the bottoms of the puffs are golden brown. Turn them over and bake for another 10-15 minu...

I had one more lot of butter puff pastry left over from Christmas, and I've been wanting to make these tarts for ages, as I love custard tarts in any form. I don't think this is exactly like the famous ones, but they're made to a secret recipe! The tarts were first made by Catholic monks in the 18th century. Large amounts of egg whites were used to starch clothes, so the yolks left over were used to make cakes and pastries. Preheat oven 200C/gas6 These are easy to make - you need 250g of puff pastry which you roll out. Lightly grease a muffin tin, cut out 12 small circles and  and line the tin with these. Put the tin in the fridge for about 20 mins. For the filling - beat 4 egg yolks with 100g caster sugar till thick and white. Add 1 tspn of flour and the zest of a lemon, then mix in 25cl of crème fraiche. Pout into a saucepan and bring to the boil over a gentle heat, stirring all the time. As soon as it comes to the boil, take it off the heat and allow to cool. P...

It's a bit late for Epiphany when this gateau should be eaten, but I found this recipe in a magazine so decided to make it. I liked the idea of using hazelnuts instead of ground almonds, as in the traditional one. I'm sure you know about this gateau, and that in France it has a china figure in it, and whoever finds this figure or fève gets to wear the crown and be the King. Sadly, in our move back from France, my collection of fèves got lost! 500g butter puff pastry divided into 2 200g ground hazelnuts [ I found them ready ground in Waitrose, but you can grind your own] 100g caster sugar 1 tspn vanilla extract 3 eggs 75g butter at room temperature Preheat oven 180C/gas6 Beat the butter and ground hazelnuts together to make a soft paste. Add 2 of the eggs and the vanilla. Cut each of the pieces of puff pastry into a circle and place one on a piece of baking parchment on a baking sheet. Spread the hazelnut mixture over the pastry lea...

Following on from the Madeira cake from week 1 of the GBBO, I decided to make some biscuits from week 2. I'm not a fan of biscotti, or making fancy biscuit  holders, so decided to have a go at Paul's Artlettes. I cheated  and used ready made butter puff pastry and was pleased with the results. You'll find Paul's recipe  here . The whirls aren't as good as his, but you could taste the cinnamon, and they were nice and crisp, and they had a good snap!! After making these I decided that I hadn't put enough cinnamon and sugar in them so made them again with bought butter puff pastry. My second attempt was much better; they're not as oval, but the spiral filling is better. Honey Biscuits I also made some honey biscuits as I was given a local jar of honey to try. These are orange and walnut flavoured biscuits which are dipped in honey to glaze. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. In a bowl...

January is the month for Galettes.  Usually I make the traditional Galette de Rois, puff pastry with a lovely almond cream filling [there's a recipe on here for one],  but I decided to try something different. I had some apples and raspberries to use up, so decided to make an apple and cinnamon one, and a raspberry and almond one. Cinnamon and apple are a marriage made in heaven for me, but wasn't sure about almonds with raspberries, but it turned out well. Using bought butter puff pastry makes them so quick and easy to make. The French bought puff pastry comes in a round, very useful for making tarts etc. I haven't found any round ones here. For the apple and cinnamon one: You need 2 sheets of puff pastry or a 500g slab, 4 apples [ I used Granny Smith], 100g caster sugar, about 50g apple purée [I used a jar of ready made from Lidl ], 1 egg and 1 tbspn of cinnamon. 1 china bean or dried bean as a fève. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Line a baking she...

Looking through my French cookery books for something different to bake, I came across a recipe for 'Mirlitons'. When I googled them to find out more, they seemed to be a strange looking green vegetable from the USA, also called chayote. What happened to the cakes? I continued googling and found out that the little Mirliton Tartlets come from around Rouen in Normandy. There were quite a few recipes for them, but they all seemed to agree that they must have an almond and egg filling with vanilla extract and orange flower water; some had cream added, so I decided to add some to give them extra flavour. Apparently it's quite an old recipe, being found in a 18th century cookery book. They sound very similar to the Welsh cheese cakes my Mum used to make - a pastry shell, a layer of jam then a sponge topping, but there's no almonds in Mum's recipe. They're very easy to make, as you use a ready made sheet of puff pastry. This recipe makes about 12 tartlet...

I recently bought myself a Patisserie book, by Murielle Vallette. Among other things, I wanted to have a try at making my own puff pastry. This is an excellent book, as it has photos showing you all the steps. This time I didn't fancy making any of the suggestions in the book with my puff pastry, so made these easy turnovers. I adapted the ingredients from an idea I saw on Pinterest, which were turnovers using pear and walnuts. I had a search through my cupboard and found some cranberries lurking in the back. When I'd cooked the apples they were rather too mushy to put in the pastry, so I thickened them with some cornflour. I used Braeburn apples as they were in the fruit bowl, but you could use any apples. I decided to ice them with some simple glace icing. 2 apples peeled, cored and chopped into small dice sheet of butter puff pastry 50g brown sugar ¼ tspn cinnamon 30g dried cranberries 250ml water thickening: 30ml cold water ½ tbspn cornflour Cinnamon Icing: 6...