COOKBOOKS GALORE

I'm on a quest to find the perfect scone. I've tried recipes from various people - Delia, Mary Berry, Nigella etc but still haven't found one that really makes me feel - yes, that's it! Trying out yet another recipe today, one I've made before, I decided to try using some mascarpone as well as milk to make it more moist. I also used soft light brown sugar instead of my usual caster sugar. Would this be my perfect scone? Here's my adapted recipe: 340g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 80g butter in pieces 2 tbpsn soft light brown sugar 80g mascarpone 90ml milk 1 beaten egg to glaze the tops Preheat oven 190C/gas 6-7 I used a silicone mat on my baking sheet, but a dusting of flour on a sheet would be fine. Put the flour, baking powder, butter and sugar in a food processor and blitz till breadcrumbs. Add the mascarpone and blitz for a couple of seconds. If you don't want to use a processor just rub the fat into the flour and sugar then rub in the mas...

At long last our rhubarb plants in the garden have got their act together and produced a decent amount of fruit. I made a crumble and a cake, both of which I put in the freezer, and wanted to use up the last pieces. This is my dil's favourite muffin recipe - not with rhubarb and chocolate, but she loves blueberries and raspberries. I found the addition of Greek yoghurt rather unusual, as I usually use milk. I was going to just make rhubarb muffins, then found I had some white chocolate to use up; it's a good combination. 80g butter 150g sugar 1 tspn vanilla extract 2 large eggs, beaten 100ml Greek yoghurt 225g flour + 1 tspn baking powder 400g rhubarb chopped into small pieces 150g white chocolate, chopped Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Filla 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases Beat butter and sugar together. Add the beaten eggs, vanilla extract and yoghurt and gently combine. Fold in the flour and then add the rhubarb and chocolate. Blend together thoroughly, but do...

The title is not quite correct because I couldn't find any Key limes! I've made this cake before using oranges, which were the fruit used in the original recipe.It's  from Woman's Weekly magazine, but when I don't know, as it's in my recipe folder. I thought I'd try it with limes, and it turned out well. It's a thick layer of mousse, and it's definitely a dessert cake, rather than a cake to have with a cuppa. I haven't used the original cake recipe either this time, as I wanted to make a Victoria sandwich. 175g butter 400g caster sugar- 175g for the cake 3 eggs 175g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 400ml double cream 250g mascarpone cheese juice and rind of 5 limes juice of a small orange 1 tbspn gelatine powder icing sugar to dust if you want the filling really green, you can use a few drops of green colouring, which I did. Preheat oven 160C/gas 3 Grease and line a 23cm springform tin. Beat the butter and 175g of the sugar togethe...

On Sunday May 19th it's World Baking Day and there's some great baking recipes to try. Just found it by chance. http://worldbakingday.com/#/en-gb/recipes I've mentioned before, that from time to time I bake with one of my grandsons. For some reason he really loves apricots, and he wanted to bake something using them. In a very old 'Blue Peter' activity book, from when my children were young, we found a recipe for these biscuits. They're quirky and T. loved making them, as they had apricots on them. We made 12 biscuits, and T went home with the recipe [and most of the biscuits!] to make them with his Mum. 150g plain flour 7g [about 21/2 tspns] vanilla sugar or 1 packet [or you could use caster sugar and some vanilla extract] pinch salt 150g cornflour 150g butter - cold and cut into pieces 250g tin of apricots in syrup 75g icing sugar 1 tspn or so of lemon juice Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Grease a baking tray. Mix the 2 flours, vanilla sugar and sal...

Had some friends coming to stay over the weekend, so decided to make some small cakes to have with tea. I bought a book in a charity shop a while ago, called 'The Encylopedia of Baking'; it has no author and I think it was originally published in Germany. It has some unusual cake and biscuit recipes, so I thought I'd make these almond praline creams, as I had half a bag of flaked almonds left over from the almond and honey cake. The creams look a bit like whoopie pies, and  I think they're really more like a cross between a cake and a biscuit. It's a basic sponge cake recipe, and whatever they are, cake or biscuit, they taste good, and the ingredient list is short and you've probably got everything in your store cupboard. The recipe makes about 30 biscuits. 4 egg yolks 20g caster sugar pinch salt 200g plain flour 75g flaked almonds 200g Nutella or any hazelnut chocolate spread 40g dark chocolate Preheat oven 200C/gas 6 Grease a baking sheet and...

We're going to have a quiet Easter this year, just the 2 of us on Easter Sunday, but we had friends coming on Good Friday. I'd made  Hot Cross Buns, but wanted to make a nice dessert to have after the fish pie. I fancied a cheesecake, but a baked one, and looked in my books and online for inspiration. I found this recipe, and as we love honey and I adore cinnamon, it was just the thing. It was on an Australian blog, in cups, so I've changed the measures and adapted the recipe to suit our tastes. It uses cottage cheese and cream cheese and I wasn't sure about this, but it tasted delicious. It's an unusual cheesecake in that it has a pastry base - so is it a cheesecake? Well, seeing how much cheese is in it, I think so! pastry: 225g plain flour 125g cold butter, chopped up 55g caster sugar 1 egg yolk 2 tbspn finely grated lemon rind about 3 tspns cold water Filling: 250g cottage cheese 250g cream cheese 265g honey 110g caster sugar ...

This month's challenge from Alpha Bakes is a hard one - baking something beginning with letter I . Lots of recipes begin with 'iced ....... ' but I wanted to find something different. I borrowed a book from the library called 'Cakes, Tortes and Gateaux'  - it has no author, and I found a recipe for an Israeli cake. I love cakes with nuts and I like dates, so had to give it a try. I changed a few things in the recipe, and had to convert it to grams. It worked out really well, and is full of good things. 2 eggs 180ml honey 150ml buttermilk 1 tspn vanilla essence 3 mashed bananas 300g sr flour 1 tspn baking powder 100g soft brown sugar 2 tbspn cocoa 1 tspn cinnamon 1 tspn allspice pinch salt 125g butter 150g chopped dates 125g chopped pecans 2 tbspns honey for top of cake Preheat oven 180C/gas4 grease a 23cm springform tin Beat together the eggs, honey, buttermilk and vanilla essence, then add the bananas. Keep 2 tbspn of the flour, then put th...