COOKBOOKS GALORE

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 love Simnel cake at Easter and always made one for my husband and me, but the rest of my family either don't like marzipan or dried fruit, so I thought I'd try making small cakes with almost the same ingredients, then I could freeze some for me and give a few to friends. I didn't put the marzipan layer in the middle of the little cakes, but put a layer on top, and to make it more springlike, I cut it out with a flower shaped cutter. The final decoration was a sugar flower  - I'd bought a packet a while ago and they needed using! Preheat oven 180C/gas4                  You need a greased 12 hole silicone or metal muffin tin. 125g butter, 125g soft brown sugar, 2 eggs, 125g sr flour, 1 tspn mixed spice, 1 tspn cinnamon, 1-2 tbspn milk, 125g dried fruit and zests of 1 orange and 1 lemon [I didn't have any good mixed peel, hadn't got any home made, and I hate the cheap stuff, so decided to use zest instead], 100g marzipan, 2 tbspn apr...

I love any recipes using Cadbury's Mini Eggs, so couldn't resist making these. They are a bit different in that the tarts have ground almonds in their pastry. The filling uses crème fraîche and single cream with chocolate, but also adds a eggs and sugar mixture to make the filling more substantial. Preheat oven 180C/gas6                You need 4 small round deep tartlet tins For the pastry : 100g plain flour, 12g ground almonds, 50g butter cut into cubes, 50g icing sugar and 1 egg. Put the flour, almonds, sugar and butter into a bowl and rub in till breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and mix into a ball. Cover with clingfilm and put in fridge for an hour. Take out of fridge and roll out on a floured surface. Cut into 4 circles to fit 4 small tart tins. prick pastry with a fork and put back in the fridge. For the filling : 120g dark chocolate, 10cl crème fraîche, 5cl single cream, 1 egg and 70g caster sugar. Melt the chocolate in a microwave...

My lovely Dutch friend sent me some goodies recently, including some of my favourite speculoos biscuits [which I mentioned a few posts ago]. I wanted to use them in a cake of some sort, and found this recipe in a French magazine. It's not really a proper cake, as it's not cooked [my definition] but it's made in a cake form. 125g speculoos biscuits [or any spicy biscuit] 4 dried figs, finely chopped 4 dates, finely chopped 2 tbspns sultanas 60g melted butter 200g milk or plain chocolate - broken into small pieces 15cl single cream 2 packets of Werther's originals or other butterscotch sweets 22cm cake tin - preferably a silicone mould Crush the biscuits and mix them with the dried fruit. Press the mixture into the bottom of the tin/mould and put it in the fridge to harden. Break the chocolate up into a bowl. Put the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, then pour it over the chocolate. Stir well till the mixture is nice and smooth. Cool. Take...

I needed a quick dessert for my family, and remembered this one which used to be a great family favourite. It uses bought puff pastry, some jam, dessicated coconut and a few other ingredients, but is very simple and quick to make. Preheat oven 200C/gas6                  a 23cm tart tin You need: a pack of butter puff pastry, 80g caster sugar, 4 beaten eggs, 125g dessicated coconut, 1 pot of jam of your choice, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 100g butter. Roll out the puff pastry and fit into the tart tin. Prick the bottom with a fork. Melt the butter, then in a bowl mix together the caster sugar, eggs, melted butter, coconut and the vanilla extract. Spread the jam over the pastry in the tin, then cover this with the coconut mixture. Bake in the oven for 30-40 mins. Sprinkle some more coconut over the top and leave to cool. I like the combination of textures - the pastry, soft jam, coconut mixture then the extra coconut topping. It w...

I like traybakes and bars and wanted to make something with blueberries. I found this recipe in an old French magazine and it used raspberries, so I thought I'd try it with blueberries and it worked very well. The French recipe uses Petits - Beurre biscuits and I found some in Sainsburys. Waitrose and Tesco also have them apparently, but shortbread or other plain biscuits could be used. Preheat oven 180C/gas4                        Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin. You need: for the topping: 175g plain flour, 150g of crushed Petits- beurre or biscuits of choice, 60g caster sugar, 50g of chopped walnuts, 150g soft butter, for the filling:  225g blueberries, 50g caster sugar, 3 tbspn water, 3 tbspn flour, juice of 1/2 a lemon For the topping, mix the flour, biscuit crumbs, sugar and nuts together in a large bowl. Rub in the butter to get a crumbly mixture. Put half of this into the bottom of the cake tin and p...

I thought I'd used up all my bits and pieces form the baking cupboard when I found a jar of Morella cherry jam lurking in the corner; it was a present from France from a friend. I wanted something simple so decided to make one of my favourite cakes - Mum's Bakewell Cake - it has the ingredients of a Bakewell tart, but no pastry and is a 2 layer cake. It's the all in one method, so quick and easy to make. Preheat oven 190C/gas5.             Grease and line the bases of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins. In a large bowl beat together 200g soft butter or margarine, 200g caster sugar, 100g ground almonds, 100g sr flour, 1 tspn baking powder, 1/2 tspn almond extract and 4 eggs. Divide the mixture between the 2 sandwich tins and bake for about 30 mins till golden. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 mins then turn out onto a wire rack till cold. Put one of the cakes onto a serving plate and spread with 340g Morello cherry jam. Put the second cake upside down on top, ...