COOKBOOKS GALORE

My love of cinnamon is well known, so when I got given some apples, I decided to try a recipe given to me ages ago by an American friend. It's nothing special to look at, but tastes great - that's of course, if you like cinnamon! It's not overwhelming, as there's none in the cake only in the topping. The recipe uses butter milk and oil. The amount of cinnamon sugar topping suggested for the cake was far too much, even for me, so I reduced it drastically, and there was still plenty. 225g light brown sugar, 75ml oil, 1 large egg, 225ml buttermilk, 1 tspn bicarbonate of soda, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 350g plain flour, 180g chopped apples [weight after peeled - I used 3 eating apples] Topping: 2 tbspn granulated sugar and 11/2 tspn cinnamon Preheat oven 160C/gas3                  Grease and base line a 20cm round cake tin. Put the brown sugar, oil, egg, buttermilk, bicarb, vanilla extract and flour in a big bowl and mis together well. St...

I think I've mentioned before that I much prefer muffins to cupcakes - I find the icing on cupcakes just too much. We have a lovely shop in town which sells a great range of herbs and spices, particularly difficult to find ones. In France I did a day's cookery course in a local restaurant, and one of the ingredients we used was Tonka beans. If you want to find out more about them: http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/how-to-cook/how-to-cook-with-tonka-beans I'd never heard of them, so was interested to taste their flavour. It's hard to describe - a bit similar to vanilla, but with fruity and spicy elements! You only use a little, as they can be harmful in large quantities, so it's claimed. I bought 3 beans from my local shop. I'm explaining all this, because my lovely friend who owns the tea shop, gave me her recipe for chocolate muffins with Tonka bean. The recipe! 200g sr flour, 1 tspn baking powder, 150g white chocolate, 12 small squares of dark choco...

I bought a punnet of local grown red plums, and wanted to use them in a cake rather than my usual pie or crumble. This is a nice easy recipe I was given by my French friend, and I often use it with different fruits. 250g red plums, 180g caster sugar, 130g soft butter, 100g sr flour, 4 eggs, icing sugar to sprinkle over top [opt] Preheat oven 200C/gas6                           Grease a 20cm cake tin Wash plums then cut in half and remove stones. Separate the eggs and add the yolks to the sugar. Beat till white and fluffy. Beat in the butter then fold in the flour. Whisk the egg whites till stiff then fold into the batter. Line the base of the tin with the plums, cut side down, and cover with the batter. After 20 mins, turn the oven down to 180C and bake for a further 20 mins. When cool, turn out upside down and dust the top with icing sugar. I like the cake mixture - it has a soft crumb and a light tex...

Have been having another sort out in my baking cupboard to find what needed using up. I found some pine nuts and ground hazelnuts, both very near their 'use by' date, so decided to use them in a tart.  What would go well with them?  I always have some frozen raspberries ready to use, as they're one of my favourite fruits and thought these would work well with the nuts. For the filling I'd use creme fraîche instead of cream, not to make the tart too rich. My loose-bottomed tart tin is 23cm. Preheat oven 200C/gas6 You need 300g of shortcrust pastry, bought or home made [ I added a little sugar to it]. Roll out the pastry to fit the greased tin, and put in the fridge. Break 3 eggs into a bowl and add another yolk, 120g caster sugar and 60g ground hazelnuts. Whisk together , then add 100cl creme fraîche  and 1 tspn vanilla extract and mix together well. Put 200g of raspberries on top of the pastry and pour over the egg mixture. Sprinkle 80g of pine ...

I made these a while ago when there was rhubarb in my local market. As well as rhubarb and meringue, there's an almond cream in the tartlets. I cheated and bought a block of short crust pastry, but of course you can make it yourself. You need: 320g shortcrust pastry, 400g rhubarb and 80g caster sugar, 125g ground almonds, 80g butter, 125g caster sugar and 3eggs, 3 egg whites and 75g caster sugar. Preheat oven 180C           You need a 12 hole bun or tartlet tin. Peel and chop the rhubarb then cover it with the 80g caster sugar and leave for 1 hour. Roll out the pastry and use a cutter to cut out circles to fit your tin. Line these with baking beans and bake for 10 mins; take the beans out and bake for a further 5 mins. Take tin out of the oven and let the tartlet cases cool. Cream : beat the butter and 125g caster sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, then the ground almonds - beat the mixture well. Turn the oven down to 120C. Meringue: beat...

Sometimes you just want a simple piece of cake with your cuppa, and this loaf cake is just what you need. I had a medium sized tin of peaches reaching its 'Use by' date, so decided to add them to a basic loaf cake mixture. Preheat oven 180C/gas4                      Grease a 900g loaf tin Beat together 150g butter and 150g caster sugar. Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time. Fold in 150g flour with 1 tspn baking powder. Drain the syrup from the tin of peaches and cut them into dice. Add to the batter and stir in. Spoon into cake tin and bake for about 40 mins. This is my attempt and prettying up my photo of the cake! I kept back a couple of peach slices and added some flowers that were hanging round in the cupboard! The cake was nice and moist, with a soft crumb. Good contrast between the soft cake and the fruit. I'll certainly make it again, but with a different fruit, such as pears or pineapple or raspberries. Maybe add a ...

I like brownies, and my friend gave me this recipe which is a bit different from your usual one. It has cream cheese added to the batter. Preheat oven 180C/gas4               Grease and line a 18x24cm tin Put 125g butter, 125g dark chocolate and 200g light brown sugar in a pan; stir over medium heat till melted. Take pan off the heat and beat in 3 eggs. Add 50g sr flour, 50g cocoa and stir into the mixture. Pour into the tin. Beat 200g cream cheese [use full fat not low fat] with 50g icing sugar till smooth. Spoon into the batter then swirl with the tip of a knife to get a marbled effect. Bake the brownies for 35-40 mins. I liked these - you get the taste of the traditional brownie with the added texture of a cheesecake. They mix together well. Do I prefer it to the normal brownie - no, I don't think so, but it makes a change! I thought cooking them for so long would make them hard, but the crumb was moist.