COOKBOOKS GALORE

Another case of using up something at its ' Use By' date; this time some chopped dates. Wanted to make an easy cake, so made my Mum's Date cake with walnuts. It's a cake that keeps very well. Oven 180C/gas4                            Grease and base line a 20cm square cake tin. In a bowl put 210ml boiling water, 175g chopped dates and 3/4 level tspn bicarbonate of soda. Leave it for 5 mins. Cream together 175g soft brown sugar and 50g soft margarine, then beat in 1 beaten egg and the water and dates. Sieve 225g plain flour with 3/4 tspn baking powder and pinch salt, then fold into the date mixture. Add 40g of chopped walnuts and mix together. Spoon into the tin and bake for about 45-50 mins. Cool on a wire rack then remove the paper. This is just part of the cake, as I gave the rest to my lovely Polish neighbour! I sprinkled some sugar on the top  - not really sure why! It has a lovely flavour, alm...

When 2 of my grandsons, aged 13 and 16 came to visit, to keep them off their x-boxes, I baked with them! We made these chocolate biscuits, and they were a great hit. Sadly there weren't any left to take home to their brother, so next time we'll have to make double the amount! Preheat oven 190C/gas5                Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. you need: 125g butter, 125g caster sugar, 50g dark brown sugar, 1 beaten egg, 1/2 tspn vanilla extract, 100g plain flour, 25g cocoa powder, 75g oats, 1/2tspn baking powder, 1/2 tspn bicarb, 125g chopped hazelnuts and 25g demerara sugar Beat the butter and caster and dark brown sugars together till nice and smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again. Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb. and add to the batter. Stir in the nuts. Take tspns of the mixture and roll into about 30 balls. Put the demerara sugar on a plate and roll the balls in it. Put the biscuits about 5cm...

My daughter's favourite chocolate is white, so having recently made my son's favourite dessert, and as she was coming to stay for a week - a very rare occurrence - I decided to make her something using her favourite ingredient. I tried one of these crunchies at a coffee morning, and asked for the recipe. The only cooking involved is melting the chocolate, butter and crème fraîche. You need an 18cm square tin which you line with baking parchment. Break up 300g white chocolate and put in a bowl. Add 150g butter and 1 tbspn crème fraîche and melt together gently over a simmering pan of water. Crumble 100g Amaretti biscuits and chop up 100g candied fruit [I got mine in Waitrose]. When the mixture is melted, take the bowl and add the biscuits, fruit 25g dessicated coconut and 50g toasted flaked almonds. Mix it all together carefully. Spoon into the tin and leave to set in the fridge for 4 hours. Cut into 20 squares when set, using a knife dipped in hot water. It...

I don't make many sweet tarts these days, but my son loves treacle tart and especially this version, which is a Norfolk Tart. As he was coming for the weekend, I decided to indulge him with his favourite pudd! Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Roll out 225g shortcrust pastry [bought or home made] and line a 7" or 17.5 cm round tin. Fill with baking beans and bake for 15 mins. Take out the beans and reduce the oven to 180C/gas4. Warm 100g syrup in a pan till runny, then take off the heat and stir in 25g unsalted butter and the grated zest of a lemon. Beat 1 egg and 3 tbspn double cream together gently then stir into the syrup mixture. Pour this into the pastry case and bake for 30 mins. Serve this warm with some cream or ice cream. This is very rich and moreish. It has a lovely creamy filling with a good lemony hint.

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...