COOKBOOKS GALORE

 I love apricots, but usually in the supermarket they are in little punnets. I went to a market in another town at the weekend, and to my delight, they were selling them on a stall.  This recipe comes from a free recipe card from one of the French supermarkets. It's a popular recipe with my family. You need: 80g caster sugar and 80g soft brown sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 50g ground almonds, 40g soft butter, 1kg apricots, 125g brioche [slices cut from a loaf], 200ml crème fraîche, 3 eggs, icing sugar to sprinkle Preheat oven 180C/gas4                                Grease a large ovenproof dish. Lay the slices of brioche in the bottom of the dish.  Cut the apricots in half and remove stone. Arrange the halves over the brioche, packing together well.  Sprinkle over the ground almonds and the brown sugar. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, caster sugar, vanilla extract, butter and crème f...

 Summer at last, or at least for a few days! Raspberries are my favourite summer fruit, so decided to make a cheesecake. I bought a jar of raspberry coulis in Waitrose. This is a baked cheesecake.  I adore the speculoos flavour of the Biscoff biscuits you get with coffee [and now in a jar], so used these biscuits as the base.  225g Biscoff biscuits, 3 eggs, 175g caster sugar, a jar of raspberry coulis [or you can make your own by sieving raspberries],75g butter, 675g cream cheese and 1 tspn vanilla extract, a few raspberries to decorate Preheat oven 180C/gas4            Line a shallow 23cm cake tin with baking paper. Put the biscuits in a large plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Melt the butter and mix with the biscuits. Spoon into the cake tin and flatten with the back of a spoon. Put in the fridge to set. Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the cheese and beat together with the sugar and vanilla extract. Spoon it over the biscuit base an...

Thought I'd post something different this time. When we lived in France we had a large potager, and courgettes grew everywhere they could find a space! Look away for a minute and you had a marrow! This is my friend G's Tante Marie's recipe to use up some of them. It's useful as an a accompaniment to lots of meals, and is very easy to make. You need for 6: 2 courgettes, 4 potatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tbspn crème fraîche, 100g grated gruyère cheese, 3 sprigs of thyme, salt and pepper Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease a gratin dish. Peel the potatoes and cut into rounds, not too thick,  then do the same with the courgettes. Spoon into the dish, strip the thyme off the sprigs and sprinkle over the thyme, together with the crushed and chopped garlic, pepper and salt. In a bowl mix together the cheese and crème fraîche and spoon over the courgette mixture. Bake in the oven for 25-30 mins. A very simple, tasty dish. It goes well with pork chops or as an accompaniment to a bbq. ...

 Now that the English strawberries are good value, I thought I'd make a cheesecake. I had a pot of mascarpone to use, so used it with some cream cheese [such as Philly]. This is very easy to make when you don't feel like cooking! You need: 60g icing sugar, 200g digestive biscuits [or other biscuits of your choice], 50g butter [melted], 1 lemon, 250g mascarpone, 100g soft cheese [Philly] and 1tspn vanilla extract, few mint leaves Blitz the biscuits in a food processor or blender. Add the melted butter and mix together. Press into the base of a 23cm flan tin, pushing the crumbs slightly up the sides. Beat the mascarpone with the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Spoon into the tin on top of the crumb base. Smooth with a spatula. Cut the washed strawberries into 2 [or 4 if large] and put the on top of the cream mixture, cut side down. Cut the washed strawberries into 2 and put the on top of the cream mixture, cut side  Top with a few mint leaves and put i...

 Last year I was given a rhubarb plant from a local group which shares excess plants. I didn't cut it even though I desperately wanted to, as I love rhubarb! I was told it would make it stronger for this year! It's doing well again, so this is the first recipe I've made using it, and it's a very simple one.You use a yoghurt pot as a measure. Yoghurt pot recipes are very popular in France. You need: 250g rhubarb cut into chunks, 1 pot of yoghurt, 3 pots of caster sugar, 3 pots of sr flour, 1 tspn baking powder, 3/4 pot vegetable oil, 2 eggs, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 1/4 pot of milk Preheat oven 200C/gas 6 Grease and base line a 20cm cake tin. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the rhubarb. Beat together. Add the rhubarb and mix in with a spatula. Spoon into the cake tin. Bake for 30 mins till golden. A lovely, simple cake. It has a moist crumb and is very tasty. You could add a mix of 2tbspn sugar and 1/2 tspn cinnamon  as a topping. A great way to use up ...

 I've written the title in French because moelleux is a difficult word to translate. It means soft or tender or moist. This cake is soft and moist and simple to make.  It's another recipe passed on by my French friend [who is my school penfriend from when we were 11!] and is a useful recipe to have, as it can easily be adapted. You need; 150g flour and 1 tspn baking powder, 50ml vegetable oil [I use rapeseed], 150g caster sugar, 2 eggs, 125g mascarpone cheese, and either the zest of a lemon or a few drops of lemon oil, icing sugar to dust Preheat oven 180C/gas4                         You need a ring mould, greased Beat the eggs and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the mascarpone, oil, flour and baking powder and lastly the lemon zest or lemon oil. Mix well. Spoon into the tin and bake for 30 mins. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins before turning our onto a wire rack. A dusting of icing sugar is all it needs. ...

 We all need a treat in these strange times, and these brownies fit the bill. No guessing that the recipe's from the US originally, handed to me by a neighbour when we were living in Chicago. They are very calorific, so no good if you're watching you weight! For the brownie mixture you need: 170g butter, 330g caster sugar, 3 eggs, good pinch of salt, 110g dark chocolate, 45g cocoa and 125g flour For the peanut mixture you need: 50g butter, 60g caster sugar and 250g smooth peanut butter Preheat oven 180C/gas4                           Grease and line a brownie tin [one I used is 28 x 18 cm] Brownie mixture - melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave or over simmering water in a bowl. Add the sugar, salt, beaten eggs and beat together till well mixed. Peanut mixture - melt the butter. Using an electric hand beater, beat the melted butter, peanut butter and sugar together till smooth. Spoon alternate tbspn of b...