COOKBOOKS GALORE

  I love caramel and found this recipe in my magazine cuttings. Happily it's not a difficult caramel to make, as I've had many disasters with it in the past! You can make your own shortcrust pastry or use ready made, which I did. You need:  Pack of shortcrust pastry, 2 eggs, 100g caster sugar, 60g butter, 100g walnuts chopped finely  and 100g walnut halves For the Caramel: 20g butter, 100ml crème fraîche, 150g caster sugar Preheat oven 180C/gas4                 22cm tart tin For the tart: Cut the butter into pieces and melt for 1 min in a microwave. Leave to cool. Beat the eggs and caster sugar using an electric mixer or hand mixer till white and fluffy.  Add the chopped walnuts and melted butter and gently mix together. Roll out pastry to fit a tart tin which is at least 2.5cm high. Grease the tin then line with the pastry. Add the nut mixture gently. Bake for about 30 mins till golden. Caramel: Put ...

 I love apricots, but you don't see them often, and sadly, our town market is no more. so saw some on offer in the supermarket and bought them to make this tart, another French recipe from my friend. I used ready made shortcrust pastry, as it's too hot to make my own. You need: a block of shortcrust pastry, 75g caster sugar, 75g ground almonds, 600g apricots, 75g soft butter, 1 egg, and a handful of flaked almonds to sprinkle on top. Preheat oven 200C/gas6                   Tart tin 24 - 26 cms Roll pastry out and fit into tin. Put in fridge while you make the filling. Wash and stone the apricots. Mix together the sugar, butter, ground almonds and the beaten egg - make sure it's well mixed. Spread over the pastry and top with the apricots.  Bake for about 35mins then sprinkle the almonds over the top.  You can add the flaked almonds partway through cooking, but I prefer them like this. I like the crunchy pastry, the soft f...

 It was my daughter's birthday recently and she came up for the weekend, so of course needed a cake - this was just the thing. It's made with oil not butter and is very easy to make, yet it looks 'an occasion' cake. Preheat oven 190C/gas5                                  Grease and line 2x18cm [7"] sandwich tins For the cake: you need to sieve 150g plain flour, 25g cornflour and 2 level tspns baking powder into a bowl. Mix together 100ml veg oil [I used sunflower] and 100ml water in another bowl. Separate 2 eggs and add the yolks to the oil/water mixture and mix together. Stir the dry ingredients in and mix to a batter. Whisk the egg whites till stiff then fold into the mixture. Divide into the tins then bake for 25-30 mins. Cool on a wire rack. Turn the oven off. For the little meringues you need to put 1 egg white in a clean dry bowl and whisk till stiff and dry. Mix together 40g caster sugar and...

  I don't really do much baking now that I'm on my own, but sometimes I have a need to make a cake. I bought some blueberries from our local market. They're one of my favourite fruits, and I used to have a bush in my garden. Sadly the winter before last killed it. I love them on porridge, but I had an urge to make a cake with them. I decided on a streusel cake - I love these cakes with the crumbly topping. So you need: For the topping 25g caster sugar, 2 tbspn flour and 55g soft butter For the cake 3 eggs, 200g caster sugar, 220g melted butter, 1 tbspn vanilla extract, 250ml buttermilk, 320g flour, 1 tbspn baking powder, pinch salt,  400g blueberries [washed and dried] Preheat oven 180C/gas4         Grease and flour a 9"x13"  [23x33cm] cake tin For the topping - mix the sugar, butter and flour together till like crumbs. For the cake - In a large bowl beat together the eggs then gradually whisk in the sugar till the batter is nice and thick and flu...

  One of my favourite French desserts is a Charlotte, and I had a tin of pears which needed using and a recipe from a French neighbour for making a chocolate and pear one. It doesn't need cooking, just chilling. I bought a Charlotte mould when living there, but you can use any deep cake tin. It's simple to make and delicious. Charlottes can also be made with bread. You need: a large packet of boudoir biscuits [sponge fingers] or make your own  200ml whipping cream a sachet of vanilla sugar [about 1 tbspn] large tin of pears in syrup 150g dark chocolate 4 egg yolks Open can of pears and pour syrup into a small bowl and slice the pears. Dip the boudoir biscuits into the syrup and line a Charlotte mould with them, keeping some back for the top. Using an electric hand beater, beat the cream and vanilla sugar together till it's thick. Melt the chocolate over a low heat. Turn the heat off and add the egg yolks, beating together till the mixture cools. Add the cream and mix togeth...

 This is one of our family favourites and is so easy to make.  It's  lovely mixture of chocolate, mascarpone with a hint of coffee, all in a pastry case. Doesn't need much cooking - just the pastry case. You need: a pack of shortcrust pastry [or of course make your own] 200g dark chocolate 250g mascarpone 1 dspn instant Espresso coffee 3 egg whites pinch salt 80g caster sugar chocolate shavings to decorate [opt] Preheat oven 180C/gas4                     Grease a 21cm tart tin/dish Roll pastry out to fit the tin, prick with a fork and bake blind for 10 mins. Break chocolate up and put into a pan; sprinkle a little water over and melt on a low heat. Once it's melted, take off the heat and add half the mascarpone and 1 dspn of instant Espresso coffee powder and mix well. Take the pastry out of the oven, cool then add the chocolate mixture. Put in fridge for an hour. Whisk the egg whites to peaks with the salt then add the re...

  I love ginger in all its forms.  As with all ginger cakes, this one is better the day after you've baked it, as its flavours can then  develop. This version has dates in it, hence the title I've chosen! So you need:  75g unsalted butter 100g dark muscovado sugar 125g black treacle 125g golden syrup 2 eggs 225g self raising flour 2 teaspoons ground ginger 50g stem ginger, finely chopped 75g dates pitted and finely chopped For the icing: 100g icing sugar 1 tbspn stem ginger syrup (from the jar of stem ginger) Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4                Line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment or a liner Put the butter, sugar, treacle and syrup in a pan and melt together over a gentle heat. Cool for about 5 mins before beating in the eggs. Fold in the flour and the ground ginger, then stir in the dates and chopped ginger. Spoon into the tin and bake for about 50 mins. Cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn out onto a wire rac...