Today we have had glorious weather and it’s looking like we are going to get some more late summer sunshine. Hubby happily cooked a barbecue and I made these lovely fresh pineapple tart tatin for dessert. They are delicious served with ice cream for that lovely hot/cold dessert which always works so well. Sometimes caramel…
I made this smoothie a couple of weeks ago when the sun was shining non stop here in the West Midlands, unfortunately this last week it’s been rain, sunshine, rain, sunshine. Redcurrants from my garden, a mixture of cherries and blueberries from the freezer and the last orange from the fruit bowl all make a…
This easy to make blackberry buttermilk sponge has a lovely tender crumb and if you can get hedgerow blackberries the cake will taste even better. My blackberries came from the supermarket, they were absolutely fine (but make sure they aren’t dessert blackberries) or raspberries would be good to use too. The sponge is best served…
You followed a recipe. You weighed the ingredients. You pulled out a rustic, seed-flecked loaf from the oven, anticipating that perfect slice. But it’s a brick. Dense, gummy, maybe even a bit raw in the middle. The seeds are there, but the promised airy texture? Gone. You wanted a wholesome, satisfying bread. You got a…
I didn’t make Christmas pudding last year and thought for a change I’d take the easy route and buy one, that didn’t go too well because we didn’t like it. I wasn’t sure I wanted the usual traditional pudding and these are light and full of Christmas flavours. They don’t need maturing and freeze well…
As we know, baking doesn’t always deliver what we expect and these cakes were made from a chocolate cake which didn’t quite go to plan. The cocoa powder didn’t mix into the raw cake batter, my cake was a little heavy but rather than throw the chocolate sponge away I cut out tiny rounds and…
After all the eating over Christmas a bowl of freshly made soup is perfect. Lets be honest some gadgets we purchase aren’t going to get used as much as we would like but hubby and I love this soup maker. From thinking about making soup to serving up takes all of 30 minutes and my…
Thinking about tackling mini stollen this holiday season but feeling overwhelmed by the idea of a massive, traditional loaf? You’re not alone. I’ve been baking stollen for over twenty years, and early on, I tried to replicate my grandmother’s gargantuan loaves. They were impressive, sure, but also a pain to bake evenly, difficult to store,…
These cupcakes are a lighter alternative to the usual scones, possibly not lighter in calories though I’m afraid, but at least there is an element of portion control! It’s very rare that I buy clotted cream but I made an exception for these cupcakes and I’m really pleased that I did. The cupcakes are really…
There’s nothing more satisfying than making a batch of bread rolls and pulling them apart to reveal their light fluffy interior. I cut these in half, spread mayonnaise over and filled mine with lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, home made beef burger, and melted some cheese over the burger. Yum. These are perfect rolls for beef burgers…
