I have put off making cheesecake for years, reading so many recipes but worrying about cracks or soggy bases or that I wouldn’t be able to get it from the tin. But when it came down to it, it was actually super simple.
Tag: almond
My once monthly lonely Indian Curry night strikes again with another, even if I do say so myself, fantabulous vegetarian curry. Last month I finally made this wonderful Beetroot Curry, this month I turn to a vegetarian version of this Lamb Rogan Josh from Them Apples.
I have tried to make a cake with pear before but it just didn’t work out, it sunk in the middle and wasn’t very appealing to look at. I never posted it, but I still have the pear cake bug, every time I see a pear I want to wrap it something fluffy and sweet.
This weekend I bought three pears with the sole purpose of forcing me to try again. I found this pear cake recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Christmas isn’t Christmas without the buttery pastry and spicy dried fruit filling of a mince pie.
Mince pies are one of the best desserts at Christmas time, they are great warmed with cream and ice cream, wonderful with a cup of coffee and amazing for breakfast!
Growing up in my family they were plenty of festive tiffins, tablets and meringues to snack upon which everyone loved, but my favourite was always the mince pie. I loved the spicy flavours and the dried fruit, and the smell! To some people it’s the smell of pine, to others mulled wine, but to me its freshly baked mince pies, that smell like Christmas.
Cherry and Almond Mince Pies
~ should make around 20 (with leftover mince meat).
- 1 batch of Cherry and Almond Mincemeat
- 1 package of pre-made shortcrust pastry
- 100 ml of milk, for brushing the top of the pastry with.
- Cinnamon sugar, optional
Pre heat the oven to 180 oC and grease a fairy cake tin.
Roll out the pastry till it is about 1cm thick. Using a cookie cutter cut out circles, which will form the base of your mince pie, and stars that will form the top.
Gently press the circles into the tin, filling each with around 2-3 heaped teaspoons into each pie. Top each pie with a pastry star.
After you have completed all the pies, use a pastry brush to lightly cover each star with a little milk. If you have it sprinkle each pie with cinnamon sugar before baking.
Leave the pies in the oven for around 15 minutes, until they have turned golden, leave them to cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes.
Writing this post on a full stomach is one of the hardest things I have had to do, I just absolutely could not eat another mince pie. Still thinking of the smells and the textures is making my mouth water.
Maybe in half an hour I’ll be able to eat one more…
Today is my birthday! I’ve had some great presents and some lovely messages from friends and family. However my birthday treat to myself was to bake a cake, well that and the two pairs of boots I’ve bought today 🙂
Over the past year I have seen so many beautiful cake recipes, that I new I wanted to try something a bit different. My inspirations was almost entirely from Alejandra @ Always Order Dessert‘s amazingly vivid Italian Rainbow Cookie Cake with a little of Deeba @ Passionate About Baking‘s Lavender Mascarpone Cake thrown in.
For a couple of weeks now in the office there has been an almost constant supply of mince pies on the sharing food pile, so far I have managed to avoid these with my no mince pies till December rule. However this year I have an added incentive, tucked away in my fridge is a jar of homemade mincemeat.
I have promised myself that the first bite of a mince pie I have this year will not be the sad excuse that the supermarket’s sell. No, I will have a mince pie made entirely by my own hand.
This week I wanted to do something exciting with my Broccoli, something that wasn’t a stir-fry or simple side.
Isn't this cupcake bowl the cutest thing?
Cherries are an integral part of the summer for me, and linked with France because of all my childhood holidays there. On one holiday in Paris as I got on the metro, the doors closed! My Mum and I on one side, my Dad and little sister on the other.
I was distraught, in the days before mobile phones, how would we ever find each other again? However due to my Mum’s quick thinking I didn’t worry for long. Because thankfully we had the cherries, and my biggest of memory of the day is sitting on the platform eating cherries!
Fresh cherry bread, yum!
I bought my first loaf tin the other day and decided to give some other than banana bread a go in it. After spending ages going through my cookbooks I decided to give Cherry and Almond teabread a go from the Good Housekeepings Great Baking recipe book p102. I had bought some dried cherries and was dying to try them in something. The combination of cherry and almond is amazing, and everyone loved it!
Cherry and Almond Teabread