COOKBOOKS GALORE

A tin of Carnation caramel was lurking in the back of the cupboard, and carrying on with my biscuit theme, thought I could use it as a filling in a double biscuit. I have an easy shortbread recipe given to me many years ago when I was a student, by my Scottish landlady, and this would go really well with the caramel. You must use butter for these to get the lovely flavour. Shortbread: 350g plain flour 110g cornflour 110g caster sugar 225g butter Filling: tin caramel 100g dessicated coconut -optional Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Cream the butter and sugar either by hand or with electric mixer on a low speed till nice and smooth. Sift the flours together and add to the mixture. Work the flours in by hand. Knead the dough till it's smooth then wrap in clingfilm and chill for about 30 mins. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 5mm and cut out rounds with a cutter, the size depending on how big you want your biscuits! Put the biscuits on baking sheets a

This is another variation of my basic cookie recipe.  We love pears and finding some dried ones, I had to make some cookies. You could use other nuts if you prefer, other dried fruit too - I've used dried cranberries and cherries and these are good. Here's the basic recipe again: :Oven 190C/375F/gas5. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchent paper or a silicone sheet. Basic recipe: 225g soft butter 140g caster sugar 1 beaten egg yolk 2 tspn vanilla extract 280g plain flour pinch salt Beat butter and sugar together in a bowl with a wooden spoon, then beat in egg yolk and vanilla essence. Stir in the flour and salt. Mix together to make a ball of dough. Additional ingredients: 55g ready to eat dried pears, chopped finely 55g pistachio nuts, chopped some whole pistachio nuts to decorate This time, add the nuts and pears after the flour and mix it all together into a ball of dough. Take spoonfuls and roll into balls, put on baking sheets and space well. Fla

The other day I found a Scandinavian cookery book in a local charity shop, and this recipe was in it. We have one lone rhubarb plant in the garden, and there was just enough ready to pick to use in this cake. I've adapted the recipe to the kind of cake I wanted, so I'm claiming it as mine now! It makes a small amount of rhubarb into a delicious dessert, tho' it's not a big cake if you have a family to feed. 2eggs 150g caster sugar 90g plain flour 1/2 tspn baking powder about 250g rhubarb 50g cold butter 1 tspn cinnamon 2 tbspn pearl sugar Preheat oven 175C/gas 3/4 Grease and line a 20cm springform tin [make sure you grease the tin well or the cake will stick like glue!] Cut the rhubarb into about 1cm pieces. Beat the eggs and sugar with a mixer till it's pale and nice and fluffy. Then fold in the flour and baking powder. Pour this batter into the tin and put the rhubarb on top, pushing it into the batter. Then cut the butter into thin slices - it