COOKBOOKS GALORE

This is one of our favourite apple desserts. Traditionally a clafoutis is made with cherries, but my friend also makes this one with apples, and kindly gave me her recipe. Using cornflour isn't traditional either, but it works well. You need: 4 large or 6 small apples [I used Gala], 2 eggs, 100g caster sugar, 40g cornflour, 250ml single cream, 1 tspn vanilla extract and 1/2 tspn cinnamon Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease and flour a deep dish - the one I used was 23cm in diameter and 8 cn deep. Peel the apples and cut into slices. Layer into the base of the dish. In a bowl beat the eggs and sugar together till white and fluffy. Add the sieved cornflour, cream, vanilla and cinnamon and mix well. Pour over the apples and bake for 30-40 mins. It can be eaten warm or cold. I sprinkled some sultanas onto my clafoutis before baking, and sieved some icing sugar over the top when baked. I love the original version, but I also love this one, because the apple adds another layer o

These came about because of yet another 'use by' date on some bran in my baking cupboard. My grandson is a Nutella fanatic, so we decided to make some bars using the bran, some oats and Nutella. The base is a flapjack with bran and oats. Easy for K to make. You need: 200g oats, 75g bran, 150g butter, 50g light demerara sugar, 4 tbspn honey, 5 tbspn chopped unsalted roasted peanuts and some Nutella. Preheat oven 190C/gas 5 Melt the butter, sugar and honey in a pan over a low heat. remove from heat and add the oats and bran and mix well. Spoon the mix into a brownie tin and flatten with a spoon. Bake for 20 mins. Mark into 10 bars in the tin. Cool. When cold, melt some Nutella, enough to give a good layer on the bars, then sprinkle over the chopped peanuts. Leave to cool then keep in a sealed box. Very rustic to look at, but very tasty. The hazelnut and cinnamon sticks were added by my grandson! Nice oaty base, the soft Nutella and then the crunch of the peanuts.