COOKBOOKS GALORE

I have wanted to make a fraisier since I saw Mary Berry making one, but it looked rather complicated. It was a special birthday for my friend, so I decided to have a go and was very happy with the result. It's not as perfect as Mary B's, but tasted good and was a great hit. I didn't use her recipe either, but one I found in a French magazine, which was giving recipes for using strawberries. I made the Genoisse sponge the day before to make it a little more solid for the fruit and cream. I also used crème fraiche instead of double cream. You need 500g strawberries, 500ml crème fraiche, 100g caster sugar  For the Genoise, you need 125g caster sugar, 100g flour, 75g melted butter and 4 eggs To make the sponge: preheat oven 180C/gas4     line a 28 cm springform cake tin, sides and bottom Over a pan of simmering water beat together the eggs and the sugar till they've doubled in volume and become frothy, then take off the heat. Carefully add the flour and

I seem to have made quite a lot of calorific pudds lately, so I wanted to make something simple but delicious. I love French madeleines, so decided these would be just right. I know that Proust's plain madeleine is perfection, but I wanted to make them different, so decided to add one of my favourite flavour combinations - apple and cinnamon. [I'm in apple mode atm!] I used a jar of apple purée instead of bothering to cook some. Madeleines look very simple, but I have had a few disasters making them. Some recipes say that you use brown butter, but you have to keep a close eye on the butter or it burns [one disaster]. Then to get the traditional hump, you need to put the batter in the fridge for 1-2 hours, and some recipes tell you to put the tin in the fridge too for an hour before using. One chef even puts his tin in the freezer. Then another says before you bake them you must heat a baking sheet in the oven, and put the madeleine tin on this. Did I say they were simple?