Pasteís de Nata

2nd bake for 2023 - doesn't get much better than Portuguese Custard Tarts!!!

2nd bake for 2023 🙂 Delicious crunchy pastry with luscious creamy custard filling 🙂 I have made this before from a cookbook I bought in Portugal many years ago. As I’m having fun with baking this year, and that means, baking recipes from my cookbooks, I thought what better way to spend a new years day than making flaky pastry from scratch! It sounds hard, but really, it’s just flour and water…

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Berry Clafoutis

Delicious old-fashioned pudding from the Limousin region in France from Ray McVinnie "Everyday*Sunday" Simple, full of berries, healthy!!!

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The 114th Bake: Summer Pudding Alaska

The 114th Bake: Summer Pudding Alaska The last bake of my 13month & 13 day challenge to bake all the recipes from Great British Bakeoff Big Book of Baking. I did it!! #greatbritishbakeoff #ididit #showstoppernancyssummerpuddingdalaska #bakersdozenbakeoff

The last bake and this was one of the scariest looking bakes in the book. So after 13 months and 13 days I have finally baked all the recipes out of the Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking as well as 30 of my own recipes. Exhausting, but fun, fun fun!!! 🙂 I have learnt so much about baking and time management too. And it just shows me that you can achieve whatever you set your mind to. I…

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The 113th Bake: Black Forest Chocolate Fondants

The 113th Bake: Black Forest Chocolate Fondants Magical and full of cherries, brandy and oozy chocolate filling, the best. #thegreatbritishbakeoff #challengenearlydone #greatchocolatefondants #chocolatefondants

There’s nothing like the smell of fresh herbs and freshly blended tea. I recently bought some tea from the market. One brand appealed to me from Grow Eat Heal. It was called heart & soul, and was full of rosebuds and camomile. Sounded yum and smells delicious. hhttps://www.groweatheal.co.nz/The other I bought for my husband, called Anxietea. Who doesn’t need a bit of de-stressing in their…

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The 112th Bake: Mary's Double Chocolate Mousse Entremets

The 112th Bake: Mary's Double Chocolate Mousse Entremets Classic French dessert, originally served as a sweet treat between courses, now a decadent rich dessert #entremet #sorich #MaryBerry #thegreatbritishbakeoffbigbookofbaking #Monzu

This is a showstopper by the way. Not sure my sponge was up to par, but they certainly looked the part, cuteness wise and tasted like a true showstopper. Speaking of showstoppers, have you ever wanted to go to a restaurant for years, never gotten around to it, then the restaurant closes. That happened to me with an Italian restaurant in the city. But fortunately for me it has reopened, under…

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The 111th Bake: Paul's Povitica

The 111th Bake: Paul's Povitica Eastern European sweet bread that's full of walnuts, cocoa, vanilla and sugar in multiple layers was a treat to make and a treat to eat. #povitica #Paulhollywood #decadenttreat #greatbritishbakeoffbigbookofbaking #nearlydone

Special things are worth preserving and sitting down to a cup of tea the other morning I saw birds in my newly fruiting fig tree. Ahhhhh. I love figs, and it’s the first year it’s fruited (I banned the husband from pruning it so there’s a pretty good crop!) So I raced out in my pajamas to chase away the birds and save my figs. I now pick them slightly early to beat the birds to the prize. I…

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The 110th Bake: Lamb, Apricot, Coriander & Green Chilli Pie

The 110th Bake: Lamb, Apricot, Coriander & Green Chilli Pie What a great combination for a lamb pie. #lambpie #slowcookedmeat #lambapricotcoriander&greenchillipie #savourybake #greatbritishbakeoffbigbookofbaking

That’s right you heard it here first, but what a great combination. Dried fruit in you lamb, chilli and coriander pie. Not only that, it was full of butternut pumpkin and ginger!! Yum! I really want to get into cooking like this on a regular basis, where you finely chop and then fry off a mixture of aromatics and spices (in this case), onion, chopped ginger, garlic, chilli and ground coriander to…

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The 109th Bake: Apple Treacle Tart

The 109th Bake: Apple Treacle Tart Easy to make tart that tastes like sweet apple and lemon zest with crusty wholemeal pastry. Mmmm #goodeasyrecipe #appletreacletart #youcandoit #bakeaway #greatbritishbakeoffbigbookofbaking #greatbritishbakeoffbakes

This was not a hard bake. With only 5 bakes to go, it feels like the end of a marathon and everything is a bit of an effort. I’m trying to grind on and get a second wind because I do still have some quite complicated bakes to do!!! Ahhhhhh. So this was a pleasant treat, a wee treacle tart with just a few ingredients. It’s actually one of those tarts you could whip up at the last minute if you…

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Potato skins

Potato skins are the best!!! #fullofffibre #yummy #eatmorefibre #adecadentreat #easytomake

I have only 6 bakes to go, but having been away for a week, I now need to buckle down and do them. In the meantime…

I was peeling the potatoes to make mashed potato.  It’s been a while but the kids and husband love mashed potato and sometimes its just fun to please.  I looked at these potato skins in the sink, all full of fibre and thought they were just too good to go to waste. 

So I…

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The 108th Bake: Mary's Dobos Torte

The 108th Bake: Mary's Dobos Torte The most spectacular 12 layered cake with caramel butter cream, praline and caramelized hazelnuts, but Ohhh what a bake!!! #12layeredsponge #hardbake #gotitrightintheend #yum

I am nearly done with my bakes! I can’t believe it. This is the last cake from the recipe book and WOW, what a cake. But, this spectacular torte was a mare to make. I laid the ingredients out on the bench and it took me at least 36 hours to get up the courage to start. Finally one evening before dinner, I made the decision to make the sponges, all 12 of them!!! So I cut measured circles out of…

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The 107th Bake: Rye & Spelt Rolls

The 107th Bake: Rye & Spelt Rolls Homemade bread is great for a workout, and the aroma of freshly baking bread that wafts throughout the house is like no other. #rye&speltrolls #honeyrolls #makebread #homemadebread #funworkout

golden and delcious

It’s funny when you go to the shops for one thing and come away with an eclectic array of items you didn’t go in for. Happened to me at the hardware store the other day, I came away with a washing basket, yoga mat and a pink hibiscus, after going in for a paint brush! Keeps life interesting I guess, as does homemade bread making, so much fun. And this one was made by hand.…

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Plum Sauce

Plum Sauce I love making plum sauce and having homemade plum sauce in the fridge. #plumsauce #gotothaveit #divine #plumsaucerecipe

Something for the fridge or pantry that you can whip up in a spare hour. It doesn’t take long, just chop, boil and done!

I love homemade plum sauce and I love making it. Plums are so cheap at the moment, so I bought a bag while I was at the supermarket and voila, had my ingredients all set to go. To make the plum sauce, you simply cut up the plums, take out the pips, then place them in a…

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The 106th Bake: Chocolate Fudge Tart

The 106th Bake: Chocolate Fudge Tart Try this decadent dessert for a special occassion or just for fun. SO Yum. #chocolatetart #chocolatefudgetart #doit #decadentdessert #greatbritishbakeoffbigbookofbaking

This chocolate fudge tart took a while but was extremely worth it. It’s already half gone and I’ve barely had a slice. Daughter was going to desert with friends so took a full quarter, then son came in and wammo another quarter was gone. I’m thinking about putting the last half away for a rainy day in the freezer. It is made with walnut pastry, and has a decadent fudge centre full of walnuts ( I…

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The 105th Bake: Roasted Vegetable Torte

The 105th Bake: Roasted Vegetable Torte This is a delicious savoury torte made out of crepes, roasted veges and feta. #makesomecrepes #savourybake #yummydinner #roastveges #gotoit #delicious

Simple ingredients made amazing, that’s how I would describe this recipe. It looks extremely complicated but it’s actually not and I would make it again. Everybody knows how to make pancakes right. Well these were made with wholemeal flour, so quite wholesome. This torte is simply pancakes layered with roasted veges, red and yellow peppers, aubergine, zucchini (and I threw in some beetroot and…

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The 104th Bake: Miniature Chocolate & Cherry Cakes

The 104th Bake: Miniature Chocolate & Cherry Cakes A fabulously rich chocolate cherry cake #chocolatecherrycake #thebestcombination #gotoit #birthdaycake

One miniature and one large chocolate cherry cake!

My miniature chocolate & cherry cakes were not so miniature. I decided to make a birthday cake for my son, born on Valentines Day, – cherries and chocolate, perfect!!

Given that I didn’t have the 16 miniature ramekins, it seemed like too good an opportunity to waste, so big birthday cake it was. I have to say, if you’ve ever thought…

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The 102nd Bake: Dundee Whisky Cake

The 102nd Bake: Dundee Whisky Cake A rich whisky filled fruit cake, mmmmmm #whisky #goldlabel #greatbake #dundeewhiskycake

Have you ever made a mistake and thought, I can’t believe that just happened. We go through life on a wish and a prayer, not anticipating mistakes and mishaps but always shocked and annoyed when they do happen. (Speaking of which I just accidentally posted the 103rd bake before this one, the 102nd!!!) I went to the beach with my daughter the other day, quick trip as she had to be somewhere later.…

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The 103rd Bake: Little Crab Soufflé

The 103rd Bake: Little Crab Soufflés These rich decadent treats filled with alcohol and cream are delicious #crabsouffle #littletreats #souffle #exquisite

I have never made a soufflé, couldn’t have told you what was in it or how to make it. Neither had I tried one!!! All I could imagine was light as air, and cheesy texture. And I was right. It was so rich this recipe, full of a lot of cream and eggs (of course) and it certainly lived up to my expectations of a soufflé, light, rich and delicious. To make the soufflé I chopped up the crab into small…

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