Cantuccini

Cantuccini – an ideal home-baked present

This wonderful recipe came to me via a small – and which unfortunately closed in December 2011 – cookery school  called Brook Hall in Winslow; run by Stephen Bulmer and his wife Joanna the course I attended was a day’s Italian cookery. Among the wonderful things we cooked – pasta (of course), risotto and gnocchi – was this recipe, and I’ve made it a few times. It’s a grown-up biscuit, with some lovely flavours. I make it as a home-baked gift, especially good for Christmas. If you’re a friend and wondering why you never got your present, it’s because they never make it as far as the wrapping!

Review – The Kitchen Garden School

Once upon a time there was a very nice lady who ran a kitchen garden school. The very nice lady taught all sorts of things (from baking to food photography and from gardening to keeping chickens) but one of the things she specialises in is bread. One day, she happened across a post by a chap about his first attempt at baking a sourdough loaf. Oh dear, thought the kind lady. Poor chap. What a shame. I know, she thought, I’ll invite him on my sourdough course and then he’ll bake happily ever after! And without any more ado, the nice, kind lady wrote to the poor chap, and offered him a free place on her next course. And, gentle reader, do you know what? He accepted!

Frangipane Mince Pies

‘Tis the season to be jolly – Christmas is incoming on all sides. Having had a mini mince pie freebie the other day, Mrs S decided this weekend that the thing she really, really wanted more than anything else in the world was a mince pie. There’s an M&S mini food store 10 minutes’ walk away but I suggested that I could provide her requirements in-house. I’d seen a recipe in Pastry (by Richard Bertinet) that looked quite grown-up and different, given that the topping was frangipane rather than open or pastry, as traditionally seen. I thought the time was right to see if I could make a pastry-based Christmas goodie.