Baking Bo

Sunday is my baking day. Today I woke up with a craving for peanut butter cookies and I love tiny cookies sandwiched together with delicious ganache or buttercream. So I created these! Ingredients for cookies 125g soft unsalted butter 75g caster sugar 75g golden caster sugar 150g peanut butter 1 egg 175g self raising flour For buttercream 50g softened butter 110g icing sugar 1 tbsp cocoa powder hot water Method 1. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 160.  2. Cream together the butter and sugars. Add the peanut butter and egg.  Add the flour to make a dough. 3. Chill for an hour or so to make the dough easier to handle. Roll into tiny balls and place on the prepared baking trays. Using a fork, flatten the dough balls and make a criss-cross pattern. 4. Bake for 12/15 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack. 5. While the cookies are baking, make the buttercream. Cream the butter until soft. Then add the sugar and cocoa powder and

I recently downloaded the NHS Smart Choices recipe app. I made this smoothie for me and my friend Gail after our evening run tonight.  Ingredients 1 large banana 150g frozen berries 150g low-fat natural yogurt 750ml milk Method 1. Cut up the banana and put into a blender along with the berries (there is no need to thaw them beforehand)  2. Add the yogurt and milk and blend for 15-20 seconds until all mixed together and a deep lilac colour. Serve immediately.  I would recommend sieving after blending too as you still get little bits of berry and banana that don't totally break down and I hate drinks with lumps! X Bo

I finally had chance to make one of John Whaite's recipes from his demo today! I first made madeleines when I was 12 after seeing Rick Stein make them on his French Odyssey program in 2005. I was fascinated to see how John made them with chocolate and they were delicious.  Ingredients 150g egg (approx. weighed out of their shells) 150g caster sugar (approx. should be equal to the eggs) 135g plain flour 15g cocoa powder 150g unsalted butter, melted and cooled 200g melted chocolate Method 1. Grease a madeleine tray with melted butter and chill.  2. Whisk eggs and sugar with an electric mixer to the ribbon stage. This is when you lift the beaters up and trail a ribbon of mixture it stays on the surface for a second or two. Sift the flour and cocoa powder in and fold in, along with the melted butter, using a spatula or metal spoon. Chill for an hour.  3. Preheat the oven to 170 (fan) Pipe the madeleine mixture into the tray and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the tin immed

Any regular readers or friends of mine will tell you how much I love the Great British Bake Off. I became obsessed while watching the third season and fell in love with all the bakers. When Cathryn and Sarah-Jane had their cake stall in the Carfax in Horsham, where I live, I went most weeks. They were both lovely and very friendly. For Christmas this year I received John Whaite's book and I got James Morton's bread book for my Dad!  So when I got tickets to see John Whaite, the winner of season three, I was very excited.  I went with my parents to Denman College in Abingdon. It's a campus for members of the WI to go to do courses in everything! Baking, sewing, etc. Some courses are open to everyone, like this one... although my Dad was still the only man in the room, apart from John!  John did three bakes, all of which will feature on my blog at some point soon! He made chocolate madeleines, cranberry and orange scones and passion fruit meringue tarlets.