Brie Crescents – savoury croissants
From Stop and Shop Enjoy as an appetizer, or a starter, these crescents can be prepared in advance, frozen and thawed as convenient. Perfect...
All-butter shortcrust pastry
From Sainsbury’s Basic all-butter shortcrust pastry recipe for pies and quiches. Serves: 4 Preparation time: 10 Minutes Cooking time: 20 Minutes Cooling Time: 30 Minutes...
Sprinkles by Jackie Alpers – review
Baking is, thank goodness, enjoying something of a revival. We are reconnecting with some old-fashioned culinary values – the kitchen filled with tempting aromas, a...
The Nuns and Tarts of Alentejo, Portugal – travel review
Portugal is on the very edge of Europe and often overlooked in favour of its more vocal neighbour, Spain. But this country has so much...
Cooking with Flowers by Miche Bacher – review
You might think that cooking with flowers is pushing the culinary envelope. It’s perhaps reminiscent of the long-gone hippie era and its ethos of peace,...
Tiong Bahru Bakery by Gontran Cherrier, Singapore – review
For years it was referred to as Mei Ren Wu (Mei Ren Wo) or “den of beauties” in Chinese, as many rich men housed their...
The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2013 – cookbook review
America’s PBS TV channel has offered America’s Test Kitchen to its US viewers for decades. Now we can find PBS in the UK and it’s...
No Need to Knead by Suzanne Dunaway – review
If you love cooking you will likely have wanted to try baking your own bread but it’s equally possible that you lost your nerve and...
Macarons by Pierre Hermé – review
Pierre Hermé is the fourth generation of a family of bakers from Alsace in France. He has been working and learning his trade since he...
The America’s Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook – review
We in the UK can now watch America’s Test Kitchen, hosted by Chris Kimball, on PBS. That’s a non-commercial TV station from the US and...
Celebrity Bake Book – Mary Berry – cookbook review
It’s a feel-good cookbook in every regard. It’s in support of The Ben Kinsella Trust, which was set up to raise awareness of knife crime...
Pure Vanilla by Shauna Sever – review
It once was a flavour or, more honestly, a non-flavour that harked back to my now-distant youth. Vanilla was the ice cream you chose when...
The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook by Lindsay Landis – review
Surely we have all licked out the bowl after mum has made cookies. But let’s make it clear what we mean by a cookie. A...
Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts by Alice Medrich – review
It’s no surprise that I love cooking. I bake bread, make pies, curries, casseroles and roasts but, to tell the truth, I have never managed...
How Do You Measure Up? by Shirley Bond – review
I am a travel book reviewer and a cookbook reviewer and How Do You Measure Up? falls into neither of those categories …but on the other...
A Passion for Cheese by Paul Gayler – review
A Passion for Cheese is another classy book by Paul Gayler. The visual delight is supplied by, once again, Gus Filgate and his camera. The...
Love Food by Tina Bester – review
Well, I guess there are a couple of interpretations of the title, Love Food. That could be food to make for those you love; it...
The Great Book of Rhubarb by Elaine Lemm – review
This is another one of those foods that crosses the divide between vegetable and fruit. We have that same complication with the tomato, which is...
The Art of French Baking by Ginette Mathiot – review
Ginette Mathiot was one of the most celebrated French food writers. She was so respected that she was awarded Officier de la Légion d’Honneur by...
The Golden Book of Desserts by Carla Bardi – review
As a kid I didn’t have The Golden Book of Desserts but I would sit next to the radiogram (yes, there were such things and...