RecipeMuncher

Carluccio’s chocolate grissini sticks are perfect with a cappuccino!Summer is over, the kids are back at school, the weather is autumnal and Christmas is on its way. Christmas? Oh no, I can’t bear to think about it - we didn’t even get a decent summer this year and pretty soon, it’s going to be cold(er), dark and miserable.When it comes to Christmas, you can usually find me banging my head

This time last week I was at Food Blogger Connect 2011 (FBC), thanks to Olives from Spain, who generously gave away 4 tickets to the event via Twitter.

Held at the Hempel Hotel, FBC is a 3-day conference for food bloggers, covering a variety of food related topics and just about everything you wanted to know about blogging. Attracting food bloggers from all over Europe and beyond, there are

Before the strawberry season comes to an end, here’s my summer pudding with a difference. It’s a great way to use fresh summer fruits, you can vary the quantities and put whatever fruit takes your fancy. Try using fresh peaches and blueberries, or strawberries and bananas - the combinations are endless. I made my own sponge cake using the same ratio in weight of butter, sugar, eggs and cake

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2011 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved..

Preserves and Pickles is a book dedicated to jam and jelly making, preserving and pickling. Not only are there recipes for the classic raspberry jam, lemon curd and apricot chutney, there are some exciting new recipes such as tutti frutti jam and lemon & fig marmalade. The book is by Gloria Nicol, a journalist and photographer living the good life in rural Britain. She has a online shop selling

I know, it’s like trying to catch a bus around here, you don’t get one for ages and then several come along in quick succession! I’m talking about my macarons though, and these are filled with white chocolate cream and fresh raspberries, perfect timing for ‘V’ day!I tried a new recipe, using the Italian meringue method and it made the smoothest, most beautiful macarons I have ever turned out +

It’s HERE! World Nutella Day 2011!Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso solemnly declare Saturday, February 5th “World Nutella Day 2011″ – a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella.And to celebrate I’ve made some little Nutella cookie tarts. I saw this idea over at Tulip’s Kitchen ages ago, here is my version made with Nutella

I’ve made quite a few different flavoured macarons, but here are my first lemon ones - I’m now wondering why I didn’t make them before. Tangy with a creamy filling, they are based on that famous dessert Lemon Meringue Pie, and are far easier to make. Lemon zest is added to the macaron shells and after baking they are filled with lemon curd and cream.Using the 1 egg macaron quantity as in my

When I was asked if I would like to try the newly launched family sized ActiFry made by Tefal, I jumped at the chance. I had seen the magazine adverts and was curious about the fryer. The fryer’s main selling point is that it can cook food - such as chips - using only ½ a spoonful of oil!Before I tell you about the performance of the ActiFry, I want to mention the appearance. It looks very

Happy New Year!Many thanks to everyone for reading this blog and a special thank you to all those who made a recipe or commented on my posts. I’ve had a lovely blog break and am looking forward to 2011.I was going to do a round-up of my favourite recipes from 2010, but to be truthful, I enjoyed every recipe I made and really couldn’t decide. So instead I have done a year list in photos, where you

I love making bread, and this one oozes Christmas with its festive shape and ingredients. You can use your favourite dried fruits and nuts, I chose to use a pack of Forest Feast ‘Dried Cherries and Berries’ and some roasted sliced almonds. Some Stollen breads have quite a bit of marzipan inside, but I prefer a smaller amount - I grate and spread it over the dough before rolling up.The bread can

Last week I had the good fortune to attend the newly opened Waitrose Cookery School, and I was extremely impressed.Conveniently situated above the large John Barnes Waitrose on Goldhurst Terrace, London, the beautifully kitted out and scrupulously clean state-of-the-art cookery school is open to everyone. They welcome the absolute novice to the nouvelle cuisine expert. Run by an impressive team

I get quite a lot of emails asking me to ‘blog’ advertise food, events, offers, gadgets etc and I know I’m not alone. Most of them are not quite in keeping with what I am trying to do here on my blog, but having said that, I know that I have a large number of readers who do not have food blogs and they might like to know of some of the Christmas baking competitions and events that are

Welsh cakes are something I have been meaning to make for a while, so when I was thumbing through the new book ‘Leon: Naturally Fast Food’ by Henry Dimbleby & John Vincent, I was please to see a recipe for them.But before the book there was Leon, a chain of fast food restaurants, founded on the twin principles that food can both Taste Good and Do You Good. The first one opened in Carnaby

How are your cupcake decorating skills? Tesco’s have just launched a fabulous Christmas cupcake decorating competition, and two lucky winners will get to spend an afternoon cooking alongside a celebrity chef! There are also 10 runner up prizes of a cupcake decorating kit.I made some vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting, using the Tesco’s ‘Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting’ recipe. The recipe

"What is a whoopie pie?" That is the question my mum asked me when I said I would be making some from a new book called ‘The Whoopie Pie Book’ by Claire Ptak.Whoopies are becoming increasingly popular and have even threatened to take over from the much loved cupcake. While not actually being a pie or a typical cake, I can tell those who have yet to come across a whoopie, that they are two small

Another delightful book that I received recently was ‘Tapas and Other Spanish Plates to Share’. Gorgeous photos accompanying every recipe, this book is a must for tapas lovers. Traditional little Spanish nibbles, tapas have become extremely popular due to their variety and versatility. Not only can you serve them with pre-dinner drinks, they also make a great starter or lunch.In the book you will

Foodies will do almost anything for love cookbooks. Our shelves are overflowing with ones we have bought, scrounged and borrowed. I was recently sent some to review, it’s quite exciting getting an advance copy to peruse before it gets to the shops.I made two recipes from ‘Cinnamon, Spice & Warm Apple Pie’, a book with a perfect title for autumn/winter. It’s filled with the most wonderful warming,

Today is another World Bread Day - the fifth one!I tried to make something different this year, and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome! I had searched for ‘Pumpkin Bread’ online, and most of the recipes were for bread that looked similar in texture to cake, not what I would call true ‘bread’. So I fiddled with my regular bread recipe and came up with this version. You can add more spices

Yay for birthdays! A proper excuse to make cakes and special desserts! I came up with this strawberry-lemon thingy for my mum’s birthday last month, making use of the last of the British strawberries that I got from the local farmers’ market.There’s not really a recipe, as amounts will vary depending upon the size of your strawberries and dessert rings, but it is easy to make and can be put

Wow, where has the last year gone to? It seems to have flown by! My eldest son left for his 2nd year of university today, and my younger one is now in the sixth form doing his A levels. Children grow up so fast, before you know it they are off. It made me think that every second we share with our loved ones is precious. Every hug counts.I was in my early twenties when I lost my father to cancer.

Here’s a recipe I put together during the summer when our raspberries were ripe and plentiful, and I wanted a different kind of ice cream. It’s similar to an Eton mess but frozen, and the strawberries are swapped for raspberries. I also added some chopped white chocolate - because everything tastes better with chocolate right?Frozen Raspberry Kent MessI’ve called it a ‘Kent’ mess and - you never

Here’s a recipe I put together during the summer when our raspberries were ripe and plentiful, and I wanted a different kind of ice cream. It’s similar to an Eton mess but frozen, and the strawberries are swapped for raspberries. I also added some chopped white chocolate - because everything tastes better with chocolate right?Frozen Raspberry Kent MessI’ve called it a ‘Kent’ mess and - you never

Following on from my Kinvara Smoked Salmon post from last month, here are two more smoked salmon ideas.Smoked salmon can be turned into easy party/picnic food with the minimum of fuss and these little salmon tartlets can be served hot or cold.Crustless Smoked Salmon TartletsYou can make all sorts of variations of these tartlets. Instead of the salmon you can add green chillies & bacon, or sun