French crepes are thin and delicate pancakes and can be filled with anything you like – nutella, jam, cream, sugar, fruit … 

This recipe can be used immediately after making it. It doesn’t contain sugar because it really is sweet enough when you add your toppings! (This batter can also be used for savoury recipes – coming soon!)

For 600ml of batter (double the ingredients for 1.2 litres)

Ingredients :

• 160g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• A good pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or melted butter)
• 330ml of milk

Method :

1. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer
2.  Beat in flour and salt until smooth; stir in oil (or butter if using)
3. Heat a lightly frying pan
4. When hot use a ladle to pour the batter onto the pan
5. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible
6. Brown on both sides and serve

You can add flavours to your crepe mixture such as  a few drops of orange blossom water (my favourite!), rum or orange rind etc

Or cake aux abricots in french! Apricots are plentiful this time of year and this is an easy way to use them to make a cake thats perfect as an afternoon snack.

Ingredients :

• 6 ripe apricots
• 3 large eggs
• 130g softened butter
• 125g sugar
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar
• 250g flour (I replaced half the flour with cornflour as this gives a lighter texture to the cake but just using flour is good too!)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 large pinch of cinnamon

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Wash and dry the apricots, remove the stone and chop
3. Sieve the flour and the baking powder together
4. Use a fork to mash the softened butter until you get a beurre pommade*
5. Mix in the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the cinammon
6. Add in each egg separately, mixing well each time
7. Fold in the flour
8. Add in the chopped apricots
9. Bake in oven for 45 minutes (keep an eye on the cake, it might take less time)

*A beurre pommade is butter that has been let come to room temperature and then mixed with a fork or spoon until you get a spreadable mixture

Sablé cookies are a traditional Christmas fare in France, although they are well loved all year round 🙂 They are from the Normandy region and are delicious plain but you can also dip them in dark chocolate or vary the flavourings – almond, orange zest, cinnamon etc.

The word sable means sand in French which is the term used when the English use the term “breadcrumbs”, as you rub the cold butter, flour and sugar together at the start of the recipe to make texture like breadcrumbs (or sand) before adding the egg.

Ingredients :

• 250g flour
• 125g butter
• 75g sugar
• 1 egg
• A few drops of vanilla essence
• I egg yolk (for brushing cookies before baking)

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Rub the flour, butter and sugar together until you get a breadcrumb texture
3. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and knead the dough into a ball
4. Leave the dough to rest for at least 30 minutes
5. Place on a smooth surface and roll out
6. Use cutters to cut out the cookie shapes
7. Brush the sablé cookies with egg yolk (to get a nice gold colour)
8. Bake in oven at 180°C for 12-15 minutes (keep an eye on them, once they are nice and golden remove from oven and place on cooling rack

Chocolate and pears go so well together, the dark chocolate and sweet moist pears make a lovely combination. I have already posted a pear and chocolate loaf , ideal with afternoon tea, this is more of a dessert which is perfect served with a scoop of ice-cream.

At this time of the year you can use fresh pears, making sure they are nice and ripe. You can always use a tin of pears too though!

Ingredients :

• 200 g dark chocolat (70%)
• 150 g butter
• 120 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 130 g self-raising flour
• 4 pears

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Melt the butter and chocolat together in a bain-marie (put ingredients in bowl and place bowl in saucepan of water over a low heat)
3. Mix in the sugar
4. Separate the eggs into whites and yolks and add the yolks to the mixture
5. Fold in the flour
6. Beat the egg whites (with a pinch of salt) until stiff and gently fold them into the rest of the ingredients
7. Peel and core pears and slice in half
8. Grease and flour tin, place the pear halves on the bottom and cover with chocolate cake mixture
9. Bake in oven at 180°C for 40 minutes
10. Remove from tin immediately and place on rack to cool

Chocolate Pear Cake

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A biscuit roulé (literally meaning rolled biscuit) is very similar to a swiss roll and particularly popular at this time of year as a base for a christmas log cake, called a bûche de Noel in french.

The actual base for the cake is called a ‘genoise’ which is a sponge cake that uses whole eggs and is a basic building block of much French patisserie and is used for making several different types of cake.

Ingredients :

• 4 eggs
• 150 g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
• 125g self-raising flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• Jam or nutella

Method :

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
2. Beat the eggs, sugar (caster sugar and vanilla sugar) and the salt well with an electric mixer until pale, light and fluffy
3. Fold in the flour gently
4. Pour the mixture onto an oven tray that you have lined with greaseproof paper
5. Bake for 12 minutes
6. Prepare a clean, damp tea-towel and place it on top of the oven tray and flip it over so that your cake is on the damp tea-towel
7. Roll the cake with the tea-towel and leave to cool
8. When the cake is cold gently unroll and spread with jam or nutella, re-roll it and sprinkle with a bit of icing sugar et voilà!

*Make sure to roll the cake when it is just out of the oven and still pliable

*You can make a chocolate base by substituting 25g of cocoa for 25g of flour

A gougère is a baked savory choux pastry made of choux dough mixed with cheese, usually gruyère or comté but you can use emmenthal or any hard cheese really – even cheddar!

Ingredients :

• 4 eggs
• 100g grated gruyère (or you can use any hard cheese you have – cheddar, parmesan etc)
• 60g unsalted butter
• 150g flour
• 1 pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 210°C
2. Pour 25cl of water into a saucepan and add the butter, chopped in cubes and the salt
3. Bring to the boil
4. Add the flour and stir well with a wooden spatula
5. Continue stirring constantly for a few minutes until the dough pulls away from the side of the pot and forms a ball
6. Remove from heat and add each egg , one by one, mixing well between each one (Don’t worry if the batter separates and looks curdled at first, keep beating, and it will come together eventually!)
7. Add the grated cheese and nutmeg
8. Using two teaspoons make small balls of dough and place them on an oven tray covered in parchment paper (dip your spoons in a bowl of hot water between each scoop to avoid dough sticking to them)
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until well golden

Madeleines are one of France’s  favourite small cakes. In this recipe I’ve used a madeleine tin to make savoury bites for an aperitif – perfect size to eat with drinks and a little surprising for guests to see madeleines cakes that are actually savoury!

This recipe uses jambon cru, which means cured ham. You can use one of several types of cured ham – parma ham from Italy, Serrano ham form Spain etc. Obviously being in France I alway use Bayonne ham!

Ingredients :

• 3 eggs
• 150g self-raising flour
• 10cl sunflower oil
• 12.5cl hot milk
• 100g grated gruyere (or cheddar or any hard cheese you fancy!)
• 175g cured ham
• 75g green olives
• Salt and Pepper

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Slice ham and olives
3. In a large bowl beat the eggs with the flour, salt and pepper
4. Slowly add the oil and the hot milk, mixing all the time with a whisk
5. Add the grated cheese, ham and olives
6. Spoon the mixture into a madeleine tin and cook for 15 minutes

Yet another loaf cake – my most used tin in the kitchen! Pears are in season at the moment, for this recipe just make sure they are nice and soft before using.

Ingredients :

• 3 pears
• 150g self-raising flour
• 80g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 90g butter (melted)
• 50 g dark chocolate

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Mix the flour, sugar, eggs and melted butter together
3. Peel and chop pears in small cubes
4. Break the chocolate into small pieces (or use ready made chocolate chips)
5. Add the pear and chocolate into the cake mixture and pour into loaf tin
6. Sprinkle some sliced almonds and chocolate on top of the cake
7. Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes at 180°C

This is another traditional french cake that is very popular at goûter time and is a real favourite with french kids.

Ingredients :

• 125g butter
• 200g self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons of milk
• 200g sugar
• Vanilla essence
• 25g cocoa powder

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Cream the butter and the sugar together
3. Add the eggs, milk and flour and mix well
4. Separate the mixture in two halves
5. Add a few drops of vanilla essence to one half
6. Add the 25g of drinking chocolate to the other
7. Grease and flour your loaf tin
8. Pour in some of the vanilla mixture, followed by the chocolate mixture and repeat
9. Bake in pre-heated oven for 40 minutes

Financiers are a french pâtisserie made with ground almonds.  In 1890 the pâtissier Lasne re-visited an old recipe from the 17th century for a small oval cake called visitandines (called after the religious order of sisters who created the cake), using the same ingredients but changing the shape. As his shop was situated in the financial district in Paris and almost all his clients worked there, he called his cake a “financier” and gave it the shape of a gold bar.

Financiers are light and spongey and are a perfect accompaniment for afternoon tea. I have added raspberries to the recipe but you can make them without or juggle around with other flavours!

They are traditionally rectangular shape but if you don’t have this type of tin you can use a mini-muffin tin or a small bun tin instead.

Ingredients :

• 140g icing sugar
• 125g ground almonds
• 50g flour
• 150g butter (beurre noisette)
• 3 egg whites
• Raspberries
• Salt

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Make a “beurre noisette” by melting the butter over a low heat until it turns golden brown (and gives off a nutty aroma hence the name) and leave to cool
3. In a bowl mix the sugar, flour, ground almonds and a pinch of salt
4. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat to a soft peak
5. Fold the egg whites into the dry ingredients
6. Mix in the cooled, melted butter
7. Spoon the mixture into the financier tin and place 2 or 3 raspberries on top, pressing down slightly
8. Bake in oven for 15 minutes