Sable Biscuits

We had our lovely new neighbours around for supper last night. It's only taken us a year to get round to it! We had a wonderful time where the conversation flowed effortlessly and before we knew what had happened it was 1am! Not the best time to go to bed when you have toddlers to get up with in the morning. My mum was here and was not only great company but also effortlessly took on some of the cooking which was a huge help. We had sliced lamb with hummus, Greek salad, sweet potato and my mums crisply, sliced potatoes and garlic broccoli.  I wanted to make dessert but didn't want to spend ages baking (busman's holiday!) As we had summer berries and Greek Yoghurt in the fridge I decided to quickly knock up some light crumbly shortbread type biscuits to elevate a simple assembly job into something dinner party worthy. I really should have put a lot of the unbaked biscuits in the fridge because I ended up eating rather a lot of the left-overs the next day....

So here's the recipe:

450g/ 1lb plain flour

165g/5 1/2oz icing sugar

300g/10oz butter

2tsp vanilla extract

*1 egg white

2 tbsp granulated sugar

Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Mix the flour and icing sugar together and rub in the butter. Once the mixture begins to come together add the vanilla essence. Lightly knead the dough then roll into four x 4cm wide logs. wrap them in cling film and place in the freezer to firm up of an hour or so )If you are in a rush try 10 mins in the freezer). If you don't want to make too many you can store some of the logs in the freezer for up to 3 months. Preheat the oven to 190 C/ 375 f/ Gas mark 5. Brush each log with the egg white and then roll in the sugar. Cut into 6mm/1/4 inch thick slices. Place the cookie slices on the sheets and bake for 8-10 mins. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve with mixed berries and yoghurt, mousse or syllabub. Or simply a cup of tea!

*If you are vegan or intolerant to eggs you can leave this out and just sprinkle the sugar onto the biscuits. Vegans can also swap the butter for soya margarine.

Sugar Free Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

100g dried apicots

300g grated carrot

3 eggs

100mls sunflower oil

2 tbsp water

50g sultanas

50g walnuts

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp all spice

1 baking powder

100g ground almonds

150g self-raising flour

Icing:

200g cream cheese (full fat)

100g butter

2 tbsp coconut flour (not desiccated)

2-3 tbsps maple syrup

Preheat oven to 170 degrees

Method:

Put the apricots in a pan with enough water to cover them.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 20 mins or until very soft.

Puree in a blender with a couple of tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Set aside.

Add the lightly beaten eggs to the carrots along with the oil, water and apricot puree.

Stir in the sultanas and walnuts.

Add the spices, baking powder and ground almonds to the flour. Stir to combine before folding into the carrot mixture.

Line the base of 2 x 6” tins with grease proof paper. Equally divide the mixture between the tins.

Bake in the oven for 30-40 mins, until a skewer comes out clean.

Place on a cooling rack to cool before trimming the tops and splitting each cake in half to give you 4 layers.

Icing:

Using an electric whisk beat together the cream cheese, butter and coconut flour. Add the maple syrup until you have a consistency of whipped cream. Then use a palette knife to spread the icing between each layer and on the top of the cake.

Decorate with walnut halves or slithers of dried apricot.

Raspberry & Beetroot Cake

This cake is delicious and has half as much sugar as this recipe would normally require. If you divide it into 14 portions there will be about 10g sugar per slice

Ingredients:

Cake:

7 eggs, separated

4 tbsp milk

3.5 oz/200ml sunflower oil

5oz/140g soft brown sugar

7oz/200g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

8oz/220g beetroot, grated

Icing:

150g mascarpone

100g cream cheese

25g/5 tsp icing sugar

100g raspberries

Raspberries & mint leaves to decorate

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C/ 325 f/ Gas 3

Using kitchen towel wipe the inside of 2 x 8 inch cake tins with oil.

Whisk egg yolks and milk together.

In another bowl whisk together oil and sugar.

Add to the egg yolks and mix.

Mix together the baking powder and plain flour.

Stir this into the batter followed by the beetroot.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they form stiff peaks.

Use a metal spoon to gently fold in the whites into the pink batter.

Divide the mixture between the 2 tins and bake in the pre heated oven

For about 30 mins until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean.

Remove from oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

Use a knife or metal spatula to run around the edge of the cake loosening it

from the tin.

To make the icing;

Whisk the mascarpone, cream cheese, icing sugar together and raspberries together.

The berries should be fairly blended but the icing will not be totally smooth.

Use the icing to fill and cover the cake.