All posts tagged: almond

The Canelé Revolution! Yvonne & Guite Review and Interview

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In case you don’t know by now, I’m a bit of a Francophile, especially when it comes to food. Although I’m usually more of a fan of savoury French food than sweet. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll happily tuck into a macaron or a croissant any day, but given the opportunity to snack on something at home, I would usually opt for something savoury. When I was approached by a new London-based baking business called Yvonne & Guite, asking if I’d ever tried canelés, I shamefully had to say no. But when I did a bit of research, I realised I had tried them, I was just unaware of the name. They’re very unusually shaped and as my experience goes to show, the name hasn’t quite caught on in the UK yet, but I truly believe they’re going to go down a storm in the British confectionery scene very soon! Yvonne & Guite is owned by Caroline Coutand-Gavriloiu, who has loved to bake ever since she was a child in her parents’ kitchen. Her grandmothers, Yvonne …

Cooking Korma at Home with Tastesmiths

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As many of you may have seen, I attended a Tastesmiths event last week, where we were given a lesson in cooking with fresh ingredients, using the Tastesmiths kits. You can read my full write-up here. At the event, we were given the choice of trying out the Madras or Korma, and my cooking partner and I went for the Madras. I was allowed to take a kit with me to try at home, so I thought I’d give the Korma a go this time. Korma is one of  my favourite curries, simply because I love the flavour. But I’m always a bit embarrassed to order it when out at a restaurant with friends, as it feels a bit like the ‘wimp’ option. What I loved about the Tastesmiths kit, is that you could make any curry as spicy as you want – including Korma! It’s the solution I’ve been looking for all this time! On Sunday evening, Tim and I used the kit for dinner – it was really fun to cook together, as …

Easter Baking: Simnel Tear and Share

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I’d been pondering over what to bake over Easter for some time. For the past few years I’ve made cookie dough meringues (I’ll put the recipe on here one day, they’re incredible), an apple pie and creme egg brownies. But none of them had been using ‘traditional’ Easter flavours. I watched The Great British Bake Off Easter Masterclass, where Mary Berry made a Simnel Cake and Paul Hollywood made hot cross buns (he also made Tsoureki, but I don’t think I’m quite there yet, as much as I love it, it looks quite challenging to bake!) After browsing various websites, I came across a recipe on BBC Good Food for a Simnel Tear and Share, which combines the flavours of a Simnel Cake, Hot Cross Buns and Chelsea Buns. So I thought I’d give it a go! I’d actually never baked using yeast before (I’ve usually made cakes rather than bread) so I was expecting it to be a bit of a challenge. But look how my beauties turned out!! This is the recipe, as …