Black and Blueberry Friands

Image of friands on a cake plateWe’ve got lots of berries ripening in the garden – fat, juicy blackberries, late raspberries and blueberries on a bush given to us by friends visiting from the United States. The blueberry is still young so doesn’t have a lot of fruit on it yet. Rather than have the handful of berries vanish into a crumble (it’s too hot for crumbles anyway) I decided to make friands. Continue reading

Amaretti Berry Crumbles

Image of Amaretti biscuitsAdding Amaretti biscuits to the crumble mix gives it a lovely lift of almondy flavour that marries so well with fruit, especially blackberries and raspberries. I pinched the idea from the excellent Mark Hix but went a step further this time and added a slug of Amaretti liqueur to the fruit. Continue reading

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb

Image of rhubarb stems and chopped rhubarb

… or how to make three delicious puds from one pot of stewed rhubarb.

Stewed rhubarb – I don’t know about you but the words conjure up, for me, rather nasty school meals of overcooked, stringy rhubarb dolloped with gloopy custard. It doesn’t have to be like that. Continue reading

Cheesecake 1 – Mrs Portly 0

Image of rhubarb in a garden

It seemed like such a good idea – a nice creamy cheesecake to contrast with the poached rhubarb fresh from the garden.

The rhubarb was delicious. Roasted gently in its own juices and a liberal sprinkling of sugar, it kept its shape and gave a welcome zing of acidity.

But the cheesecake – what a disaster. Continue reading