This pear and almond tart or amandine aux poires is also known as Tarte Bourdaloue and was created around 1850 by a Parisian patissier on Rue Bourdaloue – hence the name!  It can be made with fresh pears (ideally poached first) or you can use tinned pears which work perfectly.

Ingredients :

• 1 shortbread pastry
• 100g softened butter
• 100g sugar
• 100g ground almonds
• 2 eggs
• A few drops of almond essence
• Sliced almonds (optional)
• Apricot jelly to glaze*

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C
2. Roll out chilled dough and line tin, place in freezer for 15 minutes
3. Bake the pastry for 10 minutes a 200°C, once removed from the oven lower the temperature to 180°C
4. Cream the butter and sugar
5. Add eggs and almond essence and mix well
6. Mix in the ground almonds
7. Spread the mixture evenly over the pastry base
8. Slice the pear halves in thin slices, place them on the almond mixture
9. Sprinkle the tart with almond slices
10. Bake in oven for 30 minutes

*Glaze : You can heat a few spoons of apricot jelly and brush the top of your tart once it has cooled down to give it a nice shiny look!

Clafoutis is a baked dessert made with fruit, usually black cherries,  arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick batter.

It comes from the Limousin region of France, and while black cherries are traditional, there are numerous variations using other fruits, including plums, which is what I used as they are plentiful at the moment.

Ingredients :

• 600g plums (or whatever fruit you are using)
• 20g butter
• 4 eggs
• 100g brown sugar
• 50g flour
• 10g baking powder
• 250ml pouring cream

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Wash and remove the stone from the plums, then chop in quarters
3. Use the 20g of butter to grease your dish
4. Beat the 4 eggs together and add sugar
5. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and mix well
6. Add in the pouring cream
7. Place the plums on the bottom of the oven dish and cover with the batter
8. PLace in oven and bake for 40 minutes at 180°C

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

Ok so first things first. This isn’t a french recipe, its Belgian and comes from the Belgian town of Liège. Anyone who has visited Belgium will know that it’s not just famous for its beer and “moules-frites” (mussels and chips) but also for its unbelievably delicious waffles or gaufres !

The main difference between these gaufres and regular waffles is that they are made with a yeast raised dough, not a batter, so rather tan being light and spongy they are dense and rich.

I had been meaning to make these for ages and then finally got around to it today. Funnily enough the Tour de France is going to Liege today so it seems kind of fitting 🙂

Ingredients :

• 20cl lukewarm milk
• 1 sachet of active dry yeast
• 2 large eggs
• 500g plain flour
• 70g brown sugar
• A good pinch of salt
• 1 sachet of vanilla sugar (11g)
• 300g of butter at room temperature
• 150g pearl sugar

Method :

1. In a bowl mix the milk with the dry yeast using a whisk
2. Add in the flour, followed by the eggs, the brown sugar, the salt and the vanilla sugar
3. Mix it all roughly together with the whisk
4. Then either use a mixer with a dough hook or your hands and mix well
5. Chop the softened butter into cubes and add to the dough
6. Again mix either with the mixer or your hands until the dough is smooth and elastic
7. Cover the bowl with plastic film and leave the dough aside for at least 30 minutes
8. Mix in the pearl sugar
9. Form balls of dough
10. Heat your waffle iron and use as per instructions – placing a small round ball of dough in the centre of the waffle plate
11. Cook for 3 minutes approx but keep an eye on them as they can cook a lot quicker!

Enjoy! Sprinkle with icing sugar or another topping of your choice – nutella, whipped cream, ice-cream, salted-butter caramel sauce …..

They can make a really lovely dessert with some vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce.

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

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 210°C
2. Melt the butter in a pan until it browns slightly (this gives a nutty flavour to your madeleines and is known as a ‘beurre-noisette’ in french which translates as ‘hazelnut-butter’)
3. Mix the flour with the baking powder and the ground almonds
4. In a bowl gently beat the eggs with the sugar and the vanilla essence
5. Sieve in the mix of flour, baking powder and ground almonds and mix until the texture is smooth
6. Add in the cooled melted butter and mix well
7. Ideally if you have the time leave the batter in the fridge for 2 hours – this will help them rise and give the traditional ‘bump’ shape!
8. Grease the madeleine pan (this isn’t necessary if you are using silicon pans) and fill each shell to about 2/3
9. Bake in oven at 210°C for 6-8 minutes

*Other possible flavours for your madeleines : the zest of a small lemon or a few drops of orange blossom water

Flaugnarde  or flognarde is a baked French dessert with fruit and a  thick flan-like batter hailing from the Limousin and Auvergne region in France. It is similar to a clafoutis, which is made with black cherries whereas a flaugnarde is made with apples, peaches, pears, plums, prunes etc. It can be served either warm or cold.

Ingredients :

• 100g flour
• 100g sugar
• 1 table spoon oil
• 300ml milk
• 200ml liquid cream (or liquid crème fraîche)
• 5 eggs
• 6 apples
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Peel and core the apples and slice into circles
3. Mix everything together in a bowl in the following order : flour, sugar, oil, milk, cream, salt
4. Beat eggs well and add to mixture
5. Butter a round oven dish and spread the apple slices around evenly
6. Pour the batter over the apples
7. Bake in oven for 45 minutes at 180°C

January wouldn’t be January in France without a Galette des Rois or two (or ten!). They are eaten throughout the month of January, until they finally disappear once February arrives only to resurface again near the end of December the following year.

A lof of people believe they are called the kings cake to celebrate the Wise Kings arrival at the stable on January 6th but apparently the actual reason goes back to a roman celebration. At the time, to celebrate the winter solstice, families would have a ‘raffle’ to pick a king who would be King of the household for the day. Even the servants could take part and if they won, could end up bossing their employer around for the day.

The Galette des Rois below with puff pastry and almond filling is common all over the north of France, but in the south of France their ‘galette’ is a completely different cake made with a ring of brioche and candied fruit.

The ‘fève’ is a small trinket (the french word fève actually means a broad bean which is what used to be put in the cake), usually a small porcelain figurine. We’ve had minions and star wars characters this year 🙂

In France the tradition is that the youngest member of the household goes under the kitchen table while the ‘galette’ is being cut and calls out the names of those present as each slice is served up. Whoever finds the fève is the king – or queen!

Ingredients :

• 400g ready-made puff pastry (of course you can make your own but it’s the only pastry I don’t make myself!)
• 100 g ground almonds
• 75 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 50g of softened butter
• A few drops of almond essence
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 “fève” !

Method :

1. Roll out half the pastry into a circle and prick with a fork
2. In a bowl mix all the ingredients together – the ground almonds, sugar, softened butter, egg and almond essence
3. Spread the mixture over the pastry and place the fève on it
4. Brush the edges of the pastry with water, then cover with the second half of the pastry, pressing the edges to seal
5. Using a fork or knife to create a design on top
6. Brush with the beaten egg yolk
7. Bake in oven for 30 minutes until nice and golden

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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