Almost Famous Cheese Biscuits

One of the traditions in my family is to go to the restaurant "Red Lobster" when a birthday is celebrated. At the restaurant, they serve "Cheddar Bay Biscuits" that are a big hit with my sons. They always ask for extras!

I was so happy to see a recipe for these biscuits in the current issue of Food Network Magazine. I tried them and the boys said, "Make these again!" I agree they were delicious and they were also quite easy to make. At the restaurant, they serve these with a glaze of garlic butter on top. I didn't do this at home and they were still very, very good.

Cheddar Biscuits (based on a recipe from Food Network Magazine, October 2009)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, room temperature

4 tablespoons, cold unsalted butter, cut in small cubes

1 1/4 cups grated cheddar cheese

3/4 cup milk (not skim)

* Preheat the oven to 425F. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add the shortening and pulse 4 or 5 times. Add the cheese and pulse 2 or 3 times. Pour in the milk and mix just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix. Drop about 1/4 cup of the dough onto a greased baking sheet. There should be about 15 biscuits. Bake 15 - 20 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown.

Easy tomato sauce

Part of my classroom program is to introduce my students to cooking. I see it as a life skill that all people need to learn, and throughout the year, food and cooking will be integrated with all subjects in the curriculum.

This week, we used the beautiful fresh tomatoes of Ontario to create a simple tomato sauce for pasta. The children each washed and chopped a tomato to add to the pot. They stirred the sauce and grated the cheese. We cooked some pasta and served it with freshly grated Italian parmesean cheese. Ms. Mantello, who is Italian, said our tomato sauce was delicious!

Simple Pasta Sauce (for about 450g package of spaghetti)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 or 2 cloves garlic, sliced

4 large or 8 small tomatoes. chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt,or to taste

1 teaspoon sugar,or to taste

* In a large frying pan, on medium heat, add the olive oil and garlic and cook the garlic until it starts to turn golden (but be careful not to burn the garlic). You may choose to remove the garlic pieces now or leave them in the sauce. Add the tomatoes and let cook for at least 15 minutes. You can cook it for an hour or more to reduce the liquid in the sauce. At salt and sugar to taste.

Serve the tomato sauce on hot, cooked pasta with a generous sprinkle of freshly grated parmesean cheese.

Fruit clafoutis

Because I love baking pies and I don't always have time to mix pastry dough, I've been experimenting with a classic French recipe called a "clafoutis". Traditionally, this dessert is made with fresh cherries, but I have found it is equally good with various summer berries. It is basically fruit baked in a slightly sweet custard.

The photo is of a version I made with fresh strawberries and blueberries that I froze when they were in season a few months ago.

It is a treat that is easy to make and receives praise inversely proportional to the effort it took to make it (my favourite kind of recipe!)

The two best recipes I tried to make a clafoutis are one from Nigella Lawson's book "Nigella's Express" and one from Donna Hay's monthly article in the magazine "Living Etc.". The following recipe is a mix of the two, plus my contribution of using evaporated milk instead of cream in the custard.

Fruit Clafoutis

about 400g of cut up fruit (enough to line the bottom of a 9" pie plate)

4 eggs

1/2 cup sugar (or less)

330 ml evaporated milk

1/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

* First preheat the oven to 325F . Grease the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Wash and cut up fruit and layer evenly over the bottom of the pie plate. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla. Carefully add the flour (try using a sifter) and mix so that there are no lumps. Pour the custard mixture over the fruit. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes.

Cream of celery soup

Last week my mom and I went to visit the new McNally Robinson bookstore. On the top floor is a restaurant called "Prairie Ink" that looked inviting so we decided to eat lunch there. Each week the chef features food from a Canadian cookbook. That week it was "In the Kitchen with Anna" by Anna Olson. One standout item was the Cream of Celery Soup with Blue Cheese - it was delicious.

So I tried to make the recipe at home because I had the "bendy" celery in the fridge that would be perfect for this soup. Interestingly, even though the soup is "cream soup", there is no actual cream in it, just milk. I didn't have any blue cheese in the fridge and although it made the restaurant soup great, the soup didn't need it to be yummy. It was so delicious, even the children tried it and said it was good.

Cream of Celery Soup (based on a recipe from "In the Kitchen with Anna" (2008) by Anna Olson

3 tablespoons butter (I used half butter and half olive oil so the butter would not burn)

1 cup diced onion (I used one medium onion and 4 shallots)

3 cups of diced celery (I used the bunch I had, a full bunch minus 3 stalks that I had used before)

3 tablespoons flour

3 cups 2% milk

2 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (I used 1/2 teaspoon crushed, dried thyme)

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons dry vermouth (I did not use this because I don't have any)

3 oz (90 g) blue cheese (optional)

2 tablespoons chopped chives (optional)

* Melt the butter in a large pot and add the oil. Saute the onions and celery for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and cook stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of milk and cook, stirring well for about 5 minutes. Whisk in the remaining milk, then the stock. Add the thyme and bay leaf. Simmer, partially covered, for about 10 minutes. If you wish to add the vermouth, blue cheese and chives, do so just before serving (don't forget to remove the bay leaf).

Gluten free cookies

These almond cookies have the taste and texture of shortbread cookies. They are dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free. They are not vegan as they contain honey.

I am fascinated by healthy baked goods. After doing a lot of conventional baking in my life, I am intrigued how "healthy" baking can be accomplished. I've had my share of disasters over the years, trying to make wholesome treats for my family. Two examples are my whole-wheat pastry for pie (my mom even said this was "not your best effort"!) and spelt biscuits (that were so dense and rock-like even the squirrels would not eat them!)

Recently, I visited a local organic bakery that specializes in gluten-free baked goods. I had a lemon-cranberry muffin with a cup of organic coffee. I was surprised at how delicious the muffin was. It wasn't oily or heavy at all.

My friend Dorothy, must eat a gluten-free diet as she is sensitive to products containing gluten. When we meet for coffee, she will bring her own gluten-free treats to eat. So when I saw the recipe for these cookies, I had to try them and the result was a very good and healthy treat. So this one's for you Dorothy!

Balance Cookies (from In the Kitchen with Anna (2008) by Anna Olson)

2 cups brown rice flour (I found this in Loblaws as "Bob's Red Mill Stone Ground Brown Rice Flour")

1 cup ground almonds (I used an entire 100 g package)

3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted (put seeds in a dry frying pan and cook until lightly golden)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil -the original recipe calls for 1/4 cup oil but I needed to add more oil to the batter to make it stick together)

1/3 cup liquid honey (use the same measuring cup as for the oil and the honey won't stick)

24 - 30 whole almonds with skins

* Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, mix together the brown rice flour, ground almonds, toasted sesame seeds, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the oil and honey. Add this mixture to the dry mix and stir together. Try squeezing the dough together...if it does not stick together, add a bit more oil. Form small mounds about the size of a walnut on lined cookie sheet (I use a Silpat non-stick mat). Press a whole almond down on top of each cookie, paying attention to the sides as they will crumble and will need to be pushed back together. Bake for 12-15 minutes but watch to make sure they do not burn on the bottom.

Watermelon friend

Last week, I was looking after my 3 year old friend Kiley for a few hours, while her mom was working. She brought along her Bambi toy and she and I spend some time taking photos of Bambi, in various places, while we were downtown. We managed to get this picture after Kiley, very patiently, put Bambi on the watermelon for the fifth time (it kept sliding off...).

Quick fancy cake

This cake was inspired by the classic Black Forest Cake. I made it for my mother's birthday last week. A recipe for the traditional Black Forest Cake was difficult to find among my collection of cookbooks. I did manage to find one, by accident, as it wasn't listed under cakes but under "tortes".

One of the ingredients was a can of pitted, tart cherries. Now, I looked in several stores and I could not find canned, pitted, tart cherries (only cherry pie filling and cherry jam). The recipe also uses the cherry-flavoured liqueur, Kirsch, and I didn't want to invest in a whole bottle of that just to use a small amount. So I decided to forgo the classic version and make my own.

First, I made a two layer chocolate cake using a mix (it's okay to do that sometimes...). Then I made a chocolate whipped cream frosting, and added chocolate shavings and maraschino cherries. The result was a delicious, moist cake that, as my dad likes to say, "tastes like more!"

Easy Fancy Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

2 layer chocolate cake, made from a cake mix (I used Dr. Oetker)

100 g bar of semi-sweet chocolate, cut into shavings (I used a vegetable peeler)

12 maraschino cherries, drained

500 ml organic whipping cream (organic really does make a difference in the taste)

1/3 cup icing sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

* Make the cake according to package directions. Let cool. Whip the cream until thick and mix in the sugar and cocoa powder. On the bottom layer, spread about one third of the frosting. Sprinkle about one half of the chocolate shavings on the frosting. Put the second layer on top. Spread the rest of the frosting on the top and sides of the cake. On top, sprinkle the remaining chocolate shavings and place the cherries evenly around the edge.

Easy homemade bread

I found this recipe in an old British Good Food magazine. It caught my eye because, not only to I like to make bread, but the recipe promised that it was a yeast bread that requires no kneading (?!?) I always thought that yeast bread had to be kneaded to activate the gluten in the flour so that it can trap the air bubbles of carbon dioxide that the yeast produces. Needless to say, I had to try to make that bread.

The result was a very good bread with a moist, dense crumb. I know it will make good toast in the morning spread with strawberry jam made a few weeks ago by my friend Bonnie.

It really was very simple to make and the second loaf can be frozen.

Sheila Dillon's Grant Loaf (based on a recipe in BBC Good Food magazine, February 2009)

1 lb, 9 oz (700 g) wholewheat flour (I used unbleached bread flour)

8 oz (200 g) oatmeal (spelt flour, white flour or corn meal - I used polenta corn flour)

3 teaspoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 X 8 g package quick-rise yeast

850 ml warm water

* Grease two large loaf pans. Preheat the oven to 400F. Mix the flours, salt and yeast together in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the bowl and stir in the water and oil. The dough will be like very thick porridge. Divide the mixture between the two loaf pans. Cover the pans with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes or until the dough is just over the edge of the pan (about double the size). Bake the bread for about 40 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove loaves from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Cold summer soup

This is a lovely cold summer soup. It uses a nice mix of fresh ingredients and cupboard staples and, unlike many cold vegetable soups, it is cooked and chilled overnight. I made it recently to bring to my friend Sheri's house. I offered to come over and help her paint her porch and to bring some soup. We had a relaxing day "working". It was a very civilized way to do a house project: arrive and have coffee and homemade blueberry-cornmeal muffins; paint; lunch of cold veggie soup, homemade herb bread and cherries; paint; tea and homemade oatmeal cookies (you can guess that Sheri likes to bake...).

This recipe is based on the recent issue of Everyday by Rachel Ray. I bought the magazine because one of the feature recipes was "the best ribs you'll ever eat". Well upon further inspection, the recipe requires you to make three different sauces and needs almost 4 1/2 hours of cooking time! Although, I am sure this would make delicious ribs, I don't have the time or inclination in the summer to make 3 different sauces for just a meat dish. I made the main sauce (which required the purchase of a box of peach gelatin powder?!) for ribs to serve at dinner for my family and my mom and dad. The result was that the ribs were okay, but overly sweet.

However, the happy accident is that I stumbled upon this soup recipe. I had to change the recipe a bit because of ingredient availability and ease of preparation (for example, I didn't bother to puree it). It is really, really good.

Cold Summer Soup (based on "Summer-strone" in Everyday by Rachel Ray, August 2009)

1/2 cup Israeli cousous

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 small cucumbers, peeled and diced

1 can (14 oz or 398 ml) diced tomatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 900 ml tetrapak of vegetable broth

1 medium zucchini, shredded (I used a box grater)

handful of fresh basil, chopped

grated peel of one lemon

* Cook the couscous in a pot of boiling salted water for about 8 minutes. Then drain and rinse with cold water. In a large pot, add the olive oil and cucumbers and cook until the cucumbers get a bit brown (about 10 minutes). Mix in the tomatoes, paprika, broth, cooked couscous and zucchini. Cook together for another 10 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the basil and lemon peel. Chill overnight.

White Chocolate Cake

Seven Vegetable Soup with Goat Cheese

Malteezer Chocolate Cake

English classic - Toad in the Hole

Okay so it's time to confess that I regularly watch the long-running English soap opera, Coronation Street. Luckily they now show all of the week's episodes at once, early on Sunday mornings. In the sixties, I remember my mom watching it in the afternoons while she did the ironing, the mixture of steam, speed starch and almost incomprehensible accents creating a comforting memory for me.

In the show they often refer to local dishes, like "hot pot" (stew), "bacon butties" (bacon sandwiches) and "Toad in the Hole" (sausages baked in a Yorkshire pudding batter). I've always wanted to try the "toad" dish, and so I recently went to one of my favourite cookbook authors, Jamie Oliver and found this recipe on his website, http://www.jamieoliver.com/. It turned out really well, everyone in the family liked it and this photo is the result of my second attempt. It was as well received by the boys the second time as it was the first.

As an aside, my son, my husband and I were recently watching a DVD of the sixties power trio Cream (with Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker). The drummer, Ginger Baker, was famous at the time for an 16 minute song that was basically a long drum solo. The song was called "Toad" and we surmised perhaps, not having a better name, they named the song after what they ate for lunch. (Okay so that's my theory - when I googled that question there does not seem to be an answer...)

This recipe takes about one hour to make, but the amount of active time is low and the ingredients are very basic. Serve it with the fried onions and steamed vegetables and you have a delicious easy meal.

Toad in the Hole (with fried onions) (based on a recipe from http://www.jamieoliver.com/)

6 large honey and garlic sausages

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

115 g flour

285 ml milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs (the original recipe uses 3 eggs but we found it a bit too rich)

3 onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

*Preheat ove to 425F. In a large, deep casserole dish, put the sunflower oil and heat in the oven for 5 minutes. Add the sausages and cook for 20 minutes, turning them over halfway through.

Mix the batter by whisking together the milk and eggs. Stir in the flour and salt until just combined. When the sausages have cooked for 20 minutes, pour the batter over them and bake for a further 35 - 40 minutes.

For the fried onions, saute the onions in the olive oil on medium heat until translucent. Add the salt and balsamic vinegar and a few splashes of water and cook for 2-3 minutes then turn the heat to low until the "toad" has finished baking.

Chicken Stew with Biscuits

I love the Food Network. I don't get to see it that often because of other demands on my time. I did manage to sit down for a few minutes before dinner one evening since both sons were out and my husband was working. The Barefoot Contessa was on at that time and the recipe demonstrated was Chicken and Biscuits.
Now, I am always on the lookout for a meal that everyone in my family likes. The first time I made this my older son proclaimed, "Mom, make this again!" It is a nutritious, comfort food meal that tastes soooooo good. I made it again last night and it was just as good as it was the first time.

This is an all-in-one meal that makes enough for 8 people (or in my family two meals for 4 people). I have changed some of the amounts of ingredients and I did not include the addition of small pearl onions and parsley (kids don't usually like flecks of green in their food!)

Chicken Stew with Biscuits
(Barefoot Contessa, Food Network - 2002)

6 small or 3 large, bone-in, skin on chicken breasts
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
2 chicken bouillon cubes
12 tablespoons butter
2 onions, chopped
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup half-and-half
5 carrots, peeled and chopped thinly
2 cups frozen peas
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2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into pieces
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 egg

* Preheat oven 375F. Place chicken breasts in a pot, add bouillon cubes and 4 cups of water. Cover and poach for 40 minutes. Remove chicken and strain broth and set aside. When cool enough to handle, remove meat and chop.
In a large pot, melt the butter and saute onions for 15 minutes. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Add hot broth and stir 2 minutes. Add salt, pepper and cream. Stir in cooked chicken, carrots and peas. Mix well and place into a large deep oven-safe dish (I used my roasting pan). Bake for 15 minutes.
* Make the biscuits - Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in butter and using your hands, blend the butter into the flour until only small pieces remain. Add the cream and mix until just combined. Put dough on a floured surface and roll out until about 3/8" thick. Cut the dough into rough edged pieces.
*Remove the stew from the oven. Place biscuits over the top of the stew in one layer. Mix the egg with a bit of water to make an egg-wash and brush on top of the biscuit dough. Bake another 20-30 minutes. Let sit about 5 minutes and serve.

Dinner with Friends

My friend Sheri and I have a Saturday tradition of getting up early, having brunch, shopping at the market for ingredients, having coffee, parting ways and then meeting up later in the day to cook together. It is so much fun that when we plan this (almost monthly) activity, I look forward to it all week. Our husbands joined us in tasting the fruits of our labours and each dish was deemed "a keeper".

This time we took inspiration from the current issue of BBC Good Food magazine. We started with an amazing sweet potato and coconut soup with Thai pesto. The pesto recipe alone was worth trying this recipe, it was so good.

The main meal was a Gordon Ramsay recipe for fish. Pan-fried sea bass with citrus-dressed broccoli. The technique for frying the fish was really wonderful, as it resulted in a delicious, crispy-salty skin.

For dessert, we tried a cake version of a favourite English dessert. Bakewell tart is a wonderful marriage of almonds and jam in pie pastry. The cake version was a neat twist that eliminated the pastry and put the ground almonds into a layer cake. Marvelous with a "cuppa tea"!

All recipes are based on recipes in the February 2009 edition of BBC Good Food magazine. Some changes were made due to ingredient preference or availability. The amounts listed here are what we used to make our dinner for four adults.

Sweet Potato Soup with Thai Pesto

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks

1 red onion, chopped

1 tablespoon red curry paste

500 ml (2 cups) vegetable stock

1 X 400ml tin coconut milk

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100 g salted peanuts

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated

2 green chillies, deseeded and chopped

1 small bunch fresh corriander

1 large handful fresh mint

1 large handful fresh basil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon brown sugar

* Make the soup - in a large pot, over medium heat, add the oil, sweet potato and onion. Cook partially covered for 15 minutes. Add the curry paste and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the stock and coconut milk and bring to a boil. Using a stick blender, process soup until it is smooth.

* Make the pesto - put all ingredients into a blender and whiz until you have a chunky green paste.

Serve the soup with a dollop of the pesto on top.

Pan-fried Sea Bass with Citrus-dressed Broccoli

1 wild sea bass fillet (not Chilean sea bass), cut into 4 pieces

1 head broccoli

2 oranges

6 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons small capers

6 anchovies, chopped fine

1 lemon

*Score the fish, skin side up about 6 times, 1 cm deep. Segment the oranges by cutting away the peel and cutting out each segment (over a bowl to catch the juice). Cut the broccoli into small florets and cook in boiling salted water for 1-2 minutes. In a hot frying pan, toss in the broccoli to burn off the moisture. Turn off the heat and add the oranges, juice and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Wipe out the pan and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
When hot lay down the fish fillets, skin-side down. Cook for 3-4 minutes (until flesh is cooked 2/3 of the way up). Flip over the fish, cook for 2 minutes and baste with pan liquid.

Plate 1/4 of the broccoli/orange salad and lay the fish skin-side up on top. In the hot frying pan, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, scatter in the capers and chopped anchovies. Grate lemon zest over top of the sauce and squeeze in the juice of 1/2 lemon. Pour the hot sauce over the fish and vegetables.

Cherry Bakewell Cake

200g (1 cup) butter, soft

200 g sugar

100g ground almonds

100g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

4 eggs

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1/2 (340g) jar morello cherry conserve

175g icing sugar

5 teaspoons water or lemon juice

3 tablespoons flaked almonds

* Make the cake - preheat oven to 350F and grease two 8" cake tins. Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar together. Add a pinch of salt and the ground almonds, flour, baking powder, extract and eggs until the batter is smooth. Divide evenly between the cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes.

*Assemble cake - when the cake layers are cool, put one on a serving plate. Spread top with cherry jam and put the second layer on top. Mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice and drizzle over the top of the cake. Sprinkle top with flaked almonds.

potatoes and swiss chard

This recipe is one that I can confidently say that I created. I first made it many years ago when I used to get a box of organic fruit and vegetables delivered to our home. In those days, organic was fairly "new" and it was the only way I could get organic milk for my children as it wasn't sold in grocery stores.

In the winter months, the vegetables consisted of root vegetables and lots of kale and Swiss chard. So I devised this recipe to use up the chard. Because it has bacon/ham in it, it can be eaten on its own, but last night I made it as a side dish to go with the stuffed pork tenderloin that my mother made for dinner. The cream cheese makes a rich and easy sauce.

Potatoes and Swiss Chard

1 onion, chopped fine

6 slices smoked ham cut up into small bits OR 6 slices of side bacon

2 tablespoons olive oil (if you are using bacon, you made not need this)

1 bunch organic red Swiss chard

4 to 5 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

5 tablespoons green onion cream cheese

* Fry the onion and the ham (in oil) or bacon (no oil) in a large frying pan on medium heat. Wash the Swiss chard and then cut the stalks from the leaves. Take the stalks and cut them into 1/2 inch pieces and add them into the fry pan. Add the potatoes and place the lid on top. Leave for about 10 minutes. Remove the cover, give it a stir and recover for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile cut up the chard leaves into 1 inch wide ribbons crosswise. Add the cream cheese to the potato mix and keep stirring until it has "melted" into a sauce. Pile the chard leaf pieces in a layer over the top of the mix and cover for about 10 minutes. When you remove the cover the chard will have wilted and you can mix it in. Season with salt and pepper.

Pecan Toffee Cake

Over the holidays I made this cake twice it was so good. The first one was to give to my Dad for Christmas because he really likes dates. The second was to slice and wrap up and give to my friends as gifts.

One of my secret treats is to buy British food and decorating magazines. This recipe comes from the December edition of BBC Good Food. I initally chose it because I had a container of dates leftover from celebrating the Iranian holiday Shab-e-Yalda with my class.

This cake is tender and absolutely delicious. For the sugar, I used the spiced sugar recipe from Jamie Oliver's website (http://www.jamieoliver.com/ - worth checking out and delicious in tea). I made it the first time with walnuts because I had those in the cupboard. The second time I used pecans (as in the photo). Pecans or walnuts this cake is definitely a keeper!

Pecan Toffee Cake (December 2008 BBC Good Food)

300g pecans or walnuts

140 g dates

200g butter, softened

200g sugar (or use Jamie Oliver's recipe for spiced sugar - see above)

1 tsp mixed spice

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

140g self-raising flour (I used all-purpose flour and 1 tsp baking powder)

maple syrup

* Put 100g of the nuts into a processor and whiz up until fine and put into a small bowl. Put the dates in a saucepan and add enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain, discarding the liquid. Let cool and liquify in the processor.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and line with buttered wax paper a 10" springform cake pan. Beat together the butter and sugar then add in the dates, ground nuts, spice, eggs and salt. Then fold in the flour and baking powder. Put the leftover 200g of nuts over the top being careful not to push them down. Bake for 40 minutes. When it comes out of the oven, lightly pour maple syrup over top of the hot cake.

This cake freezes well. I wrap one quarter pieces of the cake in wax paper then in foil.