I receive a lot of cookery books. They occupy metre upon metre of book shelves. In my hallway, home office and JC office; on my lounge table, in my kitchen and even in my bedroom.
I give quite a few away — they appear at synagogue fund-raisers, on school PTA raffle tickets as prizes and as gifts for friendly and family. Still, the shelves groan under the weight of them.
Some arrive unannounced. I request others — maybe I need to pick recipes to share in the JC or they may be by someone I particularly admire. I confess to not cooking as many recipes from them as I would like.
I’ve recently shared my top ten books with website 1000cookbooks.com. You’ll find my picks — and a picture of me laughing so hard you could sail a boat into my wide open mouth, here. These are my all time favourites, that may have been with me years, but to which I still turn for staple recipes and inspiration.
A book which didn’t make it in there, but which would be in my top 20, is Mary Berry’s Fast Cakes. This landed on my desk at the perfect moment. I was looking for inspiration for a Father’s Day tea. As usual, I was pressed for time.
One flick through the pages of this festival of cakes and I was drawn in. So many recipes required ingredients that I had ready and waiting in my kitchen cupboards and fridge.
One was a malt loaf. THE simplest recipe ever. Five ingredients mixed in a bowl, poured into a loaf tin and baked. The work of minutes. What emerged from the oven was a little underwhelming. A beige, slightly chewy loaf. Once it had cooled, however, a slice smeared with butter beat Soreen’s mass-produced offer hands down. A winner.
The next up was Mary’s recipe for Bourbon biscuits. I’ve been eating them since I was. Since I was able to get my hands on them, I suppose. Who can resist prising them apart and eating the butter cream? A little more work — I got busy with my ruler measuring perfect rectangles — but so worth the effort. They were a million times better than the shop bought version and I was inordinately proud. Something about making your own version of a ‘proper’ biscuit…
Mary Berry’s Fast Cakes and I are going to be lifelong friends. I can feel it in my water.
