tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90880262251259073052013-06-18T08:18:03.652+01:00Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.comBlogger268125Cherrapenohttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-40130486584704110842013-05-30T18:32:00.000+01:002013-05-30T18:32:34.082+01:002013-05-30T18:32:34.082+01:00

British asparagus season is here, and last week I was gifted with some beautiful British asparagus from the Waitrose Summer Party, an event celebrating British food and farming, which I was thrilled to be invited to. It was also attended by the glitterati of the food world - including Heston Blumenthal, Raymond Blanc, Marcus Wareing, Pippa Middleton (well she does write for Waitrose

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com5http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/05/asparagus-with-breadcrumbs-parmesan.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-72746167728040009702013-05-19T18:13:00.000+01:002013-05-19T18:13:13.120+01:002013-05-19T18:13:13.120+01:00

Apparently it's World Baking Day today, who knew?  I haven't got quite as much time as I'd like to bake at the moment, so I was happy to come across this quick and easy recipe for a fruity summer shortcake. Fresh Raspberry Shortcake Adapted from the BBC Food website. 115g butter, softened 225g self raising flour 115g caster sugar 400g raspberries Whipped cream or clotted

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com10http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/05/fresh-raspberry-shortcake.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-84611296495647756152013-05-07T21:53:00.000+01:002013-05-09T14:51:03.509+01:002013-05-09T14:51:03.509+01:00

Bank Holiday weekends can sometimes be a washout, but this weekend the weather was glorious and so were the food events. We went to London and our first stop was the Southbank Centre, where the Campo Viejo Spanish gastronomy event 'Streets of Spain' was being held - a four day celebration of Spanish wine, food, culture and art. Market stall owners from the famous La Boqueria brought over

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com6http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/05/food-festivals-dinner-at-dehesa.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-7143157034179354452013-04-27T19:14:00.001+01:002013-04-27T19:14:16.821+01:002013-04-27T19:14:16.821+01:00

Just out this month is a fabulous baking book by rising pastry star, Will Torrent, called Pâtisserie at Home. An absolute treat for all keen home bakers, the book has 80 recipes with clear step-by-step instructions to make French pastries at home. You will find some timeless classics in the book (eg sachertorte, Black Forest gâteau), but also updated versions and some with a modern twist

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com4http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/04/patisserie-at-home-book-review.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-48618977814587781392013-04-19T15:45:00.000+01:002013-04-19T15:46:11.881+01:002013-04-19T15:46:11.881+01:00

My blog turns 6 this week, wow! Even I am surprised I've kept it going this long... but I'm not going to waffle on about it, instead I'm sharing cake, a lovely carrot cake with fabulous mascarpone honey icing. And if you are reading this, I would like to say a huge thank you for visiting, commenting and emailing. It means a lot to me to know that there are people who have made the recipes

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com8http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/04/carrot-cake-with-mascarpone-honey-icing.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-25864098303238025472013-04-08T22:11:00.000+01:002013-04-09T11:37:17.111+01:002013-04-09T11:37:17.111+01:00

A while back, I was sent some pots of luxurious Food Thoughts 100% Organic Cocoa to try. Produced in the Dominican Republic by an accredited Fairtrade consortium, the cocoa is made with the finest beans and is ideal to use in baking due to its high cocoa fat content. Brownies + clotted cream = heaven Did you know that cocoa can boost your mood? For a long time we have known that it

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com8http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/04/triple-chocolate-brownies.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-25531184385284487572013-04-01T17:10:00.000+01:002013-04-01T17:10:40.692+01:002013-04-01T17:10:40.692+01:00

Always a lovely surprise to find a feather on your egg. I remember when you could only fit one of these in your mouth at a time, they seem to have shrunk over the years! Happy Easter! ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers ©

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com4http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/04/happy-easter.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-13067240182591860252013-03-29T17:09:00.001Z2013-03-29T17:09:48.956Z2013-03-29T17:09:48.956Z

This year I added some white chocolate into my Ultimate Hot Cross Buns. If you roughly chop the chocolate into chunks that are a little under 1cm, when you bite into the bun you will get a lovely white chocolate blast. Combined with the cranberries, this recipe is a winner! Piping on the crosses Full recipe can be found here: Ultimate Hot Cross Buns, just add about 100g white

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com5http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/03/hot-cross-buns-with-cranberries-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-3555218107038599852013-03-22T11:28:00.000Z2013-03-22T11:28:04.698Z2013-03-22T11:28:04.698Z

You know when you see a photo of something that makes you slobber all over the screen? One that makes you run to the shop for the ingredients... Here's something that made me do just that yesterday, chocolate honey cashew butter - oh yes - you read it right, CHOCOLATE + HONEY ROASTED CASHEWS (+ a tad of vanilla) YES!!! It was a pin on Pinterest that led me to Averie Cooks, to a recipe

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com7http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/03/chocolate-honey-roasted-cashew-butter.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-23956961953273636312013-03-13T11:10:00.000Z2013-03-13T13:45:54.443Z2013-03-13T13:45:54.443Z

It's almost Red Nose Day here in the UK, a day when we are all asked to 'Do Something Funny for Money'. Comic Relief was launched back in 1985, from a refugee camp in Sudan, when a devastating famine was crippling Ethiopia. It was a simple idea - get a whole load of British comedians to make the public laugh, while raising money to help people in desperate need. Not long after, Red Nose

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com9http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/03/edible-red-noses-for-red-nose-day.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-43293133097419679732013-03-06T15:59:00.000Z2013-03-18T21:12:30.354Z2013-03-18T21:12:30.354Z

I do love a challenge, especially when it involves wine (or chocolate!) Happy days are when you get sent two bottles of beautiful Chablis to match with your favourite takeaway food, in order to demonstrate how the wine can pair with different foods from around the world. For me the choice of food was easy, it would have to be an Indian takeaway as a) we live in out in the sticks and

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com12http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/03/chablis-with-spicy-food.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-74079189361812152832013-02-14T21:27:00.000Z2013-02-14T21:27:51.351Z2013-02-14T21:27:51.351Z

 Happy V Day!     Sticky toffee bourbon pudding, with a salted caramel sauce. Recipe comes from this post, Recipes Using Bourbon.   ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2013 unless otherwise

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Happy Pancake Day! Banana with your pancake? A little breakfast treat of American style pancakes with raisins - just add the raisins to the pancake batter, and mix well before cooking. Top with banana, some more raisins and a drizzle of maple syrup. Recipes for the pancakes here. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ This content

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com3http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/02/pancakes-for-shrove-tuesday.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-63940627047188457602013-02-05T16:51:00.000Z2013-02-05T16:51:14.016Z2013-02-05T16:51:14.016Z

Just because... I love Nutella... Pecan Nutella Heart Cookies  A cookie similar to the Linzer cookie, but filled with Nutella rather than jam. The cookies will be a little crumbly, so take care when filling with Nutella (or jam) that you don't break them. 170g unsalted butter, softened 130g icing sugar 1 egg 225g plain flour 110g cornflour 130g pecans, finely ground Nutella to fill

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com12http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/02/pecan-nutella-heart-cookies.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-70955913733196525262013-02-01T15:21:00.005Z2013-02-20T11:06:32.270Z2013-02-20T11:06:32.270Z

One of the places on my (long) list to visit is Hong Kong. Although small and compact, there are more than 10,000 restaurants to choose from, which means that if you ate out three times a day, it would take over nine years to try them all out! I love these soy sauce bottles If you haven't got nine years to spare and can't get to Hong Kong, I have good news! As part of a

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com7http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/02/an-evening-at-school-of-wok.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-1714627943187586072013-01-23T12:30:00.000Z2013-01-23T14:20:09.095Z2013-01-23T14:20:09.095Z

Wow, January crept up rather quickly - hope you all had a great Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Garden rosemary surviving the snow Here's an easy recipe for mushroom lovers, which can be prepared ahead of time and just thrown into the oven to cook. If you don't like chilli you can leave it out, the herbs can be swapped for whatever you prefer. Roasted Mushrooms with Rosemary and

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com8http://www.cherrapeno.com/2013/01/roasted-mushrooms-with-rosemary-and.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-45048985006103632872012-12-21T21:18:00.000Z2013-02-27T16:06:01.667Z2013-02-27T16:06:01.667Z

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a Champagne and macaron event, courtesy of Air France, at the Institut Français in London. It was a weird, but thoroughly enjoyable evening culminating in something rather exciting, which I'll get to in a bit!   We were treated to some rather interesting glittery macarons, created by experimental food aficionados, The Robin Collective. The

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com11http://www.cherrapeno.com/2012/12/easy-prosciutto-pear-and-blue-cheese.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-48976979285189617222012-12-11T22:19:00.001Z2012-12-11T22:43:40.396Z2012-12-11T22:43:40.396Z

Melted white chocolate and a sprinkling of freeze dried strawberries. Sweet. Tart. Simple.   ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2012 unless otherwise indicated. All rights

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com10http://www.cherrapeno.com/2012/12/strawberry-white-chocolate-christmas.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-68494471289076790072012-12-06T16:18:00.000Z2012-12-06T16:18:45.585Z2012-12-06T16:18:45.585Z

Avocados are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-! Did you know that avocados have the highest protein content of any fruit, AND that they contain more potassium than a banana? Did you also know that you can fry an avocado? My mum: "What?" Me: "Heh heh - yep, you really can! There's more to an avocado than guacamole..." Here's my recipe for crumbed avocado, served hot with some mango salsa on the side. If

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com3http://www.cherrapeno.com/2012/12/crumbed-avocado-with-mango-salsa.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-10079393012305468462012-11-30T12:43:00.000Z2013-02-20T11:09:12.658Z2013-02-20T11:09:12.658Z

Bitten by the Instagram bug yet? Yeah, me too! (Although I also love Snapseed and Big Lens as well.) Everyone seems to be snapping their food these days - it's NOT JUST ME!! The great thing is it's instantaneous, take the photo with your phone or iPod and ta-da! Pecan praline chocolate fancies. Choc + cake = love! This photo of my pecan praline chocolate fancies won me a ticket to the

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com10http://www.cherrapeno.com/2012/11/diwali-banquet-2012.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-39971537330005314742012-11-24T12:28:00.000Z2012-11-24T12:28:31.823Z2012-11-24T12:28:31.823Z

Margaritas de Sandia When we lived in Tucson, Mexican restaurants could be found on most of the street corners, and the supermarkets sold ingredients that I had never seen before - I had no clue what to do with most of them! Coming back after nearly 6 years (now knowing how to make a decent taco!) I was pleased to see that Mexican food was beginning to become popular over here,

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com4http://www.cherrapeno.com/2012/11/mexican-supper-club.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-90151385511989789422012-11-14T20:42:00.000Z2012-11-14T20:42:20.866Z2012-11-14T20:42:20.866Z

Here's a quick round up of what I thought were the best gifts and ideas from the Lakeland Christmas press show.  Cute ideas for Christmassy cake pops And to make those cake pops, a special tin! This must be my favourite thing I saw at the show, cookie cutters in the shape of tree ornaments Christmas cake idea, & to flavour the cake, Lakeland sell a large range of different flavoured

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com7http://www.cherrapeno.com/2012/11/christmas-ideas-from-lakeland.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-64048682120718377852012-11-11T15:38:00.000Z2013-02-20T11:10:10.194Z2013-02-20T11:10:10.194Z

Last year, I published a post showcasing the festive offerings from Carluccio's. It proved to be very popular in the run up to Christmas, so here is another, with some of my favourite gift ideas to take away the pain of what to buy the teacher, colleague etc. P.S. Did you know that when you order Penne Giardiniera at Carluccio's, 50p is donated to Action Against Hunger?  I've also

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com2http://www.cherrapeno.com/2012/11/christmas-foodie-gift-ideas-from.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-19881019356156661372012-10-29T13:19:00.001Z2012-10-29T13:23:33.096Z2012-10-29T13:23:33.096Z

Still enjoying The Boy Who Bakes, and loving that the recipes are easy to make. I've often thought about making Nanaimo bars, but never really got around to it. The recipe originally came from a Canadian housewife who submitted it to an annual Women's Institute fundraising cookbook back in the early 1950's, and recently, Nanaimo bars were voted 'Canada's Favourite Confection'. There

Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11843118087690038577noreply@blogger.com9http://www.cherrapeno.com/2012/10/nanaimo-bars.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9088026225125907305.post-25236221351818412772012-10-18T10:25:00.000+01:002012-11-14T20:35:44.289Z2012-11-14T20:35:44.289Z

Kids' kitchen Last month I went to the very first Cake & Bake Show which was held at Earls Court, London. The show was a cake decorator's dream, with many of the stands demonstrating icing techniques and beautiful little fondant flowers/figures etc that you could make or buy for your cakes. There were fewer stands for the baker, I would have liked to have seen even more baking products

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