Collister - The great British bake off everyday: 100 foolproof recipes

BAKERS NOTES

FAN ASSISTED OVENS For fan assisted ovens, set the temperature 20C lower than stated in the recipes.

MEASUREMENTS All teaspoons and tablespoons are level unless otherwise stated.

RAW INGREDIENTS Some recipes contain raw or partially cooked eggs. Pregnant women, the elderly, babies and toddlers, and people who are unwell should avoid these recipes.

ACCURACY is essential when baking. Weigh all ingredients, use accurate scales and a kitchen timer and the correct equipment.

OVEN THERMOMETER Oven temperatures can vary (even from the front to the back of the oven, as well as between the top and bottom shelves) so practice makes perfect. An oven thermometer is useful.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BBC BOOKS AND LOVE PRODUCTIONS WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE FOR THEIR INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO THIS BOOK

Linda Collister, Norma Macmillan, Susanna Cook, Maeve Bargman and Allies Design, Kristin Perers (and Ben, Emma and Martin), Jane Hornby (and Amanda and Katy), Cynthia Inions, Stephanie Evans and Lisa Footit, Sam Beddoes, Adriana Caligiuri, Tom Bowman and Tallulah Radula-Scott.

Thank you to Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood for contributing their recipes and also to the amateur bakers: Ali, Beca, Christine, Deborah, Frances, Glenn, Howard, Kimberly, Lucy, Mark, Robert, Ruby and Toby.

These are the quickest and simplest of all bakes. So what will help them go right? Butter not only tastes good, it also helps the structure of the bake. Sugar may be caster, which has a fine grain, or a brown muscovado, which will add a darker colour and flavour and make biscuits slightly chewy. Flour is usually plain or self-raising to give a soft, crumbly texture.

When shaping biscuits, use only a little flour on the worktop and pin too much flour could make the final result tough and dry. If the dough feels too sticky, wrap it in clingfilm and chill until it is firm.

Most biscuits need to be cooled a bit on the baking sheet before being lifted on to a wire rack. If you need to bake several batches and want to re-use the same baking sheet, rinse the sheet under the cold tap to cool it quickly, then dry and re-line.

Recipe List

These blondies brownies made with white chocolate look deceptively benign. But using a really good brand of white chocolate gives them a rich taste. To make them even more decadent, mix 100g dark chocolate chips into the blondie mixture with the pecan halves. Or, for a special dessert, cut the blondie cake into larger squares and serve with a warm toffee sauce (see ) and scoops of ice cream.

CUTS INTO 36 SQUARES

YOU WILL NEED: 1 20.5CM SQUARE BROWNIE TIN OR SHALLOW CAKE TIN, GREASED AND BASE-LINED

175g white chocolate (about 25% cocoa solids), chopped or broken up

115g unsalted butter, diced

100g caster sugar

2 medium free-range eggs, at room temperature

teaspoon vanilla extract

125g plain flour

teaspoon baking powder

150g pecan halves

Heat your oven to180C/350F/gas 4. Put the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients. Set the bowl over a pan of hot water, off the heat, and melt gently, stirring frequently (white chocolate melts at a lower temperature than dark chocolate so watch carefully). As soon as the chocolate has nearly all melted, remove the bowl from the pan and stir until the mixture is smooth.

Stir in the sugar (dont worry if the mixture looks curdled at this stage). Leave to cool for 2 minutes or until barely warm.

While the chocolate mix is cooling, put the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl and beat with a fork until frothy. Add to the chocolate mixture and stir well with a wooden spoon to make a sleek and glossy mixture. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and stir in. Add 100g of the pecan halves and stir in.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and spread evenly. Scatter the remaining nuts over the top. Place in the heated oven and bake for 2025 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake (halfway between the centre and the side of the tin) comes out clean. The centre of the cake will still be slightly soft it will firm up as it cools.

Set the tin on a wire rack. Run a round-bladed knife around the cake to loosen it from the tin, then leave to cool. Once cold, turn out and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container and eat within 4 days.

Very rich, crisp, sandy-textured biscuits, sabls are the French equivalent of shortbread. The dough is traditionally rolled out and cut into rounds with a fluted cutter. The vanilla-scented biscuits here are given a glossy golden glaze with beaten egg. To ensure they colour evenly, rotate the baking sheets halfway through the baking time.

MAKES ABOUT 16

YOU WILL NEED: 12 BAKING SHEETS, WELL GREASED WITH BUTTER OR LINED WITH BAKING PAPER

200g plain flour

good pinch of salt

75g icing sugar

140g unsalted butter, chilled and diced

3 medium free-range egg yolks

teaspoon vanilla extract

beaten egg, to glaze

Put the flour, salt and sugar into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the pieces of butter and run the machine just until the mixture looks sandy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and process until the mixture comes together to make a firm ball of dough.

Remove the dough from the processor, shape it into a disc about 2.5cm thick and wrap in clingfilm. Chill for about 30 minutes until firm. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.

Lightly flour the worktop and your rolling pin, then roll out the dough until it is about 4mm thick (slightly thicker than a pound coin). Try to roll the dough so it is the same thickness all over, to ensure the biscuits will cook evenly.

Use a 7.5cm fluted round cutter to stamp out rounds of dough. Dip the cutter in flour before you start and between each biscuit. For neat shapes firmly stamp out the rounds dont twist the cutter. Gently knead the trimmings together, then re-roll and stamp out more rounds.

Set the rounds, slightly apart, on the prepared baking sheets (you may need to bake in 2 batches). Brush very lightly with beaten egg, then prick each round a couple of times with a fork. Brush again with egg. Finally, lightly score the top of each round in a cross pattern with the prongs of the fork.

Place in the heated oven and bake for 1115 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes so the biscuits can firm up, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Store in an airtight container and eat within a week.

These deliciously crisp biscuits are particularly good with ice cream. Make sure you use unsweetened desiccated coconut or the biscuits will quickly scorch.

MAKES ABOUT 16

YOU WILL NEED: 12 BAKING SHEETS, WELL GREASED WITH BUTTER OR LINED WITH BAKING PAPER

40g unsweetened desiccated coconut

160g plain flour

good pinch of salt

75g icing sugar

40g ground almonds

160g unsalted butter, chilled and diced

2 medium free-range egg yolks

Put the coconut, flour, salt and icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor and run the machine for 20 seconds to grind up the coconut slightly. Add the almonds and briefly pulse to combine. Add the pieces of butter and run the machine just until the mixture looks sandy. Finally, add the egg yolks and process until the mixture comes together to make a ball of dough.