Notes about Recipes in this book

• Rhubarb and orange

  • Melanie on August 03, 2011

    p42. I loved this. Reduce the sugar to say 100g or the end result will be very sweet.

• Classic banana smoothie

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p46. I used natural yoghurt (recipe suggests soy milk as an alternative). Tasted fresh and healthy.

• Lime, grapefruit and ginger juice

  • cespitler on November 02, 2012

    This was great on its own, but even better with the addition of locally-made rhubarb ginger gin mixed in and served over ice. I imagine that it would be great with vodka, too.

• Sugar-free granola

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p48. I was really impressed with the flavour of this. I added extra apple juice instead of the oil. Delicious with yoghurt for breakfast.

• Honey granola

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p48. Equally impressed with this granola. I replaced the oil with water and used a combination of honey and golden syrup instead of straight honey. For the dried fruit I used currants and dried apricots. Only needs an hour in the oven.

  • monica107 on January 25, 2014

    Keep an eye on this while it is in the oven - mine turned out a little too toasty for my tastes when following the directions provided.

• Raw muesli

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p50. Very good - I soaked the oats in apple juice for about an hour. Recipe recommends one hour to overnight.

• Traditional porridge

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p50. Perfectly cooked porridge. Delicious with cold milk, maple syrup and sliced bananas over the top.

• Classic pancakes

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p54. Nice fluffy pancakes. I ate these served with blueberries and a drizzle of maple syrup.

  • stefan_1ypm1j on March 21, 2026

    As far as basic pancakes go this is a solid recipe. Super fluffy and light!

• Ricotta pancakes

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    I am late to the party about these, but they are my new favorite pancakes. I had them for brunch last Sunday with strawberries and maple syrup- delicious and so fluffy. (I used goat's milk ricotta from the farmer's market.) I had made the whole batch just for two of us, so Monday night, we had them as savory pancakes. I added fresh herbs to the batter (chives) and served them with sauteed mushrooms (and chervil). The batter held up well- the pancakes weren't quite as fluffy the next day as the first, but still tasted great.

  • MsMonsoon on August 07, 2021

    Fluffy pancakes if you beat your egg whites well. I probably wimped out a little too early on the egg whites as I was beating by hand. Next time will use an electric hand mixer. Used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to make small/med pancakes. There’s no sugar in the recipe so syrup or fruit is key. Love Trisha’s idea of making some savory.

• Blueberry scones

  • HeatherT on December 09, 2010

    Recipe is fine and has a good texture, but the taste is really bland. If I'm going to spend time cutting butter into flour for scones, I want a tastier pay-off. I ate one because I had made the effort, but the rest of the household passed. I ended up throwing all of them away.

  • toscana48 on August 01, 2011

    I loved this recipe and will use it as the basis for my scones and swap out different fruits, citrus zests and spices. Everyone in my household loved these scones. It sounds like the previous reviewer likes a scone with more sugar.

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p60. Tastes great served with warm butter. Sadly my frozen blueberries defrosted too quick while sitting on bench before they were mixed in... Leaving me with mouldy looking scones! Great taste though, won't defrost berries next time!

• Date scones

  • pistachiopeas on April 22, 2015

    Quite liked this recipe and will make again. Very simple to pull together if you have pitted dates.

• Cheddar cornmeal scones

  • Pangur Ban on August 17, 2014

    Recipe is quite wet - use small eggs

  • vegwithtastebuds on March 23, 2024

    Read directions carefully- only 2 of the 3 eggs go in the dough and the other is for brushing. May still need a little extra flour. Recipe is a bit on the bland side as written. Added the following: - sriracha in place of cayenne - 1 tsp onion powder -1 tsp garlic powder - 1tsp smoked paprika - black pepper -1 TBS dried chives - additional 1/4 tsp salt -reduced baking powder to one level TBS

• Green bean and almond soup

  • Pangur Ban on August 31, 2011

    Tastier than you'd think. Lovely light texture and mild taste: if using Marigold stock powder, used less than concentration recommended on tin.

• Celeriac and porcini soup

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    Really flavorful and light soup (kind of surprising for a winter soup- in a good way). I was worried that the mushroom flavor would overly dominate the celeriac, but while it is the main flavor, you do get the notes of celeriac in the background, which is nice. I used a crumbled arbol and didn't get much heat from it- I'd probably use two the next time.

  • Astrid5555 on March 20, 2020

    More like a very flavorful spicy porcini soup with a subtle celeriac taste in the background. Perfect!

• Carrot and seed salad

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p79. Tastes delicious and healthy. I didn't bother with the chives. Make sure you toast the seeds - I've tried this with toasted and untoasted seeds but the salty toasted ones really make this salad sing.

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    I enjoyed the combination of sweet, salty, and sour- I went more on the sour side since that's where my tastes seem to be at these days. I used a mixture of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, and I definitely preferred the more substantial crunch from the sunflower seeds- will use only them next time. Definitely make and eat the same day- this didn't improve with time. (Or keep all of the components separate if you need to make ahead.)

  • Lepa on January 17, 2017

    This is much too lemony for my taste. I might make it again with half the lemon ( or less) because I like the combination of carrots and seeds.

  • MsMonsoon on May 22, 2021

    Loved this. It’s light, bright and refreshing but feels substantial thanks to the sunflower seeds. I used almost all of a 3/4 oz. (21g) package of chives. It’s easy and pretty quick if you’re using already roasted and salted seeds, and a food processor to grate the carrots. Recipe calls for 8 med carrots. Mine were on the smaller side so I used more than a dozen. Salad still tasted good more than a day later.

• Mushroom, celery and spring onion salad

  • MsMonsoon on May 12, 2022

    Made for Mother’s Day tea. Healthy, light, vegan, but the celery is a bit overpowering and we were trying to think of another vegetable to add in. The recipe just says a heart of celery and doesn’t specify amount.

• Quinoa and pepper salad

  • MsMonsoon on May 12, 2022

    Made for Mother’s Day. This is ok, colorful, and quite healthy. Don’t skip the lemon and add extra salt. It’s vegan but tastes great with some cheese as well. I’ve made 3 salads from this book and they aren’t the most exciting but they are a great way to get veggies without too much added fat, and they are the kinds of salads you could pack for a picnic.

• Ricotta, tomato and thyme tart

  • Astrid5555 on January 01, 2014

    Took a shortcut and used store-bought shortcrust dough. Really delicious filling, worth repeating with home-made shortcrust pastry. Will make again!

• Tomato, aubergine and mint risotto

  • Nancith on August 03, 2018

    This was a truly delicious risotto. Roasting the eggplant & tomatoes gave this an earthy flavor, and real depth. Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly enough mint, just enough to give a tiny tease of mint; the correct amount would be really lovely. Definitely will make this again!

  • Jane on August 07, 2018

    One of the things I love about EYB is seeing other members' raves about a recipe which then prompt me to make something I may not have come across in my huge collection. So thanks Nancith! This was indeed a lovely risotto and really not much more time than a regular risotto. If you start the onions cooking as soon as the vegetables go into the oven and get everything else prepped then the roast vegetables will be ready at the right time to add.

  • ricki on August 01, 2021

    Thank you Nancith and Jane. Inspired by your notes, needing to use some eggplants and tomatoes, and having plenty of mint in the garden, I tried this recipe. I though it was lovely, and he who would rarely choose risotto did as well. After his first bite: "This is good!" and when done: "Make it again!" I halved the oil and butter and used water instead of broth for a clean, fresh, taste. The mint was unusual and special. Somewhat less than half the rice (150g) with about half the amount of veggies made plenty for 2 servings with some leftover.

  • Astrid5555 on September 21, 2023

    Such a delicious risotto. Had some eggplants and tomatoes to use up and this showed up in my EYB search. Family loved it!

• Courgette and millet risotto

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    I really like the millet here- I think toasting it adds a lovely nutty dimension. Zucchini are not the most flavorful of squashes, and even after roasting it, I didn't find that this recipe brought much out of it flavor-wise. If you are looking to showcase the veg with this risotto, definitely go with a winter squash.

• Cod in tomato water

  • Astrid5555 on January 21, 2014

    Delicious and quick. Perfect for a weeknight dinner. Did not have any Bird's eye chiles, would have probably been a little tastier with some heat. Still very good!

• Sweet tart case

  • TrishaCP on February 13, 2017

    I made this for use in the chocolate and chestnut tartlet recipe and it is delicious. I halved the recipe, which was only tricky when it came to the eggs, and used the metric measurements. I rolled it out on parchment paper for easy transfer, since this dough is prone to tearing. Other than my horrible rolling technique, it came out great. The cooking time was spot on. I built the walls of the crust about 1/2 inch over the edge of the tart pan to minimize shrinking, and I shaved off the excess crust from the tin prior to filling the tart. (It didn't look like the dough shrunk anyway though, but regardless, I had a perfect tart shell.)

• Chestnut and chocolate tartlet

  • TrishaCP on February 13, 2017

    This is incredible! The chocolate and chestnut go so well together, and using the bittersweet chocolate called for prevents it from becoming sickly sweet. It looks amazing, but other than making the pastry, and the time spent waiting for various components to cool, this was really easy to do. I chose to make one big tart using an 11 inch tart pan rather than tartlets. My filling was perfectly cooked following the specified time, I didn't have to make any adjustments for the larger size.

• Carrot cake

  • vickster on April 10, 2011

    Very moist, easy carrot cake with delicious cream cheese icing.

  • siobhan_curran on December 20, 2011

    A favourite recipe if only for the cream cheese icing.

  • MsMonsoon on April 10, 2023

    Made 1.5x the cake recipe to get two rather tall 8-inch rounds, and 2x the icing to get enough to frost the 2-layer cake. I was a little unclear on just how much shredded carrot “9 medium carrots” should produce. I assumed it meant about 2 cups since this is the amount in most other carrot cake recipes. I suppose I could have added more but 14 carrots in my 1.5x recipe seemed like a lot. Perhaps French carrots are smaller? I prefer the cream cheese frosting from Nigella’s Guinness cake (no butter) but this one is still really good.

• Banana cake

  • lisacampbell on May 29, 2012

    page 130

• Orange almond cakes

  • Lepa on June 02, 2015

    This is one of my favorite cakes. We usually make half a batch in tiny tins. Top with whipped cream and skip the icing.

• Pistachio cake

  • TrishaCP on June 27, 2013

    It is hard to go wrong with a cake made largely of ground pistachios- certainly my family's favorite nut. The hits of lemon zest in the batter as well as the zest and juice in the glaze lighten the flavors and prevent it from feeling too heavy. I used a loaf pan and basically had to double the cooking time as a result.

• Shortbread

  • siobhan_curran on December 20, 2011

    Excellent shortbread recipe. I like the addition of lemon zest.

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p146. This recipe worked a treat. Utter perfection!

• Oat and coconut cookies

  • Astrid5555 on November 02, 2012

    Very good - made several times already. Cookies need to be flattend with a fork before baking since they do not spread at all.

• Brownie cheesecake

  • monica107 on January 25, 2014

    There's no way the 25 minute baking time can be right... Mine was way raw in the middle. Elsewhere online a former employee of Rose Bakery suggested 45 minutes instead - I haven't gotten to try it, but every report I've seen indicated that after 25 minutes this was still not cooked.

• Apple and blackberry crumble

  • Melanie on January 01, 2012

    p166. Yum. I used frozen blackberries and it still worked perfectly. A really nice comforting dessert on a cold winter night.

  • Lepa on December 11, 2019

    Something went horribly wrong with this recipe. It was dreadful. The topping was dry and never browned. It seemed like there was too much flour in the recipe? After 45 minutes I melted some butter and drizzled that on top and put it under the broiler- which just burned some of it. The apples never really cooked well and seemed very dry. I'm sad that I wasted eight apples and two packets of blackberries on this mess.

• Oat and apple betty

  • Lepa on June 02, 2015

    This didn't sound very interesting but it was divine. The marmalade gave it a nice flavor. This is an easy dessert to make when we have too many apples at hand.

• Eton mess

  • Astrid5555 on August 12, 2012

    This recipe is a great way to use up your frozen egg whites. Made the meringues the night before and prepped the strawberries before the guests arrived. It took no more than 5 minutes to finish this delicious dessert. Will definitely make again!

• New York Times

  Foremost, if not first, is their famous carrot cake, which initially confounded, then won over, their Parisian clientele: carrots in a cake? Never!

  Full review