Welcome to
Cook Make Bake

Welcome and a big hello from me!

I'm Helen, a passionate home cook living in lovely Lancashire with my husband Fraser, Tessy the Lakeland Terrier and about 25 English white park cattle.

I'm so glad you're joining me to Cook some sumptuous dinners,

Bake mouth watering breads and cakes,

and Make everything from pretty pink lemonade to creamy hummus!

This is a real opportunity for me to share my successes in the kitchen, culinary tips, cheats and show you how to make extraordinary food look and feel effortless to prepare.

I enjoy taking the mystery out of seemingly impossible recipes, and giving you the confidence to try some new and old recipes. Soon you'll be cooking up a batch of crisp danish pastries, making a silky hollandaise and cooking the perfect steak!

One of my real joys is having a house crammed full of friends and family, sitting around the kitchen table with delicious food and the sound of laughter.

I love having the opportunity to let you into my pandoras box of foodie passions, and hope you enjoy trying some of my failsafe recipes.

4 hours ago
2 min

Salted peanut and banana bake

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a day ago
2 min

Crispy coconut & lime chicken with mango salsa and curried mango mayo.

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Feb 23
2 min

Carrot, orange & rosemary Cake

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Carrot, orange & rosemary Cake

Helencooksbakesmakes

Feb 23
2 min

Carrot, orange & rosemary Cake

This moist carrot cake is not only incredibly easy to make but tastes completely divine. I've added subtle hints of rosemary and orange to add an extra layer of grown up flavour. To make it extra special it's been topped with a fresh orange blossom cream cheese frosting and crisp candied carrot curls. Here's how... Ingredients 250g self raising flour 1 tsp baking powder 150g soft brown sugar 150ml sunflower oil 50g chopped walnuts 200g carrots grated coarsely 3 medium eggs ze

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Stuffed Baklava cookies

Helencooksbakesmakes

Feb 20
2 min

Stuffed Baklava cookies

I adore the flavour of Baklava (filo pastry with pistachio & honey) but I'm not keen on the texture, to me filo should be super crunchy. I do however love cookies.....who does'nt? so i've pinched all the best bits from a classic baklava and crammed them into the softest cookies you can imagine, then drizzled with delicate orange glaze and sprinkled with chopped pistachios! Something tells me you're going to enjoy this one. Here's how......... Ingredients for the cookie dough

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Giant apricot & ginger muffins

Helencooksbakesmakes

Jan 21
2 min

Giant apricot & ginger muffins

When making muffins, gloriously big really is best. These beauties, although huge are delicately light and fluffy, dotted with squidgy apricots and topped with a crunchy ginger crumb. Perfect with your breakfast coffee. Heres how....... The key to a giant muffin is to work quickly, there's active ingredients in here that you'll notice, once combined has a life of its own! Get organised by weighing out all your dry ingredients, and all your wet ingredients, prepare your muffin

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Beginuary cookies!

Helencooksbakesmakes

Jan 15
2 min

Beginuary cookies!

These soft gooey cookies were born from a need to clear all the post Christmas goodies. Really its just a pretty fantastic basic cookie dough that produces soft chewy thick cookies. I added a few handfuls of chopped celebrations and chopped brazil nuts to purge the cupboards of naughtiness but you could add smarties, choc chips and any kind of fruit or nut you like.... Get imaginative! yields about 15 cookies. Here's how........ Ingredients 300g plain flour 1 tbsp cornflour 1

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Indulgent dark chocolate and hazelnut praline tart.

Helencooksbakesmakes

Jan 13
3 min

Indulgent dark chocolate and hazelnut praline tart.

Decadent, silky salted dark chocolate ganache with crunchy hazelnut praline and a sweet toasted Swiss meringue.....Sounds complex right? I'm going to show you how easy this little showstopper tart really is, and uses minimal ingredients! Makes approx 10 slices if you work in stages on this it really couldn't be simpler. the only bit to bake is the pastry case. If you prefer to use a shop bought one i'm not going to judge you! Ingredients for the pastry case. 170g plain flour

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Marmite and cheddar tear & share bread

Helencooksbakesmakes

Jan 6
2 min

Marmite and cheddar tear & share bread

Are you a lover or a hater? These soft squishy rolls are entwined with tangy mature cheddar and rich sticky marmite. I'm not going to lie to you, this is a bit time intensive on the filling and rolling, but if you're looking for something delicious and would like to immerse yourself in dough then this is the recipe for you. here's how......... Ingredients 500g strong white bread flour 10g dried instant yeast 4g salt Good glug of olive oil. 300ml lukewarm water Filling 300g

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Pear ginger & oat cake

Helencooksbakesmakes

Jan 2
1 min

Pear ginger & oat cake

visually this is amazing, one perfect sliver of sweet pear in every slice. Warm with fresh and ground ginger and just this side of healthy with almonds and oats. This is perfect with a cuppa but equally delicious served as a pudding, warm with custard or ice cream. Here's how.... Ingredients 100g self raising flour 100g ground almonds 40g rolled oats 100g caster sugar 100g dark muscavado sugar + extra for sprinkling 200g softened butter 100ml milk 3 large room temp eggs eggs

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Cranberry, pecan and clementine Babka

Helencooksbakesmakes

Dec 2, 2020
2 min

Cranberry, pecan and clementine Babka

If you want to get your GBBO game on, then give this festive babka a go! It’s surprisingly easy to make and tastes of pure Christmas. Sweet enough to nibble on its own and not so sweet that you couldn’t enjoy with a hunk of salty cheese. Here's how.......... Ingredients 300g strong white flour 7g yeast 5g fine salt 30g sugar 70ml whole milk 2 eggs beaten 90g butter cubed and softened 5 tbsp cranberry sauce Good handful roughly chopped pecans Zest of 2 clementine’s 1 tsp mixed

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Autumnal apple and cinnamon traybake with salted caramel sauce.

Helencooksbakesmakes

Sep 10, 2020
2 min

Autumnal apple and cinnamon traybake with salted caramel sauce.

This has to be the most autumnal pud I have made.. ever! Packed with slices of seasonal Bramleys, and warm with cinnamon, it takes no time at all to make and will feed an army! The salted caramel sauce is silky, buttery, creamy & sweet with just the right amount of sea salt to make it feel grown up, It’s the simplest thing to make too, with my failsafe recipe. Ingredients for the traybake 2 large Bramley apples, peeled cored and sliced. 400g butter 400g caster sugar 400g self

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Fluffy Focaccia

Helencooksbakesmakes

Aug 16, 2020
1 min

Fluffy Focaccia

This is one of my favourite Italian breads, done right it’s fluffy, light and rich with olive oil. After you’ve tried this 15 minute to make easy peasy bread you’ll never buy a supermarket cardboard one again! Add olives, sunblush tomatoes, anchovies or just keep it simple with rosemary. Serves 8 Ingredients 500g strong white bread flour 4 tbsp olive oil 360ml tepid water 7g dry active yeast 7g fine table salt 1 Tsp sea salt 8 small sprigs rosemary Before you start please not

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Glazed and cinnamon sugared doughnuts

Helencooksbakesmakes

Jul 1, 2020
2 min

Glazed and cinnamon sugared doughnuts

Ok, I know these aren’t going to win any healthy food competitions, but they are definitely over the winning line in taste. Fluffy inside, crisp on the outside, warm and sweet. The question is, can you eat one without licking your lips? You’ll need a round cutter approx. 4 cm ( I have used the plastic tube that you get birthday candles in) you can use anything really. Ingredients 265g strong white bread flour 7g fast action yeast 15g caster sugar 100ml lukewarm whole milk 1g

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Contact Helen

Thanks for your interest in cook make bake. For more information, feel free to get in touch and I will get back to you soon!

Lancaster, Lancashire.

Poached Egg Sandwich