A Pre-wedding Party

Mat's brother was getting married and due to lots of people travelling to Dover they decided to make a proper weekend of it by having a get together the night before. Its a great idea as people get chatting before the wedding and get to know each other over a glass or two of wine.

It was held in the National Trust visitor centre on top of the White Cliffs and even if in the dark was a great venue. All day his mom, myself and a few other family members prepared the buffet, there were quiches and cupcakes, sandwiches and pizza. It was the first time i had ever seen pinwheel sandwiches which look great but are so simple - cut off the crusts, roll out the bread with a rolling pin, spread with pate or layer up smoked salmon, roll up and slice into discs.

One of the things I was in charge of were the triple decker cucumber sandwiches, which looked very pretty layered up and the herby cream cheese really lifted them to something special. They even turned out like the picture on BBC Good Food.

I also made peanut butter squares (from a recipe by Lorraine Pascale) the night before, which I can't wait to make again as they are really easy and I loved eating all the leftover bits that fell off as I tried to slice them. Even Mat who hates peanut butter and was disgusted I was creating something he hates so much - tucked in and is now a convert.

I also made individual baked cheesecake cupcakes with raspberries and a white chocolate and lemon biscuit base - quite weighty as baked cheesecakes generally are but still delicious.

Peanut butter squares

Makes 16

Ingredients:

• 150g/5½oz butter

• 200g/7oz dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids) or milk chocolate (or a mixture of both)

• 250g/9oz digestive biscuits

• 200g/7oz soft light brown sugar

• 300g/10½oz crunchy peanut butter

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

• Line a 20cm/8in square tin with baking parchment, leaving some excess paper hanging over the edges (this makes it easier to lift out once set).

• Melt the butter in a large pan over a low heat.

• Snap the chocolate into squares and throw into a small bowl. Melt in the microwave in 30 second blasts, stirring well between each addition or sit the bowl over a pan over simmering water. Make sure that the bottom of the pan does not touch the water or the chocolate may ‘seize’ and go really grainy and stiff.


• Blitz the digestive biscuits and brown sugar in a blender or food processor to give fine crumbs. Tip them into the melted butter. Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix together so everything is well combined.

• Tip the mixture into the lined tin and press it down really hard with the back of the spoon. It needs to be really compact and tight. Then pour over the melted chocolate, tilting the tin back and forth a bit so that the whole thing is evenly covered. Pop in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up (or the fridge for an hour).

• Once the chocolate is set, remove it from the freezer (or fridge). Lift it out of the tin with the help of the baking parchment. Remove the paper and then use a sharp knife to divide it into 16 squares and serve.

Raspberry cheesecake cupcakes

Makes 10

Ingredients:

• 8 white chocolate cookies

• 45g/1¾oz butter, melted

For the filling

• 300g/10½oz cream cheese

• 1 tbsp plain flour

• 90g/3¼oz caster sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 free-range egg, plus 1 egg yolk

• 3 tbsp soured cream

• 100g/3½oz raspberries

• lightly whipped double cream or crème fraîche, to serve

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a muffin tin with eight muffin cases.

• Blend the cookies in a food processor until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. (You can also do this by placing them in a plastic bag and bashing with a rolling pin).

• Stir in the melted butter until well combined. Press the mixture into the base of the paper cases, reserving a tablespoon to garnish.

• For the filling, beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, then stir in the plain flour, caster sugar, vanilla extract, egg and egg yolk and soured cream and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

• Put a few raspberries in the bottom of each case, reserving some for garnish, then spoon the cream cheese mixture on top.

• Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the cheesecake filling is set, but still slightly wobbly in the middle.

• Remove the cupcakes from the oven and set aside to cool for 30 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the tin, transfer to a plate and chill in the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight.

• To serve, carefully peel off the paper cases and top the cupcakes with a spoonful of whipped cream and a few raspberries. Sprinkle over the reserved biscuit mixture.

Trick VS Treat Bake Off

It had been a while since we have had a bake off at work so in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month we decide to combine a charity bake off with the upcoming seasonal festivities of Hallowean. The Trick VS Treat bake off was born, bakers were asked to create either creepy or pretty bakes and then donations towards the cakes would raise the money.

I created a poster to help build the hype and on the day there was a clear divide on the table between the sweet treats and creepy concoctions. There were meringue ghosts, mummy biscuits, cupcakes decorated with butterflies, bats, decapitated jelly babies and pumpkins plus pretty lemon biscuits, spiderweb millionaires shortbread and my favourite was the peanut butter bites.

I went for the Chocolate and Guinness cupcakes (now my signature bake even though I nicked it from Nigella) but decorated them differently. The first were classically pretty with white frosting and sprinkled with silver edible glitter, then wrapped in pretty cupcake sleeves with lasercut flowers. The second batch were decorated with green icing and glitter to look like grass (the actual black cake represented the soil) then gingerbread tombstones were popped on the top for a suitable creepy but tasty treat.

The Chocolate and Guinness cake recipe can be found here and the gingerbread biscuit recipe is below, originally from BBC food.

We raised an amazing £202.47 for Breast Cancer Care - not bad for some baked flour, sugar and eggs.

Gingerbread Tombstones

Ingredients:

• 350g plain flour

• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 100g oz butter, cut into cubes

• 175g  light soft brown sugar

• 4 tbsp golden syrup

• 1 free-range egg, lightly beaten

For the icing: 

• 150g icing sugar

• 8 tablespoons of cold water

Method:

• For the ginger biscuit tombstones, place the flour, ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

• Add the sugar, syrup and egg and mix together until it forms a soft dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.

• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out your shapes – you will only need a few for the cake so cut out some other Halloween shapes for extra biscuits.

• Place the shapes on to greased baking sheets (leaving at least 3cm between biscuits as they will spread) and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the sheets with a palette knife and place onto a wire rack to cool completely before decorating with white icing.

• Make the icing just before you are ready to pipe as it will set if made too early, simply mix the icing sugar and the water, adding a couple of tablespoons of water at a time until you have a thick but pipable consitantly. Pop in a piping bag and decorate as you see fit.

Chocolate Birthday Cake and Gingerbread Cupcakes

I love having an excuse to bake, especially when I have the time and a friends birthday at work is always a good opportunity. I know everyones loves Nigella's chocolate and Guinness cake and is the fail safe recipe I always turn too but I wanted to see if I could create something that would be as well loved.

I wanted a show stopper so turned again to a Dan Lepard recipe and this time his easy chocolate cake - the recipe is from the BBC food website and looked like it would be impressive but not stressful to make. He was not wrong either - springy chocolate sponge cut in two filled with nice raspberry jam and whipped double cream and loads of cocoa frosting on top, it was easy to make and went down a treat, as chocolate cake usually does.

I also wanted to try a bit of an unusual flavour combination and so with my new found love of salted caramel I choose to make gingerbread cupcakes with a salted caramel buttercream. Again the recipe was from BBC Food.

These were a little tricker as I need to make the caramel and couldn't remember whether you should stir the sugar or not, it turns out you shouldn't otherwise you end up with a lump of crystallised sugar in a pan. The second attempt was more successful (after watching a couple of online tutorials) - let the sugar melt and when it has, occasionally move the pan gently from side to side, once melted you can stir gently over a low heat until it takes on a golden colour, this will take 5 - 10 minutes so no need to rush. I also took the pan off the heat as soon as it went golden so not to burn it (it will continue to cook in the pan whilst it cools).

These were definitely worth the effort as I think the black treacle makes them very spongy and moist so would keep for a couple of days, if they had not been demolished within five minutes of the final chord of 'Happy Birthday' finishing. The overly sweet topping was delicious and worked well with the slightly spicy sponge.

Easy chocolate birthday cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 100g unsalted butter

• 250g caster or brown sugar

• 50ml sunflower oil

• 25g cocoa powder

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 4 medium free-range eggs

• 80ml milk

• 100ml double cream

• 300g plain flour

• 3 tsp baking powder

For the cocoa frosting:

• 25g cocoa powder

• 300g icing sugar

• 50g butter

• 50ml double cream

For the filling:

• 250ml double cream, whipped until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed

• 150g jam

Preparation method:

• For the cake, line the base of a deep 20cm/9in cake tin with non-stick paper and preheat the oven to180C/350F/Gas 4.

• Melt the butter over a low heat in a small pan, pour it into a bowl with the sugar, oil, cocoa powder and vanilla. Beat well until smooth, then whisk in the eggs followed by the milk and cream.

• Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture and beat until smooth, then spoon into the prepared tin and cover the top of the tin with aluminium foil.

• Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes, or the top is springy and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean

• Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool completely.

• Meanwhile make the cocoa frosting, mix the cocoa powder and icing sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter for a few seconds in the microwave, or in a small pan over a low heat. Mix the melted butter and the cream into the sugar and cocoa, and stir until smooth.

• To assemble the cake, remove the cake from the tin, trim the top of the cake to make it flat, then cut the cake in half horizontally. Put the bottom half of the cake onto a serving plate and spread with the whipped cream. Top with the jam.

• Spread the cocoa frosting onto the top of the cake and swirl it with a spoon, then carefully place it onto the bottom half of the cake.

Gingerbread cupcakes with salted caramel icing

Ingredients:

• 140g unsalted butter

• 200g golden caster sugar

• 60g black treacle

• 60g golden syrup

• 2 free-range eggs, plus 2 free-range egg yolks

• 300g plain flour

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp ground nutmeg

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 240ml milk, warmed

For the salted caramel buttercream:

• 125g white caster sugar

• 80ml double cream

• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 160g salted butter, softened

• 200g icing sugar

Preparation method:

• Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line two 12-hole muffin tray with 15 paper cases.

• Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and creamy. Beat in the treacle, syrup, eggs and egg yolks until well combined.

• Sift together the flour, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then beat in half of the warm milk. Add the remaining flour mixture and the remaining milk and beat until well combined.

• Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until well risen and lightly firm to the touch. Remove the cakes from the tin and set aside to cool on a cooling rack.

• For the salted caramel buttercream, heat the caster sugar and four tablespoons of water in a saucepan over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved, then increase the heat and cook the caramel for 2-3 minutes, or until golden and slightly thickened. Remove the pan from the heat immediately and stir in the cream. (CAUTION: the caramel may splutter a little when you add the cream.)

• Stir in the salt and vanilla and set aside to cool completely.

• Cream the butter and icing sugar together for at least 4- 5 minutes, then beat in the caramel. When combined pipe or spread the icing over the cup cakes and sprinkle with a little extra sea salt.

• Decorate the cupcakes with the buttercream.

A cheesecake for Champions

As the Olympic games has now come to a close I thought I should show how we celebrated the opening ceremony. Our friends - Lou and Ollie, invited us to their flat on the ninth floor overlooking the Olympic park in Stratford, we went round to watch the ceremony on the TV and from the balcony.

We were standing on the balcony drinking Pimms and the queen drove past (the parachuting was a stunt double incase any of our readers believed that), she waved at us - very exciting.

The fireworks were amazing and the atmosphere reached all the way to the living room and on the balcony... but no celebration is complete without nibbles and Lou and Ollie put on a great spread (plus a special mention to Ollie's Mum's salads - yummy!). I contributed a very simple vanilla cheesecake but gave a patriotic twist with blueberries and strawberries. Based on a recipe from BBC Good Food.

Easy Vanilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 250g digestive biscuits

• 100g butter , melted

• 1 vanilla pod (I used a teaspoon of real vanilla essence instead)

• 600g soft cheese

• 100g icing sugar

• 284ml pot double cream

For the topping:

• Strawberries(hulled and sliced)

• Blueberries

Method:

Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed tin with baking parchment. Put 250g digestive biscuits in a plastic food bag and crush to crumbs using a rolling pin. Transfer the crumbs to a bowl, then pour over 100g melted butter. Mix thoroughly until the crumbs are completely coated. Tip them into the prepared tin and press firmly down into the base to create an even layer. Chill in the fridge for 1 hr to set firmly.

Remove the vanilla seeds from 1 pod: Slice the vanilla pod in half lengthways, leaving the tip intact, so that the two halves are still joined. Holding onto the tip of the pod, scrape out the seeds using the back of a kitchen knife.

Place 600g soft cheese, 100g icing sugar and the vanilla seeds in a bowl, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Tip in 284ml pot double cream and continue beating until the mixture is completely combined. Now spoon the cream mixture onto the biscuit base, working from the edges inwards and making sure that there are no air bubbles. Smooth the top of the cheesecake down with the back of a dessert spoon or spatula. Leave to set in the fridge overnight.

Bring the cheesecake to room temperature, about 30 mins before serving. To un-mould, place the base on top of a can, then gradually pull the sides of the tin down. Slip the cake onto a serving plate, removing the lining paper and base. Arrange the strawberries and blueberries in a union jack design.

Lemon Drizzle Birthday Cake

After quite a meat filled couple of days we decided to cook a huge vegetarian chilli con carne for friends who were coming to watch the England Euro 2012 game (which turned out to be the country's last in this competition) and for dessert a lemon drizzle cake for the boyfriends birthday.

I used a recipe my nan has always used which I think may be from a very old Mary Berry cookbook, with the addition of making it in to two cakes and layering with lemon curd and fresh whipped cream in the middle. The recipe makes enough for two 23cm cakes, just half the ingredients if you want one single layer cake or 12 cupcakes. 

Lemon Drizzle Cake


Ingredients

For the cakes:
• 12oz self raising flour
• 8oz soft margarine
• 8oz sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 8 tbsp milk
• 2 lemons - rind grated

For the filling:
• Lemon curd
• 200ml Fresh whipping cream

For the topping:
• 4oz sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon

Method

• Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/160 degrees Celsius. Line and grease 2x 23cm springform cake tins.
• Combine all the ingredients for the cakes and whisk, add a little extra milk if the mixture is stiff.
• Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Check after the time and if springy to the touch or a skewer comes out clean remove from the oven, if not give another 5-10 minutes. When cooked remove from the oven and tins and leave to cool on a cooling rack.
• Whip the cream until stiff.
• When the cakes are cooked, spread the bottom one with a think layer of lemon curd, then with the whipped cream and top with the other cake.
• Mix together the sugar and lemon juice for the topping, make little holes using a skewer or a knife in the top of the cake and pour over the lemon and sugar mixture.
• Eat immediately, but if you can't it is best kept in the fridge if it is hot due to the cream melting.

NB: If making cupcakes, half the mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Once cooked and cooled cut a circle out of the top of each cake, fill the cake with a little lemon curd and whipped cream and place the cut out section of cake back on top like a top hat.

The Cake Table

Our friends Lou and Ollie got hitched and asked all their friends who bake to make a cake to put towards the dessert following the wedding breakfast. A lovely idea to get people involved in their big day... but I could feel the pressure.

I thought it best to stick with Nigella's Chocolate and Guinness Cake as it always goes down well. It turned out fine even though I forgot to change the measurements on my scales and measured everything in millilitres.

There was a fine turnout, with everything from lemon tarts to carrot cupcakes, rocky roads to millionaires shortbread. People got over excited and decided to take a little of everything instead of one large slab of one thing and it all disappeared pretty quickly!

The wedding cake was made by Lou's friend Frann, renown as one of the best bakers of all the friends (she nearly made it to The Great British Bake Off). I have tried her baking skills a few times and can say her cakes, biscuits and cheesecakes are really tasty but often have really cute ideas in them too, she has a blog too - so check her out!

Not one, but two types of cookies

I decided to make some cookies but did not quite have enough chocolate chips so decided to bulk them out with other ingredients. I went for my favourite Nigella recipe that I have used previously (find it here).

I needed 325g chocolate chips but as I only had 100g milk chocolate and 100g of white chocolate, I decided to half the batter. I added a couple of tablespoons of chopped hazelnuts to one half with the milk chocolate chips and a tablespoon of finely chopped crystalised ginger to the half with the white chocolate. Both were a success!

Plus I got to use my new mixing bowls from Habitat - pretty and they make me smile as I bake.

Sweets for my sweets...

...sugar for my honey - the title of the first single I ever purchased on cassette by C J Lewis (and I hope does not reflect my current music taste). It is the song which springs to mind whenever I make a pudding for the boyfriend.

To complete the Indian feast on Sunday I decided to make something sweet but which still had a subtle kick to compliment the spicy mains. I choose to make a triple chocolate chilli brownie with raspberry swirl ice cream. I first tried it a few months ago at my Aunties, she saw the recipe on an ITV programme and then on their website.

It is the perfect brownie recipe as they are soft in the middle but crumbly on the outside, full of bitter sweet chocolate but balanced with the chunks of sweeter white and milk chocolate and all under cut with the soft warmth of the chilli. These are great with the ice cream making it feel like a proper pudding and also as a tasty afternoon treat with a cup of tea on their own.

Triple chocolate chilli brownie

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 125g butter

• 200g light soft brown sugar

• 125g 70% dark chocolate

• 3 eggs

• 50g plain flour

• 35g cocoa powder

• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

• 75g milk chocolate, chopped

• 75g white chocolate, chopped

For the raspberry swirl ice cream:

• 20g unsalted butter

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 star anise

• 3 tbsp sugar

• 250g fresh raspberries

• 1 tub of good quality ice cream - softened slightly

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.

2. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking paper. Place the butter, sugar and dark chocolate in a saucepan and melt over a low heat.

3. Once melted, beat in the eggs then stir in the flour, cocoa and baking powder. Mix well then stir in the chili and chocolate chunks.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before cutting into squares.

For the ice-cream:

5. Melt the butter in a saucepan.. Add the cinnamon and star anise and cook for a minute before adding in the sugar.

6. Once the sugar has melted add the raspberries and stir well.

7. Allow the raspberries to break down and cook for five minutes. When the sauce has become thick and syrupy set to one side to cool.

8. When the raspberries are cooled remove the star anise and place the ice cream in a bowl. Fold through the raspberry sauce. Place back in the freezer to set again.

9. Serve the brownies with the spiced raspberry swirl ice cream and enjoy...

Cheesy Scones

I have always loved the cheese scones that my nan made but had not had them in years... until my auntie purchased Mary Berry's 100 cakes and bakes recipe book. In it she found a recipe for a cheese scone round which I then adapted to make individual scones and replaced some ingredients by what I had in the cupboards, plus added finely grated parmesan for the top under the chedder to add more depth of flavour.

What amazed me about the recipe was it uses hardly any butter but I guess that is because the fat comes from the cheese as they bake.

Cheese Scones

Makes 6-8

Ingredients:

• 225g self-raising flour

• 1/2 level tsp salt

• 1/2 level tsp mustard powder (I used 1 level tsp of wholegrain mustard)

• 1/4 level tsp cayenne pepper ((I used 1/4 level tsp of smoked paprika)

• 1 level tsp baking powder

• 25g of butter

• 150g grated mature Cheddar

• 30g finely grated parmasen

• 1 large egg

• a little milk

Ingredients:

1. Preheat the oven 220°C / Fan 200°C / Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking tray.

2. Measure the flour, salt, mustard powder (if using), cayenne pepper (or paprika) and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your finger tips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in 100g of the grated Cheddar.

3. Break the egg in a measuring jug then make up to 150ml with milk. Beat together and stir the egg and milk mixture (if using wholegrain mustard add here) in to the dry ingredients to make a soft but not sticky dough.

4. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead lightly. Roll out until 1.5cm deep, use round cutters to cut out as many scones as you can and place on the baking tray.

5. Take the remaining dough, gather together and roll out, repeat the above until all the dough is gone.

6. Brush the tops with milk and scatter over the grated parmesan, then sprinkle with the remaining Cheddar.

7. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Slide on to a wire rack to cool slightly but best eaten warm and as soon as possible, cut in half and spread with cheesy butter (see below).

Cheesy Butter:

Take 50g of softened butter and mix together with 50g grated mature Cheddar.

Festive Cupcakes - Crazed Reindeers

It had been a while since we had a bake-off at work and the latest was for a good cause, a couple of girls are running the London marathon next year to raise money for animal based charity - WSPA. I thought I would combine the bake-off theme (animals) with the season (Christmas) and go for some chocolate reindeer cupcakes.

They are not my most elegant of baking efforts but did the job! The crazed looking reindeers sold well and made up part of a great team effort.

Reindeer Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

• 150g softened butter

• 150g caster sugar

• 160g self-raising flour

• 15g cocoa

• 3 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Topping

• 150g plain chocolate, broken into pieces

• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

• 1 tablespoon boiling water

• 50g softened butter

• 125g icing sugar

• 6 glace cherries

• 1 small packet of candy coated chocolate drops (I used M&M's).

Method:

1. Line a 12 hole cake tin with paper cases. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Put all the cake ingredients in a bowl and beat for 1-2 minutes with an electric whisk.

3. Divide the mixture between the cases and bake for 15-20 mins until firm to the touch.

4. For the topping, melt the chocolate. Spoon the melted chocolate into a piping bag with a fine nozzle. Pipe lines of chocolate on to a baking tray lined with baking parchment, pipe on small branches for antlers. Make enough for two per cake (plus extra for breakages) and put in the fridge to set.

5. Meanwhile mix the cocoa with the boiling water. Add the butter, the gradually beat in the icing sugar to make a smooth icing. Spread the icing over the cooled cakes. Add half a cherry for the nose and two sweets for the eyes, piping on the remaining melted chocolate to make pupils.

6. Peel the antlers off the baking parchment and stick at angles into the cakes. The antlers melt so be quick. Store the cakes in a cool place until ready to serve.

Birthday Chilli Almond Biscuits

Emily's birthday was a week or so ago but we only managed to meet up this weekend and I wanted to make something a bit different, something that would travel well (the journey from London to Lichfield can be a bit tricky with delicate baked goods) and included almonds - one of Emily's favourite ingredients.

I went straight to my bakery book of the moment - Dan Lepard's 'Short and Sweet' and looked up almonds, I was spoilt for choice but as something different was high on the list I skipped the predictable cakes and went for a savoury biscuit instead. I thought the chilli almond biscuit would also celebrate Emily's new found love of spice.

I decided to pop them in a kilner jar and tie on a ribbon with the recipe on the tag to make them feel like a special treat. I just hoped Emily would like them! I did when I tried one warm straight from the oven, the mature cheddar hit the spot and they were crumbly with only a mild tang of spice, the almonds add crunch and sweetness.

When I was making the dough I was worried the garlic paste was going to be too strong but it was softer in flavour when baked.

I halved the recipe and that is the one which is below as 40-50 biscuits seemed a bit much but you can freeze the dough and then you can always serve something up at 30 minutes notice as a pre dinner nibble with drinks.

Chilli Almond Biscuits

Makes 16-20

Ingredients:

• 87g unsalted butter, softened

• 87g grated strong cheddar

• 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

• 1/3 teaspoon paprika, sweet smoked is best

• 1 small clove of garlic

• 87g plain flour

• 1 tablespoon milk

• 75g whole blanched almonds

Method:

1. Chop the butter roughly and beat in the chilli, salt, paprika and garlic by hand, then mix in the cheddar well. I think I would grate the cheddar finely next time I make them. If using a food processor just put the above in and whizz together for a minute.

2. Add the flour and milk, work everything together to a smooth soft dough, then stir in the almonds - by hand.

3. Spoon half the mixture onto a sheet of non stick baking paper and roll it up into a cylinder about 4cm thick by 20-25cm long. Chill or freeze until firm.

4. Heat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.

5. When firm remove from the fridge or freezer and slice into 1cm thick slices. I found when slicing the disks they lost their circular shape so I just gently reshapped them into rounds.

6. Place them a few centimetres apart on a lined baking tray for 20-25 minutes until golden.

7. Eat warm or leave to cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Short & Sweet - My new favourite book for baking

I have been dying to try something from my new baking recipe book - Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard, a chef who often writes for the Guardian and is an award winning baker. The book itself is divided into different sections and offers loads of troubleshooting advice for the amateur baker making everything seem like a doddle.

I went for something suitably wintery to follow our Sunday lunch - A Cobnut and Plum Tart. It is basically a really tasty crumble but you layer crumble at the bottom as well as the top. I couldn't find cobnuts but the recipe recommends hazelnuts as a substitute.

The flavour combination was great and the brown sugar added depth to the crumble and the milk stopped it being dry, the hazelnuts added a lovely crunchy texture - I will definitely make it again.

Hazelnut and Plum Tart

Serves 6

Ingredients:

For the crumble:

175g plain flour
100g soft unsalted butter
50g hazelnuts (or cobnuts), toasted and finely chopped
50g dark soft brown sugar
1 tbsp milk
½ tsp baking powder

For the filling:

300g ripe soft red plums, pitted and cut into small pieces
1 tbsp cornflour

50g dark soft brown sugar

Zest of ½ lemon

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/360F/gas mark 5½.

2. Rub the dry ingredients and butter together quickly with nimble fingers before mixing in the milk and nuts.

3. Divide the mixture in half and place one portion, covered, in the fridge. Press the remaining portion into the base and sides of a lightly greased 20cm tart tin (with a removable base).

4. In a bowl, stir together all the filling ingredients, then spread over the pastry.

5. Finally, crumble the remaining pastry over the fruit and bake for 50 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the top lightly browned. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before slicing. I served mine warm with cream or custard.