FIGS FOR 1001 NIGHTS

FIGS FOR 1001 NIGHTS

This is so simple - scarcely a recipe really - but so good. Unless you get figs straight from the tree they sometimes need the blistering heat of an oven or grill to bring out all their honeyed sweetness. The cinnamon is emphatic, certainly, but it doesn't overwhelm the whole; it, rather, infuses the fruit, along with the kitchen you're cooking it in, with mellow spiciness. This is the pudding to end a slow-grazing, long-picking dinner eaten outside on a warm, balmy night.

If you haven't got any vanilla sugar, just use ordinary caster sugar and add a drop of pure vanilla extract along with the flower waters. A Middle-Eastern store of some kind will stock packets of slivered pistachios, vividly green and splintered into little boat-shaped shards. But if you can't get them, just buy shelled pistachios from a health shop or supermarket and chop them roughly with a knife or mezzaluna yourself.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

12 black figs
50 g unsalted butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1.5 tsp rose water
1.5 tsp orange flower water
500 g mascarpone
100 g pistachio nuts, slivered

Method

Preheat a grill or oven to the fiercest it will go.

Quarter the figs, taking care not to cut all the way through to the bottom, so that they open like flowers, or young birds squawking to be fed worms by their mummy, and sit them, thus opened, in a heatproof dish into which they fit snugly.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, then add the cinnamon, sugar and flower waters. Stir to combine and pour into the figs.

Blister under the hot grill or bake in the oven for a few minutes and then serve; it's that quick. Just give each person a couple of figs on a side-plate. Splodge alongside some mascarpone over which you drizzle some of the conker-dark syrup, then sprinkle over some of those green, green shards of pistachio.

CHOCOLATE GUINNESS CAKE

CHOCOLATE GUINNESS CAKE

This cake is magnificent in its damp blackness. I can't say that you can absolutely taste the stout in it, but there is certainly a resonant, ferrous tang which I happen to love. The best way of describing it is to say that it's like gingerbread without the spices. There is enough sugar - a certain understatement here - to counter any potential bitterness of the Guinness, and although I've eaten versions of this made up like a chocolate sandwich cake, stuffed and slathered in a rich chocolate icing, I think that can take away from its dark majesty. Besides, I wanted to make a cream cheese frosting to echo the pale head that sits on top of a glass of stout. It's unconventional to add cream but it makes it frothier and lighter which I regard as aesthetically and gastronomically desirable. But it is perfectly acceptable to leave the cake un-iced: in fact, it tastes gorgeous plain.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the cake
250 ml guinness
250 gram(s) unsalted butter
75 gram(s) cocoa powder
400 gram(s) caster sugar
142 ml sour cream
2 medium egg(s)
1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract
275 gram(s) plain flour
2.5 teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda

For the topping
300 gram(s) cream cheese
150 gram(s) icing sugar
125 ml double cream (or whipping cream)

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C, and butter and line a 23cm springform tin.
Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter - in spoons or slices - and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
When the cake's cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.
Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

COCONUT MACAROONS

COCONUT MACAROONS

"These are an easy Passover biscuit, very popular in the United States as they store well and taste delicious. Of course, all macaroons are a very good way to use extra egg whites."

- From "New Jewish Cooking" by Elizabeth Wolf Cohen

Ingredients

4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
250 g sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice or distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
275g desiccated coconut

Method

In a large bowl, with  an electric mixer at medium speed, beat whites until frothy.
Add cream of tartar and beat on high speed until peaks form.
Gradually sprinkle in sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition until whites form stiff peaks.
Sprinkle lemon juice or vinegar, vanilla and coconut over whites. Gently fold in until just blended.

Preheat oven to 150oC/300oF/Gas Mark 2. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Drop mixture by heaped teaspoonful, keeping a cone shape, until 2.5cm/1 inch apart.

Bake 40 tp 45 minutes until lightly browned, macaroons should be very slightly soft in the centre. Remove macaroons on paper to wire rack to cool slightly. Carefully peel off paper and cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

MOROCCAN BUTTER ISCUITS

MOROCCAN BUTTER ISCUITS

From "New Jewish Cooking" by Elizabeth Wolf Cohen

Ingredients

250 g unsalted butter, softened
250 g sugar
375 plain flour
25 g ground almonds
coarsely chopped walnuts to decorate (optional)

Method

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter until white and creamy, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add sugar and continue beating until very smooth and creamy, 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir in flour and ground almonds by hand until well blended and a soft dough is formed.
If dough is too soft to handle, add a little more flour or chill until dough is firm enough to handle, 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 150oC/300oF/Gas Mark 2

Lightly flour large baking sheets, do not grease. With lightly floured hands, divide dough into walnut-sized pieces and roll into smooth balls.
Place on baking sheets about 2.5 cm/1 inch apart. Press a few walnuts on the top of each ball.

Bake until set, 20 to 30 minutes.
Do not let biscuits overcook or brown at all, they should remain a creamy off-white colour.
Remove to a large rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container.

DOVES FARM RYE SODA BREAD

DOVES FARM RYE SODA BREAD

Very quick and easy to make this loaf is great for tearing into chunks to eat with a thick soup. For soda bread suitable for sandwiches omit the cuts across the top of the dough. Soda bread is best eaten fresh. This recipe uses a little more milk than the one on our Rye Flour packet as we think it makes a better loaf with the extra liquid.

Ingredients

250 g Rye Flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
2 tsps Cream of Tartar
200 ml Milk
1 tbsp Oil
Method

Mix together the flour, soda and cream of tartar.
Add milk and mix to a soft sticky ball of dough.
Sprinkle the oil over the dough and turn it over to form a smooth ball of dough.
Place the dough on a large oiled baking tray & cut a star across the top of the dough.
Place a large pyrex dish or casserole dish over the dough.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 60/65 minutes.

DOVE'S FARM GINGER CRUMBLES

DOVE'S FARM GINGER CRUMBLES

This everyday biscuit recipe makes tasty, slightly chewy biscuits which are great for the cookie tin. The recipe makes about 30 biscuits.

Ingredients

125 g Rye Flour
75 g Oats
2 tsps Baking Powder
2 tsps Ginger Powder
25 g Chopped Crystallised Ginger
50 g Brown Sugar
1 Pinch of Salt
50 g Butter
100 g Golden Syrup
1 Lemon - Juice & Grated Rind

Temperature & cooking time:
170°C/Fan150°F/325°F/Gas 3

Method

Place rye flour, oats, baking powder, two types of ginger, sugar and salt in mixing bowl.
In a saucepan melt the butter, with the syrup, lemon juice & rind.
Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients & mix well.
Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into small balls and place on an oiled baking tray.
Flatten each dough ball with a fork.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.

CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE BISCUITS

CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE BISCUITS

I love these dark, fat patties of chocolate shortbread exuberantly topped with festive sprinkles. There’s something so cheering about the sight of them, but they have more in their favour than looks: they are a doddle to make, and meltingly gorgeous to eat.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the biscuits
250 gram(s) butter (soft)
150 gram(s) caster sugar
40 gram(s) cocoa powder
300 gram(s) plain flour
½ teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon(s) baking powder

For the topping
2 tablespoon(s) cocoa powder
175 gram(s) icing sugar
60 ml tonic water (boiling)
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
1 packet(s) sprinkles

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3 and line a baking sheet with Bake-O-Glide or baking parchment.
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl and, when you have a light, soft, whipped mixture, beat in the 40g cocoa powder (sieving if it is lumpy) and, when that’s mixed in, beat in the flour with the bicarb and baking powder. Or just put everything in the processor and blitz, if you prefer.
This mixture is very soft and sticky and I find it easiest to form the biscuits wearing my CSI (disposable vinyl) gloves, so pinch off pieces about the size of a large walnut, roll them into balls, then slightly flatten into fat discs as you place them, well spaced, on your baking sheet; you should get about 12 on at a time.
Bake each batch for 15 minutes; even though the biscuits won’t feel as if they’ve had enough time, they will continue to cook as they cool. They will look slightly cracked on top, and it’s this cosy, homespun look I love.
Remove the baking sheet to a cold surface and let it sit for 15 minutes before transferring the biscuits to a wire rack, with a sheet of newspaper under it (to catch drips while topping them).
To make the topping, put the cocoa powder, icing sugar, water and vanilla extract into a small saucepan and whisk over a low heat until everything’s smoothly combined. Take off the heat for 10 minutes.
When the biscuits are cool, drizzle each one with a tablespoonful of chocolate glaze – to glue the sprinkles on in a minute – using the back of the spoon to help spread the mixture, though an uneven dribbly look is part of their charm.
After you’ve iced 6 biscuits, scatter with some of the Christmas sprinkles, and continue thus until all the biscuits are topped. If you ice them all before sprinkling, you will find the cocoa “glue” has dried and the sprinkles won’t stick on.

INCREDIBLY EASY CHOCOLATE FRUIT CAKE

INCREDIBLY EASY CHOCOLATE FRUIT CAKE

I think it's hard to improve on this cake: dark, damp, squidgy and luscious; you don't taste the chocolate full-on - the cocoa just leaves a hint of smokey richness. Nor, I should add, do you taste the prunes. When I was making this cake for my TV programme, the cameraman, Wee Nev (Neville Kidd, the eminent DOP, for all IMDb-addicts) said with force “Eugh, I HATE prunes!” But when he ate it, later, he proclaimed it to be the best Christmas cake he'd ever had. And he asked for the recipe so that he could ask his wife to make it for Christmas. I don't mean to crow; it sounds so undignified. But it's important that you know how universally seductive this cake is, for all that it starts off "350g prunes".
I don't know what it is in the prunes that gives the cake its damp bounciness; all I know is that it works. You don't need to make this in advance, although you can, and you don't have to do anything much to make it, either. You just melt everything together, give or take, in a saucepan, pour from saucepan to cake tin and bake. It needs no icing, though I have suggested -- see p.267 if you need help with stockists -- a little festive decoration, below.
And there's no reason why you couldn't vary this method to make a Plain Dark Fruit Cake: just replace the Tia Maria with rum (or brandy if you prefer), making up the sweetness by adding a heaped tablespoon of marmalade; take out the cocoa, adding 2 tablespoons of flour to the 150g; and decorate with a sprig of holly or any of the suggestions below.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

350g prunes, scissored or chopped
250g raisins
175g currants
175g soft butter
175g dark muscovado sugar
225g (175ml) honey
125ml Tia Maria or other coffee liqueur
juice and finely grated zest of 2 oranges
1 teaspoon mixed spice
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 eggs, beaten
150g plain flour
75g ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

FOR DECORATION:
25g dark chocolate-covered coffee beans
approx. 10 edible gold stars
edible gold mini balls
edible glitter, in Disco Hologram gold

Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2 and prepare a 20cm x 9cm deep, round, loose-bottomed cake tin by lining the bottom and sides with a double layer of baking parchment, as for the Traditional Christmas Cake on p.172 (though I find that if you use one layer of that tough, reusable silicone baking parchment, my beloved Bake-O-Glide, it does the job well enough, and as the cake is so dark, you don't see if it catches a little).
Put the fruits, butter, sugar, honey, Tia Maria, orange juice and zests, spice and cocoa powder into a large, wide saucepan and gently bring to the boil, stirring as the butter melts.
Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes, then take off the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
When the 30 minutes are up -- it will have cooled a little, but you can leave it for longer if you want -- add the beaten eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula to combine.
Pour the fruit cake mixture into the prepared cake tin. Place in the oven and bake for 13/4--2 hours, by which time the top of the cake should be firm but will have a shiny, sticky look. If you insert a cake tester or skewer into it, the cake will still be a little gooey in the middle.
Put the cake, still in its tin, on a wire cooling rack -- it will hold its heat and take a while to cool; once cool, take it out of the tin and, if you don't want to eat it immediately (like any fruit cake it has a long life), wrap it in baking parchment or greaseproof paper then in foil and store in a cake or other airtight tin.
To decorate, though this is optional, place the chocolate-covered coffee beans in the centre of the cake and arrange the gold stars around the perimeter of the top. Then sprinkle some gold mini-balls over the whole cake, and the edible glitter over the top, not minding that you will be a-glitter yourself for a while.

Makes at least 10 generous slices

MAKE AHEAD TIP:
Make the cake up to 2 weeks ahead and wrap in a double layer of greaseproof paper and then a layer of foil. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Decorate when needed.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP:
Make the cake and wrap as above. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, unwrap the cake and thaw overnight at room temperature. Re-wrap and store as above until needed.

CHRISTMAS SPICED CHOCOLATE CAKE

CHRISTMAS SPICED CHOCOLATE CAKE

There are few more popular ways to end a dinner party than with a fallen chocolate cake – the cakes are so called because they are compact and flourless and, when cooling out of the oven, their rich centres drop and dip a little. It is into this dip, not so dramatic as to be called a crater, that you drop or scatter the sticky nut topping.I serve this with Cointreau Cream, made simply by whisking 250ml double cream until softly whipped, whisking in about 45ml of Cointreau (or Triple sec or Grand Marnier, of course) to taste at the end.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the cake
150 gram(s) dark chocolate (chopped)
150 gram(s) butter (soft)
6 medium egg(s)
250 gram(s) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
100 gram(s) ground almonds
1 teaspoon(s) cinnamon sticks
1 pinch of ground cloves
1 zest of clementines
4 teaspoon(s) espresso coffee

For the topping
1 juice of clementines
15 gram(s) butter
1 tablespoon(s) caster sugar
¼ teaspoon(s) cinnamon sticks
50 gram(s) flaked almonds

Method

Take anything you need out of the fridge to bring it to room temperature. The only truly important thing, however, is that the eggs aren’t cold, so if they are, just put them into a bowl (I use the KitchenAid bowl I’m going to whisk them in later) and cover with warm water for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Butter the sides and line the bottom of a 23cm springform tin.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl, in a microwave according to the manufacturer’s instructions, or suspended over a pan of simmering water, and set aside to cool slightly.
Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until thick, pale and moussy. They should have at least doubled in volume, even tripled. If you’re using a freestanding mixer, as I do, this is effortless.
Gently fold in the ground almonds, cinnamon, cloves, clementine/satsuma zest and espresso powder, taking care not to lose the air you have whisked in, then, finally, pour and scrape in the melted, slightly cooled, chocolate and butter, folding gently again.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 35–40 minutes, by which time the top of the cake should be firm, and the underneath still a bit gooey.
Remove from the oven, and sit it on a wire rack, draped with a clean tea towel, to cool completely.

To make the topping for the cake, put the clementine/satsuma juice into a small, preferably non-stick, frying pan with the butter, sugar and cinnamon and melt everything together, then let it sizzle for a minute or so and begin to caramelize before adding the almonds.
Stir everything together, and occasionally tip the pan to keep it all moving; what you want is for all the liquid to disappear and the nuts to look shiny and be coated thinly in a fragrant, orange-scented toffee.
Remove to a plate and cool.

Unspring the cake and transfer to a cake stand or plate; I am brave enough to take it off its base sometimes, but don’t if you’re scared. Remember this cake, however intense and elegant within, has a rather ramshackle rustic appearance on the outside.
Scatter with the almonds, mainly letting them pile up in the centre of the cake, but drop a few here and there all over the top. And serve with the cointreau cream.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:
Make the chocolate cake up to 3 days ahead and store in an airtight container. Make the nut mixture and store, on baking parchment, in small airtight container or wrap in a loose “bag” of foil.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP:
Make and freeze the chocolate cake up to 1 month ahead. Thaw overnight in a cool room.

YULE LOG

YULE LOG

A traditional French bûche de Noël always looks just the right side of cutely enchanting, and there is nothing hard to like about its tender, melting chocolatiness. But I warm to it most of all for the rich pagan symbolism: it is no less than a cake-emulation of the log that the Norsemen would drag home through the streets to burn in celebration of the winter solstice and to honour the gods and hope, thus, to cajole from them a good year to come. But always, too, it is about bringing fire and light to cold and darkness; this, too, is the gift of the winter kitchen.
I know the recipe looks finicky, and I can’t promise it’s a doddle, but it works easily and you will soon find you are rolling chocolate logs without a care. In fact, if you have a lot of people coming round, and you can find a serving dish or board long enough, it might be worth making 2 cakes and sitting them end to end, to look like a really long log. But even if you’re making just one log, I advise at least a freestanding mixer or a hand-held electric whisk: I wouldn’t contemplate this by hand.
Now, it doesn’t look anything like a log when it is just a bald roulade, but once you’ve spread on the chocolate icing, made approximations of wood- markings on it (I use the sharp end of a corn-on-the-cob holder for this) and all, it does look quite impressive. I don’t go as far as the French, and make sugar mushrooms to adorn it: this is not only because I lack the talent, but also because a light snowfall of icing sugar is all this yule log really needs to complete its wintry perfection.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the cake
6 medium egg(s) (separated)
150 gram(s) caster sugar
50 gram(s) cocoa powder
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
4 teaspoon(s) icing sugar (to decorate)
For the icing
175 gram(s) dark chocolate (chopped)
200 gram(s) icing sugar
225 gram(s) butter (soft)
1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
In a large, clean bowl whisk the egg whites until thick and peaking, then, still whisking, sprinkle in 50g of the caster sugar and continue whisking until the whites are holding their peaks but not dry.
In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining caster sugar until the mixture is moussy, pale and thick. Add the vanilla extract, sieve the cocoa powder over, then fold both in.
Lighten the yolk mixture with a couple of dollops of the egg whites, folding them in robustly. Then add the remaining whites in thirds, folding them in carefully to avoid losing the air.
Line a Swiss roll tin with baking parchment, leaving a generous overhang at the ends and sides, and folding the parchment into the corners to help the paper stay anchored.
Pour in the cake mixture and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Let the cake cool a little before turning it out onto another piece of baking parchment. If you dust this piece of parchment with a little icing sugar it may help with preventing stickage, but don’t worry too much as any tears or dents will be covered by icing later. Cover loosely with a clean tea towel.

To make the icing, melt the chocolate – either in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water or, my preference, in a microwave following the manufacturer’s guidelines – and let it cool.
Put the icing sugar into a processor and blitz to remove lumps, add the butter and process until smooth. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and the tablespoon of vanilla extract and pulse again to make a smooth icing. You can do this by hand, but it does mean you will have to sieve the sugar before creaming it with the butter and stirring in the chocolate and vanilla.

Sit the flat chocolate cake on a large piece of baking parchment. Trim the edges of the Swiss roll. Spread some of the icing thinly over the sponge, going right out to the edges. Start rolling from the long side facing you, taking care to get a tight roll from the beginning, and roll up to the other side. Pressing against the parchment, rather than the tender cake, makes this easier.
Cut one or both ends slightly at a gentle angle, reserving the remnants, and place the Swiss roll on a board or long dish. The remnants, along with the trimmed-off bits earlier, are to make a branch or two; you get the effect by placing a piece of cake at an angle to look like a branch coming off the big log.
Spread the yule log with the remaining icing, covering the cut-off ends as well as any branches. Create a wood-like texture by marking along the length of the log with a skewer or somesuch, remembering to do wibbly circles, as in tree rings, on each end.
You don’t have to dust with icing sugar, but I love the freshly fallen snow effect, so push quite a bit through a small sieve, letting some settle in heaps on the plate or board on which the log sits.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make the Yule Log up to 1 week ahead and store in an airtight container in a very cool place.

FREEZE AHEAD TIP:

Make the Yule Log and freeze in a rigid container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in a cool room and store in an airtight container until needed.

CHRISTMAS MORNING MUFFINS

CHRISTMAS MORNING MUFFINS

I have never quite understood how people can go in for vast, rich breakfasts on Christmas morning.  I am hardly a modest eater by anyone's standards, but even I can't quite accommodate a platterful of buttery scrambled eggs with smoked salmon before the gargantuan Christmas feast.  And I speak as cook and eater on this one. I do, however, see the need to make breakfast special in some way, and these muffins do that. What's more, if you measure out the dry ingredients the night before and put the muffin cases in the muffin tin, you don't need to do anything more labour intensive on Christmas morning itself than preheat your oven, whisk up a few runny ingredients in a jug and stir them into the waiting bowl.  Then dollop the batter into the prepared muffin cases and all's sweet - and smelling of cinnamony, orange-scented Christmas.  A last, heartfelt, note: Christmas, as I've said often, is about ritual and tradition; we inherit some, we invent others.  But even those we invent are not sacrosanct.  These muffins were my way, years back, of establishing a Christmas routine as a grown-up, and I have no desire to change things - essentially - now.  But I've improved the recipe, and give you its new, evolved form here.  In the kitchen, as in life, it is possible to play with tradition, without turning away from the past.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

250 gram(s) plain flour
2.5 teaspoon(s) baking powder
½ teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda
100 gram(s) caster sugar
1 teaspoon(s) cinnamon sticks
¼ teaspoon(s) ground nutmeg (or good grating of fresh nutmeg)
2 rasher(s) clementines (or satsumas)
125 ml full fat milk
75 ml vegetable oil (or melted butter left to cool slightly)
1 medium egg(s)
175 gram(s) dried cranberries
3 teaspoon(s) demerara sugar (for the topping)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers or (as I have here) silicone inserts.
Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl; grate the zest of the clementine/satsuma over, and combine. If you are doing this in advance, leave the zesting till Christmas morning.
Squeeze the juice of the clementines/satsumas into a measuring jug, and pour in the milk until it comes up to the 200ml mark.
Add the oil (or slightly cooled, melted butter) and egg, and lightly beat until just combined.
Pour this liquid mixture into the bowl of dried ingredients and stir until everything is more or less combined, remembering that a well-beaten mixture makes for heavy muffins: in other words a lumpy batter is a good thing here.
Fold in the cranberries, then spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle the demerara sugar on top.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, by which time the air should be thick with the promise of good things and the good things themselves golden brown and ready to be eaten, either plain or broken up and smeared, as you go, with unsalted butter and marmalade.

PEANUT BRITTLE WITH ART AND SOUL

PEANUT BRITTLE WITH ART AND SOUL

This title isn’t a boast, but a name to denote provenance. It’s a recipe given to me, at my greedy request, by the cook-and-a-half, Art Smith. True, I’ve slightly simplified it, but only because I don’t have his deserved confidence, so I make my batch smaller, and leave out the difficult technical bits.
But even so, what this makes is fabulous: you really have to steel yourself to give it away.
- Nigella Lawson

Yield : Makes approx. 10 oz.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
½ cup light corn syrup
1 cup salted peanuts
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon soft butter
1¼ teaspoons baking soda

Method

Get out a large sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil, place on a cookie sheet, and butter or oil it. Sit it by the stove, waiting to receive the brittle once it’s ready to pour.
Put the sugar, water and syrup into a saucepan, bring to the boil gently, then turn up the heat and let it boil for 8-10 minutes, swirling (but not stirring) the pan a couple of times, until the syrup has turned gold in color. It will be smoking by then, so be warned!
Take the pan off the heat and, with a wooden spoon, stir in the nuts, followed by the vanilla, butter and baking soda. You will have a golden, frothy, hot and gooey mixture.
Pour this briskly onto the waiting parchment or foil, using your wooden spoon to coax and pull it to make a nut-studded sheet, puddle-shaped though it may be, rather than a heap.
Leave it to cool, then break into pieces and store in at airtight container or box; or bag up to give at once as presents. You’ll get about 1 pound in total, and it’s up to you how much you want to put in each bag, really. I find it easier to do several small batches like this, rather than multiplying quantities as I cook.

GOATS MILK FLAPJACKS

GOATS MILK FLAPJACKS

We use apricots in this recipe but use any of your favourite dried fruits for a tasty classic flapjack.
- St Helen's Farm

Ingredients

75g St Helen's Farm goats' butter
75g soft brown sugar
75g oats
75g muesli
1 tablespoon golden syrup
25g dried apricots - chopped

Method

Melt butter and syrup, add oats, apricots and muesli. Mix well.
Press into 18 cm square baking tin and bake at 170°C, Gas 3 for 20-25 mins or until just brown.
Cool and cut into fingers.

VANILLA GOATS MILK ICE CREAM

VANILLA GOATS MILK ICE CREAM

A lovely vanilla ice cream, using fresh double goats' milk cream

Ingredients

300ml (half pint) St Helen’s Farm goats' milk
Half a vanilla pod
4 egg yolks
100g (4oz) caster sugar
250ml St Helen's Farm double goats' cream (2 x 125g pots)

Method

Pour the milk and the half vanilla pod into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for a few minutes.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl and then carefully add the milk and beat well.
Return the mixture to the saucepan, heat gently and stir continuously until the mixture thickens and forms a film over the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT BOIL.
Remove saucepan from the heat and leave until cool. Remove the half vanilla pod. Add cream and then stir into the mixture.
Pour into ice cream maker and follow instructions. Alternatively, turn the mixture into a freezer tray or basin and freeze until mushy.
Remove from the freezer and whisk for about 2 minutes. Return to freezer until firm.

Makes 750ml of ice cream.

SCOTCH PANCAKES

SCOTCH PANCAKES

When I was a child, we often had Scotch pancakes (out of a packet) when we got home from school. And the thing - for those of you who don't know - about Scotch pancakes is that they are not eaten like pancakes - hot with syrup and a knife and fork - but like toast, spread with butter and jam. I always remember them being on the cold side of lukewarm, but I think warm, though not so hot as to burn your fingers, is what you're aiming for.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

½ teaspoon(s) white wine vinegar
150 ml milk
110 gram(s) plain flour
½ teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda
1 medium egg(s)
1 tablespoon(s) vegetable oil
1 tablespoon(s) golden syrup

Method

Put the vinegar into the (preferably room temperature) milk and set aside while you measure out the other ingredients.
Put the flour into a wide-necked jug or bowl and add the bicarbonate of soda.
In another jug or bowl add the egg, oil, and then with the oily spoon measure the syrup in and whisk everything together.
Add the vinegary milk, and then add the jug of wet ingredients to the dry, whisking to a batter.
Heat a flat griddle or heavy non-stick pan with no oil. Add 1½ tablespoons of batter to make each Scotch pancake, and then when bubbles appear flip them over to make them golden brown on either side.

CALEDONIAN ICE CREAM

CALEDONIAN ICE CREAM

This is a recipe from Glasgow’s Ubiquitous Chip restaurant brought to the masses by Delia Smith in her Summer Collection book.  Serves 8.  I’ve tried this recipe at home and it works well with our without an ice cream maker.

Ingredients

For the caramelised oatmeal

3 oz (75g) caster sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 oz (50g) pinhead oatmeal

For the syrup

4 oz (110g) caster sugar
4 tablespoons water

For the ice cream

1 pint whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Start by making the caramelised oatmeal. Put the caster sugar and water into a small saucepan over a low heat and leave it for 5 minutes. Then take a medium sized frying pan, place it on a medium heat and when the pan is hot, add the oatmeal and swirl it round the pan constantly so that it browns evenly – which it will do in about 5 minutes. Remove the oatmeal to a plate to prevent it becoming over-brown. By now the sugar in the saucepan will have dissolved so you can turn the heat up and let it boil. Watch it very closely until it becomes a rich brown caramel colour. Stir in the toasted oatmeal, remove from the heat and quickly pour the mixture onto a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Put to one side to get cold and firm (about 15 minutes).  Then take off small pieces at a time and pound them in a pestle and mortar until they are the size of large salt crystals (you could do this carefully in a food processor too but don’t overdo it and reduce it to too fine a powder).  Put to one side in an airtight container until you are ready to make the ice cream.

To make the sugar syrup, measure the sugar and water into a small saucepan, place it over a gentle heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved – about 5 minutes.
 Then remove from the heat and allow to become completely cold.

To make the ice cream, pour the cold syrup into a mixing bowl along with the whipping cream and vanilla extract.
Whisk with an electric whisk or mixer until the mixture just begins to thicken and hold its shape.
Then pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions until firm but still pliable.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, freeze the mixture until firm but pliable in a large plastic container, beating vigorously every half hour or so with a wooden spoon.
Transfer to a bowl, stir in the oatmeal mixture, fold it in then spoon the ice cream into a loaf tin 7 1/2 by 4 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches.
Cover with a double thickness of foil and freeze until needed.

To serve, remove from the freezer to the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you need it. Dip the base and sides of the loaf tin into hot water for 10 seconds or so, loosen round the edges with a palette knife, then turn onto a plate.  Using a sharp knife dipped in hot water, cut into neat slices.

CRANACHAN WITH CARAMELISED OATMEAL AND RASPBERRY SAUCE

CRANACHAN WITH CARAMELISED OATMEAL AND RASPBERRY SAUCE

One of my own favourite Scottish desserts. In The Summer Collection we made Caledonian ice cream with caramelised oatmeal and now we’ve discovered it works really well with Cranachan. We find that frozen Scottish (or British) raspberries work better than the expensive imported fresh ones at Christmas.
- Delai Smith

Ingredients

 50g caster sugar, plus 3 heaped tablespoons
 125g pinhead oatmeal
 450g raspberries, frozen
 3 tablespoons whisky
 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
 450ml whipping cream

A small baking sheet, lightly oiled, and six sturdy conical (or other) 275ml serving glasses.

Method

To make the caramelised oatmeal, put 50g caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan over a low heat and leave it for 5 minutes. Then take a medium-sized frying pan. Place it on a medium heat and, when the pan is hot, add the oatmeal and swirl it round in the pan constantly so it browns evenly – which it will do in 5 minutes. Then quickly remove the oatmeal to a glass heatproof jug to prevent it becoming too brown. By now the sugar crystals in the pan will have dissolved, so you can turn the heat right up and let it boil (watching it like a hawk) until it begins to turn a rich caramel colour, rather like dark runny honey.

As soon as it reaches that stage, stir in the toasted oatmeal, remove it from the heat and quickly pour the mixture on to the oiled baking sheet then leave it on one side to get cool and firm (which will take approximately 15 minutes). Now break it up into small pieces then crush it in a processor until the tiny pinhead oats have become separate again.

Next deal with the raspberries by putting them (still frozen) into a medium saucepan with the remaining caster sugar and heat until the raspberries start to defrost and collapse. Bring them up to a gentle simmer and cook them for about 5 minutes, then cool and whiz them to a purée in a processor and finally push through a nylon sieve to extract the pips.

Now add the whisky and vanilla to the cream and whip it to the floppy stage. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the caramelised oatmeal for garnish, then fold in the rest into the whipped cream. Put a heaped tablespoonful of cream in each glass, then a couple of tablespoonfuls of purée and repeat, finishing with the cream. Lastly sprinkle on the reserved oatmeal. Cover and chill in the fridge till needed.

MINCEMEAT AND APPLE CRUMBLE FLAN

MINCEMEAT AND APPLE CRUMBLE FLAN

This, in all my years of cooking, is my favourite crumble topping and any leftover mincemeat mixed with apples is a great filling.
- Delia Smith

Ingredients

 1 lb 8 oz (700 g) Bramley cooking apples
 8 oz (225 g) Cox's apples
 6 tablespoons mincemeat
 1 oz (25 g) light brown soft sugar
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

For the crumble

 4 oz (110 g) whole almonds, skin on
 3 oz (75 g) chillled butter, cut into small dice
 6 oz (175 g) self-raising flour, sifted
 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 4 oz (110 g) demerara sugar
 custard or pouring cream, to serve
 Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 400F, (200C).

You will also need either an oval ovenproof baking dish 7½ x 11 inches (19 x 28 cm) and 1¾ inches (4.5 cm) deep, or a 9½ inch (24 cm) round ovenproof baking dish, 1¾ inches (4.5 cm) deep.

Method

Begin by preparing the apples. I always find the best way to do this is to cut them first into quarters, then pare off the peel with a potato peeler and slice out the cores. Now cut them into thickish slices and toss them in a bowl with the mincemeat, sugar, cinnamon and ground cloves, then place them in the baking dish and put to one side. Next, make the crumble, which couldn't be simpler as it's all made in a processor.

All you do is place the butter, sifted flour, cinnamon and sugar in a food processor and give it a whiz until it resembles crumbs.Next, add the almonds and process again, not too fast, until they are fairly finely chopped and there are still a few chunky bits. If you don't have a processor, in a large bowl, rub the butter into the sifted flour until it resembles crumbs, then stir in the cinnamon, sugar and almonds, which should be fairly finely chopped by hand. Now simply sprinkle the crumble mixture all over the apples, spreading it right up to the edges of the dish and, using the flat of your hands, press it down quite firmly all over; the more tightly it is packed together the crisper it will be.

Then finish off by lightly running a fork all over the surface. Now bake the crumble on the centre shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes, by which time the apples will be soft and the topping golden brown and crisp. Leave it to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving, then serve it warm with custard or pouring cream.

MINCE PIE ICE CREAM

MINCE PIE ICE CREAM

300ml double cream
4 shop-bought quality mince pies (or home made if you have plenty)
500g Ambrosia Devon Custard (Tetra Pak), refrigerated until cold

Heat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas Mark 1. Firstly, in a medium-sized bowl, whip the double cream until it reaches the floppy stage, but isn’t too thick. Pop it into the fridge to chill.

Place the mince pies on a baking tray and put them in the oven for 10 minutes to freshen then leave them to go completely cold. Now chop the cooled mince pies fairly finely by hand (its not really worth putting them in a food processor) then in a medium sized bowl mix them with the cold custard before folding in the whipped cream.

Now pour the mixture into a pre-frozen ice-cream maker and freeze-churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions (you may have to do this in two batches, and it will take between 30 mins and an hour depending on the capacity of your machine). When the ice cream is soft-set, transfer it to a plastic box and freeze for 2 hours before you serve. If the ice cream is made well in advance and has frozen solid, remove from the freezer for 30 minutes before serving, to soften.

If you don’t have an ice-cream maker you can still make ice-cream. After you have made up your mixture, transfer it to a lidded plastic box and put it in the coldest part of the freezer for 2 hours, or until the contents become firm at the edges. At this stage, empty out the box into a mixing bowl and whisk the ice cream with an electric hand whisk to break down the ice crystals. Return to the plastic box and freeze for another 2 hours, then repeat the whisking process. Refreeze the ice cream until 30 minutes before you want to serve it.

GINGER ICE CREAM

GINGER ICE CREAM

Ice cream is an emotive subject: people have very different ideas as to what is good ice cream, but home-made ice cream is still the best of all. This recipe is the best I know for a vanilla ice cream, but I have added some preserved stem ginger for an extra exotic dimension.Serves 4-6 (makes about 1¼ pints/725 ml)
- Delia Smith

Ingredients

 4 pieces stem ginger, chopped into ¼ inch (5 mm) cubes, plus 2 extra to decorate
 2 tablespoons ginger syrup from the stem ginger jar
 10 fl oz (275 ml) double cream
 10 fl oz (275 ml) single cream
 4 large egg yolks
 1 oz (25 g) caster sugar
 2 slightly rounded teaspoons cornflour
 3-4 drops vanilla extract

You will also need a polythene box, with a base measurement of 7 x 5½ x 2½ inches (18 x 14 x 6 cm)

First of all, whip the double cream until it reaches the floppy stage but isn't too thick then pop it into the refrigerator to chill. At the same time, put the polythene box into the freezer to chill as well.
Now make the custard by first pouring the single cream into a saucepan and then heating it to boiling point. Meanwhile, beat together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl until absolutely smooth. Next, pour the hot cream on to this mixture, beating with a wooden spoon as you pour. Now return the custard to the pan and continue to whisk it over a medium heat until it has thickened and come up to boiling point again. (Ignore any curdled appearance, which may come about if you don't keep stirring and have the heat too high. The cornflour will stabilise it, so don t worry – it will always regain its smoothness when cooled and whisked.)
Now place the bowl of custard in a bowl of cold water, and stir it now and then until absolutely cold. Then, fold in the chilled whipped cream, chopped stem ginger, ginger syrup and vanilla extract. Pour the whole lot into the chilled polythene box, cover and freeze for 2-3 hours or until it is just beginning to set.
As soon as the mixture is freezing round the edges, remove it from the freezer, tip it into a mixing bowl and whisk it very thoroughly with an electric hand whisk. Then return the mixture to the box, put the lid back on and replace in the freezer. Leave for about another 3 hours before giving it a final whisking. Now return it to the freezer until you want to serve it. Then, 45 minutes before serving transfer it to the refrigerator to allow it to soften to a scoopable consistency.
Serve the ice cream with a garnish of stem ginger cut into matchstick strips and a small amount of syrup poured over.

PEAR AND GINGER MUFFINS

PEAR AND GINGER MUFFINS

Ingredients

250g flour
2 teasps baking powder
150g caster sugar
75g light brown sugar, plus ½ teasp per muffin for sprinkling
1 teasp ground ginger
1 x 142ml pot sour cream
125ml vegetable oil
1x 15ml tablesp honey
2 eggs
1 large pear such as a Comice (or other fruit to give you about 300g in weight), peeled, cored and cut into 5mm dice

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6 and line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.

Method

Measure into a bowl the flour baking powder, caster sugar, 75g of brown sugar and the ground ginger.
In a large measuring jug, whisk together the sour cream, oil, honey and eggs and then fold into the dry ingredients.
Lastly, mix in the diced pear, and divide the batter evenly between the muffin cases.
Sprinkle each one with ½ teaspoon of brown sugar and bake for 20 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack. Beast eaten still a little warm.

GINGER JAM BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

GINGER JAM BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

This is the wholesome, comforting version of a trad English (white) bread and butter pudding that my maternal grandmother always made. Use apricot jam or regular orange marmalade if ginger's not your thing.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

75 gram(s) unsalted butter
75 gram(s) sultanas
3 tablespoon(s) dark rum
10 slice(s) brown bread
10 tablespoon(s) marmalade (or ginger conserve)
4 medium egg yolks
1 medium easter egg(s)
3 tablespoon(s) caster sugar
500 ml double cream
200 ml full fat milk
1 teaspoon(s) ground ginger
2 tablespoon(s) demerara sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

Grease a pudding dish with a capacity of about 1½ litres with some of the butter.
Put the sultanas in a small bowl, pour the rum over, and microwave them for 1 minute, then leave them to stand. This is a good way to soak them quickly but juicily.
Make sandwiches with the brown bread, butter and ginger jam (2 tablespoonfuls in each sandwich); you should have some butter left over to smear on the top later.
Now cut the sandwiches in half into triangles and arrange them evenly along the middle of the pudding dish. I put one in the dish with the point of the sandwich upwards then one with flat-side uppermost, then with point-side uppermost and so on, then squeeze a sandwich-triangle down each side - but you do as you please. Sprinkle over the sultanas and unabsorbed rum that remains in the bowl.
Whisk the egg yolks and egg together with the caster sugar, and pour in the cream and milk. Pour this over the triangles of bread and leave them to soak up the liquid for about 10 minutes, by which time the pudding is ready to go into the oven. Smear the bread crusts that are poking out of the custard with the soft butter, mix the ground ginger and demerara sugar together and sprinkle this mixture on your buttered crusts and then lightly over the rest of the pudding.
Sit the pudding dish on a baking sheet and put it in the oven to cook for about 45 minutes or until the custard has set and puffed up slightly. Remove, let sit for 10 minutes - and spoon out into bowls, putting a jug of custard, should you so wish, on the table to be served alongside.

CHRISTMAS ROCKY ROAD BARS

CHRISTMAS ROCKY ROAD BARS

It’s not that I felt my usual Rocky Road Crunch Bars needed any improvement (though fiddling with recipes is one of life’s pleasures) but I thought they would benefit from some seasonal adjustment. So, out go the Rich Tea biscuits and in come amaretti and – in the seasonal spirit – I’ve crammed in some Brazil nuts and glacé cherries (as red as Rudolph’s nose), along with snowy mini marshmallows. The fresh snowfall of icing sugar on top might seem seasonal enough, but not for me. So I add some edible glitter in Disco Hologram White.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

250 gram(s) dark chocolate
150 gram(s) milk chocolate
175 gram(s) butter (soft)
4 tablespoon(s) golden syrup
200 gram(s) amaretti biscuits
150 gram(s) brazil nuts (shelled)
150 gram(s) glace cherries (red)
125 gram(s) mini marshmallows
1 tablespoon(s) icing sugar
1 sprinkling of edible glitter

Method

Chop both sorts of chocolate small, or use chocolate buttons made for melting, and then put into a heavy-based pan to melt with the butter and syrup over a gentle heat.
Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin to get big- and little-sized crumbs; you want some pieces to crunch and some sandy rubble.
Put the Brazil nuts into another freezer bag and also bash them so you get different-sized nut rubble.
Take the pan off the heat, and add the crushed biscuits and nuts, whole glacé cherries and mini-marshmallows. Turn carefully to coat everything with syrupy chocolate.
Tip into a foil tray (I use one 236mm x 296mm), smoothing the top as best you can, although it will look bumpy.
Refrigerate until firm enough to cut, which will take about 1 1/2–2 hours. Then take the set block of rocky road out of the foil tray ready to cut.
Push the icing sugar through a small sieve to dust the top of the Rocky Road. Then, if you like, add a sprinkling of edible glitter for some festive sparkle.
With the long side in front of you, cut into it 6 slices down and 4 across, so that you have 24 almost-squares.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:

Make the Rocky Road and refrigerate to set. Don’t add the icing sugar yet, but cut into bars, then store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week. Decorate with icing sugar and edible glitter about 1–2 hours before serving.

GIRDLEBUSTER PIE

GIRDLEBUSTER PIE

I confess: it was the title that lured me. Tell me you don’t feel the same. I came across this in a recipe by Elinor Klivans, whom I often turn to for chocolatey solace, in her The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook, which includes the wonderful phrase “let the chocolate chips fall where they will”. Although her recipes always work to the letter, my recipe is not hers. I am inspired by the digestive and chocolate base and coffee ice cream filling (though if you’re feeding children, I’d suggest vanilla) but I like a butterscotchy topping, which sets the minute it hits the ice cream. Sometimes bits of ice cream bubble up to the surface, making the top gloriously Florentined.
And the joy of the girdlebuster (as it is known for short at home) is that, should there be any left, you can put it back into its dish and just stash in the freezer again for midnight feasts. Admittedly, this is not huge, but a small slice is all that’s needed. Do not let it “ripen” out of the freezer before slicing because it all gets too sticky and drippy and messy.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the base
375 gram(s) digestive biscuits
75 gram(s) butter (soft)
50 gram(s) dark chocolate chips (or pieces)
50 gram(s) milk chocolate chips (or pieces)
For the ice cream filling
1 litre(s) coffee ice cream
For the topping
300 gram(s) golden syrup
100 gram(s) light muscovado sugar
75 gram(s) butter
¼ teaspoon(s) maldon salt (or pinch of table salt - optional)
2 tablespoon(s) bourbon
125 ml double cream

Method

Process the biscuits with the butter and chocolate pieces or chips until it forms a damp but still crumb-like clump.
Press into a 23cm pie plate or flan dish. Form a lip of biscuit a little higher than the plate or dish if you can. This process takes patience as you need ideally to form a smooth even layer. Sorry.
Freeze this biscuit-lined layer for about an hour so it gets really hard. In the meantime, let your ice cream soften, just enough to be scooped, in the fridge.
Spread the ice cream into the hard-biscuit-lined dish to form a layer. Then cover in clingfilm and replace in the freezer.
Put the syrup, sugar, salt (if using) and butter into a saucepan and let it melt over a low to medium heat, before turning it up and boiling for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and add the bourbon, letting it hiss in the pan.
Add the cream and stir to mix into a sauce, then leave to cool. And once the sauce is cool, but not set cold, pour it over the pie to cover the ice cream layer and then put it back in the freezer. Once frozen, cover with clingfilm again.
When ready to serve, remove from the freezer, take the whole pie out of its dish and cut into slices. Should you have any pie left over, slip it quickly back into the dish and return, covered with clingfilm, to the freezer.

DOVES FARM SPELT BREAD

DOVES FARM SPELT BREAD

Spelt naturally proves and rises more quickly than conventional wheat flour, so bake it as soon as it has doubled in size. The flavour is delicious.

Ingredients

500 g White Spelt Flour or Wholegrain Spelt Flour
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Quick Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
300 ml Warm Water
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
220°C/Fan200°C/425°F/Gas 7

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, quick yeast and sugar.
Add the water and roughly mix it into the flour.
While the dough is still lumpy add the oil and knead well until it feels smooth and pliable.
Leave the dough covered with a tea towel, in a draught free place, for it to double in size. (This should take about an hour).
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough firmly for several minutes.
Shape the dough and put it into an oiled 1kg/2lb bread tin or place it on an oiled baking sheet.
Cover with a clean tea towel and leave dough to rise for about 25 minutes in a warm place.
Bake in a preheated oven 35/40 minutes.

DOVES FARM ROMAN STYLE SLIPPER LOAF

DOVES FARM ROMAN STYLE SLIPPER LOAF

This Roman bread is made with a slightly wetter dough than many bread recipes the resulting loaf has an appealing wheaty flavour and good crumb structure. The title of this recipe is based on the recipe writing of the Roman scholar Apicius.

Ingredients

500 g Wholegrain Spelt Flour
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Quick Yeast
1 tbsp Honey
400 ml Water
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
200°C/Fan 180°C/400°F/Gas 6

Mix together the flour, salt and quick yeast in a large bowl.
Dissolve the honey in the water and roughly mix it into the flour.
While the dough is still lumpy add the oil and mix to form a dough.
Pick up the sticky dough and throw it back into the bowl. Do this 100 times.
Cut the dough in half and drop the pieces onto a large oiled baking tray which has been dusted with flour.
Dust the loaves with flour and gently form into an oval.
Leave to rise in a warm place for 25 minutes.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30/35 minutes.

DOVES FARM ROMAN ARMY BREAD

DOVES FARM ROMAN ARMY BREAD

The extra liquid in this recipe bakes a loaf with a crumpety crumb structure. A traditional loaf, similar to bread favoured by the Roman army. Olive oil and honey combined with spelt give it a rich, delicious flavour.

Ingredients

500 g Wholegrain Spelt Flour
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Quick Yeast
1 tbsp Honey
400 ml Warm Water
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Method

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and quick yeast.
Dissolve the honey in the water and roughly mix it into the flour.
When the dough is craggy, add the oil and mix well.
Knead or work the dough for a few minutes, then divide between 2x 500g/1lb bread tins or place on a large, well-oiled baking tray for an artisan-style loaf.
Cover and leave to rise for 25 minutes in a warm place.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 25 minutes if using a baking tray, or 40/45 minutes if using loaf tins.

DOVES FARM RICE BREAD

DOVES FARM RICE BREAD

Ingredients

500 g Rice Flour
2 tsps Xanthan Gum
1 tsp Salt
2 tsps Sugar
2 tsps Quick Yeast
550 ml Warm Water
3 tbsps Oil

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
220°C/Fan200°C/400°F/Gas 7

Mix in the warm water, sugar and quick yeast.
In another bowl mix the rice flour, xanthan gum and salt.
Beat in the yeast liquid and stir well.
Mix in the oil and pour into an oiled 1kg/2lb bread tin.
Smooth the top and leave to rise for 90 minutes.
Cover the tin with metal foil.
Bake in a pre heated oven for 50/60 minutes.

DOVES FARM PIKELETS

DOVES FARM PIKELETS

Ingredients

200 g Plain White or White Spelt Flour
1 tsp Quick Yeast
2 tsps Sugar
250 ml Milk
1 Egg
3 tbsps Oil

Method

In large bowl mix together the flour, yeast and sugar.
In another bowl beat together the milk, water and egg.
Stir the mix mixture into the flour and beat to a smooth batter.
Leave to stand in a warm place for at least 2 hours.
Lightly oil a heavy frying pan and put on medium heat.
Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the pan.
Cook until air bubbles appear and the pancake is set.
Turn over and cook the other side briefly.

DOVES FARM ONION BHAJAS

DOVES FARM ONION BHAJAS

Ingredients

75 g Gram Flour
2 tsps Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Ground Coriander
1 tsp Turmeric
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Mixed Spice
4 tbsps Water
100 g Grated Onion
25 g Grated Potato
5 tbsps Oil

Method

Mix together the gram flour, cumin seeds, coriander, turmeric, salt and mixed spice.
Stir in the water and beat to a smooth batter.
Add grated onion and potatoes and mix well.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently drop in spoonfuls of the mixture.
Turn and cook until golden brown on all sides.
Remove and drain on a paper napkin before serving.

DOVES FARM MIXED SEED AND NUT WHOLEMEAL LOAF

Ingredients

500 g Strong Wholemeal Bread Flour or
500 g Wholegrain Spelt Flour
1 tsp Quick Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
325 ml Water
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
150 g Sunflower, Sesame, Poppy or Pumpkin Seeds or any kind of Nuts
½ tsp Salt

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
220°C/Fan200°C/425°F/Gas 7

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, quick yeast and sugar.
Add the water and roughly mix it into the flour.
While the dough is still lumpy add the oil and knead well until it feels smooth and pliable.
Add the seeds and knead until they are combined into the dough.
Leave the dough covered with a tea towel, in a draught free place, for it to double in size (This should take about an hour). To make a quick bread, omit this stage and proceed straight to step 6.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough firmly for several minutes.
Shape the dough and put it into a 1kg/2lb bread tin or place it on an oiled baking sheet.
Cover with a clean tea towel and leave dough to rise for about 25 minutes in a warm place.
Bake in a preheated oven 35/40 minutes.

DOVES FARM MAPLE RYE DROP SCONES

DOVES FARM MAPLE RYE DROP SCONES

Ingredients

100 g Rye Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
3 tbsps Maple Syrup
150 ml Milk
4 tbsps Oil (approx)

Method

Put the rye flour and baking powder into a bowl.
Add egg, maple syrup and milk.
Beat well.
Oil and heat a heavy frying pan.
Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the hot pan.
When bubbles start to form on the surface, turn the scones over and cook until golden brown.

DOVES FARM MALTHOUSE BREAD

DOVES FARM MALTHOUSE BREAD

Ingredients

500 g Malthouse Bread Flour
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Quick Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
300 ml Warm Water
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
220°C/Fan200°C/425°F/Gas 7

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, quick yeast and sugar.
Add the water and roughly mix it into the flour.
While the dough is still lumpy add the oil and knead well until it feels smooth and pliable.
Leave the dough covered with a tea towel, in a draught free place, for it to double in size (This should take about an hour). To make a quick bread, omit this stage and proceed straight to step 6.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough firmly for several minutes.
Shape the dough and put it into a 1kg/2lb bread tin or place it on an oiled baking sheet.
Cover with a clean tea towel and leave dough to rise for about 25 minutes in a warm place.
Bake in a preheated oven 35/40 minutes.

DOVES FARM ALMOND RYE SHORTBREAD

DOVES FARM ALMOND RYE SHORTBREAD

Ingredients

125 g Rye Flour
125 g Ground Almonds
125 g Butter
75 g Caster Sugar

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
170°C/Fan150°C/325°F/Gas 3 for 40 minutes

Mix together the flour, ground almonds, butter and sugar to form a soft, crumbly dough.
Press the dough into an oiled 20cm/8" round tin.
Cut across the tin several times to form 12 triangles.
Use a fork to make holes all over the surface of the dough.
Bake for 40 minutes in a pre-heated oven.
Remove from the oven and cut through the triangles again.
Allow to cool in the tin.

DOVES FARM HERITAGE WHOLEMEAL FLOUR BISCUITS

DOVES FARM HERITAGE WHOLEMEAL FLOUR BISCUITS

Ingredients

100 g Butter
50 g Caster Sugar
150 g Heritage Wholemeal Flour

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
Oven 180°C/Fan160°C/350°F/Gas 4

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Work in the flour to form a stiff dough.
Roll out dough on a floured surface until 3mm/⅛” thick.
Cut into shapes and place these on an oiled baking tray.
Gather together the off cuts and re-roll to make further biscuits.
Bake in a preheated oven for 10/12 minutes.

DOVES FARM ELDERFLOWER FRITTERS

DOVES FARM ELDERFLOWER FRITTERS

Ingredients

100 g Self Raising Flour
25 g Icing Sugar
1 Egg
125 ml Cider
8 Elderflower Heads
50 g Butter
3 tbsps Sunflower Oil

Method

Shake the elderflower heads to remove any insects.
Mix together the Self Raising Flour and icing sugar.
Add the egg and cider and beat together well.
Warm half the butter and oil in a large frying pan.
Dip half the elderflower heads in the batter.
Shake off excess batter and put them flower side into the pan.
As the fritters start to cook, snip off any excess stalks with a pair of scissors.                                                                                                            
Cook on medium heat then turn over and cook the stalk side.
When both sides are golden remove and keep warm.
Repeat with remaining butter, oil and elderflower heads

DOVES FARM CUSTARD TART

DOVES FARM CUSTARD TART

Ingredients

150 g Plain Gluten Free Flour
75 g Butter
3 tbsps Cold Water
200 ml Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
3 tbsps Sugar
1 tbsp Cornflour
2 tbsps Milk

Temperature & cooking time:
180/Fan160°C/350°F/Gas 4

Method

Mix together the flour and butter until they resemble breadcrumbs.
Add the water and bring together into the dough.
Press pastry into an oiled 7"/18cm flan dish.
Place a circle of parchment paper over the raw pastry.
Cover the paper with ceramic baking beans. (If you do not have these you can use any dried beans, rice or even flour although it will not be re-usable)
Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 25/30 minutes.
In a bowl mix together the cornflour and milk.
Put the cream, sugar and vanilla into a saucepan and heat gently.
Stir in the warmed cream.
Return everything to the saucepan and cook while stirring until thickened.
Remove the beans and paper from the pastry case and pour in the mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven for 20/25 minutes

DOVES FARM PITTA FLATBREAD

DOVES FARM PITTA FLATBREAD

Ingredients

150 ml Natural Yoghurt
250 ml Water
500 g Kamut® Bread Flour
1 tsp Quick Yeast
1 tsp Salt

Temperature & cooking time:
220°C/Fan200°C/425°F/Gas 7

Method

Put the yoghurt into a bowl, stir in the hot water and allow to cool until hand hot.
In a larger bowl mix together the flour, quick yeast & salt then stir in the cooled yoghurt liquid.
Bring together into a dough and knead for 5 minutes. Cover & leave to rise for 4/6 hours.
Place a dry baking tray in your oven and turn it on to pre heat the tray.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes, then cut it into twelve pieces.
Roll each piece of dough into a ball.
Using well floured hands, flatten each piece of dough & gently tease it into a 10x20mm/4x8" oval.
Working quickly and carefully, open the oven, lay some pitta on the baking sheet and cook for 8 minutes.
Remove the pitta and wrap in a clean towel to cool.
Cook remaining pitta in the same way.

DOVES FARM CHAPATI FLOUR BREADS

DOVES FARM CHAPATI FLOUR BREADS

Ingredients

250 g Strong White Bread Flour
1 tbsp Sunflower Oil
150 ml Warm Water
Method

Mix together the flour, oil and water to form a dough.
Knead well, cover with film and leave in a warm place for 2/4 hours.
Knead the dough and cut it into 6 pieces.
Roll each piece of dough into a ball and put it on a flour dusted board.
Roll the dough into an 20cm/8" circle.
Brush a large frying pan with a drop of oil and put on to heat.
Put the dough circle into the pan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes.
When air bubbles start to appear turn it over and cook the other side.
Wrap chappati in tin foil and keep warm until ready to serve.

DOVES FARM BUCKWHEAT AND ORANGE DROP SCONES

DOVES FARM BUCKWHEAT AND ORANGE DROP SCONES

A warming treat for tea, this easy drop scone recipe does not require milk. We like these best when served warm and spread with honey. The recipe makes about 12 drop scones.

Ingredients

100 g Buckwheat Flour
1 tbsp Icing Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Cinnamon
1 Egg
1 Orange rind and juice
140 ml Water
1 tbsp Sunflower Oil

Method

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.
Grate the orange and squeeze the juice into a measuring jug.
Add water until you have 150ml/5floz of liquid (you may not need it all, or slightly more than specified depending on the orange) .
Mix the egg into the liquid then pour everything into the flour.
Stir to make a smooth batter.
Lightly oil a heavy frying pan and heat well.
Put a large spoonful of batter into the hot pan, smoothing to a circle.
Cook until bubbles form and the bottom is golden, then turn over and cook on the other side.

DOVES FARM BROWN SODA BREAD

DOVES FARM BROWN SODA BREAD

Ingredients

500 g Wholemeal Flour or Gluten Free Brown Bread Flour
½ tsp Salt
2 tsps Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
450 ml Milk
3 tbsps Bran or any Gluten Free flour

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
35/40mins at 220°C/Fan200°C/425°F/Gas 7

Mix together the flour, salt, cream of tartar and Bicarbonate of Soda.
Add just enough milk and mix into a soft, slightly sticky, dough.
Shape the dough into a ball and roll it in the bran. (If you don’t have bran sieve some more flour until you have sufficient bran in the sieve)
Place the dough on an oiled baking tray.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 35/40 minutes

DOVES FARM BARLEYCORN BREAD

DOVES FARM BARLEYCORN BREAD

Ingredients

500 g Barleycorn Bread Flour
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Quick Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
275 ml Warm Water
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

Method

Temperature & cooking time:
35/40min at 220°C/Fan200°C/425°F/Gas7

In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, quick yeast and sugar.
Add the water and roughly mix it into the flour.
While the dough is still lumpy add the oil and knead well until it feels smooth and pliable.
Leave the dough covered with a tea towel, in a draught free place, for it to double in size (This should take about an hour). To make a quick bread, omit this stage and proceed straight to step 6.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough firmly for several minutes.
Shape the dough and put it into a 1kg/2lb bread tin or place it on an oiled baking sheet.
Cover with a clean tea towel and leave dough to rise for about 25 minutes in a warm place.

Bake in a preheated oven 35/40 minutes.

QUADRUPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE

QUADRUPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE

This cake is not named for the bypass you might feel you'd need after eating it, but in honour of the four choc-factors that comprise its glory: cocoa to make the cake; chocolate chips or morsels to fold into it; a chocolate syrup to drench it once out of the oven; flakily sliced dark chocolate to top it before slicing.
I love this for tea, even for weekend breakfast, or late at night when its melting squidginess tends to fall darkly on to my white sheets - and I don't care. It's always wonderful as a pudding: put it on the table, ready to slice, alongside a bowl of strawberries and another of creme fraiche.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the cake
200 gram(s) plain flour
½ teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda
50 gram(s) cocoa powder
275 gram(s) caster sugar
175 gram(s) unsalted butter (soft)
2 medium eggs
1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract
80 ml sour cream
125 ml water (boiling)
175 gram(s) dark chocolate chips (unless you prefer milk)
For the syrup
1 teaspoon(s) cocoa powder
125 ml water
100 gram(s) caster sugar
25 gram(s) dark chocolate (from a thick bar)

Method

Take whatever you need out of the fridge so that all ingredients can come to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/170°C, putting in a baking sheet as you do so, and line a 900g loaf tin (mine measures 21x11cm and 7.5cm deep and the cooking times are based on that) with greased foil - making sure there are no tears - and leave an overhang all round. Or use a silicon tin.
Put the flour, bicarb, cocoa, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream into the processor and blitz till a smooth, satiny brown batter. Scrape down with a rubber spatula and process again while pouring the boiling water down the funnel. Switch it off then remove the lid and the well-scraped double-bladed knife and, still using your rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips or morsels.
Scrape and pour this beautiful batter into the prepared loaf tin and slide into the oven, cooking for about 1 hour. When it's ready, the loaf will be risen and split down the middle and a cake-tester, or a fine skewer, will pretty well come out clean. But this is a damp cake so don't be alarmed at a bit of stickiness in evidence; rather, greet it.
Not long before the cake is due out of the oven - say when it's had about 45-50 minutes - put the syrup ingredients of cocoa, water and sugar into a small saucepan and boil for 5 minutes. You may find it needs a little longer: what you want is a reduced liquid, that's to say a syrup, though I often take it a little further, so that the sugar caramelizes and the syrup has a really dark, smokey chocolate intensity.
Take the cake out of the oven and sit it on a cooling rack and, still in its tin, pierce here and there with a cake tester. Then pour the syrup as evenly as possible, which is not very, over the surface of the cake. It will run to the sides of the tin, but some will have been absorbed in the middle.
Let the cake become completely cold and then slip out of its tin, removing the foil as you do so. Sit on an oblong or other plate. Now take your bar of chocolate, wrapped in foil if you haven't got much of its wrapper left, and cut with a heavy sharp knife, so that it splinters and flakes and falls in slices of varying thickness and thinness.
I've specified a weight, but really go by eye: when you think you've got enough to scatter over the top of the loafcake, stop slicing. Sprinkle these chocolate splinters over the top of the sticky surface of the cake.

HOKEY POKEY

HOKEY POKEY

Hokey pokey is a Cornish term for honeycomb. It is wonderful eaten in golden shards or crumbled into the best vanilla ice cream. It is also the perfect present to take to a dinner party. Better than flowers, as they need to be put into a vase, better than chocolate, which people tend to smile politely at, but put away in a drawer: no one can resist a bit of hokey pokey I've found.
The quantities I've specified don't make an awful lot - enough to fill a little tin 12cm in diameter by 6cm deep - but any more and you'd be sued by your dentist.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

100 gram(s) caster sugar
4 tablespoon(s) golden syrup
1.5 teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda

Method

Put the sugar and syrup into a saucepan and stir together to mix. You mustn't stir once the pan's on the heat, though.
Place the pan on the heat and let the mixture first melt, then turn to goo and then to a bubbling mass the colour of maple syrup - this will take 3 minutes or so.
Off the heat, whisk in the bicarbonate of soda and watch the syrup turn into a whooshing cloud of aerated pale gold. Turn this immediately onto a piece of reusable baking parchment or greased foil.
Leave until set and then bash at it, so that it splinters into many glinting pieces.

INSTANT CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

INSTANT CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

When you haven't got time for overnight setting in the fridge or you don't want to use raw eggs, this mousse is perfect. In fact, at all times, constraints or not, it is chocaliciously gorgeous.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

150 gram(s) mini marshmallows
50 gram(s) butter (soft)
250 gram(s) dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids) chopped into small pieces
60 ml water (hot)
284 ml double cream
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

Method

Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan.
Put the saucepan on the hob, over heat, though keep it fairly gentle, to melt the contents, stirring every now and again. Remove from the heat.
Meanwhile, whip the cream with the vanilla extract until thick, and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture.
Pour or scrape into 4 glasses or ramekins, about 175ml each in capacity, or 6 smaller (125ml) ones, and chill until you want to eat. The sooner the better!

ROCKY ROAD CRUNCH BARS

ROCKY ROAD CRUNCH BARS

No one is ever going to complain about having one of these in their lunchbox, and they're pretty handy to have around in the kitchen for a quick, snatched burst of energy at any time.
I'm not claiming them to be a health food, but when you're talking about lunch on the run, packing quite a few calories into a small parcel can be seen as an advantage. That's my view, and I'm sticking to it.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

125 gram(s) butter (soft)
300 gram(s) dark chocolate (best quality minimum 70% cocoa solids) broken into pieces
3 tablespoon(s) golden syrup
200 gram(s) rich tea biscuits
100 gram(s) mini marshmallows
2 teaspoon(s) icing sugar (for dusting)

Method

Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan. Scoop out about 125ml of this melted mixture and put to one side.
Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and then bash them with a rolling pin. You are aiming for both crumbs and pieces of biscuits.
Fold the biscuit pieces and crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, and then add the marshmallows.
Tip into a foil tray (24cm square); flatten as best you can with a spatula. Pour the reserved 125ml of melted chocolate mixture over the marshmallow mixture and smooth the top.
Refrigerate for about 2 hours or overnight.
Cut into 24 fingers and dust with icing sugar by pushing it gently through a tea strainer or small sieve.

CHOCOLATE MERINGUE TRUFFLE CAKE

CHOCOLATE MERINGUE TRUFFLE CAKE

This is a dinner-party stalwart from a couple of decades back, and I like it no less than I did when I first tasted it, made by my sister Thomasina, about twenty years ago. But I have added something: I make a thin meringue base instead of crumbling biscuits into the tin. This is not hard, not even remotely, and you don't have to worry about anything since you don't want airy puffy meringue, but rather a contrastingly crackling base, with just a hint of chewy marshmallow.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

For the base
1 medium egg white
50 gram(s) caster sugar
2 teaspoon(s) cocoa powder
1 drop of white wine vinegar
For the truffle filling
400 gram(s) dark chocolate
60 ml rum
60 ml golden syrup
500 ml double cream
1 teaspoon(s) cocoa powder (to decorate)

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C. Line a 20cm springform tin with baking parchment and oil the sides with some flavourless oil; almond would be good.
Whisk the egg white until foamy peaks form and then whisk in the sugar a little at a time to make a thick, glossy mixture. Sieve over the cocoa and sprinkle with the vinegar, and whisk again to combine everything. Spread as evenly as you can over the bottom of the prepared cake tin and then put in the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes.
Leave to cool while you make the truffle filling.
Melt the chocolate with the rum and syrup in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and let it sit off the heat for 5 minutes or so.
Whisk the cream until it thickens slightly - it should be slightly aerated and have the consistency of thick pouring custard, no thicker. Pour into the chocolate mixture, beating gently until everything is amalgamated.
Pour into the meringue-bottomed tin and cover the springform with clingfilm, and put in the fridge for a night or day, or for up to two days.
A short time before you are ready to serve the cake, take it out of the fridge and let it lose its chill. It will be easier to spring open if the chocolate truffle filling has become less fridge cold, although you don't want soft room temperature chocolate.
Spring the cake free, then transfer to a plate without removing the base unless you think you can with ease (and have one of those big round spatulas). Smooth the sides with a spatula if you want a smarter look, and push the cocoa through a sieve to dust the top of the cake.

LUNCHBOX TREATS

LUNCHBOX TREATS

This is exactly what it says in the title: crunchy, crisp, sweet and toothsome, and the really great thing is that, as a parent, you feel you are doing your child some good at the same time as giving him or her a treat. The amount of milk chocolate is scant, and I get a warm rush from considering the nutritional benisons of malt, oat and sesame seeds. And how fabulous that this tastes like a homemade Lion Bar of beloved memory.
- Nigella lawson

Ingredients

50 gram(s) milk chocolate
150 gram(s) rice malt syrup
55 gram(s) butter
60 gram(s) rice krispies
30 gram(s) cornflakes
40 gram(s) quick cook oats
75 gram(s) sesame seeds

Method

Melt the chocolate, syrup and butter gently in a heavy-based saucepan.
Add all the other ingredients, turning to coat everything well.
Using your hands (encased in latex CSI gloves), shape the mixture into walnut-sized balls. You should get about 25; you could also make this using a 12-bun muffin tin lined with muffin papers to get 12 larger cupcakes.
Let them set in the fridge for an hour or so, and they will keep quite happily in there for a week of treats.

CREPES SUZETTE

CREPES SUZETTE

This is probably the queen of retro desserts and deservedly so. My version is a speeded-up and simplified one by virtue of using shop-bought crepes. But there is no need to feel this is a cop-out. For one, they can be incredibly good but, more pertinently, by the time they've been doused and soused, not to mention, flamed, the idea that you could discern their origins is laughable.
If you have only ever thought of crepes Suzette as some amusing vestige from an irrelevant culinary canon, think again. No, just forget that thought and cut straight to the cooking.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

2 oranges (juiced)
1 orange (zest)
175 gram(s) butter
75 gram(s) caster sugar
8 crepes (shop bought)
80 ml grand marnier (or cointreau or triple sec)

Method

Pour the orange juice into a saucepan, and add the zest, butter and sugar. Bring to the boil, and then turn the heat down to a simmer, cooking for a further 10-15 minutes, until the sauce becomes syrupy.
Fold the crepes into quarters and then arrange them in a large pan, or any flameproof dish, in a circular pattern and slightly overlapping each other.
Pour the warm syrup over the crepes and then gently warm them through for about 3 minutes over a low heat.
Warm the orange liqueur of your choice in the emptied but still syrupy saucepan. When the crepes are hot in the orange sauce, pour the liqueur over them and set light to the pan to flambe them. Serve immediately, spooning crepes and sauce onto each plate.

BANANA BUTTRSCOTCH MUFFINS

BANANA BUTTRSCOTCH MUFFINS

White chocolate morsels can be used in place of the butterscotch ones and my children seem to love both with equal fervour, though I'm pretty fond of these with dark chocolate chips, too.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

3 bananas (very ripe)
125 ml vegetable oil
2 medium eggs
250 gram(s) plain flour
100 gram(s) caster sugar
½ teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon(s) baking powder
150 gram(s) butterscotch morsels (or chocolate)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.
Mash the bananas and set aside for a moment.
Pour the oil into a jug and beat in the eggs.
Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas.
Fold in the butterscotch morsels, then place equal quantities in the prepared muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop and a spatula - and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

TOTALLY CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

TOTALLY CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Along with chocolate, there is much comfort to be gleaned from reading cookbooks. This recipe combines two loves by being chocolatey to the point of madness and having revealed itself to me after a cosy, snuggled-down read of Elinor Klivans' glorious Big Fat Cookies. What I do is make up the full batch of these (hard to divide it really, since it contains only 1 egg) and form all 12 cookies, but bake only half and freeze the other half. I freeze them on a little tray and, once they're hard, I bung them in a freezer bag, seal it and stash it back in the freeze, to bake them unthawed at a later date. That way, I've got 6 chocolate cookies to keep me and my family happy without any time or effort.
This is what I call an investment. And it's worth it - these are the chocolatiest cookies you will ever come across.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

125 gram(s) dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
150 gram(s) plain flour
30 gram(s) cocoa powder (sieved)
1 teaspoon(s) bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon(s) salt
125 gram(s) butter (soft)
75 gram(s) light brown sugar
50 gram(s) white sugar
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
1 medium egg (cold from the fridge)
350 gram(s) dark chocolate chips (or semi sweet chocolate morsels)

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Melt the 125g dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.
Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. (I use my freestanding mixer, itself an odd source of comfort to me.) Add the melted chocolate and mix together.
Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.
Scoop out 12 equal-sized mounds - an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job - and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.
Cook for 18 minutes, testing with a cake tester to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.
Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.

AMERICAN BREAKFAST PANCAKES

AMERICAN BREAKFAST PANCAKES

These are those thick, spongy American pancakes that are often eaten with warm maple syrup and crisp fried bacon. I love them with the syrup alone, but if you do want bacon, I think streaky is best. You can easily cook these pancakes by dolloping the batter onto a hot griddle (smooth, nor ridged, side) or heavy based pan.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

225 gram(s) plain flour
1 tablespoon(s) baking powder
1 pinch of salt for pasta water, to taste
1 teaspoon(s) white sugar
2 large eggs (beaten)
30 gram(s) butter (melted and cooled)
300 ml milk

Method

The easiest way to make these is to put all the ingredients into a blender and blitz. But if you do mix up the batter by hand in a bowl, make a well in the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, beat in the eggs, melted butter and milk, and transfer to a jug: it's much easier to pour the batter into the pan than to spoon it.
Heat a smooth griddle or pan on the stove.
When you cook the pancakes, all you need to remember is that when the upper side of the pancake is blistering and bubbling it's time to cook the second side, and this needs only about 1 minute, if that.
I get about 16 silver-dollar-sized pancakes out of this.

MY MOTHER-IN-LAW'S MADEIRA CAKE

MY MOTHER-IN-LAW'S MADEIRA CAKE

I don't know if I ever ate Madeira cake as a child, but just the sight of this golden-yellow loaf with its long crack down the middle makes me feel satisfactorily nostalgic. This recipe, given to me by my mother-in-law Carrie, is the best of any version I've tried. It's just one of those plain cakes you think you can't see the point of, until you start slicing and eating it.
- Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

240 gram(s) unsalted butter (softened)
200 gram(s) caster sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)
1 unwaxed lemon (zest & juice)
3 large eggs
210 gram(s) self-raising flour
90 gram(s) plain flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3.
Cream the butter and sugar, and add the lemon zest.
Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of the flour for each.
Then gently mix in the rest of the flour and, finally, the lemon juice.
Sprinkle with caster sugar (about 2 tablespoons should do it) as it goes into the oven, and bake for 1 hour or until a cake-tester comes out clean.
Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in the tin before turning out.