What to do with too many apples?

Spend too much time in the kitchen cooking them! But hey, it’s autumn so being in a warm kitchen making yummy-smelling food which might even keep you fed over winter isn’t so bad…

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Blackcurrant and clotted cream ice cream

Sometimes I’m really glad that I like cooking so much. Not on the days when I spend hours making dinner only for it to be a big fat fail. But definitely on days when I get back from a long weekend of camping and partying at Glastonbury festival and it’s hot and muggy and I’ve barely got enough energy to wash all the mud off. And then I remember that I’ve got homemade ice cream in the freezer. Big. fat. yay.

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What to do with rhubarb?

I don’t think I’d ever tried rhubarb before moving to the UK and to be honest I found it a bit weird and scary the first time it arrived in my veg box. I mean, it looks like stringy celery but it’s used in desserts??  The leaves are also super-poisonous which makes it sound even more suspicious. I tried making a typical crumble and it was ok but I couldn’t quite work up the enthusiasm other people seemed to have for this weird veggie/fruit thing.

But I kept trying different dishes and by this spring, I found myself smiling at the smell of those first sticks of rhubarb, picked from the garden. So if you’re not so sure about rhubarb, do stick with it. (sorry sorry bad pun!) Here’s a few recipe ideas to try…

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Feeding friends: Salted caramel chocolate fondant

We’ve been loving the amazing warm weather this spring and spent lots of time out and about with friends on the beach or on the bikes – but we’ve also had quite a few friends round for dinner. I’m loving testing out the new flat and kitchen on everyone and we’ve had a few tasty meals along the way. But this salted caramel-filled chocolate fondant was easily my favourite dish so far. Who can say no to oozing caramel with that subtle salty twist surrounded by a gooey chocolate cake??? Not me. And not you either once you see how easy it was to make!

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What to do with too much jam?

Is this a problem other people have? Possibly not, cause I’m a bit weird and I don’t really eat much bread so I don’t eat much toast and jam. But I’ve gotten really into making preserves over the past couple years so I end up with jars and jars of the stuff. Of course I give most of it away to friends, but you feel like you ought to keep one jar of each variety you make and even that ends up being loads more than I’ll ever eat. So here I am about to move house and trying to clear out the fridge – there are jars and jars of condiments that I refuse to throw away because I really love my condiments ok? So I decided to find some tasty recipes to finish off all those jars of jam instead!

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Classic recipes: Cream brioche tart

It’s February already holy heck. So no more boring New Year’s resolutions about diets and not drinking and not eating delicious buttery tarts covered in cream and sugar… Right??

I hope so. Because this is totally worth the calories. I don’t usually care about desserts, I’d usually be happier munching on cheese to be honest. But then I tried a cream brioche tart from the amazing Cocoa Patisserie in Brighton and everything changed.

It’s French brioche dough, rolled into a circle, then filled with cream and sugar and baked until it looks a bit like a flatbread with a golden crust. The creamy center just seems to melt when you bite into it and the crust has this beautiful crunch of sugar on the outside of a beautifully light, fluffy dough. So yeah, buttery dough, plus cream and lots of sugar equals very tasty. Funny that. I couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing this tart was (insert bad joke here). And I knew I had to recreate it at home…

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Classic recipes: Shortbread biscuits

I know it’s January and everyone’s avoiding rich food and dieting and blablabla but I am somehow still in the holiday-season-baking-non-stop-zone. And everyone knows if you make food from scratch then it’s real butter not preservatives and that’s practically healthy right?

This recipe was inspired by some cranberry shortbread biscuits I ate while having a meeting at The Grand Hotel in Brighton not long ago. As a charity worker I don’t often have meetings at fancy hotels but these biscuits made me wish it happened more often…

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Feeding friends: Macaroni cheese (and too many desserts…)

New Year’s Eve this year started out with 22 friends, one big house in the countryside and an even bigger potluck dinner. Basically my idea of heaven! I brought far too much food as always but everyone knows that’s better than not having enough…

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What to do with leftover Christmas pudding?

Answer: Definitely not throw it away! I am not a massive fan of Christmas pudding so I knew I wouldn’t eat any more of it. So I tried a couple recipes and I think I found a winner for using up the leftover pudding, or whatever dried fruit and nuts you’ve got in your cupboards…

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Feeding friends: Christmas cookies!

Last year I gave a few people boxes of homemade brownies for Christmas. They went over pretty well so this year I thought I’d give homemade gingerbread instead of the usual Christmas cards. No big deal, just a bit of baking and then I’d have the perfect present for all my lovely family and friends. Of course in the end this was a bigger project than Christmas shopping! But it was worth it in the end… I think!

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