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rich chocolate tart with raspberries and blueberries

A rich chocolate tart with berries for Sam’s birthday

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Wow, these lockdown birthdays are a joy and a heartache all at once aren’t they? All our birthdays are around this time of year, so poor old Sam had his 25th under the lockdown too. As is the family tradition, I asked him what dessert or cake he’d like for his birthday, and he came up with a right corker - a rich chocolate tart with berries - this made us chuckle as my Dad would always order these in restaurants and make some terrible off-key gag about it. This is actually the easiest dessert to whip up - a quick shortcrust pastry case, which you can buy if you want to, and some ganache that takes about two minutes to make. As the name suggests, it’s super rich and a teeny slice is all you need, so use a relatively small tart tin.

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Dark chocolate and cherry Christmas pudding

Dark chocolate and cherry Christmas pudding

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Morning all! If you’re a regular, you’ll know this weekend coming is one of my favourites of the year because it’s Stir-up Sunday! For me, it’s a weekend full of all the things I absolutely love: I’m never happier than when I’m pottering in the kitchen, but add in the fact that this recipe fills the whole house full of gorgeous, Christmassy orange and spice scents and it’s an absolute winner. If you fancy making your own Christmas puddings this year, I’ve added the ingredients list nice and early so you can make sure you have everything ready. Do remember that this is a two-step recipe as I steeping the fruit overnight – you could just start really early on Sunday but remember that steaming the pudding takes about five hours. This year, I’m embracing two of my absolute favourite flavours with a dark chocolate and cherry Christmas pudding. It’s not overwhelmingly chocolatey, but the chocolate just adds an extra depth and bittersweet flavour, and the cherries add a pop of colour and sweetness too.

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Mocha meringue pie

Mocha meringue pie

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I love the cosy feeling of autumn weekends, when my laptop is packed away and I spend a while pottering around the house, sweeping the floors, tidying up, lighting candles and generally getting the house ready for the weekend. It’s even lovelier when you know you’re going to share that feeling with a good few of your very favourite people, and this weekend we had a get-together for my Mum’s birthday. I love feeding a crowd - I did a big pot of my veggie chilli and another of slow cooked beef chilli, a massive pan (in fact, way too much) of rice, and then just laid out bowls and a ton of accompaniments: sour cream, grated sharp cheddar, tortilla chips and pickled green jalapeno slices for everyone to help themselves. For dessert, I’d seen a pie with a chocolate layer, a vanilla custard layer and a coffee meringue top in a magazine I bought in Seattle, but I didn’t want to make pastry, so I changed it to a biscuit base, simplified a lot of the layers and voila - the mocha meringue pie was born.

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The best blackberry and apple crumble recipe

The best blackberry and apple crumble recipe

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I know, it’s a big claim and of course I’m making it in jest. I’m sure there are lots of crumble recipes out there that are just as good. But there are blackberries everywhere in the hedgerows at the moment and they’re the fattest, juiciest most gorgeous ones I’ve seen in a long time so I’ve made a lot of crumble recently and I’m pretty sure this is the best blackberry and apple crumble recipe you’ll find around these parts. It’s quick, it’s easy, there’s no messing about, I feel like there’s just enough sugar to keep the apple a little bit tart, which is a perfect complement to the sweet, crumbling topping… I used to make crumble with my mum and it still makes me feel all warm and lovely inside to serve up a proper pudding (with cream or custard) after dinner. So here’s a gorgeous recipe so you can give someone you love a big hug in a bowl too.

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Gorgeous summer desserts with Saga Magazine

Gorgeous summer desserts with Saga Magazine

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You know me, I’m all about the desserts, so when Saga Magazine - the UK’s bestselling subscription magazine - asked if I’d create some gorgeous summer desserts for their lovely readers, of course I was absolutely delighted. I wanted to include some simple recipes and fresh flavours, all perfect for an English summer, so I started thinking about sweet berries, fresh peaches, raspberries, zesty lemon, and obviously fluffy clouds of whipped cream. Plus, of course, it wouldn’t be summer without a big pitcher of Pimms, would it?

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Nutella cheesecake with smashed Ferrero Rocher

Nutella cheesecake with smashed Ferrero Rocher - because you’re only 21 once

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My baby boy is 21. When I first started writing this blog, we’d just moved to Ireland and Charlie was eight. Honestly, it seems like a lifetime ago now. I’ve said before that I never really felt like I was a natural at all this motherhood lark, so I’m eternally thankful that they’ve both turned into the kind, funny, loving adults (eek!) they are today. It’s really lovely to see them live, love and flourish. Charlie’s in his second year of university now and happily settled with a lovely girlfriend, and although it’s true that you never stop worrying about them, by the time they get to this life stage, you have to sit back, relax and just hope that you’ve given them all the skills to make the right decisions in life. which is kind of a relief after the stress of those teenage years. And talking of decisions, if you’re a regular reader, or maybe if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you’ll know about the Birthday Challenge. In this household, the birthday person gets to choose whatever cake they like, however obscure, and I promise to make it for them. Once upon a time, it was all about finding the most obscure recipes (think of it as the inspiration for the technical challenge on GBBO), but now, they just choose something yummy, which is fine by me. Charlie’s choice was for a ‘Nutella chocolate cheesecake with Ferrari Rockets on top’, and while he was heading back down the motorway ready to celebrate with all our friends and family, I got to work creating the perfect, silky smooth Nutella cheesecake with smashed Ferrero Rocher* on the top.

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Recipes perfect for Valentines Day

Recipes that are perfect for Valentine’s Day

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I know lots of people are really sceptical about Valentine’s Day, calling it a ‘Hallmark holiday’, but I don’t see that there’s anything wrong in reminding your other half that you care. When I was a kid, my Dad marked every Valentine’s Day by sending me a card with ‘gess who?’ written in it - I think it only stopped when I actually got married. It used to make my day to know that someone cared enough to send a card, even if it was just my dear old Dad. If you’re treating your loved one to a special meal, I thought I’d do a quick roundup post of recipes that are perfect for a Valentine’s Day, so whether you’re going all out with posh food and bubbles, or you just want something simple and delicious so your other half doesn’t have to cook for once, I hope I’ve found something for everyone.

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Wheat free roasted pear and cinnamon crisp

Wheat free roasted pear and cinnamon crisp

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So last week, I was telling you that we’ve embarked on a little shake up of our eating habits (see my post and recipe here), committing to try and cut down on sugar and go a bit easier on the carbs, concentrating on eating more vegetables, lean protein and healthy fats. Last week was also my Mum’s birthday, and as she was coming round to dinner to celebrate, I wanted to cook her a really special, autumnal meal while not completely blowing our new regime. The lovely guys at Denby recently sent me a beautiful grey cast iron casserole, and with it, there was a recipe card for a delicious-sounding blackberry crisp, which is kind of like a crumble, but made with oats instead, creating an almost flapjack-like topping which is naturally wheat free. Inspired by this, I decided to cook a roasted pear and cinnamon crisp and it came out really well.

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Belvoir rhubarb and apple crumble

Delicious, autumnal rhubarb and apple crumble

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One of the best things about autumn for me is getting back into baking proper roast dinners and, of course, delicious desserts (any excuse to slather a load of custard onto something). I’m an enthusiastic forager too - the blackberries have been amazing this year (it’s also bittersweet, as it’s the first year I haven’t been able to help myself to the wonderful apples from my Dad’s garden). Still, there are loads of apples around (either to be scrumped or purchased) so it’s the perfect time of year to get baking. To take advantage of this bumper crop, and celebrate this most gorgeous of seasons, I’ve teamed up with the lovely Belvoir Fruit Farms to create a comforting crumble, and have given it some extra zing and a really interesting touch of cardamom, by using Belvoir’s Rhubarb and Apple Pressé. I adore crumble - what’s not to love about sweet, buttery, crumbly topping lavished over delicious sweet-sour fruit?

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My elderflower recipes for Belvoir

My elderflower recipes for Belvoir

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It’s no secret that this time of year is my favourite. Wandering through the Chiltern Hills with Lyra, the bees are buzzing, the grass is emerald green and the air has finally warmed up enough for me to discard my parka. We always look out for the first elderflowers: for me, they’re a firm favourite - the scent reminds me of early summer weekends at the cricket club, making elderflower crowns with the clusters of tiny, star-shaped creamy yellow flowers. We’ve spotted some over the last couple of weekends, and Mr E and I are dying to make elderflower tempura with the new blooms. To celebrate elderflower season, I’ve teamed up with Belvoir Fruit Farms to create some delicious elderflower recipes using their lovely range of delicious cordials: some pillowy soft elderflower marshmallows, fragrant elderflower scones and an indulgent elderflower and ginger cheesecake. Read on for the recipes!

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Perfect fluffy pancakes for Pancake Day

Perfect, fluffy pancakes for Pancake Day

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What if I told you I’d got a recipe for the floofiest pancakes you’re every likely to make, AND that the secret behind them is cheaty, home-made buttermilk, AND that you can make them all in advance, keep them warm in the oven and they don’t even sink a teeny, tiny bit? I know, right? Feeling pretty smug right now. So, quick sciencey bit: buttermilk is more acidic than normal milk (it’s also thicker, making your batter less runny) so using buttermilk in your pancakes (and indeed scones or whatever) means that there’s more acid to react with the baking soda, therefore making more bubbles and making the pancakes lighter and fluffier. See? It’s not magic, it’s science. But I never remember to buy buttermilk, so I use the next best thing: normal milk soured with lemon juice and left at room temperature for a couple of minutes. It works in exactly the same way and will give you the perfect, fluffy pancakes. Want the recipe? Read on!

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New M&S food to order Feb 2018

Weekend wishlist: New M&S food to order

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With Valentine’s Day coming up, I know many people will be thinking about booking a restaurant table for a romantic dinner for two. I do know, though, that going out on Valentine’s Day isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Restaurants are extra busy and there’s too much pressure to be ‘romantic’ while everyone’s looking, too! Plus, Mr E and I have been together for about a gazillion years, so I think the need to impress me has long gone. Still, I want to cook a gorgeous dinner for him, and I’ve been looking at the new M&S food to order products, where you can find some interesting cuts of meat that you’d normally have to order from your butcher, plus some great ideas for reluctant cooks, plus of course, delicious desserts.

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Apple, plum and blackberry crumble

Apple, plum and blackberry crumble

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My Dad’s not been well recently, so he’s not as active in his garden as he once was. He rang me last week and asked if I wanted any fruit, and Sam and I popped in to see him and to perform a quick raid of his gorgeous fruit trees. There are so many plums on the tree they’re weighing down the branches (and the wasps are having a field day), so we picked a load of those and also a load of his apples - I’m not sure of the variety but they’re somewhere in between an eater and a cooker and make awesome crumble. Seeing as we’d picked some blackberries on our walk, I thought I’d make an apple, plum and blackberry crumble. Here’s how to recreate it:

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Light and fluffy lime, ginger and golden kiwi cheesecakes

Light and fluffy lime, ginger and golden kiwi cheesecakes

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We’re a bit obsessed with kiwifruit in this house. (remember my kiwi and coconut breakfast bowls?) Sam always makes me laugh as on his late-night borrowing expeditions, he’ll sit with a big pile of them and eat them with a spoon, straight out of the skin. I particularly like the yellow variety: Zespri SunGold kiwifruit. Have you seen them? They’re deliciously sweet and particularly pretty, with their naturally golden glowy yellow colour. They’re also super-healthy: one Zespri SunGold kiwifruit contains three times the amount of vitamin C than an orange.

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The birthday chocolate orange cheesecake

The birthday chocolate orange cheesecake

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So it’s just dawned on me, after all the excitement of Florida, that I’ve totally missed out one of the birthday cakes: the birthday chocolate orange cheesecake! You all know about the birthday challenge, right? The birthday person gets to choose whatever birthday cake/dessert they want (within reason - I don’t do novelty cakes, I’m too cack handed), and I make it for them. I told you about Sam’s birthday lemon meringue pie, but then completely missed out Charlie’s chocolate orange cheesecake. This didn’t start well as I tried everywhere to find Terry’s Chocolate Oranges in all our local shops and supermarkets and just couldn’t find any, so I had to settle for Lindor Truffles. Still, it all turned out okay. Here’s how I made it:

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Lemon meringue pie with an easy biscuit pie crust

The birthday lemon meringue pie

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If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see that over the weekend I was chatting about the ‘birthday challenge’. I’m not sure how this started but it’s been going on since the boys were really small. In our family, whenever it’s anyone’s birthday, they get to choose the birthday cake/dessert of their dreams - anything at all - and I promise to cook it for them. When the boys were small, they were always begging for novelty cakes way beyond my level of expertise: Buzz Lightyear and Power Rangers, then when they turned into little pre-teen smart-arses, it was always something really, really complicated - they would research for hours and come back with requests for things they thought were really exotic (my favourite was Sam’s request for a black forest gateau - I’m not even sure he knew what it was). Now, though, it’s all about requesting a big, yummy dessert and that suits me just fine. Sam’s birthday is on Tuesday, and I promised I’d do the birthday challenge last weekend as I’m away again next week (exploring Kissimmee, St Pete and Clearwater - I can’t wait). I was pretty chuffed when his request was for lemon meringue pie too - one of my favourites.

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