Showing posts from 2016

Baked Raspberry Cheesecake

An easy baked raspberry cheesecake recipe served with fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis. The cheesecake can be made ahead and frozen until needed.


Christmas Cinnamon Rolls (Breadmaker recipe)

Christmas Cinnamon Rolls flavoured with clementine zest and finished with a tangy cream cheese icing. Make the dough in your breadmaker for a super simple Christmas morning breakfast. To simplify things, you can prepare the dough for these cinnamon and clementine rolls using a breadmaker, though I've also provided instructions for making it manually. The assembly process is straightforward, leading to some of the most incredibly indulgent sticky buns you can imagine. You also have the option to prepare the dough the night before and keep it refrigerated (in a sizeable bowl, securely wrapped in cling film), ready for use the next day. A little kneading might be required before rolling it out. Typically, I'd use a basic icing sugar glaze. However, this time I experimented with a cream cheese icing, and it's an absolute game-changer. Remember to use salted butter for the cream cheese icing, as it truly enhances the flavour. Ingredients For the dough: 600g Strong


Squidgy Gingerbread Loaf

There's nothing better than a soft squidgy slice of gingerbread cake at this time of year. Dark, fragrant and warming it's perfect with a cup of tea or for serving as part of a festive buffet at Christmas. You could even reheat slices and serve it with clotted cream or custard for a quick and easy pudding. It's definitely up there as one of my all time favourite cakes and it's so simple to make too. The gingerbread cake needs to be made a few days in advance of when you want to eat it to ensure a lovely sticky moist loaf. I also stash one away in the freezer which I can pull out at a moments notice for unexpected guests. You really can't go wrong with this recipe! TIPS FOR MAKING THE GINGERBREAD CAKE Gingerbread cake tastes better if left for a few days before eating. So once its cool, wrap it up in some baking paper and foil and store away in a dark place for up to 3 days. Make an easy orange icing for the cake by mixing sifted icing sugar with som


Slow Cooker Christmas Spiced Red Cabbage

A slow cooker Christmas spiced red cabbage recipe with mustard seeds and allspice. Ever had a cooker crisis on Christmas Day? I think we've all been there haven't we, with too many dishes and too little space. I try and make as much as I can ahead of time these day's  - I cook my meat the day before (and the gravy too), pre cook my sprouts, par boil the potatoes and make and cook the stuffing in a loaf tin. It all helps come Christmas morning and this year I've called on my slow cooker for help too. This slow cooker red cabbage dish is absolutely delicious. You just bung everything in the slow cooker before you go to bed on Christmas Eve and you wake up on Christmas morning to the most amazing festive fragrance imaginable. The red cabbage takes a good 8-10 hours to cook and you might want to give it a stir every now and then, but other than that you can just leave it to do its thing. Once it's cooked to your liking, just turn the slow cooker to the 


Festive Fudgy Chocolate Tiffin

Regular readers of the blog will know I'm a bit obsessed with chocolate tiffin and I have a fair few recipes on the blog already ( Malty Mini Egg Tiffin  Bars are still my all time favourite) . It's certainly not something I'd ever pass up when offered, that's for sure! Anyway I thought it was about time I gave my regular tiffin recipe a bit of a festive makeover with some shortbread, Christmas spiced fudge (from Copperpot), brazil nuts, orange zest and glace cherries. All my favourite flavours of Christmas in one bite. I'll warn you, they are very very rich so make sure you cut the slices on the smallish size, but they are real winners in taste. These no bake tiffin bars would make an ideal sweet treat on a Christmas buffet table and I'm sure Santa wouldn't mind exchanging a few mince pies for one of these bars either. It's just a shame one's waistline has to suffer for the privilege! TIPS FOR MAKING THE FESTIVE CHOCOLATE TIFFIN


How To Cook The Perfect Christmas Ham

I love a nice Christmas ham during the festive season - you can't beat it for taste. I always serve one alongside the turkey on Christmas Day as we're a greedy bunch here and like plenty of choice in the meat department. If you don't manage to scoff the lot, there are plenty of options for the leftovers too. I like to stir leftover ham into macaroni cheese or make a warming ham soup but other ideas include putting it in quiches, toasties, omelettes or on a homemade pizza. If you're really desperate there's no reason why you couldn't slice and freeze it for use at a later date (as long as it hasn't been frozen before)....but I'm never that desperate. There's always someone sneaking into the fridge for a piece. In terms of the perfect way to cook a gammon (gammon is the term for the raw form of the joint), I always poach it in a festively fragrant cooking liquid with cinnamon, star anise, clementine and cloves. Then it's into a roasting tin


Brie and Cranberry Tear & Share Christmas Tree Bread

Gather friends and family for a festive and delicious treat - Brie and Cranberry Tear & Share Christmas Tree Bread ! This pull-apart bread makes the perfect sharing appetiser.   This Brie and Cranberry bread is super easy to make but really tasty too. The dough comes together quickly in the bread maker using basic ingredients like flour, yeast, salt and water. No bread maker? No problem, you can easily mix it by hand using this recipe and omitting the olives, garlic and fennel seeds! I wanted to create a festive filling that really captures the flavours of the season. Brie and cranberries was the perfect combo - creamy and tart. Arranging the pinwheels in a Christmas tree shape makes it a really eye-catching centerpiece for your festive table too. Serve it warm from the oven for the best experience. I recommend having a pot of chestnut soup on the side - the ultimate cosy winter meal. You really couldn't polish this whole loaf off yourself, but you'll definitely want to!