White chocolate and honeycomb cheesecake

I made mini cheesecakes, but this would also work as a large cheesecake. The recipe is from a friend, and although the use of margarine might sound strange, it really works and tastes delicious.

Base

125g digestive biscuits
50g margarine
1 crumbled Crunchie bar

Topping

175g white chocolate
115g margarine at room temperature
175g cream cheese at room temperature
115g caster sugar
Honeycomb pieces to decorate

1. To make the base, crush the biscuits. Melt the margarine and mix through the biscuits. Add the crumbled Crunchie bar.

2. Press the mixture into individual moulds. Freeze for 30 minutes.

3. To make the topping, melt the chocolate and then leave to cool.

4. Cream the margarine and sugar together with an electric mixer.

5. Cream the cream cheese separately, then combine with the margarine and sugar, mixing well until fully incorporated.

6. Make sure the chocolate is cooled and then fold in.

7. Spoon the topping over the base and smooth the top.

8. Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours or in the freezer for 1 – 2 hours. If freezing, allow to defrost in the fridge prior to serving.

9. Decorate with honeycomb pieces and enjoy.

Puff pastry apple roses

These make a lovely party food, as they’re really beautiful as well as tasting amazing. They’re also a good way of using the abundance of apples we have at the minute.

Puff pastry apple rose

One packet of puff pastry
1-2 apples
Butter, melted
Sugar
Cinnamon

1. Mix a couple of tablespoons of sugar with a teaspoon or so of cinnamon.

2. Slice the apple as thinly as you can. Leave the skin on, but remove any bits of the core. If you slice the apple thinly enough you can shape them into the roses, but if they are too thick you might need to microwave the slices for 45 seconds to make them malleable.

3. Cut the puff pastry into long thin strips. Work with one strip at a time. Brush melted butter along one half of the strip down the length. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

4. Arrange the apple slices along the other edge edge with the skin facing out of the pastry and the slices overlapping. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar.

5. Fold the pastry longways in half to encase the apple slices. Roll the strip.

6. Pop into a muffin tin.

7. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar over the top.

8. Bake in a preheated oven at 180⁰C for 20 minutes.

9. Allow to cool a little and dust with icing sugar before serving.

This YouTube video shows you the rolling technique: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jrDkG-4GF5Q

Lemon and elderflower traybake

This is a lovely cake flavour combination, and lends itself to being a traybake for when sharing is key!

For the cake
200g caster sugar
200g butter or margarine
200g self raising flour
4 free range eggs
1 tsp baking powder
2tbsp Elderflower cordial
Zest of 1 lemon

For the drizzle
50g Granulated sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
25ml water
2tbsp elderflower cordial

For the icing
250g Icing sugar
125g Butter
2tbsp elderflower cordial

1. Preheat the oven to 180⁰C. 

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, cordial and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the eggs, mixing until incorporated. 

3. Stir in the flour and baking powder until combined.

4. Pour the mixture into a greased square cake tin.

5. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until cooked through.

6. While the cake are baking, make the drizzle by placing the lemon juice, water, elderflower cordial and sugar into a saucepan and heating until the sugar has dissolved completely. 

7. Once the cake is out of the oven, but whilst the cake is still warm, use a skewer to make holes in the sponge and drizzle the elderflower syrup evenly over the cake so that it soaks in. Once the cake has cooled, cut into squares.

8. Make the buttercream by beating the icing sugar, butter and cordial together until very pale, fluffy and creamy. Pipe onto the squares of cake. Decorate if desired, I used mini lemon jelly slices.

Grape Cake

I had a go at baking this Grape Cake recipe from the Marks and Spencer marketing newsletter and it was delicious.

Butternut Squash and Banana Loaf

A nice alternative to banana bread. It’s also a good way to use up plain cooked butternut squash.

125g butternut squash
175g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
85g baking spread
110g granulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 medium eggs
1 small banana

1. If your butternut squash isn’t already cooked chop it into small cubes and cook in the microwave for a few minutes until soft.

2. Mix together the flour, baking powder bicarbonate of soda, baking spread, sugar, cinnamon and ginger until it resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Gradually beat the eggs in.

4. Mash the banana and butternut squash with a fork. Mix into the batter.

5. Pour into a prepared loaf tin.

6. Bake in a preheated oven at 170⁰C for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

For a slightly different butternut squash cake recipe try Night in – Butternut squash muffins

Cheesy olive bites

A lovely bite-sized treat for parties or picnics.

50g plain flour
50g wholemeal flour
1/4 tsp chilli powder
80g butter, diced
20g finely grated cheddar
20g grated vegetarian hard cheese (parmesan style)
2tsp chopped fresh chives
1 free range egg
15 large stuffed green olives

1. Sift the flours and chilli powder together. Rub in the butter.

2. Stir in the cheese, chives and egg to make a stiff dough. Press into a ball.

3. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4. Divide the pastry into 25 portions and use each one to wrap up an olive.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes at 200⁰C until golden brown.

Can be served warm or cold.

Breakfast

A slice of sourdough topped with ready made custard and fruit and grilled. Thank you to TikTok!

Peanut butter cornflake bites

These are quick and easy to make and easy to eat!

100g gluten free cornflakes

200g smooth peanut butter

200g golden syrup

1. Melt the peanut butter and the golden syrup together in a pan over a low heat.

2. Take the pan off the heat and fold in the cornflakes making sure they are completely covered.

3. Divide the mixture between 8 small silicone bun cases.

4. Chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. These can be kept in the fridge for a few days.

This recipe was inspired by Fitwaffle. You can use honey instead of the golden syrup and you can swap the peanut butter for speculoos spread.

Mince Pie Profiteroles

This is barely a recipe, but I strongly recommend trying this out. It came about because I found myself with a plethora of profiteroles and the need to find a festive dessert offering. This is a great option and just involves slicing the top off pre-filled profiteroles and adding a generous dollop of mincemeat. Mine is rum infused to add to the flavour!

(I served mine with my favourite festive tipple – plum sake. If you haven’t tried plum sake with a mince pie you need to consider rectifying this immediately!)

Radish and Peanut Stir fry

This recipe takes its inspiration from the June 2021 Waitrose Food magazine, with a few tweaks to make it fit with my usual store cupboard staples.

Radish and Peanut Stir fry (serves 1 – 2)

Splash of vegetable oil
Handful of roasted peanuts
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely grated
250g radishes, quartered
3 spring onions, sliced
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Sriracha sauce
Handful of coriander leaves

1. Heat the oil and toast the peanuts.

2. Add the chilli, garlic and the onions and radishes and stir fry for 3 minutes.

3. Add the sugar, soy sauce and Sriracha sauce. If you want to eat this with noodles, this is the point to throw some ready to eat udon noodles in and stir well to coat with the sauce.

4. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander before serving.