Now for some festive savoury stuff!

It might seem an odd contribution to the Christmas menu - all I can say is that if ever I'm asked to cook or bake for a gathering cheese scones are top of the list. However I must be getting something right when the range of M&S Party Food includes “Extra Mature Barber's Cheese & Ham Scones”!

This recipe works for me and my family and friends :

Cheese Scones

500g plain flour (1lb 2oz)

1 tsp salt

2 tsps bicarb

4½ tsps cream of tartar

125g (5oz) unsalted butter

75g (3oz) mature Cheddar cheese, grated

300ml milk

1 large egg, beaten

6.5cms/2½” fluted cutter

flour on the side to dip the cutter

Pre-heat oven 200fan/220c/Gas 7

Sift the flour, salt, bicarb and cream of tartar into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until you've got breadcrumbs, add the grated cheese then add the milk – all of it – mix with a round bladed knife, roughly and then tip onto a floured surface and knead lightly so that you have a dough. It should be 3cms/1¼” thick. Remember to dip your cutter into the flour before cutting.

How many scones you get depends on the size of the cutter you use – using a 6.5cms/2½” fluted cutter you'll get 12 – they are huge. If you're intending to use as part of a Christmas Box/Brown paper package then you might want to consider using a smaller cutter – scaled down they'll look neater when bagged and tagged to go in your Box! 5/2” or 6cms/2¼” approx would be perfect.

Place on a baking sheet, dusted with flour, then brush with beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes – risen and golden brown.

Give your family and friends what they love - not what the season dictates - a person can only suffer so many boxes of dates or the orange and lemon slices from yesteryear.

Hmm, perhaps a little festive relish to go with?

GTSB – the photo-guide

Here goes!

The dry ingredients

The jugs – Guinness and yogurt

The bowl of black treacle

Slowly add the Guinness to the treacle

to loosen

Add the yogurt to the Guinness

and treacle and whisk together

The dry combined with the wet ingredients

The bread on the baking sheet – see the dusting

of flour underneath

The loaf marked into quarters – the long

handle of a wooden spoon works beautifully

Ta dah – fresh from the oven

Sliced in half – looks good enough to eat

A quarter, ready with a pot of butter it would be rude not to!

Personally I wouldn't mess with either of these breads – apart from the butter! I would add a good strong cheddar or maybe a Lancashire cheese with some chutney – but really it's entirely up to you!

You could serve warmed with a goulash or a chilli if you preferred the bread with a hot dish.

Very rustic and the ultimate in comfort food!

Guinness and Treacle Soda Bread … GTSB method

Here's the method and hints and tips.

Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6. Grease a large baking tray or line with baking parchment. Put the flours, oats, salt and bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl and toss together. Add the butter and, using your fingertips, rub it into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. In a jug or second mixing bowl, stir together the Guinness, yogurt and treacle, until the treacle more or less dissolves – this will take a little while, but stir patiently and it will come together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and, with a spatula, wooden spoon or firm hand, bring everything together into a rough dough. Knead for a moment on a worktop, just until the dough has come together, then shape into a rough ball and put on the prepared baking tray. Dust the ball of dough liberally with flour, then use the handle of a wooden spoon to press a deep cross into the dough, ensuring you don't go all the way through the dough, so all 4 quarters are still connected. Bake for 50 minutes until golden, crispy and steaming.

This is the recipe taken directly from the magazine. I've a few suggestions that will make life easier.

It mentions “grease a large baking tray or line with baking parchment”. In all my bread making I've never greased or lined a baking tray. I sprinkle a non-stick baking tray with flour and “swirl” so it covers the tray. The bread doesn't stick – ever.

If you take your butter straight from the fridge as you begin, weigh and cut it into small cubes and place on a piece of cling film by the time you've weighed the remainder of your ingredients your butter will be soft enough to rub into the dry ingredients.

With regard to the “wet” ingredients you'll find life much easier if you begin by weighing the black treacle directly into a small mixing bowl. Weigh your Guinness and yogurt in separate jugs. Make sure your mixing bowl is set on a non slip mat – if you don't have one then use a dampened j cloth.

Gradually drizzle the Guinness into the treacle, stirring all the time and it will loosen, continue until combined. Use a small whisk when adding the yogurt to prevent it splitting. The process takes no time at all.

There's photos!

Guinness and Treacle Soda Bread - “GTSB”

Here's the second bread recipe and it's divine!

I have always had a weakness for good bread. There's nothing like home-made bread – the only problem is that it's a bit of a faff and it takes too long … unless you're making soda bread – no yeast and little or no kneading needed – what's not to love.

Not surprising then that this caught my attention. The recipe looks easy and this is genuine research – so many recipes are a let down mainly because they are inaccurate – you're drawn in by the clever photography and the Food Stylist.

What follows is the exact recipe, then some hints and tips from me and finally a photo-guide.

“Wholesome, rustic soda bread looks and tastes like something that hours of love and care have gone into. In reality, it's wonderfully simple and with no yeast or kneading required, a warm loaf can be out of the oven in about an hour”.

Guinness and Treacle Soda Bread

400g strong white bread flour

extra for dusting

100g strong wholemeal flour

50g jumbo oats

10g fine salt

1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda

40g unsalted butter, cubed

150g Guinness

175g natural yogurt

60g black treacle

You can see why I fancied this loaf!

Beautiful Beer Bread – hints and tips

Before you have a go at baking the bread here's the helpful stuff that the recipe doesn't mention.

I used mature cheddar cheese in the mix and unsalted butter, melted, to brush the crust.

The beauty of this recipe is that you don't handle the bread mix and so no need to knead – sorry, couldn't resist. Use a round bladed knife to bring it together.

Use a 2lb loaf tin 9x5½x3” (in old money) – 900g approximately 23x13x7cms (in new money). Grease and line the loaf tin, even if it is non-stick. You could use a cake or loaf liner – if you do then spray the liner with Fry Light sunflower oil. It takes away all the heavy duty washing up of your loaf tin.

Turn the loaf tin around after 20 minutes to make sure you get an even crust.

Let the loaf cool.

Most people are addicted to chocolate and all things sweet – give me a thick slice of good bread spread with quality butter and a lump of cheese any day.

The loaf is quite dense, cheesy with a slightly sweet background. It might sound strange but it's excellent. I thought the Soda Bread loaf was the easiest and quickest I'd ever made – this loaf is quicker still.

Just in case you've forgotten the raising agents are the yeast in the beer and in the self-raising flour.

Now for the Guinness and Treacle Soda Bread!

Beautiful Beer Bread

The following two breads have one thing in common – they do not use yeast in the traditional way as the raising agent, so no faffing around waiting. They are also delicious and moreish!

This recipe uses beer and self-raising flour as the raising agents.

Beer Bread

Serves 6-8

100g cheddar cheese

375g self-raising flour

3 tbsp caster sugar

330ml ale, such as India Pale Ale

20g butter, melted (optional)

You will need a 2lb loaf tin – makes one 2lb loaf

Preheat the oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4.

Grate the cheddar cheese into a mixing bowl. Sift in the flour and the sugar, then mix well. Then, slowly pour in the beer, mixing as you go, until the mixture comes together to form a wet dough.

Pour the dough mixture into a greased loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the bread is risen and golden brown. To check if the bread is cooked all the way through, tap the bottom with your knuckles – it should sound hollow. During the remaining 4-5 minutes of cooking you can brush the crust of the bread with the melted butter, if preferred.

after adding the beer

ready for the oven

before the melted butter

fingers itching – leave to cool

just add butter to sample – worth the wait!

You might want to have a glance at the Hints and Tips coming next before you have a go …

Then there's the buns!

This recipe uses that old favourite the puff pastry sheet – perfect for freezing for that rainy day or a good idea!

With this in mind, here are :

Mini Belgian Buns

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed in fridge (375g)

15g butter, melted

50g dark chocolate drops (or finely chopped)

25g ground almonds

50g sultanas

1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp milk

Fondant Glaze

75g icing sugar

1-2 tsps boiling water

50g flaked almonds and 6 glacé cherries cut in half

to decorate

Preheat your oven 180c fan/200c/Gas 6. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper or similar. Unroll the pastry sheet and lay with the short sides either side - you are going to roll to form a log.

Brush the surface of the pastry and melted butter then scatter the chocolate and ground almonds leaving a border at the top end of the pastry to enable you to “glue” the log when rolled. Then scatter the sultanas over the chocolate and almonds. Carefully roll up from one of the shortest sides as tightly as you can forming a log.

Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 12 even slices. Place on the baking tray and brush with the remaining butter, then the beaten egg mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden.

Here's the photo story so far folks!

For the fondant glaze - pour the boiling water slowly over the icing sugar in a small bowl while stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon. Pour in only enough water to make a creamy mixture that has the consistency of pancake batter. Cool. You need to make sure the mixture isn't too stiff, you need to be able to drizzle the glaze over your pastries.

Drizzle over the buns then sprinkle with flaked almonds and the final flourish – half a cherry on the top!

Happy Easter

The same applies …

… to this recipe as with the last, it's as old as the hills and never fails – even guests who don't “do tuna” hoover these morsels!

Tuna and Parsley rolls

200g/7oz tin tuna in oil

1 onion, chopped

100g/4oz cheddar cheese, grated

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

salt and black pepper

*1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 puff pastry sheet

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp poppy or Nigella seeds

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6

Drain the tuna, reserving 1 tbsp of the oil. Pour the oil into a pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Remove from the heat and stir in the tuna, cheese, parsley, seasoning and mustard until well combined. Allow to cool.

Roll out your pastry sheet and cut in half lengthways.

Divide the filling between the two rectangles, laying it in strips down the centre of the pastry.

Brush one edge with beaten egg and carefully roll up to create two long tubes. Cut each into 12 rolls. Brush with egg and place on a baking tray, seam side down. Sprinkle over with poppy or Nigella seeds and bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

*I use Dijon mustard and add a dessertspoon – whichever you prefer.

Yum!

Here's a tip … if you've not already got a “go to” stash of recipes (on your laptop or wherever) that you'll use any time of the year then now is the time to start one and begin with these two recipes – you could call it “go to”!

Now it's back to the economical – but tasty … and a New Year

Under your belt!

I know the holidays have gone but I'm including this recipe so that you've got it “under your belt” - you'll use it all year round I promise you.

You'll never buy another cheese straw/twizzle or whatever other fancy name they give them, again. If you think I'm exaggerating then try the recipe just because you deserve a savoury treat!

You will guard this recipe with your life - these biscuits will become your best friend.

Parmesan biscuits

Makes 25-30

100g/4oz cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

100g/4oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

pinch salt

pinch cayenne pepper

1 heaped tsp mustard powder

50g/2oz finely grated mature cheddar cheese

50g/2oz finely grated Parmesan, plus extra to decorate

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 180c/160fan/Gas 4.

Place the butter and flour into a food processor with the salt, cayenne, mustard powder and cheeses. Process together then pulse the mixture in short spurts until you notice the mixture coming together. It will eventually bind without the need for egg or water. Tip the mixture onto a sheet of cling film and use the cling film to bring it together into a round. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Leaving longer will do no harm.

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry thinly. Cut out the biscuits in shapes to suit the occasion. Lay them on a greased or non stick baking tray – 2cm apart. You'll need two trays.

Brush the surface with egg and sprinkle over a little of the finely grated Parmesan. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Use a palette knife to ease the biscuits off the tray and place on a rack to cool.

They will keep for a few days – good luck with that - take my advice and bake and freeze when there's no-one around – otherwise the aroma from the oven will bring everyone into the kitchen and it'll be bye bye biscuits!

Now for the dumplings!

In my humble opinion dumplings are the food of the Gods – the ultimate accompaniment in a casserole, soup or stew.

Before we begin … a couple of tips

Here's the thing … traditionally dumplings are placed on top of a casserole with a tightly fitting lid. Casseroles have a thicker consistency than soup and obviously, usually, slow cooked in the oven. Soup simmers on the hob and a saucepan lid “sits” on top of the pan and is not what I'd describe as “tightly fitting”. Here's my tip - tear off a sheet of foil large enough to overlap the pan, push down slightly and then secure with the lid. Make sure your soup is simmering gently before you add the dumplings and seal with foil. 20 minutes later you'll have dumplings the size of which you wouldn't believe!

If you've any dumplings leftover for the next day here's a bonus – microwave them on high for 10/15 seconds – light as a feather – note to self – in future make enough dumplings for second helpings to microwave!

Dumplings made with suet have more texture to them. If you prefer light and fluffy then probably without suet would be better for you. If you've never sampled this delicacy then the only way is to make them both ways and decide for yourself.

Suet Dumplings

100g self raising flour

50g vegetable suet

pinch of salt

60ml of ice cold water

A generous pinch of dried mixed herbs - optional

Mix the flour, suet and salt with the water – you want to achieve a firm dough with some give.

Divide into eight and shape into balls.

Place on top of your casserole or soup, simmer for 20 minutes. Ensure that the casserole or saucepan has a tight fitting lid.

Dumplings sans suet

140g cold unsalted butter

250g self raising flour

salt and black pepper

150ml cold water

Generous pinch of mixed herbs – optional

Back to basics – rub the butter into the flour – aka the rubbing in method – until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the herbs and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add the cold water and mix quickly to form a dough. Dust your hands with flour and divide the dough into twelve and form into balls.

Add to the top of your casserole, soup or stew and bake for 20 minutes, as above.

Or you could have a posh version …

Parmesan Dumplings

In a large bowl, mix together

100g (4oz) self raising flour

50g (2oz) vegetarian suet

pinch of salt

15g grated Parmesan cheese

add 5 tbsps of ice cold water – 100ml approx

– enough to give a

firm but pliable dough. Divide into eight dumplings – six if

you'd like big ones!

30g grated Parmesan cheese to garnish

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Add the dumplings to the soup and sprinkle 30g of grated parmesan cheese over the dumplings and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve in a warmed bowl.

Beyond scrumptious!

Coming up … it's that time again

A comfort blanket ...

 ...for an Autumn day! It's chilly outside so what could be more inviting for lunch than home-made bread or dumplings to go with your bowl of soup – so comforting, so simple.

First up the bread and I make no apology for repeating this recipe – I use it again and again!

Soda bread

170g self raising wholemeal flour

170g plain flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

290ml buttermilk

an optional sprinkle of semolina – try a sprinkle of semolina

to flour your baking sheet and after you've added your “x”

on top of the loaf

Pre heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Tip the flours, salt and bicarb into a large bowl and mix.

Make a well in the centre, pour in 290ml of buttermilk and mix quickly with a large fork until you have a soft dough formed. You may need an extra drop if your dough is too stiff but take care it should not be too wet or sticky.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.

Form the dough into a round and flatten slightly. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet.

Slice an “x” on the top of the loaf and bake for 30 minutes – the base should sound hollow when tapped.

Just to confuse the issue I've found buttermilk in different weights. A low fat version weighing 284ml and a full fat version weighing 300ml – a tip – if you can only source the 284ml rinse out the pot with a drop of milk.

Here it is :

Now for the dumplings!

The bread photos

If you want to keep it simple add a sprinkle of celery salt and/or garlic granules and a sprinkle of grated cheese – any cheese that melts will do!

Have a look :

I sprinkled mine with extra semolina and

Nigella seeds

More sprinkles – this time grated cheese

For extra zhuzh serve with bowls of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dunking – a glug of each – a glug = 2 tablespoons.

Make sure you've got serviettes!

Perfect for tearing and sharing … how about with a perfect paté?

You'll need bread!

This is not difficult. All you have to think about is are you around the house in a morning or an afternoon, to be able to complete the stages, none of which are long winded, it's perfect to slot in around the chores you know you've got to tackle so why not get home-made bread as a bonus!

Here goes :

You can choose whether you use the salt, oil and sesame seeds as a topping or roll in semolina and sprinkle with Nigella seeds before baking.

Pide

one sachet of easy-blend yeast – 7g

pinch of salt

700g plain white flour

plus extra

1 egg, beaten

100ml olive oil

400ml lukewarm water

30g sesame seeds and coarse sea salt

2 tbsp semolina

or extra semolina and Nigella seeds to sprinkle

Put the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast and the olive oil reserving a little to brush over the bread prior to proving, add the water.

Mix until the dough forms into a firm ball, leaving the sides of the bowl. Cover with a clean damp cloth and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. 1 – 1½ hours.

Lightly flour two baking sheets.

Knock down the dough - divide into two, shape each into a round ball and then roll each in 1 tbsp of semolina . Roll out and shape into two ovals and place on the baking sheets. Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with sea salt, the reserved oil and sesame seeds. Alternatively you can sprinkle with additional semolina and Nigella seeds. Leave to prove for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Pre-heat your oven 210c/190fan/Gas 7.

Make dimples all over the surface of the bread – use your index finger vertically into the bread and you'll achieve the same size.

Bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and when the base is tapped the bread sounds hollow.

From the recipe given you'll get two pide – 30x20cms or 12x8” in old money.

You don't have to be an accomplished bread maker – it's easy. There are variations on the theme of pide in Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In Turkey there are pide street food shops called “pideci”.

You can top pide with your favourite ingredients – feta, mozzarella, cheese with leek and potato – break an egg in the middle and bake with the bread.

The choice is yours!

A couple of photos to follow ...

Editor's April Pick #10: Tuna and Parsley rolls

Editor's note: I could have sworn that I'd already singled this recipe out previously but after extensive research, I have not! My latest random food craving has been mustard of late, no matter what the meal or ingredients - within reason of course! Combine with tuna - without the mayo(!) - and add into that pastry... ticks all of the right boxes. Ps. You can never go wrong with poppy seeds or nigella seeds in baking.

Time on your hands - a variation on a theme …

Most of us have tuna in our store cupboard – are you bored by the same old tuna pasta bake?

I've used the following recipe for years and it never fails. I have used it as a canapé to serve with drinks and known friends who “don't like fish” inhale them. They are also great as a snack or with other stuff for a weekend “picky bits” grazing style supper.

Here it is :

Tuna and Parsley rolls

200g/7oz tin tuna in oil

1 onion, chopped

100g/4oz cheddar cheese, grated

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

salt and black pepper

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 puff pastry sheet

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp poppy seeds

or Nigella seeds, see below

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6

Drain the tuna, reserving 1 tbsp of the oil. Pour the oil into a pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Remove from the heat and stir in the tuna, cheese, parsley, seasoning and mustard until well combined. Allow to cool.

Roll out your pastry sheet and cut in half lengthways.

Divide the filling between the two rectangles, laying it in strips down the centre of the pastry.

Brush one edge with beaten egg and carefully roll up to create two long tubes. Cut each into 12 rolls. Brush with egg and put on a baking tray. Sprinkle over poppy seeds and bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

You can make these rolls as large or small as you like, they don't have to be bite sized.

If you wanted an alternative to poppy seeds use Nigella seeds instead, also known as Black Cumin they have a delicious onion flavour and work well with this recipe.

This is an economical, easy but most of all tasty recipe and makes use of your store cupboard. If you're able to buy a puff pastry sheet, that's great – it's difficult to predict what will be wiped off the shelves at any given time. The fact that the sheet is a perfect emergency freezer item makes me think they may be as rare as hens' teeth – good luck and if you can't buy a sheet make your own.

Since none of us can guarantee what ingredients we're able to buy I'm going for both ends of the scale – something special and more cheap and cheerful ideas too – the common denominator - they use store cupboard items or ingredients you may have in your freezer … watch this space!

Easter continued … and more indulgent ideas

A sweet interlude …

Some things are meant to be! By chance when browsing my bookshelves I came across one of my favourites - The Little Book of Chocolat” by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde. I reviewed this book and road tested many of it's recipes in July 2017 – yikes, how time flies! I can never resist looking at the tabs I made at the time and came across the following which I thought would be the perfect hit for the chocoholics out there – it slipped through the net in 2017 – how could I let that happen!

Chocolate Fudge Squares

Takes 1½ hours/ make 50 pieces

400g dark or milk chocolate, broken into small

even sized pieces

25g butter

397 can condensed milk

100g icing sugar

30g cocoa powder, sifted

Line a 20cm square shallow tin with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. In a non-stick saucepan melt the butter and gently warm the condensed milk, then add the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. Beat in the icing sugar until blended and smooth.

Put the mixture into the prepared tin, spread evenly into the corners, smooth over the top and place in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour. Remove and cut into small squares and dust with cocoa.

Coming next - a photo or two and a few hints and tips …

A sweet interlude – photos and hints and tips

Here's the first photo :

You'll see that the fudge has a marbled top, not spread evenly as the recipe states – it's personal choice, I prefer irregular shapes!

Here's my tip – the recipe says “line a 20cm square shallow tin ...”. dip a teaspoon into the melted chocolate and place a tiny blob in each corner of the tin and then glue the parchment so that it stays put.

Here's another … make sure you sift the icing sugar otherwise you'll finish up with tiny white spots in the fudge.

Here's another – I turned the fudge into a chocolate orange version by adding 2 tsps of Valencian Orange Extract to the condensed milk and melted chocolate.

Here's the second photo :

Here's another … to remove the slab of fudge use an ordinary fish slice. Gently ease the slice along each edge of the tin and then tip it upside down. If the slab of fudge won't comply do not lose your temper just repeat with the slice and it will surrender!

Here's the third photo : 

Cut your fudge into squares – the size of the square is up to you. The recipe states you'll get 50. They'll be large. I cut the slab in half and then each half gave me 36 pieces approximately 2x2cms – a total of 74 pieces. My tin has curved corners so I straighten each edge so that all the squares are exactly that, no “curved squares” if you get my drift!

Place the squares of fudge onto kitchen roll to dust with cocoa and leave space between each square for even coverage. Use a tea strainer or a small sieve, tapping the edge gently to dust.

Here's the final photo : 

Boxed up, ready to hand round to the

members of your bubble or you can box in small

amounts and freeze

Enjoy on its own or with vanilla ice cream and crushed Amaretti biscuits!

Now for another “sweet” idea, really useful – it's delicious on its own or as an addition to a sundae!

Hokey-Pokey – aka honeycomb and chocolate

You have to be a certain age to remember cinder toffee – it's downside was that it almost always stuck to your teeth – not a good look! The recipe that follows gives you a honeycomb hit but because it's with toasted salted pecans, chocolate and bashed crunchie bars it's dangerously moorish!

Hokey-Pokey

75g unsalted butter

100g pecan halves, roughly chopped

sea salt flakes

300g dark chocolate

2 tbsp golden syrup

3 x 40g Crunchie bars

Heat a small knob of butter in a pan and when foaming, tip in the pecans with a pinch of sea salt flakes. Stir over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until toasted – you will smell them when they are ready. Tip the nuts into a bowl and leave to cool.

Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt, in a medium pan, with the rest of the butter and the syrup, stirring. Once the chocolate mixture is smooth, take the pan off the heat. Bash the Crunchie bars (in the wrappers – less messy!). Add the Crunchie pieces, along with the toasted pecans, to the chocolate mixture. Gently mix together before transferring to an 18cm round or square foil tray 23x23cms/9x9” (or cake tin if you prefer to wash-up!)

Leave to set in the fridge.

Remove the slab from the foil tray and cut in half – have the long side in front of you. Cut into similar size strips – cut those strips in half and keep going until you have small squares measuring 1.5cms/½”. As a guide if you follow the above you'll get 84 pieces per half, so 168 in total. If you want larger squares you'll obviously get less. I find a Chef's knife is the best kit to cut the squares.

Without doubt what lifts this treat to another level is the salted toasted pecans – make ahead and box when cooled until you're ready.

If you haven't made this before then be prepared … to get repeat orders, you'll be a very popular person!

Then there's the chocolate cake … but without flour.

I was on a mission – here's a flourless chocolate cake recipe I found – you want easy – this is it – it does exactly what it says – in the tin!

Here it is :

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Serves 8

120g dark chocolate – choose a cocoa solid

of 50%

120g unsalted butter

150g caster sugar

50g cocoa

3 eggs

½ tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla essence

You will need a small sandwich tin -

measuring 20cms/8” x 3cms/1¼”

a butter wrapper for greasing

an extra heaped teaspoon of cocoa

for dusting

a sheet of foil big enough to wrap the cake

Grease the tin with the butter wrapper and then sprinkle cocoa into the tin and carefully tilt the tin until the bottom and the sides of the tin are covered. A small tip – unless you are practised at this art you might want to tilt the tin over the sink!

Pre-heat the oven 130fan/150c/Gas 2.

Set a glass bowl over simmering water and melt the chocolate and butter – when melted, wearing oven gloves and with care, set aside on a heatproof mat or board. Stir in the sugar, cocoa, eggs and vanilla, mix well. Tip into your prepared sandwich tin and bake for 30 minutes.

Let the cake cool, in the tin for 15 minutes.

Take a look at the fotos :

Here's the tin, greased and dusted

The filling in the tin, ready for the oven

Out of the oven, leave to cool

A slice of cake, with raspberries

Here are the bits, pieces, hints and tips!

Once the cake has cooled use a round bladed knife and ease around the edge to loosen – take your time – if you don't you'll tear the edges of the cake – that would be a shame since you've achieved a brownie type crusty edge. If the cake won't budge then repeat the edging with the knife. Have a large sheet of foil ready to receive your cake, turn it - with care, then wrap and fridge.

The cake serves 8 – you may think the portion size isn't very generous – take my word for it – it's a rich cake.

Now for the choices – this cake is dense and intense. You can serve the cake cold with ice cream and/or cream or even clotted cream.

If you prefer soft, warm and squidgy then microwave for 20 seconds – take it from one who isn't bothered about chocolate, this is very good indeed.

It freezes well … don't forget to portion and wrap in cling film, then bag together.

You won't be sorry.

I hope you find something you like!

Easter revisited … chocolate treats

I thought I'd give you a few ideas and inspiration for Easter treats, a melange if you will, to suit everyone.

First up, “A cream tea” but with Chocolate Chip Scones!

This is a bit of fun and an experiment – a variation on a theme of a cream tea for the chocolate lovers.

Chocolate Chip Scones

500g plain flour (1lb 2oz)

1 tsp salt

2 tsps bicarb

4½ tsps cream of tartar

25g cocoa

125g (5oz) unsalted butter

100g of plain chocolate drops – minimum

50% cocoa solids

300ml milk

1 large egg, beaten

5cms/2” fluted cutter

cocoa in a small ramekin to dip the cutter

to prevent sticking plus extra to dust your

working surface

2 baking sheets, lined with baking parchment

Pre-heat oven 200fan/220c/Gas 7

Sift the flour, salt, bicarb, cream of tartar and cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until you've got breadcrumbs, add the chocolate chips then add the milk – all of it – mix with a round bladed knife, roughly and then tip onto a working surface, dusted with cocoa and knead lightly so that you have a dough. Divide the dough in half, leaving half in the bowl. You can use a rolling pin or your hands to round and flatten until 4cms/1½” deep. Remember to dip your cutter into the ramekin of cocoa before cutting, repeat with the remaining dough.

If you use the size of cutter in the recipe you'll get 24 scones.

Place the scones on the baking parchment, then brush with beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes until risen and chocolatey brown.

As usual I sent these scones out to my trusted testers … I didn't expect the reaction I received – a resounding thumbs up. My testers have a reputation for being honest – like it or not! What they loved most was that they weren't sweet. It's the balance of a warmed scone with a sweet jam and cream of your choice.

I did “test run” them at home and H loved his unexpected treat although he's not keen on cream so good quality butter and jam hit his spot. There's no doubt that what matters is good quality ingredients, plain chocolate and organic cocoa in particular. I always use Green and Black's Organic Cocoa, it never fails. If you're not a fan of plain chocolate you could use 50/50 plain and milk.

It's important that these scones are served warm. They will freeze which might be a good idea of you want “chocolate control” – defrost – which will take a couple of hours at room temperature and then warm in a pre-heated oven (150fan/170c/Gas 3) for 5 minutes, split and serve.

Have a look :

a Chocolate Chip Scone

warmed and split with a side of jam and clotted cream

a loaded treat!

A final tip – don't be tempted to add the cocoa to your ingredients without sifting!

Next up – the hospital drop for Easter … for a very dear friend who was in hospital recovering, positively I'm relieved to say, from a stroke – portable treats for the Staff as well as the patient.

Here's my homage to an Easter Egg Hunt that couldn't be!

Upside Down Nests

200g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces

30g golden syrup

50g unsalted butter

100g cornflakes – crushed finely

2 x 80g bags of mini eggs (25 per bag)

Petit Fours cases

Makes 40 approximately

Place the chocolate, syrup and butter into a bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water.

While this is melting, place the Petit Fours cases on a tray and then a mini egg in each case.

Whisk the chocolate mixture together until it's smooth and shiny, then remove from the heat. Add the cornflakes and mix to coat evenly.

Top each egg with a teaspoon of the chocolate mixture – I used a short handled measuring spoon aided by a cocktail stick – it gives you control of the mixture and you won't overfill. Place in the fridge to set.

The treat needed to be easy to “pop in the mouth” for the Staff whilst on a break, grabbing a quick brew.

Here's the result …

The Upside Down Nests – a photo guide

the Petit Fours cases I found are perfect

just the right size for a mini egg!

the short handled measuring spoon

and the cocktail stick makes life easy

my homage – done and ready for

delivery!

Last up, an idea for a quick store cupboard dessert for those who have no time at all!

Cherry and Chocolate Hodgepodge

Serves 1

1 410g can of Black Cherry pie filling with

fruit separated from juices

3 meringue kisses, crushed

25g of chocolate – see below

As with the previous Hodgepodge recipe a glass bowl or sundae dish is perfect for this dessert.

Tip the cherries into a sieve and let the juices drip through – this will take a while since they are dense – it's worth the wait.

Assemble with the meringues, add a dessert spoon of cherries then add tiny pieces of chocolate of your choice – the list is endless but here's an idea or five :

plain chocolate drops

crushed Maltesers

small pieces of Rocky Road

bash a crunchy (in its wrapper – so convenient, no bits

other than where you want them to be!)

bash a flake (in its wrapper)

Add another dessert spoon of cherries. With the juices reserved add a drop of water to loosen – loose enough to be able to drizzle over the top of the cherries.

You'll have cherries and juices left over but I can't believe this is going to be a problem. You could either repeat the dessert or use as a topping over ice cream. If you want a grown-up version, add a drop of Kirsch to the juices but don't tell anyone I said so!

P.s. An optional extra – add a scoop of chocolate ice cream in between the cherries.

What's not love!