Crinkle Cut Crisp & Honeycomb Choc Chip Cookies
The wholesome cookie has had a salty makeover. I love a salty sweet treat and I loved the idea of honeycomb and crunchy, salty crinkle cut crisps together. The perfect conveyor for this? A chocolate chip cookie. These are soft in the middle and crisp around the edge. The honeycomb becomes chewy as it bakes in the oven and the crisps stay salty and crunchy. Pair all of that with some gooey dark chocolate and you have a bloody good cookie.
Millionaires Shortbread
These are a real nostalgic treat for me. I’ve eaten them growing up at birthday parties, alongside a warming coffee as an adult and now I’m showing you how to make them at home! As with most bakes, homemade just tastes better. Using good quality ingredients, especially chocolate, make a world of difference here. Although these do have quite a few components to build up the layers, they’re all quite easy recipes to follow. So knock up a batch for your next coffee date and enjoy!
Herby Red Pesto, Ricotta and Cheddar Babka
This deliciously savoury loaf is made up of buttery soft brioche layered with a mixture of red pesto, ricotta, rosemary, cheese and black pepper. Feel free to use any cheese that you have leftover from the festive season. Regardless of what cheese I’m using, I always like to add in a bit of parmesan to amp up the flavour.
Retro Trifle
I can’t think of many other things as inviting as massive bowl of Trifle. It’s just itching to have a whopping great spoon dug into all those layers. It’s definitely one for a large gathering. It may seem like a lot of effort to make this delicious dessert from scratch but trust me, it’s worth it (especially as it’s spread over 2 days.) Feel free to have some freedom with the flavours and choose whichever berries are in season!
Flaky Eccles Cakes
I highly recommend making rough puff pastry for these Eccles Cakes, it makes such a difference. Although, if you’re short on time, you can always use shop-bought puff pastry. I like to make a bit of a wetter filling and leave it overnight to really mull all the flavours together and plump up the dried fruit. They’re perfect warm with a generous helping of custard or eat them alongside your favourite cheese!
Spiced Sticky Toffee Pudding with Brandy Toffee Sauce
If there’s one dessert that should be on your winter baking list, this is it! It’s a pretty straight forward recipe but hits big with flavour. If any of you have made this pudding before, you’ll know that softening the dates in hot water and bicarbonate of soda gives this dessert its iconic sticky texture. I’ve added in orange zest and a mixture of spices to the sponge, as well as brandy into the sauce, to ramp up your traditional sticky toffee pudding. Its rich, sticky and the perfect treat on a cold drizzly day.