Recipes

Meringues may take a bit of time to do properly but are actually rather simple.

The salty, treacly topping for​ ​this cake is a slightly thicker variation of​ ​a caramel sauce recipe, so that it stops just shy of soaking into the sponge below.

It just so happens that this recipe is a little healthier than normal pancakes. Like banana loaf is a little healthier than normal cake, but that’s not why I make it.

If you’re after an alternative to the bog-standard Christmas cake this year, and you’re a lover of all things cocoa, keep this wee trick hidden for Christmas Eve.

Some bakes are indulgent and personal, best scoffed hot and moist straight from the oven. This bake isn’t like that – this is a selfless act of kindness for those around you this Christmas.

Every year, I tend to make the same old Christmas bakes with the same old Christmas ingredients. But this year, try going for something a little different.

Of the great many bakes I’ve brought into work over the years, this has to be one of the very biggest hits. And yes, I used shop-bought pastry. How Mary would be appalled!

Every year, I like to create a wee recipe to use up leftover Christmas cranberries. Last year, it was the muffin: a bake so adaptable you can throw just about anything at it and it will turn out delicious. I still recommend you do.

For 2016, my personal New Year’s resolution is to respect the classics of baking. With the Bake-Off still booming, there’s a continual push by bakers, professional and home, to try and make their recipes original by adding their own ‘spin’.

Of all the biscuits, jammie dodgers were my childhood favourites.

My hobnobs, crisp and crumbly in the perfect ratio, are balanced with a thin layer of proper dark chocolate. As a result, their more-ishness brings me towards tears and obesity.  All you need is an oven, a microwave, a bowl and a spoon. 

You’ve got double chocolate muffins, so why not double lemon drizzle?