Halva Tahini Brownies

I might have mentioned  before (a million times) that I like Greek food. And when we went to Greece this summer, I had a great time browsing the little supermarket for random ingredients. I ate a lot of honey and sesame bars because they have a million different types there.

I also went to the supermarket specifically looking for halva - it’s like a crumbly nougat made with sesame seeds/tahini. I love the flavour of sesame and I’ve used tahini to great effect before in brownies. 

Halva was an obvious choice for a brownie topping – sweet but not overpoweringly so, with a beautiful nutty undertone and a mildly sticky texture when cooked. You can get halva in the UK but the only ones I could find were in a speciality food stop, therefore expensive. Obviously heading to Greece to get some was the next step.

Madeira Cake

The weather is turning colder, so comfort food is comcing back to the fore. And this is the absolute definition of comfort food. Madeira cake is just a total classic. It’s not a fancy cake. You don’t add sprinkles or drippy icing, or even glitter. It’s just good, comforting, and incredibly delicious food. I have to say, I absolutely love how my house smells when I make Madeira cake.

Now, I haven't made a Maderia cake in years and years. My issue with Madeira cake in the past has been that the top cooks so much quicker than the rest, meaning that avoiding a cremated topping is difficult. I also find the density of it a little overwhelming.

But I decided to employ one of my favourite cake tins for this project – instead of the traditional loaf cake, I went with my square brownie tin, which is my favourite for cakes. This meant that the cake was a lot thinner, meaning it cooked through quicker, while avoiding the top getting burned. It also gave it a slightly lighter quality. Maybe it doesn’t look like a totally traditional Maderia, but it tastes just like I remember.

Sticky Honey Chicken

I really like Chinese takeaway. But, unfortunately I can’t eat takeout every day. Would that I could!

So this weekend, try this little homemade wonder. It is basically is my at home version of honey chilli chicken.  It's easy to whip up, and it really does satisfy that hungover craving that you may or may not suffer from come Sunday...

The chicken comes out beautifully sweet and tender and this is fast becoming one of my favourite dinners!

The great thing about making it yourself is that you can play up the flavours that you prefer – I don’t like sour so I keep the vinegar element to a minimum, but I like honey and chilli so I amp up those, and I throw in some sesame for good measure. Peanuts would also be killer with this.