Honey Mustard Chicken Tenders

I really love chicken. Definitely my favourite meat to cook with, because it’s just so easy and versatile. Somehow I don’t think I’ve ever made little chicken tenders before, which is a real shame. The blog has been skewing sweet lately, because Christmas = sugar. So I thought these would be lovely little morsels to re-introduce some savoury and make the sugar crash a little more bearable.

These are delicious little morsels of spiced, crispy chicken that are super easy to make. They might be baked, but the little drizzle of butter before baking gives them that delicious fried taste, without using a potful of oil.

These can be served however you like, but I was using mine in lieu of a Sunday dinner, so I went with comfort food – gravy, mash and sweetcorn. Broccoli, peas and carrots could easily have been added to the plate also but I was feeling lazy. Or you could serve with a crispy peppery salad instead. Or in a brioche bun with a drizzle of mayo.

Versatile and delicious. KFC has got nothing on me.

Banana Caramel Cake

It's the weekend and it's time for cake.

I love making cakes. Baking fads will come and go (cronuts, anyone?), but cakes are forever. They're comforting, they're sweet, and they can look damn impressive if you pretty them up a bit. You know what you're getting with a cake. 

I'm slowly getting into the swing of cake decorating, and buttercream rosettes are my absolute favourite thing to do these days, quick and easy and pretty! I suppose I could have gone all out and iced the sides too, but there's something I find quite nice about leaving the golden brown edges of the cake exposed, so you can just get hints of the filling within. I suppose these days you'd call it a "naked" cake, so I think my laziness is on trend.

Leek, Chorizo and Sweetcorn Frittata

I don’t mean to brag, but I sometimes go to the gym. And my sessions are late in the evening, so it can be around 8pm before I’m getting home. And by that stage I’m utterly  STARVING. So I need something quick and filling. I’m often looking out for recipes that take no time to prepare from scratch, because I’m not a fan of ready meals and I don’t really like reheating leftovers.

Enter the frittata. I have so far avoided them because I really hate omelettes and for some reason I assumed that frittatas were the same. But I was wrong – they’re so much better!

Imagine an eggy, cheesy, golden and crispy dinner, filled with your favourite meat and veggies, that’s ready in less than 20 minutes? Imagine no more! Here it is! I had mine with a slice of buttered sourdough, but it would also be good with some wheaten bread, or a crisp salad. It's also crazy versatile, next time I might add in a little tuna with the sweetcorn and some red onion, and I think ham, broccoli and peas could also be a total winner. Hello winter warmer!

Nutty Fudge

I'm just assuming that by now everyone is sick of healthy eating and green shakes and kale soup.

Hello, fudge.

Fudge is really tricky. And I am not very good at making fudge. I’ve done this recipe a few times now, and it works about half the time, which is a better win rate than I had before! Sometimes it goes a little soft, but a few hours in the fridge hardens it up beautifully. And the softer is it, the better the toppings stay on top initially. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from making fudge, you just have to keep at it. And really, when it doesn’t go quite right, if it’s a little soft, or too crumbly.. It’s still delicious.

This actually makes excellent gifts: delicious, home made, toppings are infinitely customisable, and keeps for 2-3 weeks if stored in Tupperware or a zip lock bag! Dream.

Tips for fudge – get to the right temperature and beat constantly. There are no shortcuts in this dojo! ... Er, I mean there are no shortcuts in fudge!

Spiced Bundt Cake (plus Cupcakes!)

My belated Christmas gift to you.. This cake. This is a truly perfect cake. You know gingerbread men? Imagine them soft and moist and in cake form. Doesn’t that sound like something you need to have in your life right now?

I may have mentioned it before, but I love cakes. And I’ve never made a bundt cake before, but my boyfriend managed to find me a few cool tins at the house he grew up in in Sweden, and I was happy to take them!

This cake actually worked surprisingly well, the hardest part of a bundt cake is extricating the delicious (and soft, and fragile) cake from the tin. It took me a few scary moments with a plastic knife to get it out, but a well-greased pan in preparation really does do wonders.

I had intended to make just a cake, but I ended up with a LOT of mixture and a rather small tin, so I got about a dozen cupcakes out of it too. I baked them until golden, which took about 20-25 minutes. And for icing those, I just whipped up a simple buttercream icing, added a load of cinnamon to it, then piped and embellished in a festive theme. YUM.

Chocolate Covered Marzipan

Christmas is just around the corner (and I love it, I love Christmas so much that I once wrote a song called “Hurry Up Christmas”) and it’s time to get your Christmas prep on.

Marzipan is a really Christmassy thing to me, and I use it quite a lot in my festive baking, like the absolutely delicious apple and marzipan pie, and the classic Stollen. I never really thought that 

marzipan would be easy to make, I didn’t even know if it was possible to make in a home kitchen.

And then GBBO had a marzipan task. Challenge accepted, Berry.

And it turns out it’s pretty easy, and it’s nice to work with. I’ll be making my own marzipan exclusively from now on. This is a win!

Ham and Lentil Slow Cooker Soup

All right, we are doubling DOWN on Christmas cooking now. We're knee deep in the season, people.

For me, Christmas is about eating with family and friends. I have a really awesome family. We meet up all the time when I’m home and have a great time together. They’re also full of good ideas that I can pass off as my own.

This soup is a prime example. My aunt makes the best soup. She is the queen of soup. One day she came to my nanny’s house with her massive 15L soup pot full of lentil soup and put it on the stove. When it was ready to be served, she went into it with a massive fork and pulled out a large joint of ham.

That’s right, she cooked the ham right there in the soup.

Absolute genius.

And I’ve shamelessly stolen the idea and made it into a slow cooker meal, something I can put on in the morning and then all of a sudden at dinner time a wonderful meal appears. I don't add any salt because the stock and gammon are salty enough, but a little bit of pepper works wonders.

Perfect dinner. My boyfriend doesn't think soup is enough of a meal for dinner, so he gets a grilled cheese with his.