Lime shortbread, ginger cream, passionfruit curd and raspberry coulis

Well it's been a while since I've had a chance to put a recipe up! Thought it would be nice to put up a proper summer dessert (even though it's not really sunny today!) It was when I actually made this dessert ok!?

This isn't a particularly difficult dish to make, but there are a lot of different components. You'll probably find that you have some shortbread left over, it's pretty good by itself as well.

Lime shortbread:

175g plain flour

100g butter

50g granulated sugar

zest of 1 lime

Passionfruit curd:

3 passionfruits

2 eggs

80g sugar

60g butter

Raspberry coulis:

100g raspberries

2 tbsp caster sugar

Ginger cream:

150 ml double cream

2 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Serves 4

Preheat the oven to 150C. To make the shortbread, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and lime zest. Bring together into a ball (adding a little water if needed) then wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least 30 mins. Once chilled, roll out until it's about 1cm thick and use a cookie cutter (or an upturned mug!) to cut out the biscuits. Bake on a greased baking sheet for 15-20 mins or until pale golden.

Whilst the shortbread is cooking, make the passion fruit curd. Mix the sugar, passion fruit flesh and eggs in a heatproof glass bowl. Place over a saucepan of boiling water and whisk until it thickens. Strain the seeds out and beath in the butter until melted. Put in the fridge.

for the coulis, place the raspberries in a saucepan with the sugar and heat gently until they begin the break up. Press through a sieve and allow to cool. To make

the ginger cream, whip the cream until stiff and fold the ginger and sugar through until well mixed.

To assemble the dessert, place the biscuits on small plate each. Spoon the curd on top, with the cream to one side. If you can do proper quenelles then good for you, I was in a rush (and slightly tipsy from Sunday lunch wine drinking). Drizzle with the coulis and serve.

Recipe: Peach and Apricot Filo Parcels

I did this as a dessert for a Greek inspired Sunday roast last week. I'm certainly making no claims for its' authenticity but I think the flavours work well together. It's also good with a fruit coulis to dip into. I've made these a few times now, they do tend to split a bit when you bake them but the filling is thicken enough that it doesn't leak out. There'll be some filo pastry left over, once I've decided what to do with it, I'll put it up on here!

1 pack of rolled filo pastry

Half a bag of dried figs

1 tin of peaches

30g melted butter

Preheat the oven to 220C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Drain the peaches of their juice and put with the dried figs in a food processor until relatively smooth.

Unroll the filo pastry and cut lengthways in half so each sheet is 2 strips about 15cm x 30cm. Using your fingers brush the pastry with some water round the edges and put a heaped teaspoon of the fig mixture onto the end of the sheet. Roll up lengthways, occasionally crimping the pastry on the sides to form a solid parcel.

Brush with melted butter and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. They may split slightly but the filling should cool solid enough. Serve with a greek yogurt and honey dip.

Recipe: Linguine with savoy cabbage and bacon

This recipe is perfect for spring! You could add a handful of fresh peas or steamed asparagus to it as well.

Serves 2

6 rashers streaky smoked bacon

half a savoy cabbage, thinly shredded

1 large onion

80ml single cream

200g linguine

Heat a large frying pan and add the bacon and onion. Fry until the bacon is crisp and the onion has softened. Add the cabbage and stir well. Set a large pan of salted water to boil. Stir fry over a medium heat for 15-20 mins until the harder stalks of the cabbage have softened slightly. Stir in the cream and season with salt and pepper. Cook the linguine according to instructions and drain. Stir this into the cabbage mixture and serve.

Recipe: Almond and Hazelnut Honeycomb

I've never made this before but my sister has made it many times as an accompaniment to desserts and I thought it would be fun. I looked over a few different recipes for it, and most of them had golden syrup instead of honey. I figured they were probably interchangeable, the consistency is the same and I thought they honey would have more flavour.

I used Lorraine Pascale's recipe from BBC Food but added the chopped nuts for some variety. I served this with raspberry ripple chantilly cream, roasted plum tart and chocolate truffle:

I wasn't happy with the presentation, but the flavour experiment was definitely a success!

Here's my version with the nuts and honey:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
80g butter
160g caster sugar
80g honey
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
30g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
30g almonds, roughly chopped

Line a rectangular tin with greaseproof paper and rub the vegetable oil all over it, making sure it goes all the way to the top. Scatter the nuts into the tin.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the sugar and honey. Do not use a wooden spoon to stir but gently shake the pan to incorporate all the ingredients. Once they've all melted, turn the heat and boil rapidly for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. There'll be a strong caramel smell at this point as well.

Quickly add the bicarbonate of soda and stir in. Be careful because at this point it really will expand massively. Pour into the lined tin and leave to cool.

Schnapps Spiked Berry Cupcakes

Hello and sorry for my absence! I actually made these last Friday for a friend's birthday but haven't had the chance to write them up until now.

These pink cupcakes were for a friend's birthday, the brief was "as gay and fluffy as possible". Well, they certainly were that! Basically I went with the "take something glittery and girly and add alcohol" approach. Disclaimer: I'm not advocating for a second that all gay men like cutesy pink fluffy things, but this one does!

I'd made "spiked" cakes before, amaretto poured over a chocolate cake is very good, as is Baileys into brownies. You have to make sure that the cake base isn't too moist or the cake will seem too wet and sticky. If you're adding a very sweet alcohol remember
to adjust the sugar levels as well or they'll be too sickly.

I was short on time when I made these (had a GBBO style 90 minutes to make from scratch!) so I did the unthinkable and DIDN'T MAKE MY OWN FROSTING. No doubt many of you are tutting and clutching your pearls right now. A pink dyed strawberry or raspberry buttercream would work well, if you use any more alcohol in the frosting (and I wholeheartedly encourage you to, getting tipsy on cupcakes is great fun!) Just remember to add it a little at a time or you risk curdling the buttercream.

Anyhoo here's my actual recipe. Please forgive the imperial measures it's adapted from my Victoria sponge recipe which is venerable and ancient.

8oz soft butter
5oz caster sugar
4 eggs
8oz self raising flour
2 tsp pink food colouring gel
1tsp strawberry flavouring
3 tsp dried raspberry or strawberry pieces
2 shots of Archers (or whatever else you have left because no one in the flat will confess to buying it let alone drinking it)

1 tub of Betty Crocker strawberry frosting
Pink decorations (Sainsburys does a pot of Princess Sprinkles that gives a bit of variety)

Preheat the oven to 150C. Cream the butter and the sugar together and add the colouring and flavouring. Stir in one egg at a time followed by a bit of flour to stabilise the batter. Stir in the dried berries pieces. The mixture should now be relatively light but if you think it's too thick you can add a dash of milk to slacken it. You should be able to drop it off a wooden spoon easily.

Pipe or spoon the mixture directly into a lined 12 piece cupcake tin and bake in the oven for 25 mins or until golden and risen. Always follow the golden rule of never opening the oven door until at least half the cooking time has elapsed. Once they're done take them out of the tin and spoon over the Archers. You should get between 1 and 2 teaspoonfuls into each cake. Doing this whilst they're still hot will allow the alcohol to seep in better and the end result will be moist instead of soggy. If you want more booze in your cake save it for the frosting.

Once the cakes have cooled enough spread or pipe the icing onto them and cover with the Sprinkles.  You may find it easier to empty the sprinkles into a bowl and dip the cakes in.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Brownies

Put the photos up for this early as couldn't resist, but here's the recipe. If you want to serve them
warm, I suggest letting them cool before cutting then a few minutes in the microwave to reheat. Although the whole "straight from the oven" thing may sound like fun, they won't be set properly and will just run off the plate.

170g butter
450g caster sugar
50g peanut butter
150g dark chocolate
120g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
5 eggs, beaten

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and sugar on a very low heat until the butter has melted through. Don't let it get too hot or it will caramelise. Keep stirring it with a wooden spoon as well or it will stick to the bottom of the pan. Add in the peanut butter and stir until incorporated completely. Mix in the chocolate in small chunks and stir on the lowest possible heat until melted in.

Remove the pan from the heat. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the pan and mix in, pouring the eggs in as well. Keep stirring as fast as you can to incorporate the eggs, as they will begin to cook slightly as soon as they hit the hot chocolate mixture, and no one wants scrambled eggs in their brownies! Pour into a greaseproof paper lined tin and bake at 200C for about 30 mins.

They should have a slight crust on top but still be very squidgy inside. Once cooled, cut into squares. I served mine with peanut butter ice cream, but the flavours would also lend themselves well to banana I think. Maybe I'll eat one for breakfast with a banana and call it detox?

Pancakes - traditional or innovative?

Throughout the day I've seen people's opinions going back and forth on Twitter, Facebook and in the office about how one should have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Now I'll admit, I'm a fan of the lemon and sugar. It's nice and easy and the lemon cuts through the richness of the pancake perfectly. But what it doesn't make (unless you eat a whole pile of them) is a meal. So there's definitely an excuse for at least one savoury option. I usually end up cooking pancakes for a group, this year my housemates and a few others so it's worth having a little variety. Here are my ideas if you want to have a little something different. Photos will be up later on Twitter and Facebook.

Ham and Gruyere - sprinkle the grated cheese onto the pancake whilst it's still cooking in the pan to get it to melt in slightly.

Marmalade and Dark Chocolate - This seemed to be the dessert of choice in every restaurant in Croatia when I was on holiday there a few weeks ago. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water and warm the marmalade in a bowl in the microwave for a few seconds to make it spreadable.

Cherry and Almond - When I've done this before I've used tinned cherries as it's much cheaper. Mix equal parts butter, sugar and ground almonds and bake on greaseproof paper for 10 mins on 200C then crumble over the pancakes and cherries.