(Belated) Good Friday fish dinners

Hi everyone - hope you all enjoyed your Easter! I have to say mine was much improved from last year - admittedly I was still celebrating the holiday alone (as I'm working in my university town over the holidays) but I managed to upgrade last year's McDonald's Easter Sunday dinner to a homemade carbonara - plus chocolate for pudding - and spoke to the family over Skype! The carbonara recipe - yes, another one, it's worth it, I promise - will be appearing on my blog sometime this week, but for now, I thought I'd share two suitably 'fishy' meals for last week's Good Friday - or any Friday as a matter of fact - particularly as fish is renowned for being 'brain food'; with my recent writing of the last essays of my second university year, I've certainly needed it.

My first recipe is a fairly traditional English fish pie - perfect for a Good Friday fish supper - jazzed up with a bit of wholegrain mustard and lots of cheddar cheese! I know that so many people think fishy food is awful (or share the Italian school of thought that fish and cheese together is a cardinal sin) but this recipe is set out here to prove you utterly wrong. When you see the beautiful colours of the fish and smell the pie in the oven - and most importantly, taste the darn thing - you will understand what I'm talking about. This meal is literally heavenly (if I say so myself) and so simple. It's perfect comfort food and doesn't even require proper cooking.

My second recipe is perhaps not as 'Good Friday' as fish pie, but this Mediterranean style tomato-mackerel pasta will blow your mind (and tastebuds). It's really quick and easy but tastes yummy, is actually very good for you, and just seems a bit different to the infamous tuna pasta bake I've heard so much about (this may seem weird for a student but I've never much fancied tuna). Anyway it's spicy, saucy, simply lovely. Enjoy.

*Fish Pie*

*Serves 2*

1 pack of fresh fish (ready chopped/deboned - Sainsburys' do a great 'fish pie' pack for about £3.30 that uses three different types of fish - perfect)

6-8 king prawns, halved

1 leek

Large handful frozen peas

1 red chilli (small)

1/3 pack light herby cream cheese

Splash milk

2 large potatoes

1/2 tsp wholegrain mustard

Lots of grated cheddar (large handful at least!)

Warning: you'll need an ovenproof dish for this - luckily I've got one that I can use both on hob and in the oven, saving me transferring my fish pie mix to an ovenproof dish after preparing it.

1. Boil a kettle and add to a saucepan with a pinch of salt and the peeled/chopped potatoes - they'll need at least 15mins to cook until soft (for the purposes of easy mashing)

2. Chop leek/chilli and place on a high heat on the hob. Whilst cooking, halve your king prawns and make sure the fish in your pack is chopped into evenly-sized chunks. When your veg are cooked, turn off the heat and gently add your fish/prawns to the pan before mixing cautiously - you don't want to break up your chunks of fish too much 

3. Add your cream cheese and allow to melt over your fish and leek mixture into a sauce before throwing in frozen peas, some black pepper, and a tiny splash of milk if necessary (be careful though as too much milk makes for a wet pie - your mash won't brown/crisp)

4. By this point, your potatoes ought to be cooked; prod with a knife to make sure before draining, taking the pan off of the heat, and placing the potatoes back in their pan with a tbsp of butter/marge, grated cheese, and wholegrain mustard. Mash well (I don't have a masher so just use a fork instead) until smooth-ish.

5. If you have been using a dish like mine (suitable for hob and oven use) - then the next step is particularly easy - when the mash is to your taste, simply take forkfuls and layer over your evenly spread fish-leek-cream cheese mix, before placing in the oven at 160' for 45mins. If you have to transfer your fish to an ovenproof dish at this point, do so gently, before covering with your mash in just the same way as above and baking with the same heat/timing as detailed above. Serve and enjoy!

(It's not the prettiest dish in the world, I know, but if you were serving it for people other than immediate family and wanted a better appearance, you could make individual fish pies in smaller ovenproof dishes - they'd look much smarter like this)

*

*Med-style Mackerel Pasta*

*Serves 1*

1/2 tin smoked mackerel, in brine

1 red chilli

1-2 cloves garlic

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

1 chopped leek

6 destoned black olives, halved

Splash of balsamic vinegar

Lots of black pepper

Dash of Worcestor sauce

Sprinkle of oregano

Chilli oil, to serve (trust me, you only need a drizzle but it's yummy)

80g spaghetti (smaller than ususal portion - leek makes up for this!)

1. Finely slice garlic, chilli, and leek. Add to a wok (not completely necessary but makes it easier to see everything going on!) and place on a high heat

2. While these cook, boil a kettle and get a saucepan ready to throw your spaghetti into. Open your tin of mackerel (on the rectangular Sainsburys' tins, it opens easily with a ringpull) and drain - I pour the brine away outside as I have to admit, it smells fishy - the odour stays in your sink otherwise (please don't let this put you off the mackerel itself - it's so lovely and already deboned etc. - ready to eat in the tin!) 

3. When the leek is cooked and softened, add your tinned tomatoes, stirring well and crushing with the back of a wooden spoon until smooth. At this point add your pasta to salted boiling water (for 10mins cooking time). Add your sauce ingredients (listed above) to the tomato-leek mix and stir well, before adding around half of your tinned mackerel* and breaking up with a spoon. Like tinned tuna, it breaks up easily and is already cooked, so you don't need to worry about cooking times, etc.

*You could use leftover mackerel in a cold mackerel-mayo-salad wrap for lunch the next day, or simply double the recipe and make enough for dinner tomorrow - it's awful but that's what I do as this recipe is my absolute favourite at the moment!

4. Keep an eye on your tomato-mackerel sauce as the pasta cooks, adding little sploshes of the boiling pasta water to the sauce when it begins to look too dry. Remember to keep the sauce on a high heat as this way the sauce stays thick and flavourful without thinning down too much as you add water

5. When your pasta is cooked, drain lightly and add to the wok holding your tomato-mackerel sauce, stirring well, adding extra black pepper and a drizzle of chilli oil if you have any. Throw in your black olives at the last minute and stir through once more before turning off the heat and serving. I'm really hoping you love this one as much as I do - I think it's beyond lovely...

White choc pecan banana loaf

As I made this gorgeous loaf cake last night, I thought I'd blog about it now while I'm still enjoying the fresh results. I promise you right now that if you like bananas, cake, or pecans, this is going to be such a treat. Actually, I wouldn't even say that this cake is unhealthy enough to factor as a treat to keep at bay*; it's filling, fairly nutritious, and full of health benefits - such as the pecans' antioxidants and good fatty acids, and the bananas' potassium and vitamin C.

*Unless, like me, you find that you eat half of it in two days. Practice moderation.

Before I list the recipe, however, I will confess that I think it may be the combination of white choc chips with mashed banana and chopped pecan that makes this loaf cake so good*. Hey, a little sugar never hurt anyone. What's particularly lovely is that the choc chips, after baking in the cake for almost an hour, will have almost entirely melted, leaving tiny little sweet patches all through your loaf.

PS: Don't be alarmed that you are being instructed to use granulated sugar in what is technically a kind of cake - I guarantee you it works and tastes absolutely lovely.

*My basic recipe is adapted from the yummy banana cake recipe detailed on the Joy of Baking website - www.joyofbaking.com - do have a look if you'd prefer a less sweet banana cake. Or just cancel out the chocolate chips that I add prior to baking.

*White Choc Pecan Banana Loaf*

Makes 12-16 wedges and 4 spare little muffins

Loaf tin size: length 22cm, width 12cm, depth 6cm. Use a larger loaf tin if you don't have the energy to make muffins out of the remaining batter.

230g plain flour

120g granulated sugar

110g butter/marge - melted

2 eggs

2 giant bananas - or 3 smaller size - mashed

100g pecans - chopped

100g white chocolate chips

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1. Put a small pan on the hob over a low heat and add butter, leaving to melt. Remember to take off the heat once melted, allowing it to cool a little before its use. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180'. Chop the pecans, or simply tear apart with fingers over a bowl, as I did. Combine in a large mixing bowl with all remaining dry ingredients (except chocolate chips).

2. Mash the bananas well in another bowl, before adding vanilla, melted butter, and two eggs (add these to the bowl individually, whisking a little with your spoon as you mix into the other wet ingredients)

3. When fully combined, pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix until a thick, lumpy batter is made, before adding chocolate chips and quickly stirring in - don't overmix as it'll leave you with a tough, dry cake. The lumps really don't matter.

4. Finally, pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin - at this point, I had a little spare so filled four cupcake cases with extra batter - and place in the oven. Leave the cupcakes for 16mins - you'll notice that they have started to brown nicely at this point - but leave your loaf tin for 55mins overall. When the loaf comes out of the oven, it will be golden brown, crisp on top and an inserted skewer/fork prong will come out of the cake clean.

Although I've not tested this yet, I'd bet that this loaf lasts about three days with perfect consistency - on the third day, I'd freeze a few portions ready to take to work for your lunch. Happy days!

*

On a final note, I'm two days away from turning twenty! Being a teenager is almost over and it feels so strange. Wish me good luck for the 12th March please. :)

Carbonara two ways

 Firstly, happy mother's day, everyone - I love you Mum!

(Me, Mum & Abi - Mallorca 2010)

Anyway, let's get cracking. This is my first blog in what feels like forever! With uni essays out of the way - for the time being - I've finally got some me time, and I feel like sharing. As the weather has been so miserable over February, I've been cooking - and eating - a lot of comfort food. Pizza, chips, cake, triple chocolate cookies, mmm.

Now we can all eat these in moderation, but February has not been a moderate month and this has definitely done my waistline no favours. The carbonara recipes that I'm sharing today, whilst gorgeously creamy, manage to combine healthyish eating with comfort - they're certainly not as stodgy or fattening as the supermarket ready-made sauces, anyway (although I'm not slating these - supermarket fresh carbonara sauce is great for a quick ready meal). The first recipe here is incredibly quick, very simple to follow and perhaps the more Italian-inspired - although I've given it an admittedly "student" twist. The second recipe is perhaps more macaroni-cheese style than carbonara, but the basis is the same; it looks fantastic served and tastes absolutely fabulous.

*Italian Egg Carbonara*

Serves 1
(No photos on here yet, I'm afraid)

1 egg (free range preferable as the egg isn't fully cooked)

Splash of double cream (a tinier splash of milk if you're pushed)

Chopped (cooked) wafer-thin ham - 1/3 of a pack?

30g finely grated cheddar cheese (more if you like!)

100g spaghetti

Lots of black pepper

This recipe is perfect for a quick but filling lunch, and requires only one saucepan to boil pasta in, and one bowl to mix your sauce in. No real mess leftover. Enjoy!

1. Firstly, fill your saucepan with boiling water, add a little salt, and add pasta. Give a quick stir with a fork and leave to boil.

2. While pasta is cooking, crack the egg into your bowl, add a pinch of salt and lots of pepper, and give a quick whisk with a fork. Add around 2-3tbsp of double cream and stir again before grating cheese into the same bowl. Finally, chop ham into small pieces, add to the egg-cheese sauce and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are coated.

3. The trickiest part. Once pasta has cooked (10-12 mins), add a couple of tbsp hot pasta water to your egg-cheese sauce (stir it quickly), before draining about 97% of the pasta water away. Toss the pasta so that the steam and its residual heat is lost. This ensures that when your sauce is added to the pasta, it won't scramble*. After the dry(ish) pasta has cooled for 2mins, pour your sauce into the saucepan over the pasta, stirring quickly, and place over a low heat for 1min to fully heat. Within about thirty seconds, you'll see the cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened. Serve with lots of black pepper and more grated cheese.

*If your sauce scrambles, it's not the end of the world. It will still taste good; just technically won't be carbonara anymore.

*

*Creamy Bacon Carbonara*

Serves 2

2/3 of small tub of half-fat creme fraiche

4-6 rashers smoked back bacon

50g grated cheddar cheese

3 large mushrooms

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic

1 small red chilli

180-200g pasta (we used a gorgeous, curly-shaped pasta that we found by luck)

1. Chop onion, garlic, chilli and mushroom and place a frying pan or wok onto a high heat with a splash of olive oil. Add your chopped veg and allow to soften and brown. Whilst these are cooking, chop your bacon into bite-size pieces. Once the veg are soft and fully cooked, tip into one of your serving plates, and add your chopped bacon to the emptied wok. Add a little black pepper (no salt necessary).

2. At this point, add your pasta and a little salt to a saucepan of boiling water, stir once, and set a timer for 10-12mins. Keep checking your bacon and stir to prevent it sticking and burning.

3. Whilst waiting for your bacon to cook and become crispy (around 5-8mins on a high heat), grate your cheese and set out the creme fraiche, ready to add to the wok. When your pasta has about 4mins cooking time left, add creme fraiche to the pan and allow to sizzle on the hot heat, coating the bacon and taking on a creamy colour.

4. Flavouring your sauce: tip veg back into the wok, coating in the sauce, before adding grated cheese and black pepper. Stir well, making sure that the cheese melts and is distributed across the sauce evenly, before adding a little splosh (not a technical term...) of boiling pasta water from the adjacent pan, keeping your sauce light. Don't panic if your sauce seems too thinned out - it will thicken the longer it boils as more moisture evaporates. Finally, after 2-3mins, turn the heat down to low. The sauce should have reduced a little to leave you a cheese sauce that has a thick, creamy consistency but isn't too rich.

5. When your pasta is cooked, drain (a little excess water is fine) and tip into your cheese-sauce wok, stirring and coating the pasta entirely. Enjoy this one - it's what I've got for dinner tonight!

PS: Have to admit that I was on a carb-binge last week and served this with a (burnt) garlic baguette too - not especially 'healthy' but really very good. Also, you may not want to serve yourself the gargantuan proportions we felt like having on this occasion - you can cut the pasta amounts down if you feel like being good.

 PPS: We made alcoholic slush puppies Friday night - such a great idea! Using a blender, we made one by mixing a cheap WKD substitute and ice, othe other with strawberry daiquiri mix and ice. About a 60-40 ratio of fizzy alcholic drinks to ice. If you don't have a blender or handblender, you can buy crushed ice straight from the supermarket which makes things easier. These aren't very strong but were sweet and alcoholic enough for our night in - obviously you can use whatever alcohol you prefer. Too bad we didn't have any straws!

"Messy" cheesecake

 I'm squeezing in as many blogs as is humanly possible before what seems like countless deadlines looming at the end of February. I've actually had to draw up a timetable - just for reading. Ridiculous! Anyway, this recipe seems perfect to post today because all week I've been craving rubbishy sweets, but have desperately been trying to hold back and be 'healthy' too. Basically, it seemed like a good time to upload my Jamie Oliver-style deconstructed cheesecake recipe which I made for a big family meal some months back, and which combines sweet cheesecake flavours and chocolate digestive biscuits with some healthier fruit...  

Very sweet, whilst able to hold a healthy-ish rating (in my opinion), this "sort-of" cheesecake is the perfect, casual end to a meal if you're making food for people - and it doesn't even involve cooking. Just small amounts of lots of ingredients to create a variety of amazing flavours and textures. The good news is you can tailor this to your own tastes and diet*, though I'd obviously recommend my own recipe - it went down really well with everyone at the table (including my previously-blogged-about dairy-free auntie, for whom I made her own version).

*At the end of the blog I've listed some recipe variations

*"Messy" Cheesecake*

*Serves 6-8*

12-15 chocolate digestives (Basics brands do just fine!)

200g low-fat cream cheese

100ml double cream

2-3tbsp caster sugar

1 lemon (zest and juice)

1tsp vanilla extract

1 punnet fresh raspberries (200g?)

1 punnet fresh blueberries

6tbsp (or so) lemon curd

100g bar dark chocolate (to grate, as detailed in previous blog post - http://acreativespell.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/dairy-free-choc-cake.html)

Just a warning - it's best to prep all the ingredients beforehand, and throw them all together as near to serving-time as possible (looks prettier and texture will be nicer). You'll need a few bowls for this - and decide how you'll serve it beforehand, whether it'll be dished out from a giant serving bowl (I used a giant glass punch bowl to serve mine in, as pictured) or placed in individual glasses (i.e. wine glasses or tumblers).

1. Biscuits. Place your chocolate biscuits in a sandwich bag, before placing on a chopping board or flat surface and bashing with a bowling pin (or similar heavy device) until, say, 2/3 of the biscuits look fine and breadcrumb-textured, leaving some bite-size pieces. Leave in the bag until later

2. Cheesecake mix. Using an electric whisk, beat the double cream (in a bowl) until you can see - and feel - that the cream has thickened to a thick, yoghurt-like texture (don't overmix as your double cream, believe it or not, will turn into butter). Add cream cheese to the bowl, along with zest of your lemon, juice of your lemon, sugar, and the vanilla extract. Mix well, give it a try to make sure it's to your taste, and set aside ready to spoon out later.

3. Raspberries. Wash, place in a bowl, and mash roughly with a fork until you're left with a raw raspberry coulis

4. Chocolate. Grate about half of your 100g bar with a knife (technique & advice is detailed on the link given above) over a chopping board - pictured below - before leaving on the board and refrigerating - grated chocolate will melt, fast, and you want to be able to scatter it later

5. Ready to serve? Begin to layer your ingredients in whatever order you like, really - I chose to scatter about 1/3 of the biscuits on the base, before adding a large spoon of cheesecake mix, drizzling over alternate tsps of crushed raspberries and lemon curd, dropping on a few blueberries, scattering some chocolate, repeating with more biscuit and cheesecake mix, and finally adding more blueberries and grated chocolate on top for a pretty finish. Basically layer up so that you get different tastes and textures with every mouthful, and leave some pretty grated chocolate for the top. Delish!

*Variations*

Healthier - instead of making a cheesecake mix, simply use a lemon/vanilla low-fat yoghurt (I have a feeling this is what Jamie Oliver did when I first saw the idea on his 30-Minute Meals programme)

Dairy free - use dairy-free yoghurt (flavour it with a shake of icing sugar and a little vanilla extract - you'll need less than 1/2tsp if it's an individual-sized yoghurt). Ensure you use only a dark chocolate bar - be careful to look for dairy-free biscuits, if you decide to bother*

Fruity variations - banana (banoffee-style cheesecake would be gorgeous!), sweet strawberry or tropical mango

Chocaholic - make chocolate cheesecake mix instead, use double-chocolate biscuits, and add sweets of your choice (chocolate buttons, Smarties, Munchies, chopped Mars Bars) - this will be far less healthy though. Cheeky ;)

Sundae-style - use small scoops of icecream instead of cheesecake mix

*Please make sure ingredients are suitable for your own allergies - I can't guarantee they will be

Thanks for reading - any recipe requests are welcome! Hope to be blogging again soon

x

Dairy free choc cake

 So this is my first dairy-free venture - a surprisingly easy recipe, but so strange having to remind yourself not to add any hint of milk, cream, butter or yoghurt! Basically the only change you must make to the recipe is to swap in dairy-free "butter" for the usual butter/marge of choice. Simple. And there's no change in taste or texture either - I was quite amazed that the chocolate cake tasted - surprise, surprise - like perfectly normal chocolate cake! Filled with raspberries and topped with dairy-free choc-chip buttercream, with a grating of dark chocolate* to top the cake off, this made a gorgeous dessert for my Auntie on her birthday.

*Only dark chocolate is fine for my Auntie to eat - I suppose it depends on the level of your own dairy intolerance. Unfortunately can't guarantee that this cake is suitable for all those dairy intolerant - you'll have to check out the ingredients yourself

 *Serves 12*

145g self-raising flour and 30g Bournville cocoa powder (175g floury ingredients total)
175g caster sugar
175g dairy-free butter
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp (tiny pinch) salt
1 punnet (200g) fresh raspberries

250g+ icing sugar
Dark finely grated chocolate - only 2 or 3 squares needed to make visible difference
175g dairy-free butter
1tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 175', and grease two cake tins (or one larger tin if you're pushed, as I was - I'll elaborate on this later). Cream dairy-free butter and sugar together until smooth, before adding your vanilla and beating in each egg, one by one

2. Sift in all dry ingredients and mix well until smooth. If the cake batter isn't a dark enough colour (creamy latte-coloured batter won't taste very chocolatey when cooked), just add a cheeky extra tbsp cocoa powder - if you must add more than this though, perhaps add a tsp or two of water to loosen the mix

3. Pour the batter into your greased cake tins, place in the preheated oven, and bake for 30-35mins* before testing (if in two tins - will need nearer 45-50mins if in one larger tin) with fork prongs to see if any raw batter sticks (if it does, give it another 5-8mins)

* 4. Make your butter icing whilst the cakes are cooking. Mix together dairy-free butter and icing sugar - gently at first to avoid icing sugar dust flying everywhere - and finally add vanilla extract, and grate a few squares of dark chocolate in. I refrigerated mine as dairy-free butter seems to get a little softer than my usual butter/marge, and I wanted to pipe my icing

5. Decoration: If your cakes are perfectly cooked, great. Sandwich together with 1/3 of icing and raspberries, pipe remaining icing on top, and dot raspberries on the top.

However in my case, I had only one large tin, so my cake was miserably uncooked in the centre. Oops. Solution: scrape out uncooked cake batter, and discard. So now we've got a 6cm(ish) circular hole in the cake's middle, leaving our cake donut-shaped. Don't panic. Place cake on serving platter. Cut remaining cake horizontally into a top and bottom half, before slathering 1/3 of icing into the middle, and sandwiching back together. Now fill the hole in the cake's middle with raspberries, stacking them up until the hole is no longer visible - genius - and the finished effect is, well, quite lovely and most importantly, intentional. Once the cake is entirely cooled, use piping bag (if you have one - otherwise simply smooth icing on) to ice on all remaining frosting in pretty, circular cupcake style (working from cake's edge, inwards), before grating more chocolate over the top*

*If you want posh chocolate shavings, take dark chocolate and either use a speed-peeler across the chocolate's edge, or use the following technique. Place large bar of dark chocolate face down before you on a surface, take a sharp, flat-edged knife and hold horizontally on the chocolate's surface. Holding each end of the knife, gently scrape the knife towards you, pulling shavings of chocolate with it. Please be careful! (Jamie Oliver technique - seen on one of his 30 Minute Meals episodes)

 Here's a picture - I thought this may be the only chance I get to see my own cake presented on Pizza Express plates, drizzled with raspberry coulis...

;)

Ultimate chocolate cookies

 Hi guys - sorry for the long wait, blogging's been put on hold over Christmas and the return to Canterbury last week! Not done too much baking lately as Christmas has meant eating far too much (delicious) rubbish, and snow has put my running on hold, but today I needed a pick-me-up, and after watching my sister make these ultimate chocolate cookies a fortnight ago for her boyfriend's birthday, I decided to give them a go this afternoon. I definitely wasn't disappointed.

This is, unsurprisingly, a recipe of Nigella* - one of my favourite TV chefs as her recipes are très indulgent and incredibly sweet - but I have tried to make it a little more suited to the student budget. I've replaced posh choc for Sainsburys' basics, and cut Nigella's enormous proportions of chocolate down just a teeny tiny bit (not that you'll notice). Anyway, I think these are gorgeous, they seem to work every time, and I know you'll love them if you're as big a fan of chocolate as me! Enjoy, but try not to eat all at once...

* http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/totally-chocolate-chocolate-chip-cookies-29

*Makes 14 Cookies*

100g dark chocolate (to melt)

175g chopped/chips white chocolate - I used a mix of a basics bar & white choc buttons

150g plain flour

50g white granulated sugar

75g brown sugar

125g butter/marge

30g dark Bournville cocoa powder

1 small tsp baking powder

1/2tsp salt

1 egg (straight from the fridge, unusually!)

1tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 170' - or 175' if, like me, you've got a temperamental student oven - and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper

2. Break up your dark choc, place in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave for 1min, stir, then microwave again for 1min until almost entirely melted

3. Place flour/cocoa/salt/baking powder in a bowl (or measuring jug if it's easier) and give a quick mix-up, so that it is ready to throw in after the next stage. If, like me, you are using a bar of white chocolate as chips for your cookies, place your bar onto a chopping board and cut up into tiny pieces now too

4. Cream your butter and sugar until well mixed, before pouring in your melted dark chocolate - once mixed in, the batter looks so gorgeous that I could very easily have eaten it all at this point...

5. Mix your vanilla into the batter. Removing your egg from the fridge, beat well into the mix. I will warn you that you have quite a stiff batter at this point, so this will give your arms a work-out! But persevere until your egg is entirely beaten in, before sifting in all your dry ingredients and stirring well (again, it may take a few mins to mix thoroughly). Now add your chocolate chunks, mix once more, and you're finally ready to dollop tbsp-size mounds onto the lined baking trays*

*PS: These cookies are so indulgent, I froze six cookie-batter mounds before baking (leaving Robbie and I "only" eight to eat). Pictured below. Just stick them on a baking tray, cover with clingfilm, and leave, flat, in the freezer for 1-2hrs. Then simply throw the frozen batter 'cookies' into a freezer bag. When you want more cookies, there's no need to defrost - just stick them in the oven, 175', for 18-20mins

6. Bake the cookies in preheated oven for 15-18mins (cookies baked in the bottom half of the oven may need an extra 2-3mins than the cookies baking on the highest shelf in the oven). Now, the cookies will come out fairly squidgy (because of all the chocolate in the mix) - don't worry about it. Just let them rest on their baking trays for 3-4mins - honestly, you'll be amazed how much they firm up in this time - then remove and place on a wire rack so that the cookies get nice and crisp

7. Now eat the cookies (and once more, thank you very much Nigella). Thanks for reading!

Christmassy cranberry sauce & festive chocolate truffles recipes

 So Christmas is officially on top of us again - the house is in an uproar, the tree repeatedly destroyed by the kitten, presents are wrapped left, right and centre, and most importantly, an avalanche of 'Christmas food' awaits us in our cupboards. Cheese, chocolate, turkey, cake, gammon, coleslaw, alcohol - everything that makes this season feel so good (and do so much bad to my waistline - still, to hell with it, it's Christmas after all!).

 With this in mind, I've found two quick and easy recipes to spice up Christmastime and really get me into the Christmas spirit. So here it comes - homemade chocolate truffles. Seems a bit pointless when you first think about it - I know how easy (and cheap) chocolate is to buy in the supermarkets - but I promise, these are worth it. Dark, creamy, with a hint of Irish cream - these little gems are perfect for the bloated post-Christmas-dinner moment when you can't quite bring yourself to eat a whole pudding, but when one chocolate - or two or three or four, in my case - seems so utterly tempting. People will be impressed at the seemingly huge effort involved, when actually, it's fairly simple (just a bit mucky - prepare for the stickiest, chocolatiest hands you've ever had - yum). So really - if you can squeeze in some truffle-making in the countdown to Christmas*, try them. It will be so worth it.

*These chocolates, once made, can last up to one week in the fridge. Will they last that long? Doubt it.

 My next recipe sounds even more eccentric. Homemade cranberry sauce. And this is from a girl who has quite literally never eaten - or particularly liked - jarred cranberry sauce. Why, you ask, when you can buy it in little jars ready to slap on the table? Simply because - it's delicious, and I honestly think it's one of the best, easiest recipes I've yet discovered*. So easy to tweak to personal tastes. Plus, the berries' literal transformation in front of your eyes just amazes me - you have pretty but somewhat unappealing cranberries one minute, and the next, you've created an amazing, gorgeous-smelling, jammy sauce, with a hint of chutney-like savouriness with the addition of a little chopped red onion. All by yourself, all in twenty minutes. I have to admit it made me feel more than a little proud. I hope it will make you feel the same.

*This recipe is from a family friend who knows how much I love to try new recipes! Thank you.

*Chocolate Truffles with a kick*

Makes twenty to twenty-five chocolates

Combination: dark chocolate and chilli-flavoured chocolate (of course you could add your own chopped chilli to chocolate, to taste - that would be even more original!). I used 70g chilli choc and 110g dark choc.

90ml double cream

80ml Irish cream (i.e. Baileys - I'm trying Sainsburys' own this year, though)

About 50g sweet cocoa powder (i.e. Cadburys' drinking chocolate) or dark cocoa powder (Cadburys' Bournville powder is my dark cocoa of choice) - I have to say, for this recipe, I prefer normal, sweet, cocoa to the bitterness of dark cocoa

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Small pinch salt

1. Break your chocolate into small pieces in a bowl, add salt, and leave on the side. Pour your cream, Irish cream (or, for alcohol-free choccies, just replace with extra double cream) and vanilla into a saucepan and very gently heat - you don't want it to boil. After about ten mins on a low heat, start checking the temp with a - clean - finger. Once the liquid is hot to touch, remove from the heat.

2. Now simply pour into a bowl with the broken chocolate and salt, stirring gently so that they mix and form a 'ganache' (basically what's used to ice nice chocolate cakes).

3. At this point - taste the chocolate cream mix (chef's perks), and refrigerate/freeze for at least one hour. Here comes the messy part now...

 4. Remove your ganache from the fridge before it is entirely set and hardened. You want it slightly pliable for your hands but not soft - otherwise disaster may ensue (meltage). Organise yourself - set out a cereal bowl with a few large tbsp of cocoa within, ready to lightly roll your chocolates in, with a cocktail stick waiting to roll the truffles around easily in the cocoa. Try and make sure your hands are as cold as poss (an awkward request, I know). Basically, take a large teaspoon of the mix, roll quickly and lightly in your palms into a circular shape, drop into the cocoa, use the cocktail stick (or teaspoons) to roll, then place in a mini cake case, or greaseproof paper, on a serving tray or plate. Repeat. Every so often, if necessary, rinse the chocolate from your hands with cold water. Done. Leave in the refrigerator to chill. Bring them out on Christmas day - any day - and enjoy.

And here's a sneak peek of myself covered in gooey melted chocolate, with some of the finished truffles on the counter...

*

*Cranberry Sauce*

Makes enough to fill one 415g (large) jar

200g fresh cranberries

50g very finely chopped red onion

1 small glass port - 75ml?

50g caster sugar (perhaps another 30-50g if you have a very sweet tooth)

Juice of one large orange (zest too, if you have the time)

Pinch of salt

1. Chop your onion as finely as possible (your choice, but I wanted flavour rather than texture) and place in a large saucepan. Wash the cranberries well, ensuring there are no straggling stems left behind, and add to the onion. Now measure out your sugar and add this to the pan, pouring in the port and squeezing in the orange juice too. Finally, add the salt, stir, and turn the heat on low.

2. Stir gently every so often. Within about ten minutes, the mixture will have reached boiling point, the liquid reducing away and flavouring your fruit. You'll soon begin to hear the most delightful 'popping' sound as the berries burst in the heat. This lovely mixture fills your kitchen with such gorgeous, citrussy Christmas smells - and all you have to do is throw the ingredients in a saucepan and leave it to simmer away for twenty minutes total. Perfect. You'll see that, with no lid on the pan, the juices reduce quickly, and the berries and sugar take on a gorgeous, jammy consistency. Give in to your inner child and squish the berries a little with your spoon, leaving only a few whole (more for appearance than anything). I have to say that the warm mixture tastes so very good - both sweet, tart, and with just a hint of the onion's savouriness - but don't burn your tongue on it. Save some for Christmas.When the twenty minutes of cooking time is up, just spoon into a clean, sterilised* jar and leave, lid off, to cool - this can take an hour or so. Seal the jar and store in the fridge once cooled. Lasts up to one week.

*Sterilised - i.e. put through a dishwasher. In my case, I just washed the jar up, leaving boiling water to rest in it for some minutes, before rinsing thoroughly and emptying. Not sure if this is officially 'sterilised' though.

I don't know about you, but my family is big on cranberry sauce with turkey, hot or cold - and until now, I never quite understood it. As there are six of us eating Christmas dinner - and there are, quite literally, piles of food - there ought to be leftovers: meat, 'teatime' food, and my scrummy cranberry sauce. What I'm thinking is that our lazy, boxing day menu of cold leftover meat, coleslaw, cheese and biscuits sounds considerably lovelier with the promise of leftover cranberry and red onion-flavoured dip.

Anyway, I've been talking for far too long about food, so I'll leave you to it; enjoy your own Christmas dinners. It's time for all of the last-minute shopping, wrapping, prepping, delivering, visiting. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas - with or without homemade chocolate truffles and cranberry sauce - and a happy new year!