This is easy, quick and deeply satisfying.

It is not baking, but it might be alchemy.

Line a deep baking tray (26 x 31 x 2.5 cm) with baking parchment.

Melt 200g good dark chocolate and 100g unsalted butter in a large bowl over gently simmering water, stirring until combined.

Fold in 350g condensed milk and 250g grated coconut

(gently toasted in a large dry pan) and 200g glace cherries, chopped.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tray and spread into an even layer.

Chill in the 'fridge for 4-5 hours, then cut into small squares.

Store in the fridge between nibbling.

... as easy as pie.

Eat hot, warm or cold as a stolen slice straight from the fridge. This is comfort food that is easy on effort, so very simple, and fills little and big tummies equally happily. I added sharks to my pie crust; a pie without frivolous embellishment is somehow naked.

Sophie Grigson's Sausage and Apple Pie

Take a 450g packet of ready-made puff pastry (if you will. Make your own if you have the urge). Cut the block in half and roll one piece to generously line a shallow 9 inch pie plate.

Take a quantity of good sausage meat (a 450g packet of fat sausages cut from their skins is an excellent choice) and spread evenly across the pastry sheet. Season with pepper, nutmeg andfresh chopped sage (3 or 4 leaves). Peel, core and slice 2 large eating apples and arrange the slices evenly across the sausage meat. Season again with pepper and nutmeg.

Roll out the remaining pastry to form the lid. Beat an egg yolk with a tablespoon of cold water and brush the edges of the pie pastry with the egg wash and lay the lid on top. Press the edges together to seal, and trim the excess. Make a hole in the centre of the lid to let the steam out, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Put a baking tray in the oven and preheat the oven to 220ºC.

Brush the pastry with the egg wash (after adding fish or otherwise-shaped motifs) just before popping in the oven on top of the baking tray so the base gets an instant blast of heat. After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 180ºC and cook for another 30-40 minutes until the apple is tender.

I liked this. I LOVE potato dauphinoise and jansson's temptation but all that cream .. oh la la .. it is not good for my butt. I needed an alternative and this works well. It looks great too (i forgot to take the final photo) and tastes wonderful at room temperature, with ham.

Thinly slice 3 large baking potatoes (about 900g) - thin as you can, with a sharp knife or a mandolin grater. Put the slices in a bowl and season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg.





Stir in 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped, then add 115g grated Gruyere cheese. Turn to coat as evenly as possible.

Layer the potatoes in to a generously buttered shallow gratin dish. Pour over approx 400ml chicken stock, just to cover the surface. Dot the top generously with butter and bake at 190ºC for an hour or so.

Hot, bubbly golden goodness (you'll have to imagine that part).

In my previous life we would drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel to the Italian border seeking pizza for lunch. But, before pizza, we would stop for morning coffee. There is an alpine village at the far end of the tunnel with little coffee shops which serves the best. hot. chocolate. ever. I have sought such delicacies ever since, with no satisfaction.

I now know what i was drinking (spooning) in that den of sweet decadence; Budino di cioccolato (as found in Nigella Lawson's Express).

250ml full-fat milk
125ml double cream
60g caster sugar
1 x 15ml tablespoon cornflour
35g cocoa powder
2 x 15ml tablespoons boiling water
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
60g dark chocolate




Put the kettle on, and warm the milk and cream in a saucepan (or in the microwave).



Put the sugar and cornflour into another saucepan and sieve in the cocoa powder. Add the 2 tablespoons of boiling water and whisk to a paste.

Whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time, followed by the warmed milk and cream, then the vanilla extract.

Scrape down the sides of the pan and put it on a lowish heat, cooking and whisking until the mixture thickens to a mayonnaise consistency. Nigella reckons about 4 minutes .. if, like me, your heat is too low it will take longer. I slowly increased the heat until the mixture swelled.

Take off the heat and whisk in the finely chopped chocolate, before pouring into 4 small glasses or cups.

Serve straight from the pan to warm the cockles of your heart.

Alternatively, cover the tops of the cups, allowing the cling film to rest on the surface to stop a skin forming, and refrigerate. Take out of the fridge a little before serving (with cream, perhaps).



Or with macaroons, if you fancy (and a good use of the 2 spare egg whites).



My poison leg is slowly repairing. I was shocked today at how weak my balance is on that side of my body (thanks for asking xx).

Sitting on my big leather sofa, watching daytime TV and trying not to think about the evil bacteria which is climbing up my leg. It started with a small cut on the bottom of my foot, and now i have a black toe and hot, red lumps in my calf.

I can't stand up, so i can't cook, but i can still talk cake. Cheesecake. Cool and creamy. Soft, sweet and tart. And very simple. Beat and spread. A little like making a sandwich.


Blitz 125g (gluten-free) digestive biscuits to crumbs, add 75g soft butter and whiz to make the mixture clump. Press into a 20cm springform tin and smooth with the back of a large spoon to form a slight rise at the outside edge.


Beat together 300g cream cheese, 60g icing sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and half a teaspoon lemon juice.

Lightly whip 250ml double cream and fold into the cream cheese mixture.

Ladle the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with the back of the large spoon. Chill in a fridge for 3 hours or overnight.






Carefully, gingerly, remove cheesecake from the tin (i recommend leaving it on the base to serve). Spread a jar of St Dalfour Rhapsodie de Fruit Black Cherry Spread (or similar; any conserve with no added sugar should be fine) over the top.

It looks very plain - even with a gold candle stuck in the middle of it - but the aroma (citrus cocoa) and the dark, glossy sheen is sophisticated and tempting. Eat with a fork, with perhaps a little cream added for glamour. Perfect for serving at the end of a meal; moist with a lightness from the copious fruit. Almost one of your 5-a-day.

Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Orange Cake

Start the day before, simmering 2 whole oranges in water for 2 hours. Painless.

The next day pulse the entire oranges (removing any obvious pips), and beat with eggs, sugar, cocoa and almond meal.

It doesn't get any easier.



6 large eggs in a bowl.




Add 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder, half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, 200g ground almonds, 250g caster sugar and 50g cocoa.




Take the two boiled, drained and cooled oranges, cut in half and remove any pips. Pulse in a blender to a grainy pulp - you need about 375g, but i didn't measure mine and it worked perfectly regardless. Add orange to the other ingredients and beat together to a thick batter with flecks of orange. Pour in to a 20cm springform cake tin, base lined. Bake at 180ºC for 45 minutes, cover with a layer of foil and continue cooking for about 15 minutes or so. Allow to fully cool in the tin.

Yes, this was all that was left when i finally got around to taking a photo ..

For late-night pudding or with morning coffee, spread with cream cheese or plain; however you like it, eat this.

Nigella Lawson's Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

225g soft unsalted butter
375g dark muscovado sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g best chocolate, melted
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250ml boiling water

Preheat the oven to 190ºC, put in a baking sheet to catch the drips (it will drip, if not flood) and line a loaf tin (23 x 13 x 7cm).

I find muscovado sugar can have persistent lumps - beat it first to break it up well. Then add butter and cream well, followed by eggs and vanilla.









I love to see beaten butter.

Fold in the melted and slightly cooled chocolate - don't over beat, then gently fold in the flour, to which you have added the bicarb, alternately spoon by spoon, with the boiling water until you have a smooth and loose batter.

Pour the mocca river into the lined tin and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 170ºC and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. It may need a little longer if the batter still wobbles in the tin. Check with a skewer but it should be squidgy inside.

Allow to cool completely before turning out of the tin. It will have sunk slightly in the middle.