Cardamom & Rose Shortbread

Cardamom and rose are tricky flavours to work with. They’re not everyone’s cup of tea and do have a habit of over-powering recipes if you get a little heavy-handed. But this is no reason to run in the opposite direction, because when they come together, boy do they sing! I think that the sweet buttery…

Dark Chocolate Earl Grey Truffles

Who knew that dark chocolate and Earl Grey worked so well together? It’s not a familiar or typical combination, but it definitely works. I used good-quality loose-leaf tea in this recipe, so the flavour of the tea really came through in the finished truffles. I would recommend doing the same, but if you are planning…

Traditional(ish) Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea can simply be a cup of your favourite tea and a slice of cake, but if you want it to be more of a ceremony – you have to embrace it. Make it a celebration. Whatever you do, don’t hold back. I am super lucky that my friends here in Switzerland hail from…

Blackberry Cheesecake Brownies

Gooey. Fudgy. Squidgy. Chocolatey. Hedonistic. Lush. Try as you might, there’s no one-word that truly encapsulates what a chocolate brownie is. It’s a humble thing made with humble ingredients, but it deserves adjectives. If you don’t offer them up initially, it will illicit them from you after the first bite. I made these to take…

Carrot & Peach Mini Loaves

“Bugs Bunny was wrong…  People think that their rabbits should eat carrots because that’s what Bugs Bunny does. But he’s a cartoon, real rabbits don’t talk, and they shouldn’t be eating carrots too often either.” Rachel Roxburgh, an animal scientist from the RSPCA. That’s right, Bugs Bunny is responsible for 11% of pet rabbits suffering…

Carrot Cake Biscotti

I don’t ever want to be in a position where I have to choose my favourite cake… But if push came to shove and like, world peace was riding on it or something, I’d probably say carrot cake. For me, it’s such a beautiful marriage of flavours: the natural sweetness of carrots with sugar and…

English Scones

For a small unsuspecting slightly-sweet roll, scones (or should I say scones) stir up a fair amount of contention. First there’s the pronunciation. Does it rhyme with con or cone? A YouGov poll revealed that 51% say scone (con) and 42% say scone (cone). Hardly conclusive. Apparently, geography has little to do with it and neither…

Fig & Ginger Truffles

For me, fig and ginger is a glorious pairing: a match made in heaven. One is sweet and sticky, the other is warm and spicy. Cover that in melted chocolate and you really will think you have gone to heaven. I won’t lie to you, truffles are time consuming and things can get a little…

Apple Pie Truffles

Today I decided that truffles are absolutely the best treats to take along to gatherings with friends and family. Let me tell you why… They’re easy to transport. When the girls and I meet up for our creative ventures du jour, I always endeavour to take a little something-something to satisfy our sweet tooth (and…

Custard Shortbread

I never really appreciated custard powder until I moved to Switzerland. If you are, like me, over a certain age, you’ll all remember that tin of Bird’s custard powder from your childhood. It was usually right at the back of the cupboard, next to the tin of black treacle and those packets of Rowntree jelly….