Butter Cut-Out Biscuits

Any time you want to play supermummy in the kitchen, here is where you start - Nigella Lawson

I admit it, I've been a bad bad baker over the last couple of months. Oh, I've got plenty of excuses, but really, I've just been bad. So I finally forced myself out of my baking rutt, and these are the result.

Aren't they pretty!!

The verdict:
Unusual or substituted ingredients: None. You should have everything you need in your pantry. Except perhaps a range of food colouring, which is why I've got pink, blue and white (not because I like girl and boy biscuits or anything like that. In fact, kill me if I ever make blue biscuits for a boy's party, or pink ones for a girl).

Special utensils or cookware: A range of cookie cutters is probably a good idea. That way, you won't be forced to use your Christmas shapes and the overly large gingerbread person shape, rather than, say, numbers as Nigella uses in the book, or animal shapes or whatever. Must remember to buy some new shapes next time I'm in the homewares store.

Otherwise, you just wizz it all up in the kitchenaid or with a handbeater, whatever takes your fancy.Repeatability: The mix makes a lot of biscuits - Nigella says around 50-60 and for once I think I pretty much got the number she suggested, or at least I would have except for giganto ginge! You can also freeze the dough ("it makes sense - in a smug, domestic kind of way - to wrap half of this in clingfilm and stash it in the deep freeze until next needed" - thanks Nigella!)
Sauciness: The rolling out of the dough and cutting the shapes is pretty darn messy. You refrigerate the dough for an hour before rolling/cutting. If the weather is warm, keep it in the fridge a bit longer (eg 1.5 hours) and make sure you roll and cut quickly.

And don't roll too thin. Or else you won't be able to pick up the shapes and get them on the baking tray without them breaking. Ask me how I know!
Overall pleasure level: Not only pretty, but pretty darn good, although it's the icing that really makes them! I'm giving them a 7.5.

Flora's Famous Courgette Cake

If courgette cake sounds dodgy to you, think about carrot cake for a moment; this is just an adaptation of that (though if you feel its safer, don't tell people it's made of courgettes until after they've eaten it). - Nigella Lawson


The verdict: Something had to be done with the zucchinis my garden is producing. Admittedly, this recipe only takes 250g and that big one my hand is on weighs a kilo, but you know, Rome wasn't built in a day, so this recipe was a good start.


With the delicious lime curd luxuriously sandwiched between the layers and a decadent layer of a lime flavoured cream cheese topping, it's a wonderful explosion of flavours.



Unusual or substituted ingredients: Well, as Nigella says in the quote above, some people might think zucchini in a cake is weird. I don't. Neither does my husband. He was just glad to see me using one of the monsters! Everything else in the recipe is pretty standard cake fare. Nigella said the raisins could be optional, so I opted not to include them. I'm not really one for raisins etc in cakes.

Nigella also suggested using a good quality shop bought lime curd filling if you wished, boosting it with a squirt of lime juice, but I opted to make the lime curd. It took about 5 minutes. Too easy. Although I take issue with the use of a whole egg.

I didn't get a photo of it, but I would have thought that a custard kind of filling would require only the use of egg yokes, not whites. The whites, even while I whisked it briskly, left trails of cooked white. They weren't noticeable in the eating of the cake, but they disturbed me nonetheless. Next time, I'd just do the yoke.


Special utensils or cookware: This is a two layer cake. Fortunately, I not long ago bought a couple of Victoria Sponge tins.



Repeatability: This, I'm certain, will be dragged out every year when I have zucchinis to burn. It's not time consuming (as you might think it is). There's a bit of a wait while you let everything cool down, so don't imagine you can whip it up quickly before guests come for afternoon tea. Otherwise, it's a winner!



Sauciness: It's saucy alright. Layers of rich, lime flavoured creaminess go a long way towards making this a decadent, delightful and impressive cake. Topped with a smattering of chopped pistachios, it's perfect.

Overall pleasure level: You can't beat it. The cake itself is wonderfully light - some vegetable based cakes aren't. It's a 10 out of 10 for me.

Rosebud Madeleines

It was the curled in smallness of these tender sponge biscuits, as well as the fact that they're flavoured with rosewater, that made me name them as I have - Nigella Lawson

The verdict: At long last - a joint effort between Bells and RoseRed! And mmmmm, these were delicious! They are in the biscuits section of the book, but really, they are more like little sponges or cupcakes, particularly if you make them in a "normal" sized madeleine tin.

Unusual or substituted ingredients: Rosewater is the unusual thing. If you can't find rosewater, you could probably use a bit of orange juice and orange zest, or maybe just vanilla essence. The rosewater really does give a lovely scent and flavour though, so try to find some if you can. Bells found some at an Indian groceries shop. Other than that, standard ingredients like flour, butter, sugar and an egg. Interestingly, not much of any of them. We had our doubts as to whether the mix would make the 48 madeleines Nigella says it would. She's obviously used teeny tiny madeleine tins, because we got 12 out of the mix.

Special utensils or cookware: Madeleine tin. Of which I (RoseRed) now have two, given that I'd already bought one and promptly forgot that I had it, so I bought another one - which I will return, as I really don't think I need two madeleine tins.

Repeatability: I would totally make these again. Possibly with different flavours, just to see how they turn out. They'd be great for a girl's fairy party, given they are so pretty, and simple, to make. Just leave yourself enough time - as Nigella asks you to refrigerate the mix for an hour, then leave it out of the fridge for another half an hour, before you actually bake. Not sure why. Not sure why you can't just refrigerate for half an hour and be done with it. Can anyone shed any light on this? At least you can make them the day before - just don't be tempted to eat them all before the event!


Sauciness: Not saucy - pretty! When they're still in the tin, they look pretty bland but flip them over and you have these gorgeous little shell shapes, all golden and delectable!

Overall pleasure level: These were delicious - the perfect afternoon tea fare, which is exactly what they were made for. Simple and delightful!

Christmas Cupcakes

These beauties also make a very good alternative to mince pies - Nigella Lawson



The verdict: I'll second the alternative to mince pies view, not being a fan of them myself. These are hands down much better , in my view.

Unusual or substituted ingredients: These are almost a gingerbread cake - mixed spice, sour cream, coffee, chocolate - they're not really kiddie cupcakes. I made these for a grown up afternoon tea and they went down very well.

The cake in the center is Nigella's Spice Cake from Feast. It was RoseRed who was visiting at the time who came up with the idea to arrange them all on one plate and to use the left over white icing to ice the spice cake. Inspired!

I used Orchard White Icing instead of mixing up royal icing and I didn't use cranberries and green icing leaves as Nigella did. I used red and green glace cherries cut up by RoseRed!

Special utensils or cookware: I bought some special cupcake papers for these but other than that, nothing special.



Repeatability: These will be pulled out every Christmas until, well until forever. I intend to make them every year.

Sauciness: Oh they're delighful. I always think of decorated cakes as being a bit more for kids but I felt like RoseRed and I made these into a work of art!


Overall pleasure level: 10 out of 10. Perfect! If anyone wants to make these for Christmas, let me know. I'll hand out the recipe.

Snickers and Peanut Butter Muffins

These muffins have a special charm: I think the ingredients speak for themselves - Nigella Lawson

These muffins are just another example of what my sister calls "Nigella's insane levels of indulgence" - Bells

And both Nigella and Bells' sister are right - the ingredients definitely say to me "this is insanely indulgent, but just a little bit special". How could it not be with a recipe that contains these:

The verdict:
Unusual or substituted ingredients: Hey, did anyone know that 6 tablespoons of peanut butter is over half a jar?? I didn't, until I made these! And while some may call peanut butter and 3 snickers bars unusual, the only substitution I made was regular caster sugar for golden caster sugar.
Special utensils or cookware: Standard utensils and cookware all the way. I have to say, it is hard to get an exact measure of a tablespoon of peanut butter (it's just so sticky!) and so I guestimated my tablespoons. I probably ended up putting a bit too much in, which made the muffins a little dry or crumbly, but they were still quite edible!

Repeatability: These were good, but won't be the first on the list to make again, I have to say! Sauciness: Well, come on, how could they not be, with 3 chopped snickers bars!! The caramel and chocolate goes all goey and yum, but the slight saltiness of the peanut butter ensures they aren't too sickly sweet.
Overall pleasure level: Hmmm, this is a hard one. I think 6.5 for these. So very very wrong but so very very right!

Nigellan Flatbread

Look, the name is meant to be a bit of a joke.....Nigella Lawson

The verdict: I've long wanted to make these partly because I think the name is amusing (she's referring to the black seeds, called Nigella Seeds) and partly because I love the idea of making such a take away staple. I've only ever had flat breads from Indian restaurants and while I love them, I fancied the idea of making my own. But don't worry, I won't be making these each time we get Indian takeaway. That would just be silly.

Unusual or substituted ingredients: Being a bread making veteran now, I have a well stocked cupboard for such things, but you'll need to get some instant yeast and Nigella seeds. I found them easily a long time ago (remember the Poppy seed incident?) They're a kind of onion seed, I believe.


Special utensils or cookware: None. Just bowls and baking trays!


Repeatability: I will do these again. And again. And again. They were astoundingly easy because you don't let the dough rise as long as regular bread (an hour at most) and they only take 8 mins in the oven. I made them for a dinner party and as they cooked, I whipped them out and wrapped them all layered in foil to keep them warm in a very low oven. I served them with fresh dips.

Sauciness: I think my guests were incredibly impressed. 'You made these? Seriously?' Talk about a feel good cooking experience!

Overall pleasure level: See above. Huge feel good result. As Nigella herself would say, maximum pleasure for minimum effort. 10/10

Baklava Muffins

...these taste so good: gooey, crunchy, soft and filling; sticky buns for the slapdash cook - Nigella Lawson

The verdict:


I must have been feeling very slapdash the day I made these because everything just felt right.

Unusual or substituted ingredients: The recipe asked for demerera sugar but I was all out so I just used plain raw sugar.


The wonder of these muffins is that you make a mixture of chopped walnuts, demerera or raw sugar and cinnamon which will later make a kind of filling. I struggled not to eat too much of this mixture myself.

Special utensils or cookware: Just a muffin pan and muffin papers. Sadly, I ran out of all the muffin papers I needed. Who knew you would ever run out of muffin papers when they come in a pack of 200?


After you've made the plain muffin mixture, you half fill a cup, add the filling (Yum!) then add more mixture. Finally, top it off with a sprinkling of the remaining filling.


And yes, I did have some filling left. I hadn't eaten ALL of it.

Then bake.


Repeatability: I can see myself making these many, many times.


Sauciness: Given that baklava is one my personal favourite middle eastern desserts, I think it's pure genius to replicate the idea in muffins. And the true, saucy joy? You pour honey over them at the end of the baking, while they're still warm! Finger licking sticky goodness.



Overall pleasure level: 9 out of 10 for me. Near perfection. I should have got a photo of the inside of them, where the nuts and sugar make a river of sweet, crunchy delight that shows up when you bite into them. Wonderful.