I’m not a dessert cook, so when I make sweets they need to be relatively quick and easy. It is nice to end a meal with a simple dessert or to produce something delicious to serve with a cup of coffee when friends drop by. Sweet treats make great gifts too. Here are some of my favourite easy sweet recipes.
Orange & Date Salad Like this orange and date salad? You’ll love my online Middle Eastern cooking class inspired by Michael Rantissi! Once you discover how easy it is to segment an orange (see video below), you’ll be making this simple orange and date salad regularly. Use vivid Persian pistachio slivers instead of almonds if […]
Hong Kong Walnut Biscuits Like Hong Kong Walnut Cookies? You’ll love my online Chinese cooking class! While lard is traditional in these Chinese walnut biscuits, called hup toh soh in Cantonese, I’m more likely to have butter on hand so that’s what I use. I also like the flavour Pepe Saya’s gorgeous butter adds to […]
Crema Catalana Join my food & wine tour to Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties! One of my favourite Sardinian sweets is bianchini, moreish little meringues studded with toasted almonds and lemon zest. Making them (or any meringue) means leftover egg yolks and a perfect excuse to make crema Catalana. This classic Spanish dessert […]
Pomegranate Sorbet Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Italian cooking class featuring the food of Sardinia! I love this Italian pomegranate sorbet – and the Italian name for pomegranates, melograno meaning ‘many seeds’. It’s so appropriate for this jewel-like fruit. This simple pomegranate sorbetto, with its balanced sweet/sour flavour from the pomegranate juice, lemon […]
Jamaican Coconut Drops Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Caribbean cooking class inspired by Paul Carmichael! Also called simply ‘drops’, Jamaican Coconut Drops are a favourite sweet treat of Jamaicans everywhere. I love the punch the ginger adds to cut through the sweetness of these chewy toffees. Don’t be tempted to take the mixture […]
Caribbean Flan Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Caribbean cooking class inspired by Paul Carmichael! Caribbean flan is a simple dessert similar to a French crème caramel or Spanish flan, except it’s a bit denser. The traditional Caribbean version is based on condensed and evaporated milk as fresh milk wasn’t always readily available in […]
Indian Rice Pudding (Kheer) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Indian cooking class inspired by Ajoy Joshi! Called payasam or kheer, this rice pudding is one of the most typical southern Indian desserts and has as many variations as there are cooks. At its simplest, it’s rice simmered in milk with a pinch of […]
Caramelised Baked Strawberries Like this recipe? You’ll love my online cooking class Inspired by Janni Kyritsis! https://youtu.be/L4SAqj0X5So This easy dessert of baked strawberries is inspired by one my friend Janni Kyritsis taught me when we wrote Wild Weed Pie together. Throughout much of the year, strawberries are more about colour than taste. Baking them, especially […]
Coffee Granita Join my food & wine tour to Southern Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties! My favourite dessert at MG Garage – in fact perhaps my favourite dessert of all time – was coffee granita with chocolate mousse. When chef Janni Kyritsis and I wrote Wild Weed Pie, we did a whole section […]
Saffron Poached Pears Like this recipe? You’ll love my online cooking class Inspired by Janni Kyritsis! I love the simplicity of these saffron poached pears that chef Janni Kyritsis taught me to make many years ago. At MG Garage he served them alongside a delicate cardamom-scented blancmange made with yoghurt – I like them with […]
