Lavender & hazelnut baklava

Ingredients Filo pastry, hazelnuts, lavender jam, butter

Preparation: 1 hour

I love the sticky, crispy combination of Baklava, but whilst honey and pistachio is an incredible combination... it's Autumn and my cupboards are full of hazelnuts, so I thought I'd experiment a little! Typically for me, lavender was first on my list in terms of a sweet, sticky syrup and I think this works really well.

1) Finely chop your hazelnuts or grind in a mortar and pestle until fine crumbs have formed.

2) Stir in a little melted butter to form a relatively dry nut paste.

3) Line a roasting dish with a sheet of filo pastry and top with a layer of the hazelnut paste, a sheet of filo, another layer of the hazelnut paste and repeat for at least 8 layers, pressing down firmly to ensure that they stick.

4) Trim the excess filo from the outside, and cut a cross-hatch through the filo to form diamond shaped portions. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for about 50 minutes, until the pastry is golden bubbly.

5) Pour the lavender jam over the hot pastry, allowing it to soak through the layers.

Rhubarb & orange blossom tarts

Ingredients    Filling: 5 stalks rhubarb, 1 tbsp orange blossom essence, 2 cups jam sugar. Pastry: 250g butter, 100g caster sugar, 500g plain flour, 1 tbsp double cream.

Preparation: 30 minutes

There is only one word to describe these tarts, and that word is "toothsome".
They are toothsome tarts with the most incredible flavour and buttery soft pastry and quite honestly I could eat them until I lapsed into some sort of diabetic coma and not regret it!

1) To make sweet shortcut pastry: sift the flour and sugar and add small cubes of the cold butter into your blender and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the cream and pulse until a dough ball forms. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to cool for an hour.

2) To prepare the filling: see previous recipe.

3) Roll out the pastry and cut out circles of dough. I made some tarts with very thin crusts and some like the picture with the thicker casing and both work equally well.

4) Press into the tart cases and pour in the filling. Bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees and serve cool.

Rhubarb & orange blossom jam

Ingredients    5 stalks rhubarb, 1 tbsp orange blossom essence, 2 cups jam sugar,

Preparation: 30 minutes (plus 2 hours for maceration)

I have a weakness for rhubarb. Like citrus it's at once sweet and sharp, but  so much more so than any other fruit. When combined with orange blossom it has such exotic notes and I'm sure this jam will be a favourite!

1) Slice the tops and tails from the rhubarb and divide the stalks into small, even chunks. Put into a bowl and cover with the jam sugar, then cover with cling film and shake to ensure the rhubarb is evenly coated. Leave to macerate for 2 hours, by which time juice will have been drawn from the rhubarb and formed a rough syrup.

2) Using a spatula, scrape all of the fruit and syrup from the bowl into a pan and bring to the boil, allowing it to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring until the rhubarb has completely disintegrated. Add the orange blossom essence and stir through.

3) The jam is suitable at this stage to be used for tarts, however if you wish to set it into more of a jelly, add half a cup more jam sugar and bring to the boil for a further 4 minutes before transferring into sterilised jars.

Fig jam

Ingredients   7 figs, 3 cups jam sugar, water, 1 tsp red wine

Serves: 1 pint jam Preparation: 20 minutes


One of my favourite things to do is make jam. I like the fragrant steam that fills my kitchen, I find stirring and sieving and pouring very soothing and of course I am a fan of making anything which involves toast. Fig jam has a rich, heady flavour that is perfect to drizzle over goats cheese and a beautiful colour.


1) Slice the stalks from the figs and cut each fig into vertical quarters. If you would like textured, seedy jam then remove the skin - if like the picture above you prefer seedless jam then leave the skins intact. Put a spoon in the fridge.


2) Add into a saucepan with a pint of water and stir through on a medium heat, crushing the fruit with your wooden spoon to release as much juice and flavour as possible.


3) It will take about 15 minutes for the water to become infused - at this point remove the pan from the heat and if you're looking for seedless jam, pass the fruit through a sieve before returning it to the hob.


4) Turn the heat up high and add the sugar and a teaspoon of red wine. Stir through and allow the liquid to froth up to a rolling boil that can not be stirred back down. Remove from the heat and drip a little into the cold spoon. If it sets within a few seconds then the jam is ready. Return to the heat and allow it to froth up again for another 30 seconds until it sets in the spoon.


5) Transfer from the pan to a pouring jug or use a pouring ladle to transfer to hot, sterilised jars. Put the lids on (be careful not to burn yourself on the hot jars!) and set aside to cool to room temperature before putting in the fridge.


6) Once opened, this will keep for about a month and is best served with goats cheese on crusty ciabatta.

Lavender Jam

Ingredients    1 cup lavender flowers, 1 lemon, 4 cups jam sugar.

You can now buy my lavender jam (UK shipping only)
In celebration of my 100th recipe I thought I would actually make something that can be served on toast!!
It's up to you whether you would like to use fresh or dried lavender - dried lavender will give you a more intense flavour but it requires preparation of course. Once you have picked the lavender, tie the stems together and hang upside down in a cool place for about a month.

Remember to shake the lavender well in case of bugs!

1) Add the lavender to 1 pint of of water and bring to the boil for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to help the flavour infuse. Strain the lavender from the water and discard the lavender.

2) Add the juice of 1 lemon to the liquid, return to the pan along with 4 cups of jam sugar and turn up the heat.

3) If you want this jam to be thick-set like a jelly, then bring to a strong rolling boil for 4 - 8 minutes. If you would prefer a more runny jam or syrup for glazing then don't allow it to bubble up for more than 2 minutes. A good test is to put a spoon in the fridge, drip a little of the mixture onto it and then allow it to set to room temperature. If within a few seconds it has reached the desired thickness (i.e you can turn it upside down without it dripping off the spoon) you're good to go!

4) Strain into hot sterilised jars, seal and allow to cool and set.