Blackberry lavender clafoutis/flaugnarde

Ingredients 200g blackberries, 200ml milk, 1 tbsp lavender, 1 lemon, 50g caster sugar, 30g plain flour, 2 eggs.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour

Not a day goes by when I don't crave lavender. There is nothing that brings me such pleasure as when my house is filled with the scent of it infusing, or when I discover yet more flavours that it will enhance. Blackberry and lavender is by no means a stranger to this blog, but I do believe this is my first clafoutis post!
Technically a flaugnarde unless cherries are used, this is essentially a fabulous wibbly custard set with fruit and as desserts go, contains very little fat and sugar. So go for it!

1) Infuse the milk with lavender for 30 minutes. In the meantime, lightly butter your baking dish with a smear of butter on a clean cloth or piece of kitchen roll and tumble the blackberries over it.

2) Sift the flour and sugar together, zest and juice the lemon and beat together with the eggs. 

3) Add the lavender milk through a sieve to separate out the flowers and whisk thoroughly.

4) Pour over the fruit and bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes and serve hot or cold.

Berry & rose crumble

Ingredients Dried rose petals, butter, plain flour, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, caster sugar

Preparation: 30 minutes

Following the astounding success of my lavender apple crumble, I wanted to continue to experiment with floral crumbles. If possible, this rose and berry combination, using my rose butter is even more fabulous. The sweet, full flavour of the berries and the delicate sweetness of the crumble is a definite winner.

1) Add the berries to a milk pan with a tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Stir through for about 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and you are left with mostly intact berries, and a little sweet fruit juice. Take off the heat and spoon into an ovenproof dish.

2) Rub the rose butter into the flour until it resembles rough breadcrumbs, then top the fruit with the crumble and bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. This is perfect served with a little double cream.

Summer berry pudding

Ingredients Blackberries, raspberries, pomegranate jewels, blueberries, sugar, bread

Preparation: 10 minutes (+4 hours)

A summer berry pudding is the kind of traditional English dessert that everyone knows how to make, but it's fallen somewhat out of fashion. Goodness knows why because it's so quick and simple to prepare and absolutely delicious. I prefer mine to look marbled with juice rather than saturated with it because it's prettier, but this is entirely your call.

1) Add the berries to a milk pan with a tablespoon of sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. Stir through for about 5 minutes until the sugar has dissolved and you are left with mostly intact berries, and a sweet fruit juice. Take off the heat and set aside.

2) Cut the crusts from slices of bread and dip into the juice from the pan. Then line your pudding bowl with bread, assembling a square piece at the bottom, triangles at the sides and a circle set aside for the top. Press the bread firmly together so that it forms a solid case. I like to line my timbale cases with cling film first to make it easier to slide the pudding out, but I've never had one stick yet so this is again, your call.

3) Slice the pomegranate in half and hold over a bowl, fruit side down. Bang sharply with a wooden spoon to release the jewels. Alternatively, if the pomegranate is very ripe, it's sometimes as quick to just break it in half and peel off the membrane.

4) Stir the pomegranate jewels into the pan of fruit and spoon into the bread cases, pressing down firmly. Add the circle of bread to the top, then close the cling film up and press a saucer onto the top of the pudding bowl. Refrigerate for 4 hours, then open the cling film, put back on the saucer and turn the pudding out.