Blueberry cheesecake scones

Ingredients 225g self raising flour, 50g butter, 50g sugar, 50g cream cheese, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/4 tsp vanilla essence, milk

Serves: 10 Preparation: 30 minutes

The sweet burst of blueberries, the rich tang of cream cheese and vanilla - unlike the dense texture of cheesecake, this scone is so light and fluffy that the flavour almost doesn't make sense. They're seriously moreish.

1) Sift the flour and sugar together, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Pour in the blueberries.

3) Whisk a little milk and vanilla essence with the cream cheese to make it more liquid and mix with the dry ingredients until a dough has formed. It's best to work scones with cool hands so if yours are warm, run them under the cold tap first (and dry them) before working it.

4) Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and then fold it in half and roll again. Cut out rounds of pastry with a scalloped cutter and brush with a little milk to help the surface colour.

5) Bake at 200 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Tinkerbell poppers

Ingredients Tinkerbell peppers, cream cheese, jalepenos, cheddar.

Preparation: 30 minutes

When I was a teenager, my father worked for a gourmet food company which provided ultra posh frozen foods - people used to buy catering packs of beef wellington when having a dinner party. Their jalepeno poppers were my first experience of this Americanised version of the Mexican classic chile relleno. Any time I have had them since, my lingering impression has been greasy breadcrumbs, cheap cream cheese and jalepenos that have lost all their heat. Very sad. When I saw these adorable little Tinkerbell peppers, I knew that they'd be the perfect ingredient for me to reinvent the popper. Cool, creamy oozing cheese with a fiery bite contrasts wonderfully with these sweet, juicy peppers. Cheeky Tinkerbell would be very proud to be associated with these saucy minxes.

1) Slice the tops from the peppers (but do not discard) and remove the seeds.

2) Dice jalepenos, grate cheddar and stir into cream cheese at a ratio of two parts cheese and jalepeno to two parts cream cheese.

3) Pack tightly into the peppers and replace the lids. The cream cheese works as a sort of mortar and will seal the lid if you smooth a little around the join. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes on a medium heat, then serve hot. Magnificent.

Beer dip

Ingredients 200g cream cheese, 20g cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup beer

Preparation: 1 hour

When making a pot of Mexican mole, one of my favourite ways to serve the leftovers is with nachos and cheese. This beer dip makes the most fabulous topping. Cool and malty and super simple to make.

1) Whip the cream cheese and the beer until smooth and season with salt to taste.

2) Stir through grated cheddar and refrigerate for at least an hour until it has set.

Chocolate Guinness cake

Ingredients 1 bottle Guinness, 250g unsalted  butter, 300ml soured cream, 2 cups cocoa powder, 4 cups plain flour, 3 cups sugar, 1 tbsp baking soda, 4 eggs, 400g cream cheese, 1 cup icing sugar.

Serves: 12 preparation: 1 hour

If you think my banana loaf is moist, then you've seen nothing yet! This chocolate cake is the loamiest of all my creations - a big, thick slice of malty chocolate topped with a sinfully thick, rich cream cheese frosting. I dare you not to love it.

1) Melt the butter in a pan and whisk in the Guinness. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.

2) Sift the flour, chocolate, sugar and baking soda into one bowl, and beat the eggs and soured cream with the buttery Guinness mixture and then slowly beat the dry ingredients with the wet.

3) Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes at 180 degrees, then set aside to cool.

4) Beat together the cream cheese and icing sugar until completely incorporated.

5) When the cake has completely cooled, prize it carefully from the cake tin and slather the cream cheese frosting onto the top. I prefer the frosting to be set in the fridge for at least an hour, but you can eat this immediately.

Baked potato: jalepeno, pineapple and cream cheese

Ingredients Jalepenos, pineapple, cream cheese, cheddar, potato.

Serves: 1 Preparation: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Once you have made your perfect baked potato, you need to fill it! I love spicy food and jalepenos and cheese are perfect partners. This filling manages to be cool and creamy, yet tangy and spicy all at the same time.
1) Finely slice the jalepeno and pineapple (I used about 1 tsp for every 1tbsp of cream cheese) and stir into the cream cheese.

2) Stir in some cheddar, spoon onto the potato and serve!

Carrot & coriander bread

Ingredients  1 carrot, handful of chopped coriander, 500g wholemeal flour, 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 150ml  cream cheese, 125ml milk.

Serves: 8 Preparation: 1 hour


This bread has a wonderful flavour and makes great toast because the carrot makes it a bit "stodgy" so it gets a fabulous crunch to it. Gorgeous to dip into my carrot and cranberry soup.



1) Sift the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and grate the carrot into it. Stir well until each piece of carrot is coated in flour.

2) Finely chop the coriander and stir in to the flour mix.

3) Stir through the cream cheese and add the milk little by little until a soft, sticky dough is formed.

4) Form a rough ball with the dough and dust with flour, or set in a loaf tin. Slice a line down the top with a knife and bake on a baking sheet for 30 minutes or until a good crust has formed which sounds hollow when you tap it.

Stuffed piquante peppers

Ingredients Piquante peppers, cream cheese

Preparation: 2 minutes


When I have friends round to watch a movie, I love making finger foods or dips  that can be mindlessly scoffed without detracting attention away from the screen. Heston Blumenthal once famously proved one cannot tell the difference between stale popcorn and fresh popcorn during a movie but he did also prove that delicious treats do enhance the film experience!


1) Pat the piquante pepper dry and spoon the cream cheese into it


2) Serve! It's as simple as that!

Banana & walnut cake

Ingredients    3/4 cup butter (127g), 2 ripe   bananas, 3 cups plain flour (681g), 1  1/12 tsp baking soda, 2 cups sugar     (454g), 3 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla    essence, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (339g), walnuts.

1) Sift the flour and baking powder with a pinch of salt and set aside


2) Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together and beat in the eggs one at a time


3) Whisk in the flour a cup at a time, alternating with the buttermilk


4) Mash the ripe bananas and whisk into the rest, stirring a handful of finely chopped walnuts at the last minute


5) Pour into a cake tin (this quantity fills one large cake tin or 2 loaf tins) and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. Put immediately into the freezer for 10 minutes - this will stop the steam from rising and make the cake incredibly moist.


6) Once cool, cream equal parts of icing sugar, butter and cream cheese together and slather onto the top. I had some leftover caramel from making my caramel apple pie so I swirled that over too!

Wensleydale & stem ginger dip

Ingredients Wensleydale, cream cheese, stem ginger.

1) Grate Wensleydale into 2 tablespoons of cream cheese and whisk on a low heat. Stir through the pieces of stem ginger and set aside to cool.


Ideal served with steamed vegetables for dipping.

Tempura bacon with Wensleydale & cranberry dip

Ingredients  Baking powder, plain white flour, bacon, salt, ice water. cream cheese, wensleydale with cranberries, soured cream.

Tempura batter must be very cold and very fresh - put a jug of ice water in the freezer whilst you heat up the oil for frying and only add the water at the last possible second.


1) This recipe works best with pre-grilled, cold bacon. To make the batter mix 250g of flour, 10g of baking powder and a pinch of salt, then whisk through the water a little at a time until the batter is liquid enough to coat your finger.


2) Dip the bacon in the batter and drop into the hot oil for 1-2 minutes


3) To prepare the dip, crumble the Wensleydale and cranberry cheese into a tablespoon of cream cheese and a tablespoon of soured cream and warm on a low heat.

Hula hoop croutons

Ingredients Ready salted Hula Hoops, cream cheese.    Suggested served with Cauliflower and parmeggian soup.

This is not so much a recipe as a fun serving suggestion!


1) Scoop cream cheese into the centre of each Hula hoop and slice off the excess.


2) Float onto the soup - this works perfectly with the cauliflower cheese soup but you could experiment with others.

Pesto stuffed chicken

Ingredients Linguine, garden peas, pea shoots, basil, garlic, basil oil, pine nuts, cream cheese, chicken, bacon.

Following from my previous recipe - Linguine with pea pesto, this is a good serving suggestion, using the same creamy pesto to stuff the chicken.

1) Slice a pocket into the side of the chicken breast with a paring knife and stuff with two teaspoons of the pesto mix.

2) Seal the chicken with 2 - 3 slices of thin smoked bacon (or parma ham) and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

Linguine with pea pesto

Ingredients Linguine, garden peas, pea shoots, basil, garlic, basil oil, pine nuts, cream cheese.

1) Finely slice a good handful of fresh basil leaves and add to a mortar bowl.
Sautee 1 clove of garlic in basil oil and add to the mortar bowl along with a pinch of salt and a handful of pine nuts. Grind thoroughly and then stir in a tablespoon of cream cheese.

2) Drop the linguine into salted boiling water for 10 minutes, adding a handful of garden peas during the last 2 minutes.

3) Stir through the creamy pesto and serve, topped with peashoots and pine nuts

Basil dip

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Ingredients Basil, garlic, basil oil, pine nuts, cream cheese.

1) Finely slice a good handful of fresh basil leaves and add to a mortar bowl.

2) Sautee 1 clove of garlic in basil oil and add to the mortar bowl along with a pinch of salt and a handful of pine nuts.

3) Grind thoroughly and then stir into cream cheese.

I served this with Fudge's cheese straws with mature cheddar and black pepper.

Croque Madame

Ingredients   Bread, ham, gruyere, mustard, butter, egg, cream cheese.

1) Butter one slice of bread and lay it butter side down on a baking tray. Spread the other side with cream cheese and grainy mustard. Layer with ham and gruyere.


2) Spread cream cheese and grainy mustard onto another slice of bread and put this on top of the ham and gruyere with the plain side facing up.


3) Press the bread with your fingertips so that a shallow well forms in the centre - the idea being that the crust is high enough for the egg not to slide off.


4) Crack an egg and drop into the centre of the bread. If the egg white has pooled in the centre then it will take too long to cook so  try to keep the well as shallow as possible and spread the white fairly evenly across the bread.


5) Bake in the oven until the egg white has just begun to form. Serve with a knife and fork!


This dish may take some practise as you want the yolk to remain liquid so that when you cut into the sandwich it flows into the melted cheese and ham. Some people prefer to fry the egg separately and add to the top of the bread - personally I think the sandwich is improved by the egg soaking into the bread a little before it crisps.

Dirty rice balls

Ingredients Wild rice, cherry tomatoes, red onion, tomato puree, jalepenos, lime juice, tequila, green chilli pepper, cream cheese, cheddar, buttermilk, bread, 1 egg, sesame seeds, groundnut oil.

This recipe was created using leftovers from the dirty rice balls with tequila and chilli con queso.

1) To make breadcrumbs, pulse the crust slice of slightly stale bread in a blender and mix with a handful of sesame seeds.

2) Form small balls with the cold, leftover rice and roll them first in a whisked egg and then in the breadcrumbs mixture.

3) Drop the ball carefully into hot oil (a deep fat fryer will enable them to keep their spherical shape) and sizzle until the breadcrumbs turn golden brown.

4) Using a slotted spoon, remove the rice ball from the oil and drop back into the breadcrumbs and roll around until they are covered with a second layer of crumbs.

5) Repeat until you have a number of rice balls and bake them in the oven for 10 -15 minutes until the outer layer is also crisp. Ideal served with leftover Chilli Con Queso.

Chilli Con Queso

Ingredients Green chilli pepper, cream cheese, cheddar, buttermilk.

1) Deseed and finely dice the chilli pepper and drop into a milk pan on a low heat with 2 tablespoons of cream cheese. Stir until the cheese begins to soften and grate 15g of cheddar into the pan.

2) Continue to stir, adding buttermilk (or double cream if you want to be really indulgent!) until the cheese is melted.

3) Traditionally served warm with tortilla chips - I tried these with Fudge's cheese and black pepper flatbreads, and also with the cheddar biscuits which were fabulous.

Smoked salmon pizza

Ingredients 1lb of strong white flour, 1 tablespoon of active dried yeast, 2 teaspoons of honey, 2 tablespoons of truffle oil, 250ml warm water, cream cheese, milk, dill, rocket, smoked salmon.

1) Pizza dough
Dissolve the yeast in 150ml of warm water and set aside to rest. After 10 minutes add the honey and truffle oil. Sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture a little at a time and mix thoroughly with your hands until it becomes dough like in consistency.
It is possible to make this if you have a dough attachment for your blender.
Transfer your dough ball to a lightly floured surface and flour your hands. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes and then sit to rest in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover this with a warm, damp cloth. The bowl must be big enough to allow the dough to double in size over the next hour.

Divide the dough into small dough balls and kneed these again before rolling out on a floured surface to make your pizza crust. Bake the base for 10-15 minutes.

2) Pizza sauce
Mix 2 tablespoons of cream cheese with a teaspoon of chopped dill and a little milk until it forms a smooth paste. Spread onto the pizza base.

3) Pizza topping
Top with smoked salmon and rocket and serve.

Whore's carbonara

Ingredients brandy, hazlenut butter, courgette, cream cheese, linguine, thyme, mushrooms, bacon, brie, almond butter, garlic,

1) Drop your linguine into a pan of boiling water.

2) Crush some garlic and chopped thyme and sautee in a second pan with a knob of butter and a teaspoon of hazlenut butter.

3) Dice a handful of mushrooms (I used shitake) and 3 slices of bacon into lardons and stir into the butter. Add a shot of brandy and stir through.

4) As the mushrooms begin to soften stir in a tablespoon of cream cheese.

5) Using a potato peeler, shave razor thin strips of courgette and drop into the pan of pasta

6) Drain the linguine (separating the courgette) and add to the pasta sauce along with a generous knob of brie (I used Coeur De Lyon - fabulous honeyed taste) and stir through.

7) Serve topped with the courgette

Savoury strawberries

Ingredients Strawberries, cream cheese, balsamic vinegar

If your strawberries have been kept in the fridge then make sure you let them sit out until they're at room temperature. Eating them chilled would be like keeping chocolate in the fridge - the flavour and texture is completely compromised. It's also worth investing in a good quality balsamic vinegar - always originating from Modena this will be a little thicker like a light syrup.

1) Slice the top from your strawberry and stand it on this new flat surface.
Cut the strawberry into three, lengthways.

2) Spread cream cheese on the inside of the two outer edges of each strawberry and reassemble them like a sandwich

3) Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve