If your catering for children then this old favourite always goes down a treat literally. Its something everyone can have fun with, certainly with a little imagionation and some great cookie shape cutters you can use this recipe throughout the year and produce christmas, easter biscuits as well as animal farm biscuits for example to go with a animal farm theme birthday party.

So lets get cooking whether its with the children or not. For your gingerbreadmen you are going to need:50g butter, 3 tblsp golden syrup, 75g castor sugar, 250g self raising flour, pinch of salt, 3 tsp ground ginger, glasce cherries and currants for decoration and milk for glazing.

First place the butter syrup and sugar in a small saucepan and heat slowly until sugar has dissolved. sift together the dry ingredients then make a well in the middle and pour in the warm melted mixture and beat until smooth. Roll out the mixture on a lightly floured surface while still warm and cut into figures using a cutter or homemade template. Make buttons eyes and a mouth from currants and glace cherries. Other decorations can be used depending on who they are for. Then brush with a little milk and bake on a greased baking sheet for 8 to 10 minutes or until the biscuits are firm and lightly golden. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Cooks Note - Uncooked dough can be kept in the freezer for up to 6 months and these biscuits will keep in a air tight tin if they last the day out once made!

See my previous blog Piping bags to use with your cooking as you could pipe faces, clothes etc on to each gingerbreadman too. See the cutters and christmass biscuit ideas in my previous blog christmas hanging biscuits also. Plus other great biscuit recipes in my blog taking the biscuit.

At this time of year we are inundated with fruits as we harvest from the fruit trees and hedgerows. I seem to have a abundance of apples, pears and plums this year (blame it on the weather). So with jams and preserves being made aswell as freezing to preserve for later use I love to cook this Swedish Apple Dessert my grandmother shown me.

In this dessert we use bread which is a important contribution to our daily intake of carbohydrates, B vitamins, iron, calcium and protein along with fibre if wholemeal variety used. This recipe gives you another way in which to use this ingredient to make a scrumptious dessert which is happily served with cream as a dessert or as a afternoon cake with tea, the choice is yours so have a go its delicious!

For my Swedish Apple Dessert you are going to need:1kg cooking apples peeled, cored and sliced, 1 lemon, 100g caster sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 100g butter, 225g breadcrumbs of your choice, 1 tblsp icing sugar and toasted almonds to decorate.

Cook your apples in a covered saucepan in minimum water (around 6 tblsp), once soft add the grated rind of the lemon and 4 tblsps lemon juice, the cinnamon and sugar then beat to a pulp. Melt the butter in another saucepan and add the breadcrumbs stirring well until the butter is fully absorbed. Now grease a 15 to 18 cm cake tin of your choice remember to line with greaseproof paper if not using silicone bakeware or a loose bottom tin. Press one third of the breadcrumbs onto the bottom of your prepared tin, then add a layer of the apple and continue layering breadcrumbs and apples finishing with a layer of breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes then cool before turning out. When cooled sift the icing sugar over the top and decorate with toasted almonds and slices of apple if you wish.

You can use plums for this recipe well which also tastes delicious. This dessert is also great for freezing as I like to have one for christmas ( I know that banned word) but you can freeze this for 6 months.

For great silicone bakeware which you always hear me praising as everyone who trys them never goes back to conventional tins take a look or see my previous blog silicone bakeware makes it oh so easy to clean.

Find a great preserve recipe in my previous blog apples falling early in freak british weather, another great apple recipe can be found on my blog fathers day roast, and for the apple pie recipe everyone loves see my blog meanwhile back in the kitchen to celebrate apple day.  Have you got a seasonal fruit recipe to share with all of us, drop me a line.

Tip - If you have got alot of pear and apples my grandmother taught me to wrap the good fruit in paper and place in a box in a cool area off the floor for keeping and this does work. Keep you box somewhere dry away from damp.

Muffins are a real family favourite and I love to make muffins with strawberries throughout the summer. These delicious easy, fruity muffins are a perfect summer treat for a picnic, garden party or just to enjoy with a cup of tea alfresco.

I like to serve my muffins slightly warm and they are at there best eaten the day they are made but I have to say I never ahave any left to put in a airtight tin for another day.

For my Strawberry and Cream muffins you are going to need: 250g self raising flour, 150g caster sugar, rind of 1 orange, 1 egg, 75ml sunflower oil, 142ml single cream, 125ml milk, 150g english strawberries and icing sugar for dusting.

First preheat your oven to 180 c/ 350 f/ gas 4. Now shift your flour into a large bowl and grate the rind of the orange placing the rind and sugar in with the sieved flour. Mix together the egg, oil, cream and milk and whisk together before pouring in to the flour mix and mix together with a wooden spoon. Remove the hulls from your strawberries and shop them into small pieces before adding these to the mixture and gently stirring them im. Place the mixture in to silicone muffin moulds or muffin paper cases. You will have enough for 8 to 10 muffins. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until well risen and golden. Then dust with icing sugar to finish and serve warm. Delicious!!!!  I bet you don’t have any left over!

Cooks tip - Try using other fruits like raspberries, blueberries etc for even more fruity muffin ideas!

Take a look at my previous blog silicone bakeware makes it oh so easy to clean and great traditional recipe in my blog classic recipe for Victoria sponge cake, plus there are many many more delicious recipes for you!

Ask most keen cooks which item in their kitchen they couldn’t live without and the majority would probably say their blender!

This isn’t surprising since electric blenders have revolutionised the art of cookery, assisting with preparation and mixing to varying degrees. With the variety available on the market now all of which off ease of use and cleaning, along with different power and pulsing levels to maximise versatility on the blend of ingredients to suit.

Some blenders have drip fill lids so you can add easilly ingredients as blending, and now offering dishwasher proof jugs to ease cleaning further.

With the Kenwood BL450 Blender for instance you can whizz up soups, smoothies etc in no time. This blender has a 1.6L capacity, 2 speeds and a pulse action for all your recipe requirements. On top of this it comes with a mulit mill for herbs, spices and coffee, and can also crush ice ( a must for all your summer and autumn evening parties). With stainless steel blades and non slip feet to keep it firmly fixed on your kitchen worktops.

See my previous blog Dark, delicious chocolate icecream, its very sundae, cooked, blended and served in a jiffy, and celebration time come on, plus many more great recipes for you to try.

Whats your kitchen essential?

As I stand at the sink to a never ending stream of pots to wash up while at me daughters I am then met by the the baking tray from hell. Oh yes! we all know the one!  The one which no matter what you use will not come clean, the one you grab a knive to, in a effort to try to get the caked cooking residues off!

“What on earth!”, was my comment.  ”Where is the Silicone baking set I brought you!”, guess what? its still in the box I sent it to her in!

I do not know anyone who once they have tried silicone they wonder how they coped before they found it. Its so versatile, easy to store, light, easy to clean and so easy to get your baked delites out or off. Its a must in my kitchen, no matter how delicate your baking is, it just pops out, literally!

This WellBake® Silicone Bakeware Professional 5 Piece Easy Baking Set, as shown above is not only a great gift for the cook in your life, but its a kitchen essential in my kitchen.  A great set comprising of 2 x 6 Cup Muffin Pans, 2 x 8″ Cake Mould Dishes, 1 x 9″ Square Lasagne Dish - Heavy Duty Non-Stick Silicone and what’s more, a 10 Year Guarantee.

This set features:

So whats it going to be? hours scrapping at the kitchen sink or easy baking? I know which one I’d choose. Why not tell me about your favourite bakeware or even a tip for cleaning?

See my previous blogs Traditional Soda Bread Recipe, Irresistable eggless cake, and quick homebaked tea time treats plus loads more recipes for you to try out your silicone bakeware on!