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.

Cappucino one of my daughters favourites. Whenever we are out and about shopping she can’t resist the little tea shop in the village square, with its comfortable leather sofas and mock farmhouse setting, to enjoy a gigantic piece of the cake of the day and a large cup of cappucino. Its her little treat she loves it! Besides browsing through the handcrafted jewellry on display within.

I know with her love of cappucino I knew the perfect gift for her would be the La Cafetiere Mukka Express - silver edition. Why because its easy, simple and it does it all for you in one, no mess spread everywhere and then it serves a cappucino as you would get in the finest coffee house.

The Mukka Express, by Bialetti, is the first stove top cappuccino maker of it`s kind. The Lucida is a stylish all silver design that will look good in any kitchen. The new Mukka Express is the first, fully patented ‘Stove-Top Cappuccino’ maker. It combines the traditional stove-top style of coffee maker with a large size pot for holding the milk. Place the water in the bottom section, coffee in the middle and fill the top section to the maker with milk. Then place on the stove-top and as the water boils to make the coffee, the resulting steam is passed through the milk to froth it. Ideal for 2 mugs of cappuccino or caf latte.

Find some great recipes in my previous blog taking the biscuit, or even classic recipe for victoria samdwich blog, oh and not forgetting the blog on quick homemade teatime treats.

Whats your favourite tea, coffee or are your a expresso person? Whats your favourite side with your coffee or tea, is it a cake or biscuit and do you know the difference?

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!

Well to cheer us all up and take our minds off the ever increasing petrol pump prices again, June is the season to eat like the Gods! The first of the British Fruits is reaching our shops. Lucious Strawberries with that unbeatable British flavour, Asparagus as in my previous blog  quick and easy Asparagus recipes can still be found. With the first crop of new potatoes, peas and broad beans and of course salad crops too. I have started picking mine straight from out the garden you cannot beat that fresh from the garden taste & of course, the great cost - as its FREE. 

Its best to eat in season, as seasonal produce is fresher and higher in nutrients, with less food miles and its kinder on your purse strings too. So just take a look at whats about as great seasonal foods for June to enjoy are:

Fruit: blackberries (early), cherries, elderflowers, gooseberries, raspberries, redcurrants, rhubarb (outdoor), strawberries, tayberries. Imported figs.Vegetables: asparagus, baby carrots, broad beans, broccoli, chervil, chives, courgettes and flowers, cucumbers, fennel, globe artichokes, green beans, horseradish, lettuce, mangetout, new potatoes, peas, peppers, radishes, rocket and other salad leaves, samphire, spinach, sorrel, spring onions, tomatoes, watercress. Imported aubergines.Fish & shellfish: black bream, brown and rainbow trout, brown shrimp, cuttlefish, first fresh kippers (run until Oct), grey mullet, haddock, hake, john dory, lobster, pollack, prawns, sardines, sea bass, sea trout, signal crayfish, spider crab, whitebait, wild salmon. Don’t bother with oysters, mackerel, mussels, scallops and flatfish - they’re all spawning. Meat: hogget lamb, Welsh lamb.

So with the start of wimbledon days away now and great racing at Ascot lets find you a tantalising dish to serve made with the one and only strawberry. Strawberries are low in fat and calories and strawberries are naturally high in fiber, vitamin C, folate, potassium and antioxidants.

With fathers day upon us here is one of my dads own favourites, a yummy Strawberry Fudge Cheesecake:

You will need:75g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing, 250g HobNobs biscuits (or homemade oat biscuits), 250g strawberry or vanilla fudge, 300g mascarpone, 400ml double cream, softly whipped, 250g British Local strawberries, quartered and 2 tsp icing sugar to decorate.

Start by lightly buttering a 23cm springform cake tin. Pulse the biscuits to crumbs in your food processor. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined and clumped together. Tip into the base of the tin and press down evenly, then chill. Put 200g of the fudge in a large bowl and melt in a microwave for 1 minute on High, until it forms a soft paste (or alternatively you could melt in a pan over a very low heat). Cool slightly, then beat in the mascarpone in a bowl with a wooden spoon, until soft, add to the melted fudge and mix until all combined and then gently fold in the whipped cream. Chop the remaining fudge into small chunks and stir into the filling. Spoon this over the chilled biscuit base, smoothing the top. Cover and chill for at least 6 hours or overnight – the fudge will set the cheesecake. Put your strawberries in a bowl and toss with the icing sugar. Set aside to macerate for 20 minutes. Once the cheesecake is set, run a knife all around to loosen and remove the springform collar. Slide onto a serving plate and spoon over the strawberries to serve. If your feeling really indulgant serve with champagne or a good chilled sparkling wine for something just that bit special.

This is a great recipe to do and take with you to one of these great outdoor concert events up and down the country, no matter what the weather we British can always enjoy good food and a party!!!

Why not tell me about your favourite strawberry recipe? Also check out other food processor recipes like on my previous blog chocolate profiteroles with chantilly cream made with your mixer.