Scandi Kitchen Cinnamon Buns

These cinnamon buns are so soft, so gorgeously doughy and so unbelievably full of cinnamony goodness that you won't want to look at any other cinnamon bun recipe ever again. I had my first ever cinnamon bun at the Scandi Kitchen on Great Titchfield Street about a year ago, and haven't looked back since. It was one of those wonderfully shameless moments where I stood a few meters from the door (having stopped in my tracks on taking first bite) and scoffed the whole thing. No, this is not a save it for later kind of bun. 

Gua bao with spicy fried chicken

Gua Bao, often known quite ambiguously as just 'Bao' - which would be like saying 'bread' or 'wrap' - is a Taiwanese street food made to melt hearts and stomachs alike. They are little cloud-like white buns in which you'll find a varity of magnificently cooked meat (crispy duck, braised pork belly, fried chicken...) accompanied by tangy, crispy, saucy and spicy flavours. My perfect Gua Bao comprises of magnificent meat, something pickled, something spicy and a (very important) crunch.

Bacon & Chocolate bread pudding

So I often get asked about my love for bacon, and for my lack of bacon recipes on my bacon-named blog. I love bacon, of course. I don't want to alarm anyone, but I also love bread. And cheese. And vegetables (I know), hence my range of incredibly diverse recipe's on the blog. One of the things I love most about cooking is how much you can achieve with just a little experimenting, and of course devouring the delicious results. This time, I wanted to bring back the bacon a bit. But not just bacon in bacony recipes. I wanted to put bacon somewhere a bit different. In bread pudding. 

Peach & almond pavlova with a berry coulis

Just to try and keep the summer around for a liiiiiittle bit longer, I've made pavlova. Known as one of the summeriest puddings around, pavlova is as beautiful as it is delicious.

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

You may wonder what on earth I've done to these cookies to enable myself to call them 'the best'. Brown butter. Yup. So I also thought that this was only what happened when you're too busy singing into your spatula, forget you're melting butter and proceeded to throw it away to replace with fresh un-browned butter, but no. The wonderful woman that is Joy the Baker has taught me some brilliant things about the caramelly, flavoursome, nutty taste that brown butter can bring to your baked goods. 

Summer Puff Pastry Tarts

Parma ham, roasted tomato and baby leaves tart with mascarpone and capers

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Watching the fantastic men's singles Wimbledon final I wanted to eat something that didn't require too much cooking to tear me away from the telly. Something light, Summery and delicious enough for the likes of Wimbledon folk. Having already gorged myself on strawberries and whipped cream the previous weekend (I got over-excited), I went for puff pastry tarts. Obviously.

PIZZA: Two ways (featuring caramelised fennel, crispy prosciutto and roasted red peppers...)

Caramelised fennel, mozzarella, black olives & crispy prosciutto pizza

I had a bad experience with yeast. It scarred me. As touched upon briefly on my date with a bacon scone, I created a monster. Unfortunately it had been whilst using a recipe with a significant amount of chia seeds, meaning I had pretty much rolled up a wad of cash, dunked it in some fizzy yeast and baked it. Moral of the story - don't experiment with large quantities of expensive ingredients. Another moral - research a bit more about yeast and DO NOT WING IT.

Jazzed up Banana Bread

So I’ve jazzed up the banana bread. Imagine taking your favourite moist, sweet, banana-y banana bread and introducing him to those rice crispy guys- Snap, Crackle and Pop. Yup, he crackles. 

Speedy Flatbreads with Garlic & Herb Butter

Now you may think, due to the sheer beauty of these flatbreads (and the fact that they are flatbreads) that they were the result of a long, complicated and arduous method. I am so happy to tell you - you're wrong.

Salted Dulce de Leche Brownies

Now if you don't know what Dulce de Leche is, I'm so sorry you've never tried it before but I'm also so excited to introduce you. Think gooey caramelly goodness. The yummy bit in Banoffee Pie. Caramelised condensed milk. Here we shall combine gooey, fudgy chocolate brownies with Dulce de Leche (it just sounds indulgent doesn't it) and a sprinkling of salt. 

These brownies are taken from a recipe by David Lebovitz, the wonderful pastry chef who also enabled me to make marshmallows (yeah I made marshmallows). I don't expect you to wonder why I made these brownies, you can see for yourself. I love salads, I really do, but sometimes you just need a salted duche de leche brownie. You understand.

In the past I have made my own Dulce de Leche by boiling condensed milk, as you can see in my Banoffee Arctic Roll. Yes I was very pleased with myself and it tasted lovely, it really did, but who has 4 hours to boil condensed milk? Nobody. So this time I purchased my condensed milk in a lovely jar from Portena found in a fancy shop (you can also get the canned version). Delicious. 

Now bake, I implore you.