Almond shortbread base with caramel, sliced almonds and chocolate. 10″x8″ of 0.5cm thick shortbread (I split over two pans as 8″ is the biggest I had).

Finished Twix bars

A crunchy biscuit with nuts and chocolate. The type of nuts and chocolate can be swapped to match taste.

Chocolate Biscotti

Red velvet chocolate cake, filled with cream cheese frosting, coated in ganache, then sprinkled and topped with a cherry.

These won’t last long…

A crunchy caramel tart filled with juicy cranberries and swimming in caramel. Served with Creme anglaise. The only thing I’d change is that next time I’d use less caramel and try an almond shortbread base.

Finished tart

Bananas are one of the few fruits you can’t just throw in a pan with some sugar and turn into jam. This is a great excuse to use up overripe bananas if you’re tired of banana muffins.

Finished Granola

• 135g (1 1/2c) rolled oats
• 600g mixed nuts/seeds
• 3 bananas, very spotted and ripe
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp tahini/almond butter
• 1 tbsp coconut oil/honey
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Dash of salt

The oats can be gluten free for anyone (me) with a gluten intolerance. The nuts can be any combination. Hazelnuts and pecans work well. I used an even split of hazelnuts, pecans, peanuts and brazil nuts. The last 50g was cacoa nibs, which I mixed in after baking.

Directions

• Preheat oven to 175C/350F, grease a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
• Chop and mix all nuts/seeds to combine. Try not to leave any pieces larger than a peanut, or half a hazelnut.
• Blitz bananas, maple syrup, coconut oil and tahini in a food processor.
• Add the seeds to the bananas, stirring to combine evenly, then spread evenly on a baking sheet.
• Bake for 15 mins, stir well to break up clusters, then bake for another 10-15 mins until golden brown.
• Cool completely, then break up large chunks and store in an air tight container at room temperature for a couple of weeks.

So tasty I put my face on it!

The texture of this is similar to focaccia bread in that it’s fairly dense, but is well complimented when sandwiched together with mascarpone filling. The coconut flakes were a twist which I’d do again.

Tripple sponge, mascarpone and cream cheese

Granola bars are an easy way to use up seeds and dried fruit and can be filled with loads of combinations of nuts, seeds, chocolate or fruit.

Filled and topped granola bars before second baking

Light buttermilk cakes filled with Creme Patissiere (Bakers cream) and topped with chocolate ganache. Makes around 12 muffins, depending on size. They’re better if you can wait for the ganache to cool before you eat them, but good luck with that.

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Today is my birthday, a couple of days short of St. Patricks day. I needed cake and Baileys. These sticky toffee mini-bundt cakes fix both problems.

A chocolate cake, covered in marshmallows, chocolate ganache and toasted nuts. This isn’t overly rich or sickly.

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