I’m just a little bit sticky, and smelling strongly of clementines right now. I blame my old friend Alan Coxon. Alan is a man in perpetual motion. Like so many telly chefs, he exists  in a never-ending whirl of international food shows, demonstrations, restaurant openings and book signings. My family and I were once in a very smart hotel in Cape Town which had the inevitable wall of fame – featuring the great and the good who had stayed there. Amongst Nelson Mandela, Brad Pitt and Hilary Clinton, I spotted Alan Coxon, just above Sting.  Such illustrious company! I took a photo of the wall and sent it to Alan. But despite his crazy schedule, he was the first of my cheffy friends to send me a few recipes to use in my blog. And may I say, an Alan Coxon recipe does NOT go wrong. Not. Ever.

If you have time over the next week, make a jar and stash it in your cupboard for one of the days over Christmas when something light, fruity and full of booze is required.

Clementines In Brandy

Makes 500g/ 1lb 2oz 1kg

( 2 ¼ lb) clementines

250g granulated sugar

150ml (1/4) pint brandy

Method

• Peel the clementines then remove all the white pith – don’t angst over this, remove as much as you can.
• Place into warm sterilised jars. Sterilise by putting in an oven for half an hour at 140C/275F/Gas 1
• Stir the sugar and 300ml of water in a pan until sugar has dissolved
• Bring to the boil, and boil rapidly until it reaches 110 degrees C (This maybe controlled with a sugar thermometer) Alternatively, test by pressing a small amount of the syrup between two teaspoon, when the spoons are pulled apart, a thread should form.

• At this point leave to cool
• Measure the syrup and add the same amount of brandy and stir.
• Pour over the fruits so they are completely covered.
• Seal the jars with an airtight lid and keep for up to 1 month
• Decorate with a big festive ribbon and a stick of cinnamon

I’m starting today with a picture to gladden anyone’s heart

This comes courtesy of my friend Eva. We are fellow Karate Mums, and make cakes and biscuits for the twice annual karate grading at our local dojo. I normally throw together a couple of dozen cupcakes with hideous amounts of chocolate and frosting which appeals to our young Ninjas, but then six months ago, Eva raised the game by turning up with a tray of ginger biscuit karate kids complete with different coloured belts!  This morning’s picture, courtesy of Facebook, has stiffened my competitive resolve. It made me laugh and wonder if I could come up with something a bit more fun/seasonal/inventive for next week’s grading. I decided on reindeer chocolate cupcakes, and this is where the trouble began. At 8am this morning I was busted by my kids merrily making small fondant eyes, and attempting to drizzle chocolate antlers onto greaseproof paper. I am a great believer in celebrating failure as well as success, so take a look below. Clearly. Haven’t. Got. It. Right. Yet.

Which led me onto thoughts of Curlywurlys and Smarties (squiggly toffee and chocolate bar and candy covered chocolate drops for anyone unfamiliar with British confectionary)…and a walk with the dog which sneakily took in the local shops.

So this afternoon I’ve knocked up a tray of chocolate buns. Not sure about the recipe so I’ll post it if I like it, and am now weighing up chocolate fondant icing v chocolate buttercream.

As you can see, I settled on a milk chocolate ganache – melted chocolate and double cream heated together and beaten.

I gave up on the fondant eyes, and used white chocolate drops with added melted chocolate pupils (marked with the end of a chopstick). Then chopped up the Curlywurly into reindeer(isn) antlers.

Reindeer chocolate cupcake

Well, it looked OK…but not as I wanted it to. The face looked a bit…well…flat. So, cue more scratching of head and another visit to sweetshop and this is what I came up with….more like a pig than a reindeer? But definitely an improvement.

I have a plan to move onto small amaretti biscuits for a muzzle, but in the meantime, and for the avoidance of any doubt, here’s a shot of the two together.

As a cookery producer, I spent many, many hours sampling different recipes for chocolate brownies. Any recipe featuring chocolate is a big draw for a tv audience. Yes, we really do consider these things when we’re putting together a show. For example, it’s very hard for anyone in TV production to get excited about a casserole as, however, delicious it is, it’s basically meat in a brown sauce….hence chefs scattering lashings of chopped herbs, grated lemon zest, anything to get a bit of colour onto the screen. But wait, aren’t chocolate brownies brown? Yes, they are, but they’re chocolate (see earlier comment) so that negates any worrying about brownness…honestly…it just does.  And, you can tart up a plate of brownies with icing sugar, berries, candles, sparklers….on one show we even added tiny squares of edible gold leaf and scattered  gold dragees over the plate.

As a mother, I have spent a great deal of time making chocolate brownies as my family unsurprisingly share the nation’s love of chocolate. I have dallied with Nigella, trifled with James Martin and for a while felt that Nigel Slater’s were very good indeed. However, after a week of exhaustive brownie baking, I have found what is, for me, the perfect brownie recipe. Saying that, I am aware that a good brownie is a personal thing. In many ways it is like finding the perfect recipe for cookies (squidgy or crispy…or both) – you need to know what you’re after before you start. I like my brownies to be dark chocolate and nut free. Don’t get me wrong, there’s not a lot wrong with pecans and walnuts in many recipes, I just happen to prefer my chocolate brownies to be wholly chocolate. I also like my brownies to be thick – that was my problem with Nigella’s recipe – well, that and the nuts – they just never came out chunky enough. These fulfill the chunkiness quotient, and they’re extremely chocolatey and moist….Take a look

Chocolate brownies

These brownies come to you courtesy of cookery writer and former editor of Good Food Magazine, Orlando Murrin. I have tweaked the recipe a little. For example, he uses unsalted butter, I use slightly salted as I think a little salt enhances baking. I also added some vanilla extract for the same reason. So without any further ado, here we go.

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

1. 185g slightly salted butter
2. 185g best dark chocolate
3. 85g plain flour
4. 40g cocoa powder
5. 100g milk chocolate chunks
6. 3 large eggs
7. 275g golden caster sugar
8. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Cut 185g slightly salted butter into smallish cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break 185g best dark chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl. Fill a small saucepan about a quarter full with hot water, then sit the bowl on top so it rests on the rim of the pan, not touching the water. Put over a low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them. Now remove the bowl from the pan. OR, cover the bowl loosely with cling film and put in the microwave for 2 minutes on High. Leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.

Pre-heat the oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4  Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out an oblonge of non-stick baking parchment to line the base and run up the two sides like this. This will help you lift out the square of cooked brownie, and avoid any annoying tipping upside down onto a tea towel scenarios. This just squishes the brownies, and crumbles the papery top.

Tin lined with parchment paper

Tip 85g plain flour and 40g cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl, and tap and shake the sieve so they run through together and you get rid of any lumps.

Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract as this strangely boosts the chocolate flavour. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes, depending on how powerful your mixer is. It should look like this when it’s ready.

Sugar and eggs whisked together

Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula until the two mixtures are one and the colour is a mottled dark brown. The idea is to mix them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle as you can.

Gently fold in the flour and cocoa powder. The mixture will look dry and dusty at first, don’t despair, keep going very gently and it will end up looking gungy and fudgy. Stop just before you feel you should, as you don’t want to overdo this mixing. Finally, stir in the milk chocolate chunks until they’re dotted throughout.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, gently ease the mixture into the corners of the tin and paddle the spatula from side to side across the top to level it.

Chocolate brownie mix

Put in the oven and set your timer for 25 minutes. When the buzzer goes, open the oven, pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not done, so put it back in and bake for another 5 minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust (see below) and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin. Take out of the oven.

Cooked Brownies in the tin

Leave the whole thing in the tin until completely cold. It has to be completely cold. Really. Completely. Then, using the overhanging parchment paper, lift out the brownie. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks, or freeze for up to a month. I am laughing as I type this, as these last approximately three days in our house. Though I suppose you could make another batch and freeze for christmas.

Cookery books for Christmas

I have 346 cookery books. I know this because, in the interests of journalistic accuracy, I have just counted them. Within the week, I’ll have another because yesterday, when I was shopping for Christmas, I stumbled upon a book I must have. It’s called Altitude and it’s a collection of cold weather recipes. The photography is wonderful, but really, it’s the concept of the book, and all that cream and cheese, colliding with Christmas that got me. I would love to post a photo of it, and give you more details. But, I spotted it in the Royal Horticultural Society shop at Wisley for twenty quid, and thought I’d get it much cheaper on Amazon. I was a fool. It does not appear to be on Amazon. Though, as a side bar to this conversation, who knew there where so many books on High Altitude cooking? It’s astounding. Now I am faced with the trial of heading out in the car for an hour to get this book. I need it. I probably won’t cook from it straight away. but I long to curl up by the fire and read it from cover to cover.

It is no wonder that I have so many cookery books – in truth, the wonder is that I don’t have more. I seem to remember that Nigella Lawson’s collection runs into the thousands. We share a late-night Amazon habit, it is true, but she has rather deeper pockets than me. Most of my books were free, sent to me when I was making cookery programmes. It’s very hard to turn down a freebie, and although I have given away, gifted and dumped a great many, I am still left with…well, 346. As a television producer, the question I’m most often asked is “Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?”, followed by “What’s (insert name of current tabloid darling) really like?” and then “What do you think of Jamie/Nigella/Hugh’s new cookery book?” Really, you wouldn’t believe how many people love cookery books.

Which brings me onto Christmas. Tis the season to be merry, and if you’re a publisher, to bring out as many cookery books as humanly possible.  I wouldn’t buy many of them. Not at all. However, if you’re buying a book for someone who doesn’t really cook, but loves watching cookery shows, then by all means order in the latest Jamie, Nigella or Gordon (hey job done – happy recipient), but if you want to buy a cookery book which will be loved, used and covered with food stains, then I have a few suggestions.

Best Cookery book for a Foodie: If your beloved is a self confessed foodie and seriously into food porn, then I caught a glimpse of Philip Howard’s new book yesterday The Square Volume 1: Savoury and urge you to buy it. First of all, it looks astounding, and secondly Phil Howard can cook like an angel. There are around 150 savoury recipes in the book, and each has a beautiful photograph to accompany it. This is the book to give someone who loves a project (ME – if you’re listening, dear family and friends), and has good basic technique. I can imagine setting aside an afternoon over Christmas while everyone else is watching Back to the Future, and coming up with an extraordinary dish.

The Square Volume 1:Savoury

Best Cookery Book for a man: Paul Hollywood’s How to Bake. It’s a bit chilly for Barbecues at this time of year, so I suggest you get your man into bread making. It’s astounding how much they like it. Really, even my husband who over the years has been cowed (by me, I admit it) into all but giving up cooking, really loves making bread. And I really love eating homemade bread, so clearly this is A Good Thing! Again, this book is packed full of pictures. Interestingly, there are many more pictures than in Paul’s previous bread book, perhaps his publishers think he’s worth the investment these days! There is a lot of detail and explanation, and gently leads the reader by the hand through basic loaves to much more ambitious projects.

How to Bake by Paul Hollwood

Best Cookery book for a cook: Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros. My most-used cookery book. Ever. Falling Cloudberries looks divine, it will make your heart leap with joy when you see it, and her slow cooked “leg of Lamb with oregano and lemon” is the perfect family Sunday lunch. This is the cookbook I return to time and time again.

Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros

Leg of Lamb with oregano and lemon

3 ¾ pounds leg of lamb (on the bone)
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon dried oregano
3 ½ tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 large potatoes

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C/425 degrees F/Gas 7. Rinse and trim the lamb of excess fat and put it in a large baking pan. Rub the lamb all over with the lemon juice, season well with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the oregano, crushing it between your fingers to cover the meat. Dot the butter over the top. Pour 1 cup of water around the lamb and drizzle the olive oil around it as well. Bake for about 15 to 30 minutes on each side, until it is browned all over.

Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-size pieces. Scatter them in the baking pan around the browned lamb, add some salt, and turn them over with a wooden spoon to coat them in the juice. Add a little more water if it has evaporated. Cover the baking sheet with foil, decrease the heat to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F/Gas 4, and bake for 2 ½ hours or so, turning the lamb over at least once during this time and tossing the potatoes. If the lamb isn’t browned enough, remove the foil for the final 30 minutes of cooking. Serve warm on a huge platter with a salad or some simply cooked greens. This is also nice with some tzatziki on the side.

—From Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes by Tessa Kiros/Andrews McMeel Publishing

Oh yes! And here’s a link to her site so you can experience the gloriousness of her other books. So pretty, so delicious www.tessakiros.com