Honeyed Almond, Apricot and White Chocolate Fudge

Heat together raw organic caster sugar, double cream and some organic honey in a large saucepan until all the sugar grains have dissolved. Then, turn up the heat to get a good rolling boil for about 15 minutes: the mixture will turn a lovely pale golden colour. 

Stir in some roughly chopped good-quality white chocolate chunks, toasted almonds and chewy chopped dried apricot pieces. Stir until the mixture becomes a thick paste. 

Spoon the mixture onto a parchment-lined tin and smooth over with a palette knife. Once it’s cooled, put the tin in the fridge to set, then remove and cut it into bite-sized pieces.

Place a handful in a clear acetate bag, and tie with ribbon!

Bramble Jellies

These deeply fruity sweets can easily be made with your frozen crop of blackberries from the autumn.

Line a square baking tin with clingfilm, and set aside.

Place whatever gelling medium you choose: we use agar flakes, into a bowl and cover with cold water.  Set aside to soak.

In a food processor blend defrosted, frozen blackberries to make a puree.  Push through a sieve into a pan, and discard the seeds left behind.

Add raw organic caster sugar and water to the puree and heat to gently dissolve the sugar.  Then bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.  Mix in your soaked gelling agent.  Leave to cool in the pan.

Stir the mixture again, and pour into your prepared tin.  Allow to cool before chilling in the ‘fridge for several hours until completely set.

Cut the jelly into individual squares, and dust with raw organic caster sugar!

Choc Hazelnut Biscotti

(vegan and gluten-free)

We made these dark chocolate biscotti to accompany a vegan almond milk ice-‘cream’ when vegan friends came over for lunch.  The dark nutty biscuits were a lovely contrast to the creamy iced dessert.

Whisk almond milk and ground flax seeds together, then add raw organic sugar - we use either organic palmyra tree blossom sugar or Panela for this, cold-pressed sunflower oil, pure vanilla and almond extracts and stir the mixture until it’s very smooth.

Sift in plain gluten-free flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot, baking powder and Maldon sea salt.  Stir together and – as the mixture begins to come together, stir in whole hazelnuts.  Knead this 'dough' very briefly to stiffen it up (push any escapee nuts back into the mixture!).

Form the dough into a rectangle on a baking sheet.  Bake until it puffs up slightly and the top cracks.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  It should be very firm.

Increase the oven heat, then – on a cutting board – slice the rectangle into half inch thick slices.  Gently return the slices to the baking sheet and put back into the oven to crisp up the biscotti.

Remove from the oven, place the biscotti on a cooling rack.

Once cool, store the biscotti in an air tight container.  Keeps for several weeks (if they last long enough!).