Gingerbread House 2020
Everything changes. In 2020, the entire world changed. But some things remain the same. At the start of December every year, when we drag the battered old suitcase of Christmas decorations from under the...
Category: Bake
Sugar and spice and all things nice
Movie food: Harry Potter + treacle tart
Harry Potter + treacle tart While it’s difficult to make out if treacle tart actually appears in the Harry Potter films – there’s a lot of magical food on those groaning tables – it’s...
Movie food: Beauty and the Beast + cheese soufflé
The recent feature that I wrote for the Irish Examiner on cooking with kids, using films as inspiration, went through a couple of drafts when we had to change a few films. Plus, I...
Rhubarb & strawberry cobbler
It feels as if there’s been a lot more sweet things around the cottage lately. This might be due to a combination of the girls baking more – thanks to cookbook gifts from the...
Double Chocolate Cider Brownies
When times are strange, we all need brownies. My double chocolate porter brownies date back to the earliest days of Eight Degrees in 2011. It was a well road tested recipe – I still...
Covid chooks, cake and catastrophising: a month of our new normal
At the start I was frozen, pinned to the moment by that first big announcement about the schools closing. I was in work, listening online to Leo broadcasting live from Washington (“Can I speak...
Easter baking: Choc chip hot cross buns
When all around is madness, the kitchen – its rituals and habits – can be sanity. I’m not talking about the must-do-everyday breakfasts and lunches and dinners and snacks (why on earth do children...
The simplest (gluten free) chocolate tart
This chocolate tart takes minutes to put together, can be gluten free and – most importantly – has a gorgeous contrast between the gloriously smooth chocolate ganache filling and the textured, crunchy oatcake crust.