Chocolate & Pistachio Brownies

Chocolate & Pistachio Brownies

Brownies as they should be: moist, soft and squidgy on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside. Shop-bought and other recipes I’ve tried but these brownies are by far my favourite. This recipe is foolproof; never have I had a disaster with this one. Many would agree that chocolate is the ultimate comfort food. We munch on it when we’re happy, we scoff it down when feeling low. We devour it when we’re hungry, we nibble on it when we’re stuffed. Let’s face it, we’ll rationalise about anything and everything just to get our hands on some chocolate.

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White & Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunks

White & Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunks

Warning: This turns brainy and docile old ladies into scatty, hyperactive big kids. Let me explain.

The annual Hockley Scrabble Christmas party was coming up and I volunteered to make my favourite chocolate cake. As luck would have it, a few days before the event our old and half-useless oven gave in and with its last sigh tripped the house’s electricity. It goes without saying that the chocolate cake promise went down the drain. After pondering for a few days I decided to get adventurous and try out this dessert.

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Fresh Nectarines and Cream

Fresh Nectarines and Cream

In today’s rat race there are so many ready-made desserts and sweets on shops’ shelves that the fresh produce section gets automatically shunned when people are choosing a dessert. Yet the possibilities of fruit desserts are endless. This recipe, if you can call it that, is simple and suits every occasion, even a dinner party.

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Baked Apples stuffed with Almonds, Honey and Cinnamon

Baked Apples stuffed with Almonds, Honey and Cinnamon

A meal is never complete without a dessert. Never. When the last crumb and dollop of sauce has been scraped from plate my tongue yells out “What’s next?!?”. Craving something sweet I’ll scour the pantry, looking for some bright-coloured wrapped candy. But alas, it is never there.

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Nigella’s Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake

Nigellas Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

Back in late March Neil’s 50th birthday (oops, I said it) was coming up and I asked him what he would like as a special meal. Chocolate cake was one of the requests. (Neil is a self-confessed chocoholic and his excuse is he’s in touch with his feminine side.) He regressed by telling me on each of his birthdays his mother used to bake him a chocolate cake with melted chocolate on top as icing. Forever trying to please him, I promised I will make him one.

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Chocolate & Coconut Clusters

Chocolate & Coconut Clusters

When I was about 4 years old my mother made finger foods for the church on every odd Sunday. These are one of the recipes she made. Like any typical kid I especially wanted to help her make these blobs of chocolate heaven. Constantly I was told to keep my fingers out of the sweet, thick mixture but how could I resist? At least I got to lick the pot out afterwards. During sermons all I could think about was my “sjokolade jungle oat koekies”, wishing the dominie (reverend) would come to a conclusion. Any conclusion, even if we all burn in hell I simply didn’t care for as long as I could eat my “koekies” first I will die happy.
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