This recipe is oldie but a goodie! I absolutely love shortbread biscuits, especially when they are homemade! By adding strawberries and cream, to make little stacks it adds a lovely summery touch and creates a delicious dessert from these simple biscuits.
 
This is a great recipe to get this kids involved with, as you don’t need to use an electric mixer or add in anything remotely messy! They can also have great fun cutting out circles with a glass or cutter, to make the biscuits. My recipe below makes 12 biscuits, so will serve 6 as a dessert. I have added in some chocolate chips to the recipe (as chocolate makes everything better!), but this can easily be left out if desired! 


Ingredients:

•  165g plain flour
• 45g caster sugar
• 110g butter (softened)
• 30g chocolate chips
• 200g chopped strawberries
• 150ml cream
• 20g icing sugar (sifted)

​I am a huge fan of the ‘Great British Bake Off’ so I was so excited when the new season started! This recipe was inspired by episode one, which featured this classic cake for the always-entertaining ‘showstopper’ challenge. There were a few disasters on the show but my recipe below is so easy to put together, you really can’t go wrong!
 
I decided to make mini versions of a Black Forest Gateaux, with some whipped cream on top and a fresh cherry, and I think they look gorgeous! Hope you do too! 

Ingredients for the chocolate cake:

• 300g caster sugar
• 300g butter (softened)
• 4 eggs
• 200g self-raising flour, sifted
• 100g cocoa powder

 
For the filling & topping:

• 1 can/jar black cherries in syrup (425g)
• 2 tbsp kirsch (this is cherry brandy, and is optional!)
• 50g caster sugar
• 400ml cream, whipped

 
For decoration:

• 50g chocolate shavings
• 16 whole cherries

Banoffee is one of my favourite desserts; it’s old school and such a great crowd pleaser! There is no baking involved, so it’s really easy to whip together the night before a dinner party. I have added in a layer of chopped hazelnuts to the biscuit base of these pies, which really adds to the flavour. My version is made in little mini ramekin dishes, to make individual banoffee pies, but the recipe can be made in a regular cake tin if you prefer! 

Ingredients:
 
For the Biscuit Base:

• 100g butter
• 150g digestive biscuits
• 50g chopped hazelnuts

 
For the Toffee Layer:

• 80g butter
• 100g dark brown soft sugar
• 397g can condensed Milk

 
For the Topping:

• 2 bananas
• 300ml cream
• 100g dark chocolate (to grate on top)

You will also need 6 mini ramekin dishes or else a 23cm (9inch) loose-bottomed round cake tin, and a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle, to pipe on the cream.


 Method:
 

• To make the base, melt your butter and leave to one side
• Place the digestive biscuits in a sealed sandwich bag and crush with a rolling pin, until they are nice and fine
• Place some cling film in each ramekin dish, so it covers the base and sides completely, if using a cake tin line the base with greaseproof paper and grease the sides well
• Mix the biscuit crumbs and the butter together in a bowl, until well combined
• Pour the biscuit mixture into the ramekins and press down really well with the back of a spoon
• Next, scatter over the hazelnuts and press down 

This is one of my favourites, Lemon Meringue Pie; this recipe uses both the yoke and the egg white, which is great. It’s one of those desserts that instantly make me think of summer and warmer weather (wishful thinking!). I am a serious lemon lover, so have used a lot of lemon in this version, but if you prefer more of a subtle lemon flavour, you can adjust the amount exactly to your taste!
The classic lemon meringue pie uses a pastry base but I use crushed up biscuits instead. It’s much quicker to put together and the texture works really well with the smooth lemon filling and marshmallowy meringue layer…mouths watering yet?!

Ingredients:

For the Biscuit Base:

• 200g digestive biscuits
• 85g butter (melted)

 For the Lemon Layer:

• 1 x tin condensed milk (397g)
• Juice of 4 lemons and the zest of 2 lemons
• 4 egg yolks (the whites will be used for the meringue)

​
For the Meringue Layer:

• 150g sugar
• 4 egg whites
• 1 x teaspoon corn flour
• 1 x teaspoon white wine vinegar (or vinegar is just fine)

 

• 1 x 23cm/9in loose-bottomed tin with high sides/removable collar, make sure this is well greased around the sides and lined with greaseproof paper.

Meringues are one of my favourite desserts to serve to family and friends after dinner. They are nice and light but are the perfect sweet end to a delicious meal. My recipe below is a variation on the classic meringue, adding some flavour, colour and crunch by topping the meringues with chopped pistachios, hazelnuts and cocoa. These giant meringues look amazing piled up on a cake stand and served with a big bowl of cream and berries!
The recipe below makes 6 giant meringues, but you can double it if serving more people! 

Ingredients:

•  200g sugar
• 4 egg whites
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

 
For the coating:

•  50g chopped pistachios
• 50g chopped hazelnuts
• 50g cocoa​
  

Ingredients:

For the crumble:

• 50g porridge oats
• 150g plain flour
• 50g caster sugar
• 80 g butter
• 1 vanilla pod (optional)
  

For the filling:

• 4-5 large cooking apples (approx. 400g) - peeled, cored and quartered
• 50g caster sugar
• 1-tablespoon water

Toffee Sauce:

• 75g butter
• 150g light brown sugar
• 100g golden syrup
• 100ml cream
  

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Peel and core the apples, quarter and cut in to bite-size chunks.

• Put the apples into a large pan with the sugar and water. Cook over a low heat for 5 - 10 minutes until the apples are nice and tender, leave on the heat a little longer if necessary. Remove from heat and set aside.  

Optional: Remove from heat and stir in your vanilla pod scraping and mix through.

• Place the flour and oats in a bowl and mix well. Cut the butter into small cubes and add this to the mixture. 

• Using your fingertips, mix until it resembles an even crumb-like texture.

• Add the sugar and mix through.
• Place a nice thick layer of your apple mixture into each dish and then generously cover with your crumble topping.
• Bake for approximately 25 minutes, until the crumble is nice and golden and the apple mixture is bubbling through.

 This is the perfect summer recipe; the pink/red colour from the strawberry jam is a really nice twist on a traditional meringue.  This recipe makes 12 meringues, so is great if you are having a large group to dinner!

For a really quick dessert simply crush up the meringues and serve in a glass jar/ramekin dish with whipped cream and chopped up strawberries, as an Eton mess!

Ingredients:

• 4 egg whites (at room temperature) 
  
• 250g caster sugar
  
• 1 x teaspoon corn flour
  
• 1 x teaspoon white wine vinegar 
  
• 1 tablespoon strawberry jam (seedless)
  
• 2 drops red food coloring
  
• 1 x punnet fresh strawberries
  
• Whipped cream & icing sugar to decorate

Method:

• Cover two large flat baking trays with parchment paper.

• Preheat oven to 200ºC

• In a small mixing bowl stir together the seedless strawberry jam with the drops of red food colouring and set aside.

• In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form

A really good cheesecake is definitely one of my favourite desserts! I’m keeping it nice and simple with this 'No Bake Cheesecake’. It’s a really quick dessert to put together for a dinner party or special occasion, you can make it the night before or else the morning of the dinner, it only takes about 5 minutes!
 
This recipe uses fresh raspberries, but you could use chopped strawberries or any other type of berry you prefer, it's very flexible!
 
 
Ingredients:

• 300 g digestive biscuits
• 100 g butter
• 350ml of fresh cream (whipped)
• 450g Philadelphia cheese
• 150g icing sugar sifted
• Teaspoon of vanilla essence/1 vanilla pod
• 1 punnet of fresh raspberries

Method:

• Melt the butter and then crush the biscuits in a plastic bag using a rolling pin.
• Line the base of a spring clip tin (a tin where the base can come away from the sides) with grease proof paper and grease the sides with a bit of sunflower oil.
• Add the crushed biscuits to the melted butter and mix until well combined.
• Pour onto the base of your tin and make sure it’s evenly spread and tightly compressed together, by using the back of a spoon.