Author Archives: thelittleloaf

Scotch Quail’s Eggs

Scotch quail's eggs deep fried

When I was little I loved helping my Mum out with drinks parties. It felt exciting and somehow glamorous to be staying up late, dressing up smart and pushing trays of canapés round a room of grown-ups, eavesdropping on their conversations and sipping soft drinks from my very own champagne glass. And then there was the food – making it in advance with my Mum, arranging salamis and cheese straws on plates or punching cocktail sticks into a melon (this was the ’80s, after all), offering plates of treats to guests and seeing the smiles on their faces with that very first bite. Continue reading →

Iced Yoghurt, Peach & Pistachio Sundaes with Honeycomb

peach sundae honeycomb
One of the strange things about writing a cookbook is wondering where my recipes will end up. I don’t necessarily mean the tables that they’ll grace or mouths that they’ll feed – although I’m completely fascinated by that too – but the way in which people will interpret what I’ve written, reinventing their very own versions of the flavours I eat and enjoy. Continue reading →

Pink Grapefruit + Rosemary Fizz (+ Celebration)

Grapefruit rosemary fizz

With the sun shining and the second May Bank Holiday just around the corner, it’s time to bring out the cocktails. That, plus the fact that I handed in the first draft of my cookbook this morning – all 8 chapters, 100 recipes and 50,000 words (yep, I might have overshot the word limit a fraction but that’s what the editor’s for, right?) of it. Let’s celebrate. Continue reading →

the Little Loaf cookbook recipe testing

raisin scones My first book deadline is just a couple of weeks away and my fridge and freezer are groaning with food, my recipes are out with an army of testers and I’m finalising the ingredients and anecdotes in every spare moment. For those of you who don’t follow me on Instagram, here’s a sneak preview of some of what I’ve been working on.   Continue reading →

Happy Easter from the little loaf

Bircher muesli
Life has been hectic lately, to say the least. Beyond the book – which is the best kind of busy – we’ve been up and down the M1 for family reasons and I’m afraid I don’t have a new recipe for you today. What I do have, however, is a selection of my favourite Easter recipes – just click on each picture to take you to the post. A hot cross bun isn’t just for Easter, so although I should probably have posted this a week ago, I hope you’ll try them out anyway.

The last couple of weeks have really hammered home to me the importance of family, and Easter feels as good a time to give that some recognition. Wherever you are, I hope your weekend is filled with friends and family, love and laughter. Plus an endless supply of speckled chocolate eggs, of course. Continue reading →

(The Best) Avocado on Toast

whole piece avocado toast
After last week’s cookbook announcement, I wasn’t sure what to post today. Saturday morning was spent perfecting a recipe for fruit pastilles and eating one too many scones (for quality control purposes, of course), so come lunchtime all I wanted was something really simple and savoury. As I sat down to avocado on toast, I realised I’d never posted my version of it in on this blog. A few minutes of photos later and this post was ready to roll. Job done. Continue reading →

Some REALLY BIG Big News . . .

Fudge

Ever since I was tiny, I’ve loved to write. Before I was old enough to be left in the house on my own during school holidays, my Mum would take with me with her to the office. She’d sit me at a computer (one of those ancient black screens with a flashing cursor, I’m turning 30 this year and I fear it’s beginning to show) and the day would be spent writing stories, lost in my own little world and limited only by my imagination. Continue reading →

Stove Top Earl Grey Dulce de Leche

earl grey dulce de leche

There’s something immensely satisfying about making your own dulce de leche. Unlike a cake where everything happens in the oven, this is a recipe where the transformation takes place in front of your eyes and under your spatula.

Over the weekend I had some fun experimenting with tea: tea infused butter, tea leaves ground into dough and this, tea-infused dulce de leche. As someone who doesn’t really drink tea, but loves the taste, this is a wonderful way to experience its flavours. Continue reading →