Baked garlic chilli chicken drumsticks

Garlic chilli chicken drumsticks with mixed leaf salad and steamed baby potatoes

Baked cider ham fillet with sticky mustard glaze

This is the first time I've ever dealt with a whole chunk of ham. I'm not a lover of any pork products and it's really in the last few months that I started using them in my cooking. This baked cider ham requires a bit of effort, mostly preparation time. Before cooking, I soaked the entire fillet in cold water in a large stockpot for 24 hours, changing water every 4 hours the first two times and then every 8 hours. Then the ham sat in a bath of cider, thyme, shallots, bay leaves, and peppercorns for another 24 hours before baking. The result was delicious, well worth all the prep work! 

Baked cider ham with sticky mustard glaze

Maple pecan scones

I'm not a great fan of the quintessential afternoon tea accompaniment on this side of the pond, namely scones and clotted cream. So even after I went wheat-free, I didn't miss scones one bit. I do, however, miss having a nibble with tea. So I decided to attempt making wheat-free scones. 

Maple pecan scones with maple syrup glaze

Basil panna cotta

Husband brought home a basil plant when I asked him for some fresh basil to go with the fresh mozzarella and tomatoes I got a few days ago. Naturally, a lot of basil was still in the pot. I also had nearly a full carton of double cream after making a batch of pecan maple scones (recipe to come) so I thought I'd experiment with a basil-infused panna cotta.

Basil panna cotta with summer berries

Mung bean jelly loaf 綠豆沙涼糕

Pineapple coconut loaf (2)

After a full schedule for the first two weeks of May, I finally had the time and energy to try out the tweaked recipe for my pineapple coconut loaf with less liquid and sugar. I also used the ground walnuts left over from making the chocolate walnut torte.

Pineapple coconut loaf

Decadent chocolate walnut torte

As my mini chopper successfully blitzed cauliflower for rice, I felt more confident that it could handle grinding walnuts well. And seeing as it'd been a while since I made any chocolate desserts, I reached for the bag of top quality antioxidant, non-alkalised cocoa that I bought a good while ago and my trusty Green & Black's dark chocolate bars to make this decadent chocolate walnut torte. 

Pineapple coconut loaf (1)

My mother baked for the two some years that we spent in the States. One of her best creations was a coconut cake. I was probably only 7 years old at the time when I first tasted it but even decades later, I remembered it as a scrumptious cake loaded with shredded coconut with a crunchy sugary topping. When I was older, I asked her for the recipe, but she couldn't remember it, claiming that she'd got the recipe off the papers or magazine and didn't keep it.

For years I'd been trying to find that recipe and even attempted a coconut loaf glazed with coconut milk syrup a couple of years ago but to no avail. A couple of weeks ago, when I was making a pork stir-fry with pineapples, it occurred to me that I could pair pineapple with coconut in a cake. Adapting my recipes for the madeira cake and lime & coconut cake, I made a pineapple coconut loaf. At the time I wasn't thinking about my mother's cake. But when I took the first bite of this pineapple coconut loaf, I nearly shrieked with excitement. Could I have possibly stumbled upon the right recipe?

Cranberry lime loaf cake with honey butter glaze

I froze a small box of fresh cranberries leftover from making the orange cranberry cake over Christmas last year. Since that cake went down a treat, I decided to use the rest of the cranberries to make a cranberry and lime loaf. 

Cranberry lime loaf with honey butter glaze

Greek almond cookies

Leftover egg whites had been sitting in my fridge since I used the yolks in a custard tart. I thought about making meringues but then I came across a recipe for kourabiedes. I had all the ingredients needed already in the cupboard, so I went with it with some alterations.

Greek almond cookies