Before I share this fabulous recipe I would like to thank all the well-wishers who have wondered about my disappearance this past month! I'm still away and will be heading back to Wales towards the end of January. I've been experimenting with biscotti recipes lately and I wanted a healthy, fruity snack that I can have with my tea whilst enjoying my first sunny winter in over 2 years... 

I used my Seedy Biscotti recipe as a guide, and replaced an egg with some bananas (less calories YAY!), and added some lovely roasted peanuts for a crunchy texture. Also, the use of wholemeal flour adds an even more 'nutty' flavor in addition to all that fantastic fibre!  I put the word biscotti in quotation marks because the resulting biscuit is not as hard as traditional biscotti, but yummy (and equally 'dunkable') all the same! 

Nutty Banana 'Biscotti' Recipe (makes around 24)

200g wholemeal flour

I decided to make a flan for Christmas lunch this year; it's similar to the familiar creme caramel, only it contains cinnamon and is called a flan in South America. It takes about an hour to bake, and needs around 24hours to set completely in the fridge; so if you're planning to make this dessert, please remember to make it a day in advance!

The recipe below is for a rich, creamy flan; but those of you who are weight conscious, you can replace the evaporated milk with regular (not skimmed though!) milk, the resulting flan will be slightly lighter, but still delicious!

Serves 6

FOR THE CARAMEL

175g/6oz sugar

3 tbsp water

FOR THE CUSTARD

5 eggs

45g/1.5oz sugar

600ml/1 pint evaporated milk

3 tbsp double cream

a few drops of vanilla extract

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

My friend Jue can live on sugary foods alone. She is constantly munching away at either a chocolate bar, a muffin, some apple pie! I enjoy her visits and our ‘girly nights’; I’m not a fan of sweet things but it is so satisfying to watch her face light up when I take goodies out of the oven! She has been working really hard at university (bless her shes been stressed out lately with her Masters), I thought she needed a nice ‘fix’. I know she loves white chocolate, so I made her a batch of these yummy chewy treats!

Cookies are sinfully high in sugar and fat; I use creme fraiche or low fat yoghurt instead of all butter, it hardly alters the taste and gives you a lovely chewy texture on the inside. This is my basic cookie recipe, you can add chocolate chips, raisins, nuts…whatever you fancy!

Makes about 2 dozen

50g butter

50g low fat yoghurt or creme fraiche

50g sugar

100g dark brown sugar (to give that ‘caramel’ flavour)

Biscotti: Italian, from Medieval Latin bis cotus, roughly meaning “twice baked”

Biscotti is one of my all-time favorite mid day accompaniment to tea, however many will consider this unorthodox (sorry guys!); in Italy, biscotti are usually eaten with vin santo, an Italian dessert wine, whereas in the United States and the United Kingdom they are often served with espresso in coffee bars. Tea, wine, coffee or even hot chocolate, the overall brittleness of biscotti makes the treat ideal for dipping whatever your preference!

Traditional biscotti would be made with flour, sugar, and eggs, which are then flavoured with nuts and/or aniseed. I have tried to stay ‘true’ to the traditional technique of making biscotti, but added a few yummy twists that will boost their nutritional value for a great-tasting, healthy snack!

Makes 24

215g (7 ½oz) plain flour