Chocolate, fudge & smoked salt cookies

In many ways this is a bizarre recipe to pick from Gill Meller's wonderful book Time - there are so many inspiring and beautiful savoury recipes in it - but there are times when we all need a cookie and what better than chocolate AND fudge?

Gill writes: "I like to serve these cookies warm from the oven after supper, with a coffee or a brandy, or both. You can make the dough in advance; simply roll it into a cylinder, wrap it in baking parchment and pop it in the fridge. You can then slice off individual rounds for baking whenever you feel like it.

The pinch of smoked salt adds wisps of warmth to the bitter chocolate and sweet fudge, and gives the cookies an almost campfire quality.

makes 8–10 large cookies

100g (3 1/2oz) unsalted butter

100g (3 1/2oz) light soft brown sugar

50g (2oz) caster sugar

1 egg

dash of vanilla extract or the seeds from ½ a vanilla pod

150g (5 1/2oz) self-raising flour

75g (2 1/2oz) good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up

75g (2 1/2oz) your favourite fudge

1 or 2 good pinches of smoked salt flakes

Heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 6. and line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Put both types of sugar into a mixing bowl, pour on the butter and beat well. Add the egg and the vanilla extract or seeds and beat again until well combined. Sift in the flour and fold it in. Allow the mixture to cool for 15–20 minutes before stirring in half the chocolate and half the fudge pieces.

Dot heaped spoonfuls of the mixture over the prepared trays, then distribute the remaining chocolate and fudge equally over the surfaces of the cookies. Sprinkle the cookies with the smoked salt and bake for 8–10 minutes, until the cookies are lovely and golden. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before lifting onto a cooling rack to firm up. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

What to drink: Gill suggests coffee and/or a brandy which seems an excellent suggestion. Whisky would also be a good call as would an oloroso sherry or a madeira.

Extracted from Time: a year and a day in the kitchen by Gill Meller (Quadrille, £25.00) Photography: Andrew Montgomery.

Honeyed Wheaten Bread with Jumbled Nuts, Seeds and Fruit

Part of my January #givingupstockingup challenge is not to buy food if I've got the ingredients to make it myself. That applies to bread so I was keen to try Sue Quinn's Honeyed Wheaten Bread from her excellent new book on using up leftovers, Second Helpings. It also, as she points out, uses up half-used packets of nuts, seeds and dried fruit, which you may have in stock after Christmas.

"This loaf doesn’t care if nuts are soft and past their prime, or whether you add particular seeds or dried fruit" Sue writes. "Tumble in what’s lurking in your store cupboard and you’ll be rewarded with a highly moreish loaf that’s heavenly spread thickly with good salty butter and/or golden syrup or served with cheese."

Leftovers: nuts, seeds, dried fruit

Serves 8–10

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 45–50 minutes

60g (1⁄4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, plus extra for greasing

180g (scant 11⁄2 cups) wholemeal (whole wheat) flour

180g (scant 11⁄2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

30g (scant 1⁄4 cup) porridge oats (rolled oats), plus extra for scattering on top

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1⁄4 tsp fine sea salt

40g (11⁄2oz) mixed nuts, lightly toasted and roughly chopped

40g (11⁄2oz) mixed seeds

80g (23⁄4oz) mixed dried fruit, roughly chopped

60g (about 1⁄4 cup) runny honey

250g (11⁄4 cups) Greek yoghurt, crème fraîche or soured cream (or a mixture)

5 Tbsp milk, or as much as needed

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas mark 4. Grease a loaf tin (loaf pan) roughly 23 x 13 x 7cm (8 cups) and line the long sides and base with one large sheet of baking paper that overhangs the sides.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, oats, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and salt by stirring with a fork. Rub the cubed butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the nuts, seeds and dried fruit and mix to evenly distribute – hands work best for this.

Mix the honey into the yoghurt, then stir into the dry mixture. Gradually add the milk, mixing with your hands between each addition, to make a sticky dough. Scrape the dough into the prepared tin and smooth the top with the back of a wet spoon, pushing it into the corners.

Scatter over a small handful of oats. Bake for 45–50 minutes, or until risen and golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then lift out onto a wire rack to cool, using the baking paper as handles.

Try ...

Using leftover porridge (oatmeal) instead of uncooked oats. Omit the 30g (scant 1⁄4 cup) oats, reduce the yoghurt to 200g (1 cup) and stir in 60g (about 1⁄2 cup) cold porridge.

Extracted from Second Helpings by Sue Quinn published by Quadrille at £18.99. Photo by Facundo Bustamante

Stichelton, pear and walnut salad

A perfect seasonal salad from Jeremy Lee’s gorgeous book Cooking to use the Christmas Stilton or as Jeremy suggests, Stichelton. I love the touch of using membrillo in it and, if you can get hold of it, quince vinegar.

Jeremy writes: "This pleasing salad is best in the winter months when walnuts, pears and Stilton are at their peak. It is worth keeping an eye out for interesting varieties of pears such as Passe-Crassane, so distinctive with their stalks topped with a drip of red wax.Colston Bassett is a pasteurised Stilton, the only Stilton permitted, and Stichelton is unpasteurised, and made from the last culture taken from the last unpasteurised Colston Bassett Stilton that was stored and preserved by Randolph Hodgson at Neal’s Yard Dairy.

Stichelton, pear and walnut salad

Feeds 6

2–3 ripe pears

1 soup spoon very good vinegar (you can get quince vinegar from the Vinegar Shed)

250g Stichelton or Colston Bassett Stilton or any good blue cheese

75g membrillo or quince cheese

100g walnuts, coarsely chopped

3 big handfuls of mixed leaves such as escarole, soft green lettuce, rocket, spinach, chicory or even watercress

3 soup spoons walnut oil

2 soup spoons extra virgin olive oil

Halve and core the pears, then slice thinly. In a big bowl, toss the pears in the vinegar to prevent discoloration. Crumble the Stichelton over the pears.

Cut the membrillo into small pieces and scatter over the Stichelton, then strew with the chopped walnuts. Add the leaves,a little salt and black pepper and the walnut and olive oils. Mix together, taste for seasoning and serve.

What to drink: So not port, for a start, even though it's Stilton! I'd be tempted by a rich white like a grenache gris or a white Côtes du Rhône. An amontillado sherry would also be rather delicious.

Extracted from Cooking Simply and Well, for One or Many by Jeremy Lee, published by Fourth Estate at £30.

Celeriac, potato and anchovy gratin

I love the idea of cooking everything in one dish (quick, easy, no washing up!) so Sue Quinn's book Roasting Tray Magic is right up my street.

I picked out this recipe which is like a cross between a gratin dauphinoise and the Swedish dish Jansson's Temptation with celeriac replacing half the potato. It's not vegetarian given the anchovies but you could obviously leave those out.

There is also you will notice a fair amount of cream! I think I'd be inclined to reduce the double cream to 300ml - the size of a mid-sized carton - which should be enough for the amount of celeriac and potato involved. (In fact I used slightly more of both I made it last night and it was fine) Sue is also right in saying a mandolin makes the task of cutting them a LOT easier!

Oh and the cheesy, crispy topping is absolutely irresistible!

Celeriac, potato and anchovy gratin

Serves: 4 | Takes: about 1 hour, plus 5 minutes cooling

Knobbly old celeriac is a sadly undervalued root vegetable. It might not be photogenic, but it’s absolutely delicious, with a sweet, nutty flavour reminiscent of the celery family of which it is a member. The anchovies add a gorgeous depth of flavour – no fishiness at all.

400ml milk, plus extra if needed

400ml double cream (see note above)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

3 anchovy fillets, very finely chopped

2–3 thyme sprigs

freshly ground black pepper

300g celeriac

300g waxy potatoes

100g grated Comté cheese

green salad, to serve (optional)

For the topping:

100g sourdough or country-style bread, torn into small pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

30g grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Combine the milk, cream, garlic, anchovies and thyme in a 30 x 20 x 5-cm roasting tray and season with pepper.

Peel and very finely slice the celeriac and potatoes, ideally on a mandolin, adding the vegetables to the creamy tray liquid as you go to prevent them browning. Bake for 20 minutes, shaking the tray halfway through. Add a little more milk if necessary so the vegetables are just submerged. Meanwhile, mix all the topping ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.

When the vegetables have had their 20 minutes, sprinkle over the Comté, then the topping mix. Bake for a further 30 minutes – the vegetables should be beautifully tender when the time is up. Leave to cool in the tray for 5 minutes before serving – a green salad is the perfect accompaniment.

What to drink: We drank a bottle of Chablis which is what we happened to have open but other white burgundy and, in particular, Jura chardonnay would work well too.

From Roasting Tray Magic by Sue Quinn (Quadrille, £14.99) Photography © Faith Mason