Christmas Chocolate Bark

You've seen it, in the likes of Hotel Chocolat and in the "posh section" of your local Supermarket. But why buy it, when you can make your own Chocolate Bark all by yourself and put whatever you blimmin' like on it. Bag it up in little treat bags with ribbon and give it out to your friends and family as gifts. It's so easy and you can make it in minutes.

Mince Pie Christmas Fudge

Deliciously sweet melt in your mouth fudge laced with little moorish crumbled up pieces of mince pies. I've never tasted such Christmassy fudge before! Crumbly, perfectly spiced, with a dreamy texture (yes I said dreamy). These are perfect bagged up and given as gifts to any mince pie lover. Perhaps you bought too many mince pies, you're fed up of eating them already and you don't know what to do with them. This fudge recipe will transform them into a sweet tooth's delight.

Cranberry & White Chocolate Couronne

I don't do much bread, but when I do, I try to make it as much like cake as possible. This sweet golden crown of glazed dough is stuffed with the wonderfully tasty and perfectly complimentary flavours of cranberries, macadamia nuts, apricots and white chocolate. It is fruity, sweet, moist, crunchy - and unlike a lot of fruit loaves, it actually tastes as good as is looks. As far as bread goes, this is a sweet tooth's delight and is great for any occasion, at any time of day.

White Chocolate & Cranberry Cake

You have to try baking this. I wasn't expecting anything special with this simple-to-make-cake, but I was blown away by it. It has a wonderful moist texture, and the combination of sweet white chocolate with sharp cranberries is just awesome. A simple white chocolate drizzle on top and a sprinkle of cranberries make this cake perfect for an occasion too. If you don't have a nice round bundt tin, just use a large loaf tin or two small ones. You may need to adjust the cooking times accordingly. I bet this would be nice with dried apricots too.

Luxurious Carrot Cake

Oh how I love a nice moist carrot cake with cream cheese icing. My version of carrot cake is packed full of extra ingredients that give it a wonderful texture and a fantastic taste. Crushed pineapple and orange zest for fruityness, chopped roasted nuts for crunch, and sultanas for... well, just 'coz I like them.

Of course if you're fussy you could leave the extras out, but you will still need to add the carrots! There's no escaping the "hidden vegetables" in this cake!

You can decorate the top of your cake with a sprinkle of cinnamon, orange zest, walnut halves, chopped nuts, or just leave it plain.

Bara Brith

This is a traditional Welsh rich tea bread, which I had never heard of until recently when my mother posted me her lifetime stash of recipes collected from old magazines (thanks mum!). I have never found a cake so easy to make, the hardest part is remembering to soak your fruit in tea the night before. It reminds me of malt loaf, but the texture is so much nicer. It's moist without being too sticky, soft yet dense, with delicious tea-infused plump fruits. This really is the perfect afternoon tea cake.

Oat and Raisin Cookies

Oats and raisins, a match made in heaven and also slightly nutritious (well I like to think so!).

I love these cookies at any time of day, they are my all time favourite cookie and they just so happen to be massive. For this reason, they do great at cake sales. You can eat them for breakfast, dunk them in your tea for elevenses, have as an after school snack, or make an icecream cookie sandwich for pudding.

This recipe will make you at least 20 cookies. If you like your cookies gooey, make sure to take them out of the oven as soon as they start to go golden on the edges. It also helps to use really plump fresh raisins, not the neglected ones in the back of your cupboard.

Chocolate Florentines

It's only one week after Christmas and I have already consumed all of my edible Christmas presents, so I decided to fill the void by making my own goodies! Florentines are a great way of using up all of those left over dried fruit and nuts in your pantry, and they're not even that tricky. You can mix and match any flavours you like so go crazy and see what combinations you can come up with.

I chose white chocolate with cranberry & macadamia, milk chocolate with pecans and cherries, and dark chocolate with stem ginger, walnuts & almonds. Yum.

Mince Pie Crumble Tarts

Fed up of regular old mince pies? Want to do something a little more creative with your mincemeat? This "posh" version of the classic mince pie is pretty damn yummy especially with a crumbly nutty topping. 

This recipe will make 12 mince pies, but you'll have lots of mincemeat left over to give as gifts in jars or to bake another batch later when they inevitably get eaten without even making it to Christmas Day.

Cinnamony Apple Crumbley Yummyness

This apple crumble slice lasted only a couple of hours before being wiped off the planet by a hoard of hungry cake eating monsters... oh wait, come to think of it, I think I ate most of these myself.

This was the first food item of 2012 that made me feel Christmassy, and far too early but who cares when it tastes that yummy. A layer of cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger coated apples and plump dried fruits sandwiched between layers of oaty brown-sugary crumbly crumble. Thinking about bagging these babies up and giving them as Christmas presents.

Ooey Gooey Apricot Cookies

Apricot and Almond Cookies, completely delicious. So gooey. I doubled the recipe... twelve is definitely not enough.