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Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I give you Marguerite Patten's American Chocolate Pudding.  It has walnuts, it has cream, it is amazing. Serve it to your friends, serve it to your enemies, serve it to your grandmother.  If you do, you will make friends and influence people when they realise you are brandishing an American Chocolate Pudding.

First post for 2014, well only 5 months late.  But let me make it up to you with Chocolate!

There is nothing better, in my world, that coffee flavoured stuff.  And here is a fantastic little recipe for Coffee flavoured Crepes :) :)

The temperature has dropped here in Exeter.  And now is the perfect time to start looking at Soup and Chowder recipes for an instant hot savory fix.

For someone that writes about food, has a general preoccupation with culinary matters and mixes with those who have brilliant gastronomic taste, I have very crude food tastes.  And the idea of Nettle Soup doesn't really do anything for me, despite the majority of people who I have spoken to over the years who have said how nice it is. I encourage you to give it a go.  If it is nice, tell me and it might encourage me even more to go and pick some and see what happens!  Nettles are a free and abundant plant, but be careful you pick from a spot that you know has not been treated with weed killer.

I have included this one for its pure weirdness.  A Marshmallow covered Christmas Pudding and a Happiness Tree Cake...also covered in marshmallows.

Without a doubt the best part of Christmas is the excuse to have Mulled Anything.  Wine and Cider tend to be the traditional choices, but here is a fascinating little recipe for Mulled Ale!

A theme tonight.  Now its the sister of the Christmas Pudding, again this needs lots of brandy!  Christmas Cakes have mixed origins, but take a gander at this lovely website to get the full fascinating history.

Love it of loathe it, that time of year is bearing down on us.  It is about this time the foodies among us, start thinking about Christmas Pudding, which takes a lonnng time to make if you do it properly. So I invite you to have a go at Marguerite Patten's version, and see if you can make one just like you used to have when you were a kid (hopefully a good thing).

Here is a very basic cake recipe. I can imagine it would have plenty of scope for adding to or modifying. 1lb self raising flour 6ozs butter or lard 4ozs castor sugar 2ozs currants 2ozs sultanas 2ozs raisins, stoned and chopped 2 eggs, well beaten Rub the butter or lard into the flour then add the other ingredients also a drop of milk if required. Put in a well greased tin and bake for one and a half hours.

4lbs of Vegetable Marrow 1/2oz of ground ginger 1/2oz mustard 3/4lb moist sugar 2ozs eschalots 9 small chillies 14 cloves 1/2oz tumeric 3pts vinegar Cut the marrow in to 1/4 inch squares, put into a colander and sprinkle with salt. Leave one night then strain. Boil all other ingredients together for 10 minutes then put in the marrow and boil slowly until tender.

Moist Chocolate Sandwich.  Very much a variation on a theme, but a quite delicious theme.  

I have such good memories of this recipe.  It reminds me of that quintessentially English past time of High Tea or even being a young lad at the village Fete etc. It is also pretty easy, as most of Marguerite Patten's recipes are.  If you don't like Orange, you can use Lemon rind instead.

Another amazingly easy recipe from the hayday of the Beatles... This recipe is in anticipation that we might actually have a summer.  My mum always makes this recipe, and although the whole 'bread-as-pudding' concept is not one I can quite get my head around it is always enjoyable with lashings of custard.

I present most probably the easiest recipe ever.  If you are terrified of baking, this is a good place to start.

I love Walnuts.  That is all.

So you think you know how to Roast Beef?  You haven't Roasted nothing until you've done it Patten-style. If you scour the internet, you can most probably find a recipe on how to do a good roast, however it doesn't say anything about how your mum would do a roast. There are so many many variations on this classic, my Dad does it completely differently from my Mother-In-Law for instance.  But this, dear reader, is the control method.

From my box of index cards by Marguerite Patten. Pickwick Fish Pie works.  It is the closest to Fish that I really like with any great degree of enthusiasm.

Ingredients. 1. Stale Cake 2. Tinned Apricots 3. 1 or 2 ounces of Butter 4. Castor sugar Cut the cake into round or oval shapes about 1/4 inch thick, spread with butter and arrange into a greased fireproof dish. Place one or two apricots, free from syrup, cut side up on each slice of cake. Sprinkle with sugar and bake in a moderate oven for 10 minutes. Sift more sugar over and serve hot.

Good old Marguerite Patten, she has a recipe for just about everything you can imagine.  And with Valentines Day looming over us like some heart shaped inevitable tsunami of soppyness and love, (read hatred and resentment for the single-and-proud types) the whole question about what to get your admired comes to mind. Image taken from candyhero.com, go forth and drool as its an amazing website! In my experience there is nothing better than a handmade token of love or gratitude, way above any bought chocolate.  So I give you a basic fudge recipe which is classed as 1960's as it comes from a book of that vintage, but its simply timeless.  Not only that but its also a damn bit cheaper. If you just want to make Rich Vanilla Fudge you can replace the brandy with water.  Try a variation and add Apricot Brandy? What about Disaronno  or even White Rum?  The possibilities are endless! You will need: 1lb granulated sugar 1/2 pint cream 2oz butter 3 tablespo...