The season of good intentions! For those with the necessary will power we are happy to deliver a lower calorie/lower fat lunch.  We can keep away temptation by removing all traces of cakes, biscuits and crisps.  We are happy to cater for your good intentions by increasing the fruit portions in your lunch.  We can also provide home-made soup and sandwich lunches to cater for the colder weather.

That's the cranberry sauce and mincemeat made and ready to go!

We've just added roast turkey with cranberry sauce and brie with crispy green salad & cranberry sauce to our sandwich range for Christmas and the mince pies are hot from the oven every morning for the next three weeks. 

With the current passion for all things home-baked I thought I'd share my version of banana bread which I updated recently after reading 'Italian Home Baking' by Gino D'Acampo.  The inspiration of adding hazelnuts is Gino's but since I went to work without his recipe and then realised that I didn't have any of the strong white flour needed, here is my version:

8oz unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

16oz light muscovado sugar

4 large free range eggs

20 oz self raising flour, sifted

1 teaspoon of baking powder

2 teaspoons of vanilla

3 to 4 ripe bananas, mashed

100 grams of hazelnuts, lightly browned in a dry pan and slightly bashed about in a bag with a rolling pin

1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg

Method: Beat butter until soft, add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Sift dry ingredients, lightly beat the eggs and vanilla, add each alternately. Gently stir through the bananas and hazelnuts.  Makes enough to fill 4 1lb loaf tins (lined with baking parchment).  Bake at 170 C for approximately 40 minutes and then allow to cool completely in the tins.  Will keep safely for several days in an airtight tin stored in a cool place.