Butternut Squash and Feta Empanadas
Cherry and Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies
Cheese and Marmite Sausage Rolls
Gouda and Smoked Paprika Pretzels
Whiskey Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies
I have loved food for as long as I can remember. I was the child who looked forward to grocery shopping because I loved to see all the fresh fruits piled precariously in displays and to marvel at the number of intricately shaped pasta varieties in their colourful packets. Trailing slowly behind my mum, I’d wander through the aisles trying to sneak the new foods that I was curious to try into the trolley. I couldn’t (and still can’t) make it home with an intact baguette, as resisting the temptation to tear off the knobbly end and sink my teeth into the golden crust encasing the soft, chewy bread was beyond me. I’d spend Sunday afternoons thumbing through my mum’s Nigella collection, devouring the pages with my eyes and picking out recipes to try to persuade my parents to let me make.
I was the girl who always had a hot school dinner because I hated the mundane predictability of a packed lunch. Taking my plastic tray up to the hatch and choosing a meal that I felt like eating was an experience to which I would look forward with great anticipation. The food may not have been incredible, but I had the choice of what I ate, and I loved it. In restaurants, I’d always ask for a spare plate rather than a meal of my own so I could sample everyone else’s food at the table instead. I adored having a little taste of everything. I remember being sorely disappointed when I became too old for the empty-plate approach to be socially acceptable and had to order my own food. I couldn’t relate to fussy eaters, as the thought of not knowing how a new food sitting on my plate tasted was an alien concept to me. I’ve been fascinated by flavour and had a thirst to understand food for longer than I’ve been able to cook it.
My earliest memory of a craving (embarrassing as this is for a baker who valiantly aims to champion homemade cooking) is butterscotch Angel Delight. I was transfixed by the kitchen magic that occurred; how whisking a beige powder with cold milk would transform it into a thick, cloudy mass with an unnatural, gelatinous texture. My sister and I adored it, and the artificial buttery flavour evokes a certain nostalgia that I’ve struggled to replicate. We crave the things we love; the foods that make us happy. That’s how the idea for this book was born.
Crave is a book focused on my love affair with food; on glorifying ingredients in their purest form as well as showing how to combine flavours to create sensational bakes. Living in an age crammed full of dieting and healthy-eating cookbooks, I was desperate for a change, and I hope Crave offers just that. This is a book that should speak to that inner voice we all have which asks ‘What do I really feel like eating?’ It is aimed squarely at loving, appreciating and celebrating food for what it is, without an ounce of guilt for indulging the body and mind in what they desire. By no means am I suggesting that you throw healthy eating out of the window and base your diet on these recipes; I am fully supportive of eating a balanced, nutritious diet. However, I am also a firm believer in the importance of treating yourself every now and again. Food, especially baking, should be fun! This book is full of recipes that will satisfy your cravings on those self-indulgent days.
Cravings are a curious phenomenon. What starts as an insignificant little niggle at the back of your mind, gently hinting at the kind of food needed to hit the spot, can quickly grow into a compulsion that demands to be satisfied. The kind that drives you out of bed in the middle of the night to raid the fridge for a morsel of cheese, or causes you to sneak away from your desk in a desperate hunt for a square of chocolate to go with your coffee. This book is organised into chapters focused on eight of the most common cravings: Citrus, Fruit, Nut, Spice, Chocolate, Caramel, Cheese and Alcohol. Starting with recipes for refreshing citrus breakfasts to start the day with vigour, through ambrosial caramel delights to satisfy even the sweetest tooth, and ending with dark and devious ways to imbue delectable bakes with alcoholic tipples, there is something here to sate every appetite.
In the words of Virginia Woolf:
‘One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.’
Crave is everything I love about baking. I bake to please, to nurture, to comfort, to entertain and, most importantly, to enjoy, and I hope that radiates through these pages.
I bake with immediate consumption in mind. I’m an impatient baker, and I want to be rewarded for my toils as quickly as possible – whether that is with a super-quick bake or by sneaking a spoonful of hot gooey brownies fresh from the oven before they have had the chance to cool. The three categories of recipes represent the different amounts of time needed to create bakes to satisfy your cravings. You’ll notice the headers at the top of each recipe page.