23 recipes that use caster sugar, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Mango lassi, takes 10 minutes. It is most often cooked with butter, milk and self-raising flour.
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The famous layered pastry: crisp sheets of buttered fillo sandwich a filling of almonds, pistachios and cashews spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. After baking, the hot baklava is soaked in a syrup of sugar, honey, lemon, rose and cardamom and decorated with almond and pistachio flakes. Cut into 40 diamonds; serve with fresh cream or ice cream.
Chewy-crisp cookies made with crunchy peanut butter, honey and condensed milk, with rice crisps for crunch and roasted peanuts on top. No creaming needed: everything is melted together.
Buttery cookies with chopped pistachios, crushed rice bubbles, coconut and a hint of chocolate, each topped with more pistachio. Crunchy outside and tender inside.
Chewy, golden oat bars bound with butter and golden syrup and studded with walnuts, sultanas and chunks of chocolate. They are cut in the tin and keep well in an air-tight container, so they are handy for lunchboxes.
A no-bake chocolate fudge loaf layered with plain biscuits and packed with brazil nuts, ground almonds, apricots, peel and glacé cherries, finished with scribbles of white chocolate. Make it the day before: it needs 8 hours to set. Serve in thin slices.
Small, crisp squares of brown-sugar butter dough mixed with crunchy home-made almond praline, then topped with cinnamon and more praline. A lovely biscuit for festive tins. Like all biscuits, they feel soft in the oven and crisp up as they cool.
Soft-centred chocolate cookies with chopped roasted peanuts in the dough and more on top. Yogurt keeps them tender. A favourite with children.
Short, crumbly crescent biscuits flavoured with instant coffee and ground walnuts, rolled in caster sugar while still warm. Lovely with an after-dinner coffee and at festive times.
A crisp ginger shortbread base spread with a hot toffee topping of golden syrup, butter, roasted cashews and glacé ginger. Cut into fingers once set.
A cinnamon and lemon honey shortbread base, spread with a lemony condensed-milk coconut filling and topped with grated frozen dough and cinnamon sugar. Crisp on top, soft and tangy in the middle.
A rich coffee and cocoa ring cake made moist with ground almonds and sour cream, spread with a coffee butter icing and toasted flaked almonds. Contains egg.
A crisp almond pastry case filled with a smooth chocolate mousse that's set with agar-agar instead of eggs or gelatine, so it's fully vegetarian. Light whipped cream is folded through and the tart is finished with chocolate curls. Serve chilled.
A colourful fruit salad of pineapple, apple, pear, grapes, pawpaw, melon balls and fresh lychees, coated in a light lemon syrup just before serving. It's juicy, refreshing and naturally light. Serve it chilled, garnished with mint, on its own or with ice cream.
A quick no-bake trifle-style pudding: squares of lightly toasted bread soaked in orange juice, layered with sweetened cream, cornflakes, nuts and fresh fruit, and topped with vanilla ice cream. It's crunchy, creamy and fruity. Serve it straight away so the cornflakes stay crisp.
A no-bake cheesecake on a chocolate biscuit base, made with cream cheese and chopped chocolate caramel bars and marbled with home-made butterscotch and chocolate sauces. It's rich, creamy and very sweet. The book sets it with gelatine, which is not vegetarian; the last step gives an agar-agar swap.
A light cheesecake built on a soft orange sponge base, with a set filling of condensed milk, cream cheese, cream and orange juice, topped with whipped cream and sliced kiwi fruit. It's tangy, creamy and refreshing. The book sets it with gelatine, which is not vegetarian; the last step gives an agar-agar swap.
A generous pie of firm pears, cooking apples and raisins with lemon, baked in a crisp shortcrust case under a cinnamon crumble made crunchy with cornflakes. It's fruity, tangy and buttery. Serve it warm with ice cream.
A colourful no-bake pudding: a base of biscuit crumbs moistened with pineapple syrup and topped with fresh coconut, covered with a fluffy custard cream and finished with pineapple, cherries, kiwi, grapes and strawberries. It's light, creamy and fruity. Pipe whipped cream around the edge and serve chilled.
Small, soft pancakes made from plain flour, rice flour and semolina, sweetened with condensed milk and scented with mango, folded around a sticky filling of ripe mango, sugar and coconut. They are served cold with extra mango and a scoop of ice cream or fresh cream: a lovely make-ahead dessert for a party.
Thin, crackly rolls of buttered fillo pastry wrapped around a filling of walnuts, almonds, sugar, cinnamon and clove, baked until light golden and then bathed in a warm syrup scented with lemon rind, cinnamon and cloves. Like little baklava fingers, sweet and nutty. Serve with coffee or mint tea; they keep well for a few days.
A soft, moist baked sweet in the style of basbousa: desiccated coconut, semolina and flour are mixed with melted butter, milk and vanilla, baked until golden, cut into diamonds and soaked in cold lemon syrup. Each piece is topped with an almond. Sweet, buttery and fragrant with coconut; serve at room temperature with tea or coffee.
A pretty, low-fat dessert: short-grain rice simmered slowly in semi-skimmed milk with cinnamon until thick and creamy, sweetened and flavoured with orange rind, then pressed into a ring mould over a layer of dried fruit and chilled. Turned out, it shows off a jewelled top. Serve chilled, with a little orange juice spooned over.
A refreshing, lighter mango lassi made with low-fat yogurt: ripe mangoes, yogurt, a little sugar and rose water are blended with water until smooth and frothy, chilled and poured over crushed ice. Perfect on a hot day or with a spicy meal.
