Seasonal

Apple Muffins

Soft spiced muffins packed with small pieces of apple. How to stop the fruit sinking, why you stop stirring early, and how…

Chocolate cupcakes with orange and chocolate buttercream and a shower of sprinkles. The colouring trick that stops the icing going runny, and…

Glassy, crackly toffee apples for Halloween and Bonfire Night. The hard-crack test, why you strip the wax first, and why the hot…

Ten minutes in a pan, then it keeps for days. Why giant couscous is easier than the fine kind, and the dressing…

Made with actual chocolate rather than powder, in five minutes. Why you heat the milk gently and never let it boil.

Tall, light scones in half an hour. Why you must not twist the cutter, why the dough should look under-mixed, and how…

Roast the pumpkin, don't boil it. Which pumpkins are worth cooking with, why the carving ones aren't, and a soup that freezes…

A properly crunchy crumble topping, the apples that hold their shape, and why cold butter matters more than anything else in the…

Roast the squash rather than boiling it — the reason most butternut soup tastes flat, and the fix that takes no extra…

A practical system for packing school lunches kids finish: how to build a box that survives until noon, what to prep on…

Thirty lunchbox combinations that need no microwave and no thermos, sorted by how long they take to pack — including options for…