Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Biscuits

My boyfriend had a Christmas party at work and was asked to bring in a dessert. I decided this would be a good time to make some shortbread and use some Christmas themed cookie cutters I received last year, and haven't had a chance to use yet. Shortbread is incredibly easy to make, and dipping them in chocolate adds an extra bit of yumminess, though if you are a purist or can't be bothered, you can always omit the chocolate as shortbread tastes great on its own.

Good quality unsalted butter really does make a difference here; I have to admit I always use Lurpak butter - a Danish butter sold here in the UK - when I make shortbread, as it has exactly the right taste for shortbread.. Amazing.

Can you guess what the shapes are below? According to Pete, his work-mates could not make any sense of them and someone even thought one was a.. penguin! This amused me a lot.

Dal Makhani; Spicy Lentils with Kidney Beans

Had one of those days recently when I got home and had nothing in the house except store cupboard ingredients. I felt like cooking some lentils so I had a little look online and found this Pakistani recipe, which as ever I tweaked slightly. It was perfect, and delicious. I had never thought to use kidney beans in a curry recipe, and it made a nice change from the usual dal I make (which I'll have to upload onto here sometime...). You can make it with dried coriander but fresh is better, and I have to admit I sent my boyfriend to the shop down the road to get it, which defeated the point of cooking with what I had in the cupboard, but oh well! I've since found out that the correct name for this is 'Dal Makhani', and it is supposed to be cooked with black lentils. I used red lentils though, and it was amazing. I wanted more but only made two portions, which I regretted afterwards... I've also since seen much more complex recipes for this, but I like the simplicity of this recipe, using very few strong flavours, so I've not tried them.

Leek and Potato Soup

Leek and potato soup is great comfort food now the evenings are long and it's cold out. The combination of milk and cream in this recipe means this soup is not too rich, but retains a lovely creamy texture. You could jazz things up a bit by garnishing with some fresh chives, but I didn't bother. 

Red Onion, Thyme, and Smoked Applewood Cheddar Potato Dauphinoise

Inspiration for this dish comes from my brother Jesse, who a while back told me he'd invented a potato gratin with red onion, thyme, and smoked applewood cheddar and suggested I might want to try it out for this blog. It took me a few attempts to get this right, and what I learnt from these attempts was that the golden rules when it comes to potato dauphinoise are:

1. Slice the potato as thinly as possible (I used a boxed cheese grater).
2. Don't pre-cook the potato - you need the starch to thicken the sauce.
3. Don't try to lower the fat content of the recipe by using milk; it does not work and you end up with a far inferior dish.

After a few attempts, I was able to get this dish down to perfection; my boyfriend's comment after he'd taken his first bite: 'Yep, you've smashed it'. I think that about sums it up. A warning: this is a highly indulgent and rich dish.