Cinnamon buns for Christmas morning

This recipe is from the wonderful Arianna Halshaw, baker and pâtissier extraordinaire. Arianna is my colleague at Natoora, but until recently she owned her own bakery, Bittersweet Bakers. Since Arianna started working with us, office treats have taken on a whole new meaning (and my waistline a few more digits).

I arrange cooking classes for staff once a quarter and Arianna has been kind enough to teach a few of these. We did a Christmas special recently where she shared these cinnamon buns for Christmas morning.

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Rhubarb crumble with vanilla custard

What is your ultimate comfort food? This is one of the questions I have asked all the people I have interviewed in the series I’m writing for Borough Market. My interviewees all come from different parts of the world, or have parents who do, so their answers differ a lot, but one thing they all share in common is that it tends to be something warming and filling.

“I don’t think you can get any better than a rhubarb crumble,” says Paul Wheeler, of Paul Wheeler’s Fresh Supplies. “If there was one comfort food, yeah that’d probably be it.” What is it that makes rhubarb crumble such a classic? Perhaps it is because the rhubarb is naturally very tart and contrasts perfectly with the sweet crumble topping and accompaniments, such as custard or vanilla ice cream.

I usually add nuts and oats to my crumble, but in this recipe I go for a shortbread topping. I think there is something elegant about rhubarb; perhaps it’s natural acidity and bright pink colour. A shortbread crumble seems to me to complement this, it seems more refined somehow.

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Bergamot poached pears

I had never tried bergamot before I started working at Natoora. I knew it as the aromatic in Earl Grey tea. I had no idea it was a citrus fruit.

Natoora were the first company to import bergamot to the UK, though it has become more readily available since they introduced it in 2009. Their bergamot is sourced from Calabria. It is exceptionally aromatic and surprisingly versatile, given its unique and intense flavour.  It works particularly well in Asian dishes, with seafood or desserts, where you might usually use lemon or lime. It has now replaced the cucumber in my Hendrick's and Tonics - definitely my favourite use.

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Apple and greengage crumble

There is only one month left of summer and while everyone else is busy catching the last rays of sun, I am trying to make the most of all the wonderful summer fruits at Natoora before they go out of season.

One of my new favourites is the Reine Claude Doree greengage. It is the variety from which all other greengage plums originate. Doree means golden; unlike most greengages, which have green flesh, these are golden when fully ripened.

The golden, jammy flesh of the Reine Claude Doree works beautifully in this summer crumble. The natural sweetness of the fruit is well balanced with crisp, tart green apples. Sweetened with honey and topped with a crumble packed with cobnuts, this recipe turns a simple dessert into something special.

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Deb and Wally’s Ginger Spice Cake

This is one of my favourite cake recipes. I like it because it looks so modest; the kind of cake that not even the greediest child would bother picking up at a tea party. More fool them.

I got the original recipe from Kylie Kwong’s cookbook, It Taste’s Better.  I love the addition of white pepper, which I had never seen before in a cake – it gives it a real kick.

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