Chop the butter into even chunks and toss them into a large saucepan, you want to maximise the boiling surface. Melt over moderate heat, stirring occasionally.

After a few minutes, the butter will start boiling as its water content starts evaporating. Keep the occasional stir.

Once all the water has evaporated, the boiling will subside and a lovely toasted, nutty scent will start emanating from the pan. Keep heating and stirring until the butter takes a deeper shade and the small solid milk particles that have appeared during the heating process turn golden. Take off the heat and allow the butter to slowly cool down in the pan. If you keep heating the butter past this point, it will become dark brown and the small particles will burn, giving the butter a strong bitter taste. Would you unfortunately get there, throw the butter away and start over.

Make the financiers:

Sift together the flour, almond, sugar, and tea.

Stir in half the egg whites until no dry ingredients remain. With an electric mixer, whisk in the remaining egg whites until obtaining a smooth dough. Stir in the warm, melted brown butter with a spatula until reaching a homogenous batter.

Store in the fridge in a sealed container overnight. If you have a piping bag, pour the batter into it before storing it in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 210 degrees C.

Using a financier mould with shallow rectangular cavities (or alternatively a muffin mould), pipe or spoon a bit of dough into each cavity. If spooning, use two spoons to make the process easier. Don’t drop too much dough into each cavity, financiers are flat cakes so 1 cm dough height is plenty.

Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges start browning. If using a tin mould, unmould the financiers 1 minute after taking out of the oven. If using a silicone mould, wait for 10 min before unmoulding.

Serve with tea and fresh berries for a most decadent afternoon tea. Voilà!

Place the butter in a mixing bowl and soften with a fork if needed. Add the icing sugar, salt, almonds, coconut and half a beaten egg, mixing well in between each ingredient.

Add the flour last and knead the dough for 30 seconds. Roll into a ball (don’t worry if it is a bit sticky) and place in the fridge for 2 hours, covered.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Roll the dough onto a floured surface until it is about 3 to 4 mm thick. Cut it out with cookie cutters of 4 to 5 cm diameter. Paste the trimmings together to make more cuttings and use all the dough.

Line the oven tray with baking paper and place the cookies on top. If not adding the chocolate topping or any icing, brush the tops of the cookies with a beaten egg, this will make them shiny.

Cook for about 8 minutes, until the cookies start to ligthly brown. Take out of the oven and let cool for 2 minutes on the tray before transferring them to a grid to cool completely.

For the chocolate coating:

There are two ways to do this. The easy way is to melt the chocolate in a bowl over gently boiling water. Take it off the heat, wait a few minutes to allow it to thicken a bit and dip one side of the cookies into the melted chocolate. Allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl and place the cookie, chocolate face up, on a plate until the chocolate dries up completely. With this process the chocolate will have a mat and softer finish.

The second way is to temper the chocolate (warm it up to a certain temperature, cool it down, and warm up again), a precise process that will yield a hard and shiny chocolate coating, great for stacking cookies. Check out how to temper chocolate in my kitchen tips section.

Last, if you are making these cookies for kids, be decadent: chop Smarties into 2-3 mm chunks and stick those onto the chocolate coating while it is still warm and soft. Success guaranteed!! (tested at home!)

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C

Melt the butter on low heat (or in the microwave). Take off the heat as soon as it is melted and reserve.

Mix the flour and baking powder in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar for about 5 minutes, the mixture must reach a foamy texture. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until obtaining a smooth batter.  Stir in the warm butter, vanilla and lemon zest.

Pour the batter into the mould cavities, leaving 2 mms showing, and bake for 5 minutes. Lower the temperature to 200 degrees C and bake for another 9 to 10 minutes, or until the madeleines are nicely browned.

Wait for a few minutes before unmoulding the madeleines and allow them to cool down completely on a grid.

The chocolaty plus:

2 minutes into the cooking, quickly open the oven and stick a square of dark chocolate inside each madeleine (if using Lindt, their squares are larger so use only 1/2) . This addition damages the look at bit but Adele and Jules both confirmed they are very happy to sacrifice it. The reason you have to wait before sticking the chocolate in is that otherwise it will melt and fall under the batter before it starts to set. I usually do my first batch without and the second one with.

Butter 6 individual cake moulds or six-cavities in a tartlet or muffin tray and place them in the fridge. If using a silicone mould, no need to butter or refrigerate it.

Wash and dry the lemons. Zest one into thin, long strips and reserve. Zest the other, chop the zest finely and toss it into a large mixing bowl.

Add into the bowl the butter and icing sugar. Mix well with a wooden spoon until reaching a homogenous paste. Add the eggs, one by one, stirring well between each. Sift the flour and baking soda together on top of the bowl, add the ground almonds and 50 g of the flaked almonds and stir until reaching a smooth mixture.

Pour into individual moulds or tray cavities and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until nicely browned. 15 minutes into the baking, sprinkle the remaining flaked almonds over each mini-cake.

While the cakes are baking, prepare the lemon syrup. Juice the two lemons into a thick bottomed saucepan, add the sugar and the reserved lemon zest. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the liquid takes a honey-like tint and texture.

When the cakes are ready, take them out of the oven and unmould them. Pour the syrup over them, arranging the zest prettily at the centre, and let cool completely before serving.

Serve with fresh raspberries.

Pour the sugar and toss the raisins into the bowl and continue to mix well; add one beaten egg and half the milk and mix until obtaining a homogeneous dough. Add more milk to moisten all the dry ingredients if needed. You should obtain a thick, slightly sticky dough you can roll into a ball.

Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead it for 1 minute, adding flour on top between kneads if needed to stop the dough from sticking.

Flatten the dough into a 2 inch round and using a round cookie cutter, cut out as many scones as you can. Roll the remaining bits into another round and cut until running out of dough. Roll the last bits into a ball with your hands, this will be your last scone. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, roll the dough into two 5-6 cms diameter sausages. Using a sharp, oiled knife, cut each sausage into 6 even segments.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.

Place the scones on the oven tray lined with a sheet of greaseproof paper and brush the tops of the scones with the second, beaten egg. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until brown. Turn them over 10 minutes into the baking.

Serve warm or cold with thick cream and jam.

Using a stand mixer if you have one (or alternatively a hand mixer or a fork), beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Then beat the eggs into the mixture one at a time.

Add the flour in one go and beat it into the mixture, stopping as soon as no more flour shows. With a stand mixer this should take only a few seconds. Don’t overbeat, this would make the cookies drier.

Using a long, sharp knife, cut the chocolate bars into chunks the size of a penny, and chop the nuts coarsely. Stir both into the cookie dough with a spatula. At this stage, have a good go at eating some of the cookie dough. There is plenty of it and it is so delicious raw you just can’t skip this step (obviously, your eggs should be fresh!)

Place the cookie dough in the fridge and allow it to chill for at least 30 minutes. This step has two purposes. First it hardens the dough, making it easier to work with when spooning it into cookie balls, then baking chilled dough ensures that the center takes longer to bake, yielding a soft, undercooked cookie core.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F)

Line an oven tray or baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Drop rounded tablespoons onto the tray/sheets, leaving about 10 cms (3 inches) between each ball to allow them to spread when baking.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden. My advice it so start with a small first batch at 9 minutes. When ready, the cookies should look browned around the edges and lighter at the centre. Cool on the tray/baking sheets for 1-2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Taste a cookie before the next batch, the centre should be moist and slightly undercooked. If it feels rather “cake-like” with a dry and raised center, you cooked it too much so reduce the timing of the next batch.

Enjoy!

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar and stir in the water slowly, ensuring no lumps are forming. Once combined, the mixture should have the texture of a thick paste.

In a second bowl, beat the egg whites with a whisk until bubbly. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and the vegetable oil and whisk again until the mixture becomes foamy.

Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture, adding small amounts at a time. When finished, you should obtain a smooth batter.

Line two cookie sheets or oven trays with a sheet of baking paper. Pour 3 tablespoons of batter onto the first sheet (one per cookie), spacing them well. Tilt the cookie sheet back and forth and from side to side to help the batter spread out evenly into 10 to 12 cms diameter circles. Don’t worry too much about trying to get perfect circles as the heat from the oven will help to spread the batter before they start to cook, and once the cookies are folded you won’t notice the imperfections. You may want to start by only baking a couple of cookies in the first batch before you become familiar with the process.

Allow the batter to rest for at least 2 hours before making the crepes. If you can, take the batter out of the fridge at least one hour beforehand and give it a good stir just before using it.

Warm up a large non-stick frying pan. Once the pan is hot, place a knob of butter in a square of kitchen towel and rub the inside of the pan with the butter. Take the pan off the heat and pour a ladle (about 60 mL) of batter on it. Rotate the pan with your wrist to allow the batter to spread on the entire surface of the pan. Place it back on the hob and cook on medium heat for 1 minute or so, until the bottom side of the crêpe is browned. Turn the crêpe over and cook for another minute. You can add the filling at this stage (reduce the heat to low) or transfer the crêpe to a plate if you want to make them all at once. If making these for dessert, sprinkle each crêpe with a bit of sugar. Don’t worry if the first crêpe does not come out right, the first one is often a miss as the heat has not had time to spread properly across the entire pan yet. Don’t bin it though, eat it – the cook’s privilege. If the batter feels a bit thick, add a bit more water.

Rub some butter on the pan and make the next crêpe.

Savoury filling ideas:

• “Crêpe complète” (a Breton classic): place a slice of cooked ham in the middle of the crêpe, crack open one egg on top and sprinkle grated comté cheese around the yolk. Once the egg white is cooked, sprinkle with pepper and fold the sides of the crêpe on top of the filling and into a square shape, leaving the yolk to show at the center.
• Cooked mushrooms and cream
• Roquefort and pear, with roquette on top
• Butter-braised leeks and pancetta
• Simply ham and cheese
• Goat’s cheese and onion confit
• Goat’s cheese and cooked spinach
• Melted salted butter (sooo bad but soooo good!)

Sweet filling ideas:

• Sugar (my favorite)
• Dark chocolate shavings
• Nutella (a must in my family!)
• Fruit jams
• Fruit purée or cooked fruits – try butter-caramelised apples slices and once the crêpe and its filling are hot, add one tablespoon of Grand Marnier on top,  light it up and watch the blue flames do their job. So delicious!
• Banana slices and chocolate
• Agave syrup

Beat the egg yolk with a tablespoon of water, and brush it on the top side of the pastry.

Sprinkle with a bit of pepper, the parmesan and rosemary. It may seem a lot but you need the quantity to reach a nice, tasty feuilleté. Using the palms of your hands or  the rolling pin, press gently the dry ingredients into the pastry.

Leave to set for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C and take the pastry out.

Slice it across its length into strips of about 1/2 inch wide (a bit over 1 cm) each. Use a sharp knife and run it backward or forward as you cut to help with slicing the pastry without crushing it, which would prevent it from rising properly.

Delicately place the strips on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper. Leave at least 2 cms between each strip as they will puff up when baking.

Reduce the heat to 180 degrees C and bake for about 10 mins, until the feuilletés are nicely browned.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Pour the flower into a large mixing bowl, and with a wooden spatula make a hole in the middle.

Place in the hole the softened butter cut into chunks, sugar, egg white and finely chopped lemon zest, and mix until obtaining a homogeneous dough.

Roll into a ball, cover with cling film or a tea towel and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough down to a few mm on a flat floured surface and cut cookies using an inverted glass or cookie cutters. Reshape leftover dough into a ball and roll it back down to cut more cookies.

Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned.

Prepare the icing:

In a small bowl, stir together confectioners’ sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If the icing is too thick, add a bit more corn syrup.

Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Paint the cookies with a brush.

If piping decorations on top of the base icing, prepare a second batch of thicker icing and place at the bottom corner of a small freezing bag. Carefully make a tiny cut in the bag corner and pipe the icing through.

Wait at least 20 minutes before piping icing onto the base icing.

Allow the cookies to dry overnight before storing them. The icing will dry into a shiny, hard surface, which is great for stacking the cookies together.