Aunty Doreen in Sri Lanka used to make these kisses every time I visited. I visited her often. Kisses, or macaroons, as my mother-in-law likes to call them, are essentially flavoured meringues. If you don’t like rose, substitute with vanilla, almond, peppermint or choc chips. The opportunities are endless. I feel almost blasphemous making these without A. Doreen.

Prep time – 1/2 an hour.

Cooking time: 1 hour.

Ingredients:

• six  room temperature egg whites
• 1.5 cups caster (super fine) sugar.
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1.5 tsp rose-flavoured water
• pink food colouring

1. Make sure your beaters and bowl is free of oils and stains. Preheat your oven to 120c (250F) with two wire racks placed evenly in the middle. Put baking paper on two flat baking trays.
2. Whisk the egg whites until foamy. On medium, start adding the sugar, three tablespoons at a time until soft peaks form.
3. Whisk on high once all the sugar is added then start playing around with the colour until you get a level of pink you’re happy with. Keep whisking until high peaks are created when the whisk is removed from the bowl.
4. On low, fold in the vinegar and rose water.
5. Using two clean tablespoons, spoon the mixture onto the prepared baking trays, making sure there’s a 2.5cm (1 inch) gap between meringues.
6. Place the trays into the oven and close the oven door very slowly to prevent the hot air from escaping.
7. Check on them in an hour or 50 minutes if your oven runs hot. Now, you have a choice. You can either take them out; the rush of cold air causes them to contract and get crunchy and cracked in some places. Or, you can turn the oven off and leave them to cool in there for six hours. I take them out because the cracks don’t affect the flavour and I’m impatient.
8. Enjoy! Store in an air tight container.

We travelled to Sicily just to eat at this patisserie/bar called Caffe Sicilia. It was worth two overnight trains, a three hour drive and the complications of rescheduling an extra day, they’re closed on Mondays, as we found out, the hard way.

L to R: Some sort of milk pudding, vanilla layered cake with hazlenuts and at the bottom, a Sicilian speciality, Cassata, an almond marzipan with cream filling, icing and candied fruit.

Strawberry and tomato granita.

Basil gelato.

The aftermath.

This was all in one sitting. It was a beautiful moment in my life.

Run to the shops and grab these items:

• 2 cups strawberries, washed and sliced in half
• 1 tablespoon good balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar

1. Wash then cut the strawberries in half. Remove the tops.
2. Add the balsamic vinegar and sugar. Mix very gently.
3. Leave to sit for 45 minutes at room temperature.

I normally make the strawberries before I make pancakes, so that way they’re done around the same time. Or, if you want to be really decadent, put seven grapes at the bottom of a wine glass, fill with strawberries and top with whipped cream. A fancy and healthy breakfast. Yum.

Check out the juices at the bottom of the bowl. Drizzle it over pancakes or a scone and you're in heaven.

For those of you enjoying Summer, take full advantage of the abundance of strawberries. As for me, Winter is just ending so I’m making frozen strawberry smoothies to pass the time.

Some cookie recipes require you to mix, fridge, cut, fridge, cook, cool. Well, I say “screw that!”. I know you want to cook a Sunday indulgence, but nobody wants to stand around for that long. This is a basic, delicious choc chip cookie that will keep for a week and a half, if you have any sense of control that is.

These were delicious, soft and doughy on the inside with a crisp, brown sugar taste on the outside. Next time, I’m adding more choc chips!

Gather to your bosom the following:

• 2 and 1/4 cups baking flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup softened butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, pack it in baby.
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups choc chip cookies
• 1/2 cup of any nuts you like, I put in sliced and toasted almonds.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 Farenheit or 190 Celsius. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Put the butter and white sugar in a bowl and using a mixer, beat until it’s incorporated well. If you’re feeling like the hulk, whisk by hand. Add the brown sugar and mix again. Add the teaspoon of vanilla extract, more if you like your vanilla.
2. Break and add the eggs, beating after each one. Don’t taste it by the spoonful after this.
3. In thirds, add the flour mixture. It should be really thick now. It will taste floury but don’t freak out. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix in the choc chip chocolate and nuts. If you use your mixer, be wary of blitzing the choc bits into tiny, tasteless pieces.
4. Plop tablespoons of the mix onto an ungreased baking tray. The cookie will expand to nearly triple the size of what it is now, so leave space accordingly.
5. Cook for nine minutes, leave to cool on the tray for two minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
6. Eat two immediately with a glass of milk.
   

When storing left overs, use an air tight container with a slice of bread. The bread controls the moisture, making sure your cookies stay fresher for longer.

You can store the uncooked dough for a week in the fridge and two months in the freezer.

Let me know if you make it!

Admittedly, I’m feeling home sick now that I’m back in Washington D.C. It must have something to do with the minus degree average temperature. I spent today moping about in tracky daks and indulging in hot dogs and smoothies. Jet lag is a bitch, but only when you’re getting into your schedule back home.

So, without further ado, here’s something uber easy that would make going back to regularity and routine seem not so bad. Serve this with coffee for afternoon tea or show up unannounced with this wrapped in a warm cloth.

You will need: