Dumpling wrappers, usually frozen, are now easily available in stores with Asian food or online. They can be used for Japanese Gyoza, potstickers or Chinese Wonton dumplings. Flour, salt and water are the main ingredients of the wrapper's dough, but I add the egg yolk to the mixture for extra flavour. This recipe is for those who like to get their hands dirty, have spare time and want to make dumplings from scratch. The dough is very stiff at the beginning, so it requires plenty of kneading and rolling to get the almost paper-thin wrappers. A stand mixer and pasta machine are a great help here. Find the recipe here

Traditional stolen often contains marzipan – a confection made mainly from ground almonds and sugar. I don’t use marzipan because the fruit blend and a thick coat of icing sugar that covers the bread are sweet enough, so extra sweetness is overwhelming for me. Stollen is a yeasted bread baked with dried fruits and spices that's originated in Dresden. It’s traditionally served at Christmas time in Germany, Austria and parts of France. Stollen symbolises the baby Jesus blanket, and the fruits in it represent gifts of the Three Wise Men (called the Three Kings or Three Magi as well). Find the recipe here…

Baking biscuits is definitely a winter activity, especially during the Christmas season. We love the scent of freshly baked goods that circulate the house and boost our festive spirit. If you are looking for inspirational baking ideas, you should try Christmas Almond and Strawberry Biscuits. They are delicious and delicate, very easy to make and can be made in any size and shape. Use any fruit jam you like: strawberry and raspberry jam have red festive colour, however orange jam with a pinch of ginger and orange zest smells very Christmassy. Find the recipe here…

Gingerbread Biscuits of different shapes can easily replace traditional glass baubles and stars on the Christams Tree. They also can be an excellent edible Christmas present and great fun for children in the festive season. This gingerbread dough has a perfect balance of spices – cinnamon, ginger, cloves, all spices, and plenty of honey. It’s soft and may be a bit difficult to handle at the beginning, however make perfect and delicate biscuits that snap when break. The dough develop its flavour and makes better biscuits when left for a few days in the fridge. We decorate our Christmas tree with homemade gingerbread biscuits every year. Find the recipe here…

These little buns are light and fluffy, and their dark sweet-sour filling makes your fingers and smile dark blue. I always bake them in summer when wild blueberries are in season. Sweet little cushions are made with yeasted, buttery dough, stuffed with aromatic wild fruits, and a little crumble on top. They are the best straight from the oven, dusted with a pinch of icing sugar, for breakfast or as a dessert. Find the recipe here…

I love this recipe and this flatbread because it is delicious and relatively easy to make. It only requires 4 ingredients, a bit of kneading, and some resting time to get fluffy rounds. No yeast, no baking powder, no elaborate method and no long waiting time. The flatbread is soft and pliable. It can be used as a wrap stuffed with baked or fresh vegetables, meat, and beans and topped with a sauce – whatever comes to your mind and whatever you fancy. Soft homemade flatbread is better than store-bought ones. Find the recipe here...

Keks is a sponge cake with a high content of unsalted butter, packed with dried fruits and almond flakes. It’s baked in a loaf tin and then served generously dusted with icing sugar. Dried fruits – apricots, black currants, sultanas and raisins are soaked in a warm mixture of orange liqueur and orange juice with the addition of orange zest. Keks is buttery, sweet and moist, taste amazing both freshly baked and after a few days. The cake can be prepared in advance and kept tightly wrapped in baking paper and aluminium foil. Find the recipe here…

Traditional sweet mini pies baked and eaten in the festive season before Christmas. Mince pies are made from short crust pastry filled with the sweet mix of dried fruits, spices, citrus zest, all soaked in alcohol. These festive pies of English origin have been known there since the 13th century. They originally were savoury, not sweet as consisted of a mixture of minced meat, suet, fruits and spices. Today almost every housewife has her own recipe for mince pies and mincemeat if she prepares a homemade version of the pies. I prefer less sugary filling but use a bit sweeter French buttery pastry. Try my recipe here…

Gougères are cheese puffs made from choux pastry mixed with a generous amount of cheese. Gruyère is the classic choice but I also use Grana Padano, Cheddar, Emmental or Comté of good quality as the better quality the cheese, the better the Gougères. The cheese puffs can be served with soups or salads but they taste great filled with a savoury sauce, vegetable or meat and make wonderful finger food or canapé when you make them bite-sized. Find the recipe here…

Financiers are small cakes made of ground almonds, icing sugar, egg whites, flavoured with brown butter (beurre noisette). They are light, moist, and full of flavour, beautiful to look and so absurdly delicious to eat! Their outsides are browned and crispy, the insides - pillowy soft. The financiers are traditionally baked in small rectangular moulds and therefore they resemble bar of golds. I don’t have a dedicated financier tin so used a mini muffin pan which, believe me, doesn’t affect their taste and structure. The slightly tart raspberries are the perfect accompaniment to the sweetness of the sponges. Find the recipe here….

French Madeleines are my favourite little spongy cakes – so buttery, soft and sweet with a citrusy flavour. They may come with many different flavours - vanilla, chocolate, orange and many more. Some bakers add to the batter poppy seeds or chocolate chips, other glaze ready cakes with lemon-glaze or sprinkle with icing sugar. I like French Madeleines plain only with orange or lemon zest and vanilla extract. The Madeleines are the best straight from the oven, they only need a couple of minutes on a wire rack before you eat them. Find the recipe here…

Kaiser Rolls require time and pre-fermented dough called pâte fermentée. This is a portion of dough made several hours ahead, left to ferment in low temperature and used as one of the components of the main dough. Pâte fermentée is crucial because improves the flavour and texture of the rolls. This is super important to ferment pâte fermentée at least overnight. 2 hours process in room temperature can be sufficient when you're in a hurry but doesn’t improve the flavour of the rolls leave them a bit flat and usual. The original method for shaping the rolls by overlapping the folds may be difficult to teach therefore many people to use a store-bought roll cutter. I use a knotted roll method which is a bit challenging but quite fun. Find the recipe here…

I was convinced there is only one recipe for this classic afternoon tea treat that everyone follows. But after going through many cookbooks and food blogs, watching lots of films, I realised one thing: the perfect scones don't exist... No answer to the question of how to make the perfect scones! Why is that? Because there are as many recipes as there are cooks, and the taste of homemade scones eaten in childhood lasts in us forever. I found my way in making the best scones that taste heavenly, bearing in mind 3 basic rules: the flour is always sieved, the rising agent used reasonably and the dough is handled as little as possible. Find the recipe here…

Courgettes or zucchinis are wonderful summer vegetables. They are now in season in the UK and this season will last fortunately quite a long time - until September. Dark green courgettes are the most popular variety but white and yellow kinds can be also spotted on markets. There are many ways to cook the courgettes, the most popular is barbecuing, frying and stir-frying. But zucchinis are also wonderful as the main ingredient of tarts and quiches because they go hand-in-hand with cheese. They make delicious combination with feta, Parmesan, ricotta and many more. In this recipe, the best friend of the courgettes is cheddar cheese. Find the recipe here...

The poppy seed roll – or in other words – the poppy seed strudel - is a typical polish pastry usually prepared for Christmas and Easter.  It consists of sweet yeast dough filled with aromatic poppy seed paste which is full of nuts, dried fruits, almonds and resins. According to some old polish beliefs, poppy seeds eaten at Christmas Eve dinner brought happiness and prevented from evil, were also a symbol of fertility. Why is this pastry exceptionally delicious? Because of the balance between the thickness of the dough and the amount of the poppy seed paste - moist, naturally sweet and rich in nuts and fruits. Find the recipe here...

Banana bread recipe was featured for the first time in American cookbooks in the 1930s. In those days baking soda and baking powder without which making the banana bread was impossible, were introduced into domestic kitchens making baking easier and more accessible for housewives. The first recipe appeared in Balanced Recipes Cookbook in 1933 published by Pillsbury. But popularity was gained in 1950 when the United Fruit Company released Chiquita Banana’s Recipe Book containing this recipe to conquer the American food market and make bananas more palatable for American families. Find the recipe here...