Make these as a treat for Valentine’s Day. The chilli isn’t hot as such, when you bite into the muffin: it contributes to the generally mellow chocolate flavour - but after a few moments you will notice a gentle characteristic chilli tingle. 

• 175g (6oz) softened butter
  
• 175g (6oz) unrefined caster sugar
  
• 150g (5oz) plain flour
  
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  
• 25g (1oz) good quality cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate)
  
• 2 level teaspoons chilli powder (use 1 teaspoon if you feel nervous)
  
• 3 eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
  
• 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 160C (fan ovens) or equivalent

You will need a 12 cup muffin tin plus muffin size paper cake cases

Whiz the butter and sugar together in a food processor until combined and fluffy.

Sieve some of the flour in a layer over the mixture and then add the eggs and vanilla.

Sieve in the rest of the flour, the cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda and the cocoa. Whiz briefly.

Sprinkle the chilli powder over the mixture and whiz again.

Add the milk and whiz until smooth and glossy. You may need to remove the lid a couple of times and scrape the mixture down from the sides with a flexible spatula.

Arrange the paper cases in the muffin tin and using two dessertspoons, spoon a rounded dessertspoon of mixture into each case. Go back and top up with any remaining mixture so that there is an even amount in each case.

Bake for around 20-25 minutes or until domed and risen and springy to the touch. A skewer or wooden cocktail stick should come out clean when inserted.

Remove from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

If you have more than one heart shaped cutter, you can make more than one heart at a time. Try to avoid very small cutters as realistically they are fiddly to work with. Make sure the cutter is in good condition – if it is slightly twisted, melted chocolate can ooze out. You can use dark, milk or white chocolate and choose the toppings your Valentine loves.

Ingredients:

Per heart:

• About 25g (¼ 100g bar) chocolate: preferably 70% cocoa solids if dark, 34% if milk, 30% if white

• Dried sour cherries
  
• Cranberries Raisins
  
• Chopped dried apricots
  
• Whole or broken shelled nuts: almond, macadamia, pistachio, pecan, walnut or chopped nuts
  
• Crispy rice cereal
  
• Chopped crystallized ginger,
  
• Crystallised violets or crystallised rose petals
  
• Pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
  
• Smarties: regular size and mini ones both work well

You will need a heart shaped cutter, 7 ½ cm (nearly 3in) at its widest point and greaseproof paper or baking parchment

Brush the inside of the cutter with flavourless oil such as rapeseed or sunflower

Position the cutter onto the greaseproof paper on top of a flat plate or board: so that you can move it easily to a safe place until it sets.

Break up the chocolate and put it into a heatproof bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave on High, in 30 second bursts: usually, it will take between a minute and a half and two minutes altogether.

(Alternatively, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water: choose a bowl that will fit comfortably in the top of the saucepan but without the bottom touching the hot water.)

Once the chocolate has melted, pour it very carefully into the heart cutter, use a flexible scraper to help you. You may need to push the chocolate gently into the corners.

Leave it for a couple of minutes and scatter your chosen bits and pieces over the top. The chocolate needs to be tacky otherwise everything will fall off when you pick it up after it has set. If you are using chopped nuts or crispy rice push them down slightly into the chocolate.

Leave it in a cool, dry place to set completely: this will take an hour or two. Once it has set you can peel away the backing paper and gently push it out of the mould using a palette knife or the tip of a dinner knife. If you are not presenting it to your loved one straight away, wrap in foil and store in an airtight tin.

Pancakes

These are traditionally served on Shrove Tuesday as a last hearty tuck-in before the more sober days of Lent. Eat them with lemon and sugar, runny honey or maple syrup, a squeeze of orange, blackcurrant or cherry jam or whatever you fancy. 

• 110g (4oz) plain flour 300ml
  
• (½ pint) semi-skimmed milk
  
• 1 egg
  
• Pinch of salt Butter and, or, oil (melted butter gives the best flavour)

Sieve the flour into a bowl, large enough to give you room to manoeuvre, and make a well in the middle. Tip the egg into the well and stir it in, then gradually add the milk, stirring as you go, until you have a batter the consistency of thin cream. Stir in the salt. Use a large dinner fork to stir everything together and then give it a good whisk with a coiled spring whisk. Leave it to stand for about 10 minutes at room temperature and stir it again just before using. Pour the batter into a jug, for ease of use.

Brush a 18cm (7 inch) non-stick frying pan with melted butter, or oil, if you prefer. Put the pan on to heat, on a medium to high setting and get it really hot. Pour the batter into the middle of the pan, from quite a height, until you have covered an area about the size of large fried egg. Then, flick the pan in a circular motion until the batter spreads to cover nearly the whole of the pan. Cook the pancake for a couple of minutes until it turns from translucent to opaque, and when you shake the pan the pancake makes a kind of scratchy, shushing sound. Flip it over with a fish slice and cook for another couple of minutes, again until you can shake the pan as before. I usually flip it over again for a final check. Brush the fish slice with butter or oil if it won’t go under the pancake easily.

The pan should be completely dry with no trace of butter or oil after each pancake: try brushing the pan with melted butter between each one but do bear in mind, if you are going to do this, the pan will be very hot so the brush must be made from actual bristle and not nylon!

Incidentally, if you find yourself having to provide batter for a pancake party, a large plastic milk container is ideal to carry it in. If you have only just finished using it, you don’t even have to wash it out!