Original subtitles

Baking really is one of the best things in life.

Who can resist the joy of a warm cookie...

I can tell you, it is absolutely delicious.

The pleasure of a creamy sponge...

That looks gorgeous.

..or the comfort of a roast dinner?

Sometimes, it's the simple things that we love the most,

so in this series, I'll be celebrating the everyday.

Elevating ordinary bakes into extraordinary treats.

This bake is so easy, anyone can do it.

When I cook things that are really fast, I feel really accomplished.

From family meals that let the oven take the strain...

If you are looking for an epic bake, you came to the right place.

..to fun-packed weekend brunches...

All that delicious flavour - just look at it!

..and the simplest of celebratory sweets.

That is the magic of baking.

Plus, go-to favourites from some of the best bakers in Britain.

Cos I love what I'm doing, It's bringing me joy.

This is baking for you, for me,

and the people you love for every day of the year.

This week, my speedy standbys for when you need fantastic food

in a jiffy.

You really can't get much faster than this.

A sweet with a secret cheat...

Biscuits and cookies - they're the gift that keep giving and giving.

Step aside, pasta bake,

I've got a noodle dish to get in the oven.

Just those few ingredients but, oh, my goodness.

GULLS CRY

But first, a nifty hack on an old-school bake.

# You're too slow

# Woman, you're too slow... #

If you're busy, making a quiche just takes too long,

but if that's the kind of thing you're after, this recipe will hit

the spot any day of the week.

# You're too slow... #

With short cuts to a deliciously crispy pastry

and a flavour-packed topping,

this tart takes half the time of a traditional quiche.

As a mum of three kids,

as much as I love being in the kitchen,

I also need to get people fed quickly,

and this is the recipe for exactly that.

Very few ingredients,

and the key one is, of course, pastry.

We're going to start off by making the filo from scratch.

No, we are not, because there is nothing speedy about that!

Props to everyone who does it.

It's just - life's too short. It's coming out of a packet.

That's short cut number one sorted.

Just brush a sheet all over with melted butter before doing the same

to the inside of your baking dish.

Be generous - get all around the edges.

Filo loves butter.

Then scrunch up the filo sheet lengthways.

When I do this, I think about pleats that you do on a sari,

like my mum taught me how to do.

It's like that, but much messier.

Pop that straight into the middle.

This is our starting point.

We're going to build around this

and we're going to keep going.

Then simply repeat with the remaining pastry sheets.

I can guarantee that it will become a staple.

I promise you that, because this is one that I make all the time.

I told you this was easy.

So, that's the last bit of filo straight in.

Get a little bit of that butter,

and then brush that all over, making sure it's going into

all of those gaps.

Remember, filo likes butter,

just like I like butter.

And in a matter of minutes, it's ready to bake. No messing.

While quiche has a filling,

mine has a super-speedy topping.

First eggs,

plus a fridge favourite of mine - spring onions.

Flavour, colour,

without, like, that hit of onion.

You know where you can taste it three hours later?

Don't need none of that.

Now, for some zing from fresh coriander.

You could use parsley if you wanted.

I've met lots of people who say they don't like coriander,

which I don't get.

But that's OK. No judgment here.

Maybe a little bit of judgment.

And then I'm only going to use one spice.

Smoked paprika. Literally, it does not need anything else.

It's slightly spicy, slightly sweet.

Two teaspoons - be bold.

This is the quickest, easiest bake

ever, ever, ever.

Just season, and it's good to go - on the pastry, that is.

You can really smell the butter.

Then just pour the topping on the pastry.

Short cut number two sorted.

Pour that all over

that gorgeous egg.

Just finding its way around the filo.

I am going to give it a quick swirl of Sriracha.

Just get in there.

This is going to add, like, a punchy layer of sweet flavour

that works really well with the paprika and the onion, coriander.

Now, back it goes in the oven for another brief bake.

# Love

# Love's such a wonderful thing

# Just think of the joys it can bring

# I got so much love... #

When I cook things that are really fast, I feel really accomplished.

My kids are like, "Ooh!"

They don't know that it literally took me five, ten minutes.

It's like my life's mission to make it easier,

and not compromise on taste and beauty.

And this stunner isn't short on either.

Look at this.

A few ingredients, knocking around in your cupboard,

and you get this.

Like, I mean, quiche who?

I mean, this is fast. It smells incredible.

And I can tell you, it is absolutely delicious.

This might be a time-saver,

but there's no scrimping on flavour.

All crispy pastry contrasting

with a soft paprika-spiced filling.

It's, quite frankly, a fantastic feed.

You can already see, it looks amazing.

But listen, can you hear that crunch?

FIRM CRUNCH

And you know what? I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking, "Be quiet.

"Eat it and tell us what it tastes like."

You've got crisp, chewy,

and then you've got that smoky egg

with that hit of that spring onion, coriander,

and then that sweet Sriracha on top.

There's everything in here for a perfect, simple lunch

or a quick supper.

Most of all, there's hardly any work.

Next, another effortless treat for anyone who's ever loved

a chocolate cookie, which is all of us, right?

I've got three things to say about these biscuits.

One, they're delicious.

Two, they've got a surprise in the middle.

And three, they have the best name ever - snickerdoodles!

These chewy chocolate cookies are an American favourite,

coated in cinnamon and crispy, crushed nuts.

They are so good, I'm sure you'll make them again and again.

I know it's easy to go to the shops and buy a packet of biscuits,

but once you've made your own cookies,

I don't think you're going to go back. They are so quick.

But you know me, I like to make them a little bit extra,

so I am adding these chocolate caramels in the centre.

I love a cheat

and I am not about to spend hours making a caramel

and covering them in chocolate.

We have these ready-made.

The first thing I need to do is stick them in the freezer

and let them chill completely.

Now, on to the cookie dough.

Just put 200g of dark chocolate chips into a pan

with 75g of butter, and melt down gently.

The first time I ever had a snickerdoodle,

we were in this New York apartment,

and Girl Scout cookies are a real thing.

They knock on your door and they sell you cookies,

and they're just lovely.

Covered in cinnamon and peanut.

This is what you want.

A glossy, smooth,

shiny chocolate butter mix.

Pour the melted chocolate and butter into a bowl to cool,

then add 100g of soft brown sugar.

I promise, it matters.

This is the difference between a hard cookie

and a chewy, soft cookie.

If you want a cookie that's a little bit crisper,

go for caster sugar.

But if you want something a little bit chewy, and I'm a chewy kind of girl,

go for a soft brown sugar.

Give that a mix to dissolve,

and whisk up three eggs.

Then it's time to add in our flavour,

courtesy of a teaspoon of vanilla essence and half that of almond.

I really love the combination of the two.

They work really well together.

Sometimes I might go for hazelnuts.

This is what I love about everyday baking is that you can chop

and change and do what you like,

and I like these two together.

Now for the dry ingredients,

350g of plain flour,

a teaspoon of baking powder,

and mix until it comes together.

If you're a beginner baker

and you want to get confident in the kitchen,

don't go for caramel and choux pastry and all of that.

You want to start with simple things like cookies, you know,

things that you can just put together.

Next, that secret centre.

Grab about a tablespoon of the dough.

Roll it.

Make a little dent in the middle,

a little cavity for your frozen caramel.

And then just encase

the whole thing.

You see why it's really important to freeze them because the cookie

dough is still a little bit warm.

That is cold.

If it's warm on warm, we're going to lose the shape

of that caramel and we don't want to do that.

And then just kind of give it a little squish

and just keep going.

This is the bit that I love doing with my daughter.

We know the surprise is in there.

Nobody else knows the surprise is in there.

We've got 20 dough balls

filled with our secret caramel surprise.

But we are not finished. Not yet.

This is the snickerdoodle part,

and it's so simple.

Just add half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon

to 150g of crushed peanuts, and mix.

Before pressing each dough ball firmly

into the spicy, nutty coating.

Don't have to be friendly.

Just go for it. We want it to stick.

Crunchy peanuts and that sweet, scented cinnamon -

match made in heaven in the form of a snickerdoodle.

When they're all well coated,

they need to chill in the fridge

to help them hold their shape in the oven.

I always bake one half

and I pop the other half in the freezer.

Bake them another day. Put some in a cookie jar.

Biscuits and cookies...

..they are the gift that keep giving and giving. It's a no-brainer.

Evenly space out the snickerdoodles on a tray and get baking.

These aren't just snickerdoodles.

They're speedy snickerdoodles.

# I don't know what it is that makes me love you so

# I only know I never want to let you go

# Cos you started something, oh, can't you see?

# That ever since we met... #

Following their short spell in the oven and a little time to cool,

my all-American treats are ready to eat.

# I only wanna be with you... #

Take a look at these.

They smell so good.

And these are still just very slightly warm

and the peanuts have just roasted on top.

They've kept their shape.

My scrumptious snickerdoodle cookies

with their secret sweet centre

are just the thing to spoil yourself with.

This is everything you want in a cookie -

light kind of cocoa flavour.

And then that crisp, crunchy peanut on the outside

with that sweet cinnamon

and then that delicious, oozy, warm caramel.

Surrender yourself to the power of the snickerdoodle.

I love taking my inspiration from all over the world

to create speedy salt-of-the-Earth bakes.

And I'm not alone.

Restaurateur Tom Pearson is all about bringing the flavours

of everyday dishes from northern Italy to his restaurant

in West Yorkshire.

Today I'm making farinata,

which is a huge chickpea pancake from Liguria,

made with four humble ingredients.

That's chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt.

It's the perfect example of an everyday bake.

There is absolutely nothing to it.

It cooks in minutes.

Job done. Perfect.

First, get your chickpea flour, sieve it.

Water, a little bit at a time.

Tom's lifelong love affair with all things Italian

began a long time ago.

First time I had a farinata,

we'd just started our travels around Italy, that we did before

we opened the restaurant.

They were cooking farinata in the street.

So, we went over, they chopped off a big kind of slice of it,

and we fell in love with it straight away.

And we want to create a really authentic farinata for people

to try here in the UK.

The consistency is actually key,

so really, really loose

and cream-like.

Much looser than Yorkshire pudding batter or pancake batter.

Italian sea salt.

A good farinata is always salty.

Traditionally, farinata is eaten by everyone, from the people

that would work on the docks,

who would eat on a morning to sustain them for the day,

while the gentry and the aristocracy

would traditionally eat on an evening.

This is a proper farinata pan.

Copper bottom - it's seen its fair share of action.

It's got to be cooked really, really, really hot, really quickly.

Batter, in it goes.

Exactly the same all the way round.

There's nothing quite like having farinata.

You can have it with loads of different toppings.

Friarelli, or cime di rapa, is the sprout in tops of turnips.

It was fed to animals or to sustain the very, very poorest people,

but it really is quite delicious.

It just takes on so much flavour.

Some lovely garlic and some fantastic Calabrian chillies.

And some Taleggio cheese, which just melts beautifully

into the farinata.

It's sunshine, it's seaside.

It's the earth.

It's that saltiness that you get from the sea.

It's everything you could ever want.

This is the real deal.

The restaurant was a success from day one, really.

We've been here for nearly eight years now.

This would do for breakfast.

This would do for lunch. This would do for dinner.

Can top it with whatever you want.

It's always going to be good.

The flavour just releases all those memories

of that amazing journey.

Tom's take on this Italian classic isn't just speedy and sustaining,

it's scrummy, too, as the very best of bakes should be.

# You can get it if you really want... #

For me, there's only one thing that's better than a cake,

and that's cake that tastes like ice cream.

# But you must try, try and try... #

My chocolate-topped, ice cream-filled treat

is so good and so speedy, it's sure to become a go-to recipe.

I am really, really bad at throwing stuff away,

so those tubs of ice cream that hadn't been finished...

So, this is how my brain works.

Ice cream has already got eggs,

sugar, milk.

Those are kind of key ingredients when you're baking a cake, right?

All it needs now is a bit of self-raising flour.

That's it.

It almost is like your own instant cake mix.

So grab 300g of both strawberry and chocolate ice cream,

totally defrosted,

then sieve 140g of self-raising flour into each bowl.

Mix until smooth, and voila!

Chocolate and strawberry cake batter.

It's got this gorgeous mousse-y texture

so you know when that goes in the oven it's going to do some magic.

If you have a cake emergency, which I often do,

this is the cake to make.

You really can't get much faster than this,

but I'm not quite done yet.

I need 9g of freeze-dried strawberries.

This smells like a strawberry milkshake cake, which is perfect,

but I want to add more.

And this stuff is amazing because it kind of rehydrates

in the cake batter and you get this injection of strawberry flavour.

Give it a really good mix.

Now it's time to get both batters in the tin.

Just take a dollop of the chocolate ice cream in there

and then kind of alternate it.

The trick is put the chocolate on top of the strawberry

and put the strawberry on top of the chocolate

and then the other way round.

Once you've got those alternate colours in there,

just give it a quick...

LOUD THWACK

..tap just to kind of flatten it out a little bit.

And then go in again.

Just keep going.

My kids love making stuff like this.

It might actually even make a teenager smile.

I can't promise anything, but it might.

As if this isn't so much fun already,

we want to create that swirly marble-y effect.

So, take a skewer and we're going to use this

to create those curves right down to the base.

Just drag it across.

OK.

Then, just a couple of...

GENTLE KNOCKING

..sharp taps,

just kind of settle the batter,

then pop it straight into the oven.

And get on with my easy ganache topping,

which only needs 150g of dark chocolate chips

and 150ml of double cream

in a pan over a medium heat.

That's how simple it is.

Literally, two ingredients.

You could do something like a dark chocolate ganache and make it

just a little bit sophisticated

and nobody will know that the cake is actually made

from leftover ice cream.

They won't have a clue.

As the pan comes to the boil,

take it off the heat.

That's it.

Pour it straight over the chocolate.

While the chocolate chips are sat in that hot cream,

just let it do its thing.

Now, start stirring,

and you'll see those chocolate streaks.

And there's that magic moment,

when you're making ganache,

where it all just comes together.

Trust the process.

You will get this beautiful, glossy mixture.

The ganache needs to chill in the fridge, which makes

the decorating stage a doddle.

Look at our ice cream cake.

You can see that's the strawberry

and that's the chocolate

where we swirled it.

Now, to transform the chilled ganache

into the most luxurious topping ever.

I have in the past tried to whip ganache that's really, really warm

and it just never happens.

So, I tried chilling it.

And you can whip it, make it quite fluffy.

As you whisk it, it becomes lighter.

You're kind of incorporating that air into it.

Look at the difference.

Does that not look like

a chocolate mousse?

Get that into a piping bag with a star-tipped nozzle.

Don't start at the end closer to you because you're going to end up

with this ganache on your elbow.

Always start furthest away from you.

I'm going to go for a simple swipe.

Just go for it - commit.

And just keep going. Have fun.

# Oh, you to me are everything

# The sweetest song that I can sing

# Oh, baby... #

So, pop some strawberries

right on top.

Chocolate, strawberry, ice cream, marble cake.

You know it's simple, I know it's simple,

but that is exquisite.

My marbled marvel isn't just too easy to make,

it's too easy to eat, too.

SEAGULLS CRY

Just look at it!

That is the magic of baking.

Get in there. Come on.

Why would you have just cake

when you can have cake that tastes like ice cream?

Two for one.

That is a winner.

When it comes to dishes I can depend on,

I'm a big fan of dialling up flavour fast,

and my last recipe does exactly that.

One thing I've learned in all my years of baking is that you can cook

almost anything successfully in the oven.

Even noodles!

# What would I be without your love... #

This fragrant cod and coconut broth is a huge hit at my house,

and I promise it will be a hit at yours, too.

I am making aromatic fish noodles.

It's quick, it's simple,

and the oven does all the work.

First thing I'm going to do is start off with my base,

which means toasting some desiccated coconut in some coconut oil.

It really amps up the nuttiness.

We never grew up with coconut oil as an oil to cook with,

but a few years ago, discovered that we are part Thai.

There are so many similarities between Thai cooking

and Bangladeshi cooking,

so ever since finding that out,

it has become a part of my everyday cooking.

So, just keep moving it around

because it will toast really quickly.

And you'll get this gorgeous kind of golden colour.

Then for a fast hit of the Far East - lime leaves.

These are unbelievably fragrant.

And there's that kind of mix of Bangladeshi, Thai.

You want to whack them straight into the warm oil.

Now to spice it up with ground turmeric.

This is like a staple in my cupboard and it works really well in this.

It's got that gorgeous woody flavour

and it gives you that vibrant yellow colour.

Next, a little cheat.

Garlic paste.

Now, this is about an easy life.

Garlic out of a jar is amazing

when you want to, like, eat something really fast.

Whack that oil in there. Very garlicky,

which is exactly what we want.

And a staple of Southeast Asian cooking - fish sauce.

Especially with Thai cooking,

you've got to have that intense fish flavour.

Last but not least, in my flavour layering, ground black pepper.

I do not have a pepper mill

because for me, salt and pepper, it's not a thing.

Pepper needs a little bit more respect.

Pepper is a spice all by itself.

And if you use it well and in abundance, you really get

that lovely peppery heat, but that gorgeous fragrance

at the same time. That's going to give us a really good kick,

and you can really smell it. I wish you could smell this.

But now I'm going to add coconut milk.

Because we're baking it in the oven,

we need somewhere for our noodles to steam.

And this is going to give us creamy flavour, but also moisture.

So add that straight in there - two cans.

Just mix it up, then add some rice noodles,

which will rehydrate as the coconut broth cooks.

And now for the fish - any firm white fish cut into chunks.

So we are using cod.

Gently just submerge them in there.

It will absorb all of that coconut milk, all that flavour.

This is going to be incredible.

Instead of hovering over the hob, pop a lid on the pot and bake it.

What I love about this dish

is that as much as you could do it on the stove,

it's a totally different beast in the oven.

You get to put the lid on

and you don't have to worry about it. There's no hanging around.

You could get on with other things and come back and it's ready.

Just those few ingredients, but oh, my goodness.

There's this magic that happens when you put that lid on

and everything just sits there and steams.

And just like they do in Thailand,

get your sour from a squeeze of lime,

some freshness from coriander,

and a punch of heat courtesy of red chillies.

And there's nothing left to do...

..but serve myself a nice big portion.

This is turning the ordinary into something extraordinary.

If you're a fan of fast, fragrant food,

this one-dish wonder hits all the right notes.

There is a simplicity to this dish.

But what will surprise you the most is the complexity

of how amazingly well

these flavours go together.

This dish can transport you straight to Thailand.

Next time, my easy roast for any day, not just Sunday.

If I'm telling you this is going to be

the best roast chicken you've ever tasted,

please trust me.

And my roast onion curry that's so simple and so tasty.

This is loving

your onions!