My Top Twelve Recipes of 2024

January 2, 2025

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My Top Twelve Recipes of 2024 – The most popular recipes of 2024, as chosen by you the readers and the thousands of visits to access them!

First of all, I’d like to wish you all a Very Happy New Year – I hope 2025 is kind to you, and you will fulfil your hopes and dreams, as well as stay healthy.

I wish for an end to global conflicts, a kinder more tolerant society, the continued enjoyment of much-loved customs & traditions, more exploration & travel, plus happiness and joy for me, my family and friends.

But back to today, the 2nd of January, and a brand New Year. I was fascinated to see what my most popular recipes were from 2024, so here, for your enjoyment, I have assembled them all in one post.

My Top Twelve Recipes

Number one – In top place, is School Dinner Cheese Flan. Also called Cheese & Egg Flan, or Cheese Pie, it has JUST four ingredients in it. Namely cheese, eggs, milk and pastry. I remember it well from my school days, when it was always served warm with chips and baked beans. It wasn’t always popular with everyone, but as a pie and flan addict, I loved it! It’s quite a rich recipe, but high in protein, so very filling. There was something about the slightly wobbly cheesy custard baked in shortcrust pastry, that was somehow very comforting.

Number two – in second place is a much-loved family recipe for Ninja Pressure Cooker Ham (Gammon). My recipe for Ninja Pressure Cooker Ham (Gammon) is a fabulous way to cook a large joint of ham, or gammon, in just 1 hour. Still meltingly tender and infused with aromatics, this method is not just quick, but it saves on energy costs too.You can cook this in a standard pressure cooker, as well as a Ninja Multi Cooker, or an Instant Pot Multi Cooker. It’s bascially my traditional Baked Ham recipe, but cooked in a fraction of the time. Serve this ham for Easter lunch, with lots left over for sandwiches, salads, soups and stews. We love ham as served part of a Sunday Tea Tray Supper, or for a midweek tea; served with boiled eggs, and homemade bread, It’s also wonderful when served with homemade chunky chips, as part of ham, egg and chips, which was my late dad’s favourite.

Number three – another big favourite here, The Queen’s Chocolate Biscuit Cake – this recipe was also hugely popular in 2022 and 2023. My recipe for The Queen’s Chocolate Biscuit Cake is a variation on one I have been making for years, without realising that it was Her Majesty the Queen’s favourite cake. It was a favourite for birthday parties and the cake tin, with my daughter taking a small square to school in her lunch box sometimes. Apparently, Her Majesty is so fond of this recipe for The Queen’s Chocolate Biscuit Cake, that she has it daily in the afternoon with a cuppa, and will enjoy a slice every day until it is all gone. I love this idea that The Queen is a bit of a chocoholic, and enjoys a simple no-bake cake above other more complex cakes.

Number four – My late mother would be chuffed to bits to see this in my top twelve, as it was her recipe for Traditional Homemade Pickled Onions. This recipe is very poignant, as it was my mum’s recipe for Traditional Homemade Pickled Onions, and she made a few jars every November for the Christmas tea table. Why only make these in November? Well, in the UK you start to see small “pickling onions” in the greengrocers and supermarkets from October onwards, and with a view to the Christmas buffet table, and that ubiquitous cheese board, now is the time to make these pickled onions so they have time to “mature” for 6 weeks. If you make them in the first week of November, they will be wonderfully mellow but still crisp and crunchy by the time the festive period starts in earnest. These Traditional Homemade Pickled Onions WILL keep quite happily for up to a year in the pantry, as long as it is cool and dark, but they are best eaten with 6 months. Serve these traditional pickled onions with cheese, cold meats, pork pies, ploughman’s lunch as well as with quiches, flans and salads. They are also great when served with fish and chips, in the style of a proper “Yorkshire Fish Supper”. I also have a recipe for pickled shallots here: Christmas in a Jar – Pickled Shallots should you have problems finding small pickling onions.

Number five – is another school dinners recipe, for School Chocolate Sponge & Chocolate Custard. My recipe for School Chocolate Sponge & Chocolate Custard is a real blast from the past! It’s my version of a favourite school dinner’s pudding. Big squares of chocolate sponge cake, always baked in a big roasting tin, were served with lashings of chocolate custard. It was the best pudding ever on a wet, windy or cold school day, and the portions were always very generous too. I’ve not shared a recipe for 24 portions (or more!) of School Chocolate Sponge & Chocolate Custard today, just 9 large squares for your dining pleasure! This is a delightfully rich and light chocolate cake and it reheats well in the microwave. You can serve it with Pink Custard if you like, but we prefer a double chocolate whammy. The custard is unashamedly made with Bird’s Custard Powder, as I’m sure the school cooks made it, with added cocoa powder. And, as you can see from the photos, it’s a lovely glossy and shiny custard, which goes perfectly with the chocolate sponge. This keeps well too, in the an airtight tin, and it can be eaten naked (the cake that is, not you!) if you prefer. Or why not add some chocolate icing or buttercream with some hundreds and thousands, for a chocolate version of my Retro School Dinner Iced Tray Bake Cake?

School Chocolate Sponge & Chocolate Custard

Number six – Another very poignant recipe, for Mums Two Ingredient Strawberry Mousse. This recipe for Mum’s Two Ingredient Strawberry Mousse is one of my favourite “frugal” retro recipes. Mum used to make this regularly for Sunday Tea, as well as for special occasions, such as Birthdays, Easter, Christmas and just because! Made with just two main ingredients, Evaporated Milk and Jelly, you can add lemon juice if you like a sharper flavour, and mum always added lemon juice to hers. If you don’t have any fresh lemons, then bottled lemon juice works just fine, and those little lemon shaped bottles of Jif Lemon Juice.

Number seven – Home away from Home: Betty’s Fat Rascals Recipe comes in at number seven this year, but it was nunber one a year or two ago! My take on the famous Betty’s Fat Rascals; Fat Rascals are a cross between a bun and a scone, more like a rock cake, and are delicious when enjoyed with an afternoon cuppa. The origin of the name is unknown, but they are thought to have been made since the mid-19th Century under the name of Fat Rascals, although the original recipe is thought to be Elizabethan.

Number eight – A bread recipe, and another recipe that was in the top three a year ago. Sourdough Bread in the Ninja Foodi, is a recipe I make regularly. I LOVE baking my own bread, as regular readers will know. And, I have dozens of bread recipes here on Lavender & Lovage. But today’s recipe for Sourdough Bread in the Ninja Foodi is a first. This Sourdough Bread in the Ninja Foodi is baked in a multi-cooker; multi-cookers are known more generally as Instant Pots, Air Fryers, Crockpot or as in the case of mine, a Ninja Foodi. My model is the Ninja Foodi MAX 14-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker 7.5L, and it has 14 amazing functions, as it’s name suggests. In an attempt to cut back on expensive energy costs, as usually this loaf takes 1 hour to bake in a very hot oven. I have exprimented with baking my usual Classic Sourdough Bread made Easy, but in my Ninja Foodi. As you can see, the loaf is perfectly baked with a light, airy and chewy crumb. It took ONLY 25 minutes to bake at 180C. As I mentioned before, if I baked this in my normal electric oven, it would take 1 hour, at a temperatire of 230C/220C fan.

Number nine – This was a surprise, as it’s not been in the top ten in the past, but it’s a fabulous recipe for Traditional Oxtail Stew. This recipe for Traditional Oxtail Stew is as old as the hills, as my mum and grandmother used to say. It’s a traditional British stew using a very cheap cut of beef, namely oxtail. Oxtail has become very popular again recently, after languishing for a while at the bottom of the butcher’s list. Both my mum and both grandmother’s used to use it a lot, as it was a cheap and cheerful cut of meat, although classed as offal. Oxtail needs a little care when preparing and takes a long time to cook, in order to render it tender, but this is more than made up for in it’s flavour, which is wonderfully rich and beefy. This recipe for Traditional Oxtail Stew uses wine as the main cooking liquor, but beer is also great, especially dark beers, stouts and porters such as Guinness. A tip, as oxtail is very fatty, you can either trim most of the visible fat off before cooking, which can be tricky, or cook it ahead of time, allow it to go cold and skim all the fat off the surface then. You just need to gently reheat it then. If you have any leftovers, allow it to go cold and strip the meat off the bone, in order to make oxtail soup. I hope you enjoy this traditional British recipe, it’s real comfort food and is fabulous when served with mashed potatoes and steamed greens, such a cabbage.

Number ten – What a surpise to see this in the Top Twelve! A simple recipe for Egg in a Cup. A simple and comforting dish for breakfast, tea or supper – Egg in a Cup is a very poignant one, as my late mother used to cook this for me before I used to go to school. Not that we knew this simple egg recipe as Egg in a Cup! It was always known as Buttered Boiled Eggs. Mum would boil 2 eggs each, until cooked but with a runny yolk, then she would chop the eggs with the back of a fork, add some butter, salt and white pepper, and roughly mash the eggs with the butter and seasonings. We were then served this delightful eggy dish in a small bowl, mug or a large cup, with toast or bread and butter on the side. The marriage of salted butter with white pepper, and soft boiled eggs was so comforting, as well as filling too. I thought it might be fun to share some of the other names here:
Egg in a Cup
Eggs in a Cup
Chopped Egg in a Cup
Choppy Eggs
Mashy Eggs
Eggy Cup
Chappie Egg
And finally, what we used to call them, Buttered Soft Boiled Eggs.

Number eleven – This has been hugely popular for a long time now, and it’s a family favourite. Easy Mincemeat Cake. This recipe for Easy Mincemeat Cake is one I have been baking for many years, and my mum before me – it was my late father’s favourite cake. It also makes a fabulous last minute Christmas cake, and is quite frugal in costs too. You can still add marzipan and icing if you wish, and even “feed” it with brandy. Made with just mincemeat, flour, eggs, butter, mixed spice and freshly zested orange peel, it’s delightfully fruity and very moist. I recommend using a good quality mincemeat, or even better, a homemade mincemeat for a better tasting cake. I have several mincemeat recipes on Lavender & Lovage, and I made this cake (as shown in the photos) with this recipe: BOOZY FAT-FREE MINCEMEAT. Once made, this Easy Mincemeat Cake stays fresh in an airtight tin for at least a week, and becomes sticky, almost like a ginger parkin or a malt loaf. If you hail from Yorkshire, as my husband does, he also likes this with a slice of Wensleydale cheese. If you don’t have a fresh orange to hand, then just add a tablespoon of fine shred orange marmalade for that essential citrus taste. Make this for the weekly cake tin, or for Sunday tea time, it is always devoured here with my husband sneaking an extra slice from the cake tin!

Number twelve – This maybe the last recipe in my Top Twelve, but it’s also another very popular family recipe. Old-Fashioned Tinned Salmon Sandwiches. My recipe today for Old-Fashioned Tinned Salmon Sandwiches is a family favourite, and one that my late parents and both sets of grandparents loved. These Old-Fashioned Tinned Salmon Sandwiches were made most Sundays for afternoon tea, or for the Sunday Tea Tray. They were special enough to grace the table at other occasions too, such as birthday parties, Christmas, Easter and when we had guests for Sunday tea. The key ingredient, apart from the salmon, was malt vinegar and white pepper – and believe me when say that these are essential to this sandwich filling. No fancy pants “freshly grated black pepper” or “cider apple vinegar” is needed for this sandwich filling, it’s a simple recipe that has been around for decades.