a very joyful recipe for "wagon wheels"

What I’m reading: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. This is a very moving memoir about race, grief, identity and family - which only became more intriguing when I found out it was written by the lead singer of Japanese Breakfast

What I’m listening to: Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo on Table Manners. A thoroughly enjoyable episode

What I’m eating: a mini pizza tour of Spitalfields including Paulie’s and Vincenzo’s (below). I highly recommend both!

This week’s recipe definitely involves a little more heavy lifting than, say pancakes. It’s no good if you’re after instant gratification (and if you are, fair enough! Please reference a much quicker win like pancakes, little choc puddings or perhaps soda bread), and is instead much better suited to a long day or weekend stretching out ahead. None of the elements are particularly complicated, but they do take a little time and planning. That said, here’s a suggested timeline to follow:

Day 1

• Write grocery list

• Do food shop

• Make biscuits

• Make marshmallow

Day 2

• Melt chocolate

• Assemble and dunk wagon wheels

• Refrigerate

  

This may seem slightly pedantic, but when I start to feel overwhelmed about my ever-growing to-do list, sometimes I find it best to write things down as literally as this - sometimes, pedantry works wonders for an anxious mind.

I made these on a very wholesome day off, with breaks to go for walks and coffee runs - and then ended up bringing them to an impromptu birthday party (hence the sprinkles on top). The sprinkles are not an essential part, but the jam, for me, is. I used my last jar of blackcurrant jam I made last summer, and I think it complements the chocolate perfectly - plus, it cuts through all that sweetness with a very tart note. Use whatever jam you prefer, though I think a red fruit or perhaps apricot would be lovely here. You could equally use marmalade for a jaffa cake type flavour.

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Essentially what you’ll find below is two main recipes (for ginger biscuits and marshmallows), plus instructions for assembly. The biscuits are very easy to make - they’re quite gingery, because I wanted them to be very reminiscent of Chocolate Kimberleys (incidentally my dad’s favourite biscuit), and have a little golden syrup in them, which leads to a lovely moist, tender crumb. Marshmallows are really fun to make, and if you haven’t made them before, I highly recommend. The method is pretty straightforward - I went for a version that doesn’t contain egg whites just to switch things up, although I also love JR Ryall’s recipe for marshmallows, which DOES contain egg whites - feel free to use this one if you’re familiar with it.

The quantities for these recipes may vary slightly depending on what size tins and cutters you’re using. It’s fairly likely that you won’t end up with exactly the right amount of marshmallow to fill your biscuits (or vice versa). This is absolutely no problem, however, as both biscuits and marshmallows work as stand-alone recipes - dunk the biscuits in your tea or chop the marshmallows up into cubes to add to your hot chocolate. Everyone’s a winner.

On that, if you want to try these recipes, but the assembly of wagon wheels is too much effort for you, may I suggest making rocky road? This is a much lower-lift recipe and I’ve included it below if you’d like to try your hand - I can guarantee that everyone will be VERY impressed by your rocky road that contains HOME-MADE biscuits and marshmallows.