Lime zest adds a tropical citrus bust to baking which is particularly welcome during the winter months. Like all zest, you do not need much for it to pack a punch.

I have always enjoyed the burnt, bitter taste of treacle. I remember the first time I tasted treacle toffee, I was hooked.

Stoneground flours, such as the excellent flour from Macroom, are ground between two mill stones, an ancient process that has not changed much over the centuries.

Michelle Darmody whips up some delicious desserts with chocolate - the ultimate dessert ingredient.

The shiny, elongated fruits of the chilli plant can be used in many ways, mostly they are used in savoury cooking but they can add a kick and intense flavour to sweet baking as well.

I know it is a cliché, but I do feel like stretching myself out after the indulgence of December, to start to air out the cobwebs with brisk walks or runs in the park.

Michelle Darmody bakes up some delicious treats using root veg.

Texture is a very important part of our experience of food. We enjoy different sensations as we eat - crisp apples, soft, pillowy sponge cake or the crunch of a freshly baked crust of bread.

There is something nice about regressing to old-fashioned puddings, sweet and warm once the cold days set it.

Scones are one of things that when made well are delicious but when made badly can cloud your judgment of them.

Bright red, translucent glacé cherries sat pert and proud on many half grapefruits in the ‘80s.

I like to make quick use of unusual ingredients and not leave them sitting in the back of the cupboard for months on end, to be thrown out in next year’s spring clean.

I know to expect the length of the beautiful summer evenings after 42 years in Ireland, I also know that they gradually, incrementally build up, but each year takes me by surprise.

Vanilla is very often a listed ingredient in baking recipes, it is not always essential but it provides a back note to the other flavours, it mellows out a recipe and adds a subtle sweetness.

Vinegar may seem like an unusual ingredient in cakes and buns but it is one of those slightly magic ingredients that adds to the mysterious alchemy of baking.

This week I’m focusing on three EU member states that have been producing wine for millennia but whose wines are relatively rare in Ireland: Slovenia, Greece and Croatia.

IS leftover Easter egg chocolate an oxymoron or just wishful thinking?

Cheesecakes can either be baked or refrigerated to set the topping.

There are a few strange bottles of alcohol shoved to the back of the cupboards in our house, one that a friend brought as a gift from a Greek island, others samples of liqueurs all sitting side by side with half empty bottles of obscure sherry, writes Michelle Darmody.

POMEGRANATES are in season at the moment. At this time of year they are more likely to contain wonderfully rich, ruby red seeds.

When baking you will notice that recipes are often very specific when it comes to butter, calling for soft or hard butter and sometimes for the butter to be melted. This is because butter behaves differently at different temperatures.

Baking and icing cookies is a nice way to spend a few hours at the weekend. The smell of the sweet biscuits baking fills the kitchen, and then the tantilizing wait for them to cool begins.

A reader requested that I print some recipes that contain uncooked honey. She commented that I use honey quite often but it is generally heated.

I have included the recipe for lemon slices in this column before, but decided to add it again, says Michelle Darmody.

Cookbooks are often passed from generation to generation within families, mapping out stories that can be traced through time, says Michelle Darmody.

Candied fruit, otherwise know as crystallised or glacé is fruit that has been boiled in a sugar syrup to help preserve and to create a sweet, aromatic and brightly coloured ingredient for baking.

Making and serving a dessert in the same dish makes life much easier, says Michelle Darmody.

The recipes included here are all ones that my mother baked for us and still does, says Michelle Darmody.

Recipes by Michelle Darmody this week are orange blossom and almond cake, almond macaroons and sunken prune tarts.

Sometimes simple is best. A warm apple tart with a spoon of lightly whipped cream is one of my favourite desserts and one I do not make often enough.

Bundt cakes always look impressive at a party and are best eaten the day they are baked, says Michelle Darmody.

Brownies are an American invention and gained popularity because of how easy they are to make, eat and store.