Whether, for example, you are a single professional in small flat, a family who do not have a conventional oven, a student going to college or university in the next week or two or simply someone who loves baked potatoes, with a Halogen Oven cooking them in kitchens or rooms tight for space couldn’t be easier!

Ingredients

4 large baking potatoes (scrubbed)
1 Tbsp of butter

Wash potatoes and dry well, then pierce each several times all over with a fork.

Rub potatoes all over with the butter. If you prefer a softer skin, skip this step.

Bake in Halogen Oven at 200°C/400°F for 25 to 40 minutes depending on the size. Remove the potatoes from the Halogen Oven and carefully cut a slit in the top of each potato.

Add your favourite topping(s) and enjoy!

Ingredients

225g (8oz) self-raising flour
1 tsp of baking powder
A pinch of salt
25g (1oz) caster sugar
55g (2oz) unsalted butter (slightly softened)
150ml (5fl oz) of milk (semi-skimmed, whole milk or skimmed)
1 free-range egg (beaten) or plain flour (for brushing or dusting)

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
Stir in the sugar, add the butter and rub quickly into the flour, creating a fine breadcrumb consistency.
Add the milk, a little at a time, working to smooth dough.
This is now best left to rest for 5 to 15 minutes before rolling.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until 2cm (¾in) thick. Using a 5cm (2in) pastry cutter, cut the dough, using a sharp tap and not twisting the dough as you cut. Twisting the scone mix will result in an uneven rising.
Once stamping out rounds the scones can either be brushed with the beaten egg for a shiny glaze, or dusted with the flour for a matt finish. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough and stamp out more scones to use it all up.

Place the scones on a greased baking sheet and bake in Halogen Oven for 10-12 minutes at 220°C/425°F until well risen and golden brown.

Allow to cool slightly on a wire rack, and serve while still warm. Butter and good jam and maybe some clotted cream are traditional scrumptious accompaniments.

This easy to make cake is wonderfully moist and smells like Christmas!
Serve with custard, creme fraiche or whipped cream for a lovely pud.

50g (2oz) caster sugar
1 beaten egg
100ml (3.5floz) milk

Mix ingredients together until thoroughly combined spoon mixture into basin 1lt size.

Cover bowl with double layer baking parchment secur with string. Cover this with tin foil. Set basin in halogen bowl pour enough boiling water to come to a third of the way up pudding basin side

Set oven to 250c and steam for 1hr30 to 1hr 45 min or until just firm to touch and knife inserted to middle comes out clean. Leave in basin for 5 mins then invert on to serving plate.

Read the full recipe here.

I then place a tin on the lower rack of my JML HO and use the upper rack covered in foil to stop the cake from burning.

Time it for 30 to 35 minutes at 170 degrees (175 to finish it off if the its not fully cooked inside).

I find the results to be a golden sponge cake, light and fluffy.

My only gripe is that I can’t bake two at a time. So far I’ve cooked 3 sponge cakes using this method and they all are perfect.

1. For beginners, making cakes can seem a bit of a daunting prospect but, as with all cooking skills, once you’ve been taught the correct way, you can proceed without fear and have success every time. Using the wrong tins is probably the cause of 90 per cent of failures – for this quantity you will need two 8 inch (20 cm) diameter sponge tins, 1½ inches (4 cm) deep. Lightly grease them and line each one with a circle of silicone paper (baking parchment), also lightly greased.

2. For an 8 inch (20 cm) sandwich cake, start off by sifting 6 oz (175 g) of self-raising flour and a rounded teaspoon of baking powder into a very large mixing bowl, holding the sieve quite high to give the flour a good airing as it goes down.

3. Next, break 3 large eggs into the flour and add 6 oz (175 g) of caster sugar and 6 oz (175 g) of butter – the butter has to be at room temperature, so soft that the blade of a knife will make a deep impression straight away. Finally, add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

4. Now you just go in with an electric hand whisk and whisk everything together until you have a smooth, well-combined mixture. This will take about one minute – if you don’t have an electric whisk, you can use a wooden spoon with a little more effort.

5. What you now end up with is a mixture that drops easily off the spoon when you give it a tap on the edge of the bowl. If it does seem a little too stiff, add 1-2 teaspoons of tap water and mix again.

6. Divide the sponge mixture equally between the prepared tins and level out the surface with a palette knife.

7. Place them on the centre shelf of a pre-heated oven – gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C) and bake for 30-35 minutes. Don’t open the oven door until 30 minutes have elapsed. To test if they are cooked or not, touch the centre lightly with your little finger. If it leaves no impression and springs back, the sponge is cooked.

8. Remove them from the oven then wait for about 5 minutes before turning them out on to a cooling rack and carefully peeling off the base paper.

9. Leave the sponge to get completely cold before you add your filling and topping.

Copyright to this recipe belongs to Delia Smith

Ingredients:

4 Portabello mushrooms (or other large flat mushrooms)
6oz / 170g soft cheese
1 egg
1tsp wholegrain mustard
8 Cherry tomatoes
2 tblsp fresh finely chopped or snipped chives
salt and freshly ground pepper
Method:

Place a baking tray on the top rack of your HO and preheat at 170C for 5 minutes or so.

Remove the stalk from the mushrooms and wipe them if necessary.

Separate the egg into two bowls.

Lightly beat the egg yolk with a fork and add about 50g of the soft cheese, half of the chives and the mustard. Add the seasoning to taste and mix together.

Spread the stalk side of the mushrooms with the remaining cheese. Half the tomatoes and push 4 per mushroom into the cheese topping.

Whisk the egg white until it holds its peaks. Fold (stir) lightly into the egg yolk mixture with a metal spoon.

Carefully place the mushrooms onto the hot baking tray and top each with a quarter of the egg mixture.

Bake at 170C for approx 15-20 minutes until golden and cooked through.

Serve sprinkled with the remaining chives and some toasted crusty bread and butter.

In a conventional oven the advice is 35 min per 450g (1LB) and 35 mins extra at 180C.
In the HO, I reduce temperature and cooking time.

I put my gammon on the bottom rack and covered the top loosely with foil. Because my oven is smaller I used the extension ring to take the heat source higher.

I cooked it at 160C (approx 325F) for 1 hour, turned it and cooked for another 1 hour. I then removed the foil and let it brown for 10 minutes, still at 160C, then turned it for another 10 minutes to brown all round.

It was cooked through thoroughly and delicious. Depending on the shape/thickness of your joint, times may vary a bit. Test with a skewer to make sure juices run clear.