... fresh edible flower decorations

I spotted these edible flowers (violas I think) in the salad bit of Waitrose yesterday and as soon as I laid eyes on them I knew I had to have them! The plan is to crystalise them tomorrow, but they're so pretty that I couldn't resist popping a few on some simple chocolate cupcakes that I made today.

Fresh edible flower decorations

... chewy oat and raisin cookies

I'm addicted to these cookies, and probably make a batch two or three times per week. It takes just two minutes to weigh out and mix the ingredients, and 12 minutes to bake them into sweet chewy biscuits. They're ace with a cup of tea, and sometimes when I'm feeling luxurious I like to coat them with a shell of dark chocolate and top with candied orange strips (recipe coming later this week).

Oat and raisin cookies

The exact quantities of sugar and raisins in this recipe can be slightly tweaked to suit your own preferences, depending on how sweet you like your biscuits.

• 50 g butter (I used olive spread)
• 50 g brown sugar
• 75 g raisins
• 50 g plain flour
• 75 g porridge oats
• Pinch of salt

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy, then add the other ingredients and combine thoroughly. Using your hands shape lumps of the mixture into round balls, and then flatten between your palms to a thickness of around 1.5 cm. Place on greaseproof paper and bake at 180C for 12 minutes or until they turn golden brown.

... black olive boule

Olive bread has long been a favourite of mine because it's so versatile - for breakfast it tastes dreamy when lightly toasted and spread with a thick layer of smooth peanut butter, at lunchtime it peps up dull sandwich fillings and at dinner it makes a wonderful base for flavoursome bruschetta.

For this particular loaf I chose to use black hojiblanca olives, but am planning to try it with some pimento stuffed olives later in the week to see if the sweetness and aroma come through.

This basic olive bread recipe is purposefully quite pared down, so there's endless scope to add herbs or a seed crust to your own taste. It's also extremely quick to make, so easy to fit in before work or during the evening.

• 100 g pitted black hojiblanca olives (I used waitrose salted à la grecque olives)
• 15 g dried active baking yeast
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 350 g strong white flour
• Olive oil (for kneading)
• Warm water

Place the dried active yeast and brown sugar in a bowl and top up with warm water to make 250ml. Whisk gently and leave for 10-15 mins for the yeast to activate. Meanwhile pit and chop the olives.

When the liquid has frothed up add it to the flour and olives in a bowl, mix to a squidgy/sticky dough and leave for 10 minutes.

Oil your kneading surface, give the dough a sharp 10-second knead, and return it to the bowl. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes and repeat twice more at 10 minute intervals. When the dough has been kneaded three times in total, shape it into round shape and place it, seam-side down, on an oiled baking tray. Leave to rise for 45 mins or until doubled in size. Slash the top and bake at 220C for 30-40 minutes. When its baked through the base should sound hollow when tapped.