I feel myself drawn inexorably to baking projects that have no end, just a rocky path of discoveries, flops, experiments, successes, flops… Not content with macarons and pasteis de nata to add girth and grey hairs to my existence, I started playing with canelés de Bordeaux about a year ago. Why? Why? The lure of something that absolutely required expensive copper moulds and beeswax must have clinched the deal.

A delicious pairing of whole roasted hazelnuts with sweet, buttery hazelnut shortbread and the lovely tingle of salt crystals. Even people who aren't enthusiastic about hazelnuts might find themselves longing for more. It's just a pity these sablés noisette are a bit tricky to make.

Nut pastries involving layers of thin pastry and ground nuts are eaten all the way from Greece through the Middle East to Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and beyond, typically known as baklava/baklawa. Rather than making one of the many recipes I have, I combined the essence of a number of traditions, using spices and scents typical of much of the cuisine of that very broad region.

All over Denmark you see signs for frisky creamy balls. At first it seems very odd and rather tasteless, until you realise you're mistranslating. Welcome to the world of fluffy chocolate coated delights… with recipe!

Many of my readers know of my macaronic obsessions. As the latest batch, made for the foodblogger get-together in March, was well received I thought I'd publish some pretty photos of them and tell you more about the flavours, add a tip or two, and alert you to a macaronic book review.

It seemed time for a little Christmas spirit, though most of it seems to be passing me by at the moment. On the occasion of a little lunch at my place for friends, I wanted to serve some new flavours of macarons to my faithful tasters. Some very new creations and ingredients this time round, involving Christmas flavours and a very Australian memory.

This month's Daring Bakers challenge comes to you in stereo on Syrup&Tang. My Parisian correspondent, Harry, has taken up the Daring Bakers cause and baked his little heart out. Alas, he lacks a blog, so he's posting here alongside me. What did we make? Caramel Cake with Caramelised Butter Icing. If your favourite bloggers have mysteriously gone offline, it might be due to the sugar-induced coma of following the recipe to the letter.

Although most of the food I cook is quite definitely suitable for guests, there are one or two dishes which fall into a sort of 'private comfort' zone. People I've lived with have eaten them by force of commune, but I don't feel comfortable sharing these dishes with guests. I reveal one here and ask you to do the same…

Of the many baking projects I've launched in the last ten years, only one has caused serious weight gain, burns and an absolute lack of fear of puff pastry. Portuguese custard tarts, known as pastéis de nata (cream pastries) or pastéis de Belém (Belém pastries) do something magical to many eaters. They are an enchanting combination of lightly crisp pastry layers and a very, very pleasant egg custard filling. And, of course, they're a little tricky to make at home. [UPDATED]

It's pizza time in the Daring Bakers' Challenge. I love pizza. Too many think of it as a fundamentally unhealthy food to be banished from kitchen. Codswallop. Anyway, as I make pizza regularly, to do something novel required a little creativity… so I decided a 1980s flashback was in order.