A huge snowfall, which forced school to close, turned me into a manic baker a couple of weeks back. Even sledging starts to lose its appeal by day five and baking felt kind of wholesome and comforting. We made cupcakes, brownies and, from Nigella's Kitchen, some choc chip cookies. I asked one of my sons to take the last tray out of the oven while I went for a bath - they needed five minutes more - and, 45 minutes later, realised that the house was filled with the acrid stench of burning biscuits.

Oh well, there were only nine on the tray, so it wasn't catastrophic. Nine little incinerated black things. Bet that never happens chez Nigella.