Delicious, easy recipes by Jay Wadams

Welcome to
Days of Jay

I'm Jay, cookbook author and food photographer.

Days of Jay is my website, where I share easy, delicious recipes for home cooking.

My recipes are packed with photos and useful tips and tricks to help you as you cook. They are all inspired by healthy, seasonal ingredients and my travels across the globe, especially in Germany, Italy, Cyprus, and Australasia.

Welcome to
Days of Jay

I'm Jay, cookbook author and food photographer. Days of Jay is my website, where I share easy, delicious recipes for home cooking.

My recipes are packed with photos and useful tips and tricks to help you as you cook. They are all inspired by healthy, seasonal ingredients and my travels across the globe, especially in Germany, Italy, Cyprus, and Australasia.

I am so excited to have you here, so let’s dive in and get cooking!


It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!


Well, the countdown is until the year’s end, and Christmas is just around the corner. Check out some of my most popular Christmas and festive recipes below!

Mini Berry Pavlova title card.

My simple recipe for Mini Berry Pavlovas with lots of tips and techniques to make sure you get the perfect Christmas pavlova!

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Almond and Cranberry Nougat recipe title card.

Sweet and delicious, it is easier than you think to make homemade nougat. This recipe has no glucose or corn syrup and can be made with ordinary household ingredients. Perfect for Christmas gifts!

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Title card for Spitzbuben, showing cut out unbaked spitzbuben cookies on a tray and completed spitzbuben.

Spitzbuben are one of the most beautiful traditional German Christmas cookies. Also known as Linzer Augen or Linzer Cookies, the delicious combination of buttery short pastry and tangy redcurrant jelly is a Christmas classic.

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Apricot Glazed Christmas Ham title card.

Sweet and sticky with a touch of spice, my Apricot Glazed Christmas Ham recipe is sure to please the Christmas crowds. Made with a delicious apricot glaze, this ham is the tastiest, most stress-free Christmas main around.

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German Cinnamon Star Cookies zimtsterne.

The ultimate German Christmas cookie, Zimtsterne or Cinnamon Star Cookies are deliciously chewy morsels, topped with a crisp layer of snowy white meringue.

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Eierlikör Linzer Cookies Title Card.

These perfectly crumbly Eierlikör Linzer Cookies are filled with Advocaat spiked pastry cream. They make a delicious addition to your Christmas baking, especially served with a big mug of eggnog or Glühwein!

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Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies

With perfect spirals of chocolate and vanilla, my melt-in-the-mouth Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies are as good to look at as they are to eat. Made from crumbly, buttery shortbread they make a perfect and beautiful Christmas gift, though they are delicious any time of year!

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German Christmas Stollen Title card showing two pictures of Stollen.

German Christmas Stollen is always a real treat during the holiday season. Made from an enriched yeast dough, loaded with rum-soaked fruit and candied peel, Stollen is delicious served with a cup of coffee or a warming mug of Glühwein.

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Speculaas Dutch Spice Cookies

Speculaas or Dutch Spice Cookies are a wonderfully old fashioned Christmas treat and so delicious! These light and crisp cookies are full of fragrant and exotic spices, perfect for the festive season.

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My Mulled Wine Cheesecake is full of Christmas’s rich spices and flavours. A deep-red, almost black mulled wine jelly on top of a creamy citrussy filling with a deliciously spicy base. This fabulous no-bake cheesecake is Christmas heaven!

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The Latest Recipes From My Kitchen

Discover my latest and greatest recipes below, or use the search function to find exactly what you’re looking for.


Wildly popular across Europe, the Hugo Spritz cocktail is a refreshing mixture of lime, mint, elderflower and sparkling wine. Served over ice in a large wine glass, this is the perfect drink on a sunny day.

The Hugo Spritz Cocktail

We are in the middle of those golden autumn weeks, where the days dawn bright and sunny, the early fog burning off quickly under the sun. While the nights are already too cool to sit outside for long, it’s the…

Baked Fish En Papillote

Baked Fish En Papillote

How did it get to the middle of the month already? Talk about blink and you miss it. I’ve been so busy this month that I’ve hardly had time to sit down. I’ve got a great, speedy, foolproof recipe for…

Thai Tom Yum Goong

Thai Tom Yum Goong

Our run of cool days here in Munich continues, with cool, drizzly weather keeping us mostly inside, apart from short sprints to the markets. I am definitely not complaining about the temperature, as it is the perfect excuse to start…

Lemon Me

Perfect Lemon Meringue Pie

Surely one of the most delicious and iconic desserts (I mean, anything that involves a blowtorch in the kitchen has me onboard), it is a favourite of mine and I have spent YEARS perfecting my Lemon Meringue Pie recipe. Tried and tested and tasted again and again (poor me, right?) this recipe bakes up perfectly every time.
Moussaka Greek Eggplant Casserole

Moussaka Greek Eggplant Casserole

It’s still chilly out there today, so I’m cosied up in the kitchen cooking one of the most warming and comforting dishes that I know. That’s right, I’m talking that classic of the Greek kitchen: Moussaka. This is the sort…

Banana Berry Icecreams

Banana Berry Ice Creams

My recipe for Banana Berry Ice Creams uses the ‘Nice-Cream’ technique to create a creamy and delicious dessert. This works by using frozen banana as a base which gives a beautifully creamy texture.
Tangy Redcurrant Jelly

Tangy Redcurrant Jelly – No added Pectin!

I have written a lot about how much I love redcurrants, those ruby-coloured strands of beautiful summer berries. While I usually use them in baking, as they are so good in a Redcurrant Crumble Cake, they also make a brightly…

Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings

Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings

When people imagine German food, they often think about only one thing. Meat. Yes, Germany is the home of gigantic schnitzels and plate-sized pork knuckles, but it is also the land of many different dumplings (knödel). Spinach and ricotta dumplings,…

Recipes By Meal Type


light-bites
Main Event
Sweet Things
cocktail hour

Marillenknödel – Austrian Apricot Dumplings
Wurstsalat (German Sausage Salad)
Easy Cherry Tomato Tart
Zwetschgendatschi (Bavarian Plum Tart)
Homemade Chocolate Popsicles

Looking for Dinner Inspiration?


Below are some of my most popular dinner recipes. Quick and easy with simple ingredients and big flavours.

Salmon en Croûte Title Card.
Juicy Maple Glazed Pork Chops
Italian Sausages and Lentils
Summer Roast Vegetable Salad
Packed with roasted peppers, tangy feta, fresh herbs and chewy orzo, this bright and beautiful pasta salad is a summer favourite. Orzo and Roast Pepper Salad gets better as the days go by, so make a big batch to take you through the week!
A picture of a classic Italian Lasagne al forno served with fresh green salad and a glass of white wine

My FAvourite German Cake Recipes

While people often associate Germany with pretzels and beer, it’s really all about coffee and cake!

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Easy German Cake Recipes