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!

German Nut Corners Nussecken Title Card.

Nussecken or Nut Corners are a famous German Christmas time treat made from a buttery shortbread base, topped with apricot jam and a layer of caramelized hazelnut. After baking, they are sliced into triangles, and the corners are dipped in delicious dark chocolate. Let me tell you, they are completely irresistible!

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German Dominosteine Chocolates Title Card.

Dominosteine are a traditional German Christmas praline made from layered gingerbread, fruit jelly and marzipan, all coated in a luscious layer of rich dark chocolate. These delicious treats are fun to make at home and are so tasty!

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Tender, moist turkey breast filled with traditional stuffing and roasted to perfection. This delicious roast only cooks in under 2 hours, making it perfect for smaller celebrations.

Tender, moist turkey breast filled with traditional stuffing and roasted to perfection. This delicious roast is ready in under two hours, making it perfect for smaller celebrations.

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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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Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti Title Card.

Crisp, nutty and deeply chocolatey, my Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti are so simple to make and absolutely irresistible! This classic Italian cookie (known as Cantucci in the motherland) is ideal for Christmas baking and makes a perfect edible gift.

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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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Cinnamon Star Bread Title Card showing star bread from two angles. Text overly 'Sweet Cinnamon Star Bread'.

One of my favourite Christmas bakes is Cinnamon Star Bread. With the delicious flavour of cinnamon rolls, this sweet bread recipe makes a beautiful loaf to feed a crowd. It is also actually much simpler than it looks, relying on clever cutting and twisting of the layers of dough to achieve the beautiful design.

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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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Candied Orange Peels title card.

Candied Orange Peel makes a great gift (especially when coated in lashings of dark chocolate). It’s easy to make at home and a great way to turn orange peel (which would usually be tossed out) into a tasty candy.

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Perfectly tender, rosy roast beef is easier than you think! Slow Roast Beef where the beef is seared before roasting at a very low temperature produces juicy, delicious beef every time.

Perfectly tender, rosy roast beef is easier than you think! Slow Roast Beef produces juicy, delicious beef every time.

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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.


Garlic Herb Roast Pork

Garlic Herb Roast Pork

It’s a bit of a grey Wednesday here in Munich, with no sun to tempt me to go wandering outside, it’s a perfect day to stay in the warmth of the kitchen, where I’ve got some bread in the oven…

Spicy Cashew Nut Chicken

Spicy Cashew Nut Chicken

Something I often crave is my favourite quick and easy stir fry, and Chinese restaurant menu staple dish, Spicy Cashew Nut Chicken. This much-loved dish is available in virtually any restaurant, but I find when you make it at home…

Honey Lemon Raspberry Tart Title Card.

Honey Lemon and Raspberry Tart

Honey, Lemon and Raspberry Tart has a lusciously light, honey, cream, and lemon filling, set off with tart and juicy raspberries in a nutty pastry crust.
Creamy Mushroom Pork Steaks

Creamy Mushroom Pork Steaks

The sun is shining, the beer gardens have tentatively opened for business and the cool air over Munich is beginning to carry the sweet smell of the countryside to the south. The chestnut trees are still absolutely bare, but it…

Homemade Irish Cream (Bailey’s)

Homemade Irish Cream couldn’t be easier to make, tastes streets ahead of the commercial stuff, can be adjusted precisely to suit your sweet tooth and makes an excellent gift for friends – if you are prepared to share it!
Herby Spiced Cauliflower Cous Cous

Herby Spiced Cauliflower Couscous

While I love Munich, my mind is already drifting off to our next holiday location – the magical island of Cyprus, where I was lucky enough to spend several years living in the tiny village of Bellapais. When I think…

Pork and Cider Stew

Pork and Cider Stew

Pork and Cider Stew, rich with chopped apples and pungent with aromatic sage, is an absolute winner. Meltingly tender pork coated in a thick and flavoursome sauce will warm even the most wintery of hearts. Best of all, it is minimum effort for maximum flavour.
Beetroot Cured Salmon Gravadlax

Beetroot Cured Salmon Gravadlax

We’ve landed back in beautiful Munich to the clear and crisp skies and very chilly nights of late winter. It’s not quite spring yet, but the promise of it hangs in the air, brightening the mood and sending the locals…

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.

Flammkuchen German Pizza
Roasted Eggplants stuffed with spiced lentils, tomatoes and herbs.
Roasted Feta Stuffed Mushrooms
Creamy Mushroom Pork Medallions

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