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!

A plate of Vanillekipferl or Vanilla crescent cookies surrounded by Christmas decorations, walnuts, clementines and a candle.

Possibly the tastiest of all German Christmas cookies, Vanillekipferl are, crumbly, buttery crescent-shaped cookies, scented with heavenly vanilla. Yum!

GET THE RECIPE

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!

GET THE RECIPE

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.

GET THE RECIPE

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.

GET THE RECIPE

Christmas Fruit Mince Tart

There’s nothing quite like the delicious aroma of a freshly baked Christmas Fruit Mince Tart to let you know the festive season has really begun. With brandied fruit mince and a buttery almond pastry, this recipe is perfect for a Christmas feast.

GET THE RECIPE

Christmas Pavlova Slice

My Christmas Pavlova slice is a delicious combination of ight and airy meringue, piled high with juicy berries. The perfect Christmas dessert!

GET THE RECIPE

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.

GET THE RECIPE

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.

GET THE RECIPE

Classic British Christmas Cake recipe title card.

Even though I grew up on the other side of the world in New Zealand, it wouldn’t be Christmas Day without a Classic British Christmas Cake. This dense and sweet cake, packed with dried fruit, spices and plenty of brandy is an absolute must for the festive season and is something I look forward to…

GET THE RECIPE

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!

GET THE RECIPE

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.


Tasty by Jay Wadams

I can hardly believe that I am actually holding a copy of this book, MY book in my hot little hands. It has been such an incredible journey over the last couple of years when we first had the idea…

Chard and Feta Tart

Chard and Feta Tart

Glorious weather continues in Munich with day after day of clear blue skies and balmy summer evenings. I am beyond excited as my cookbook is being sent to the printers on the weekend, we had an amazing time at the…

Elderflower and Prosecco Jam

Elderflower and Prosecco Jam

We’ve arrived back in Munich to gorgeous early summer weather. It’s warm, sunny, the whole city seems to have decamped to the riverside and the smell of barbecue hangs in the air. Truly, this is when Munich comes alive. This…

Spiced Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup

Spiced Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup

I love the thick and luscious texture of Spiced Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup. Teamed with warming spices and sprinkled with salty prosciutto and feta, this can be a meal in itself or the starter for a larger harvest feast.
Plum and Walnut Jam

Plum and Walnut Jam

A slow lazy autumn Sunday, coffee and papers in bed, followed by a relaxed breakfast. Billie Holiday is singing on the stereo, there is a loaf of bread in the oven, and puttering away on the stove is a big…

Plum Cinnamon Streusel Cake

Plum Cinnamon Streusel Cake

Beautiful autumn continues here in Bavaria, this entire week has been cool, but beautifully clear and sunny – perfect for all the people celebrating the Oktoberfest on the Wiesn.  This morning has dawned grey and cool, which is the ideal…

Creamy Vanilla Custard Squares

Creamy Vanilla Custard Squares

Wow. July has just flown past! We have been so busy I’ve hardly had time to think – but I’m not complaining. We had a glorious trip to Zürich to see beautiful Lily and her wonderful mother Marianne, who spoiled…

Lime and Thyme Chicken

Lime and Thyme Chicken

Summer is trying SO HARD to arrive in Munich. We have one day of sweltering summer heat, where the hot winds of the Föhn come rushing over the alps from Italy, the skies are clear and deep Bavarian blue and…

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.

Herby Tomato Salsa Chicken Title Card.
Beef Shank Osso Buco
Melt in your mouth pork, topped with a vibrant green sauce, Salsa Verde Pork Tenderloin is so incredibly tasty it is worth making two as the first is guaranteed to disappear in a flash!
Real Bavarian Pork Schnitzel Title Card
Summer Roast Vegetable Salad
Speck and Artichoke Risotto

My FAvourite German Cake Recipes

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

Get the recipes!

Easy German Cake Recipes