Lunchbox recipes from the experts

Soggy sandwiches are so last term. Bid boring breaktimes farewell with these mouth-watering ideas from some of Britain's top chefs

Claude Bosi’s Chocolate Madeleines

*Makes 12 large Madeleines

270g Dark Chocolate

200g Butter

240g Egg whites

80g Ground Almonds

200g Icing sugar

Melt the butter and chocolate.

Mix the egg whites with a spatula (do not whisk). Add the sugar and almonds.

Combine all together.

Portion into Madeleine moulds and bake at 180°c for approximately 8 minutes.

Claude Bosi’s Sausage Roll

*Makes approximately 12 sausage rolls

600g Premium Quality Pork shoulder and neck

120g raw pork fat

Salt

Black pepper or

four spices

500g puff pastry (buy from any good deli - to make at home is very long and tedious!)

Organic egg yolk, to glaze

Mince raw pork and pork fat together adding good pinch of salt and either four spice. or black pepper.

Mix well then divide the mince mixture into 12 even balls of approximately 80g each. Roll each ball into sausage.

Roll out the puff pastry into two sheets of ½ cm thickness each and cut out 24 oblongs of 12cm long and 6cm wide. Leave to rest in a fridge for 20 minutes.

Beat the egg yolk.

Take 12 of the pre-cut sheets of pastry, glaze with egg yolk around each side and place sausage meat on top. Add second sheet of pastry, ensure that all sides are sealed properly and glaze whole top of sausage roll with egg. Cook in preheated oven (180c) on the top shelf for 12 minutes until golden brown.

Serve warm, with a generous salad.

Claude Bosi is chef-patron of Hibiscus

Daniel Clifford’s Cous Cous Provencale

Steam the cous cous until cooked.

Pan roast diced peppers until soft.

Add chopped tomatoes and finely sliced basil.

Mix all the ingredients together with olive oil.

Daniel Clifford is chef patron of Midsummer House

Alan Murchison’s veg and dip

Try mixing 2tbsp of blue dragon sweet chilli sauce, 1tsp of low-sugar tomato ketchup and 4 tbsp natural yoghurt to produce a lovely tasty dip to serve with cucumber, celery and carrots.

Alan Murchison is CEO and Executive Chef of the 10 in 8 restaurant group

Nick Coffer’s Peanut butter and Greek yoghurt dip

3 tbsp Total Greek Yoghurt

2 tbsp smooth peanut butter

A sprinkle of ground cinnamon

A drizzle of honey

Slices of fresh fruit to serve (apples, bananas - even pears)

Mix the yoghurt, the peanut butter and the honey together in a bowl.

Top with the ground cinnamon and serve it with the fruit slices to dip.

Nick Coffer’s Spinach and cheddar cheese muffins, adapted from "My Daddy Cooks"

*Makes 10-12 muffins

3 blocks of frozen spinach

100g extra-mature cheddar cheese

225g self raising flour

150ml milk

3 heaped tablespoons Greek yoghurt

55ml olive oil

1 egg

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/ 400ºF/ Gas Mark 6

Defrost the spinach and then squeeze out any excess water. Chop it finely.

Mix together the cheese and the flour then stir in the spinach. Add the milk, the yoghurt, the olive oil and the egg and stir it into a slightly lumpy, fairly thick batter. Season with salt and pepper.

Lightly oil the muffin tins and fill each cup to the top with the muffin mix.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. The muffins are ready when they have nicely risen and are golden on top.

Leave them to cool for 5 or 10 minutes before removing them from their tins.

The muffins will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container.

Nick Coffer’s Golden Banana Cake, from “My Daddy Cooks”

300g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150g butter

150g dark soft brown sugar

2 very ripe large bananas (the older, browner and riper the better), mashed

80g sultanas or raisins

2 eggs

100ml vegetable oil

You will need a 2lb (900g) loaf tin.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas Mark 4

Grease the loaf tin (if it is not a non-stick pan, line the base and sides with baking parchment and grease the parchment too.) Sieve together the flour, the baking powder and the bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy, then mix in the mashed bananas and the sultanas.

Add in the flour and the eggs alternately, about one third of each at a time.

Give the mix a good stir after each addition to make sure everything is evenly mixed in.

Stir in the oil, pour the cake mix into the tin and smooth over the top.

Put the tin in the middle of your oven and bake for 1 hour.

Test whether the cake is ready by inserting a skewer into it. If it comes out dry, the cake is ready. If you find that your cake needs a little longer to cook through, simply cover it with a little silver foil to stop it burning on top. Even when it seems to be going too brown on top, this cake doesn’t dry out on the outsides. If anything, it benefits from a darker crust.

When the cake is ready, leave it to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn it out on to a work surface or a wire rack to cool further. The cake is at its finest when still warm, but will last for 2 or 3 days in an airtight container.

The easiest mini fudges, taken from "My Daddy Cooks"

*Makes about 20 little balls

400g tin condensed milk

1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

Coconut flakes/sprinkles/ hundreds and thousands, to roll the balls in

Heat up the milk, the butter and the cocoa powder on a medium heat in a saucepan.

Keep stirring. And keep stirring more. In fact, don’t stop stirring!

The mixture will start to thicken. Keep stirring. After 8 to 10 minutes, it will start to lift off from the bottom of the pan. This is a good sign and means your fudge is nearly ready. Keep stirring for another minute or so, then take the pan off the heat.

Lightly grease a bowl with some vegetable oil, put the fudge in it and leave it to cool down.

Grease your hands with a little oil or butter before forming the fudge into little balls by rolling small chunks of it in the palms of your hands.

Roll the balls well in any topping you fancy and leave them to set in small paper fairy cake cups or on a plate.

Nick Coffer is author of "My Daddy Cooks", published by Hodder & Stoughton

Marcus Wareing’s Bacon Roly-Polies

*Makes 12-15

250g plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting

3tsp baking powder

½tsp table salt

75g Country Life unsalted butter, diced and cold,plus another 25g

200-250ml semi-skimmed or whole milk

8 large rashers, shoulder or back bacon, rind removed

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

100g cream cheese

100g Cheddar cheese, grated

½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

Preheat the oven to 180?C/350?F/gas mark 4.

Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, then rub in the cold, diced butter using your hands.

Add the milk gradually, while mixing, until just combined. Turn out the dough on to a floured surface and roll into a rectangle 1cm thick.

Melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan over a moderate heat. Brush the dough with some of the melted butter, and then layer the bacon on top, leaving a 2cm edge on one of the long sides of the dough.

Mix the onion, cheeses, parsley and garlic together and spread evenly over the bacon.

Brush the bare edge of the dough with water, and then roll into a spiral, sealing the edge brushed with water to the body of the roll. Wrap the roll in clingfilm and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Cut the roll into slices and place, spiral side up, on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Marcus Wareing is Chef Patron of Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley and The Gilbert Scott