Bill Granger recipes: Our chef succumbs to his sugar cravings with super-luxurious sweet treats

Although I'm always happy to tell people that I don't have a very sweet tooth (smug? Moi?), I'm no longer sure that's true. If I'm honest, my occasional cravings for a sweet treat seem to be getting more frequent as I get older – or perhaps that's what living in a household with four girls has done to me.

It's not so much a dessert that attracts me, but the idea of stopping for 30 minutes in the middle of our hectic lives to catch up on the day's gossip, while nibbling on something sweet and tempting. I guess it serves the same purpose as high tea, but without the cucumber sandwiches and, well, the tea.

We only do it rarely, so it's important to make it extra-delicious and indulgent – then it's back to reality and healthy smoothies for a few weeks, before succumbing to our next fix.

Bill's restaurant, Granger & Co, is at 175 Westbourne Grove, London W11, tel: 020 7229 9111, and 50 Sekforde Street, London EC1, tel: 020 7251 9032, grangerandco.com. Follow Bill on Instagram at bill.granger

Roasted rhubarb and honeyed ricotta on soda bread

This is perhaps the least indulgent of the recipes on these pages, but it still hits the spot. Later in the year I'll be making it with stone fruits, such as peaches, apricots or plums.

Serves 4

300g rhubarb
1 tbsp orange juice
½tsp vanilla paste
2 tbsp caster sugar
200g ricotta
4 tbsp plain yoghurt
2 tsp honey
6-8 slices soda bread, toasted

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas6. Cut the rhubarb into 7cm pieces and place on a large baking tray lined with parchment paper. Mix the orange juice and vanilla paste and drizzle over the rhubarb. Top with a dusting of caster sugar and roast for 8 to 10 minutes, until just cooked. Set aside to cool.

Place the ricotta, yoghurt and honey in a bowl and stir well. Spread on the toast then top with the rhubarb and its cooking syrup.

Pasta fritters with Marsala

I'm told that if I see these little fried pasta ribbons in an Italian pastry shop and ask the owner what they're called, I'll get a completely different answer depending on where I am. In Rome they call them frappe (meaning rags), in Florence they're cenci (also rags), but my favourite name is chiacchiere. Used in Milan and Sicily, this means "chats", which is just what I like to do while eating them.

Serves 4-6

1 egg
Pinch salt
4 tbsp Marsala (or Vin Santo)
1½ tbsp caster sugar
220g plain flour
Vegetable oil, for frying
Icing sugar, for dusting

Put the egg, salt, Marsala and sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Whiz on a low setting for a few seconds, until well combined. Add the flour and whiz until it resembles large grains of couscous. Bring the mix together with your hands to make a firm dough. Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 2 minutes.

If using a pasta machine, pass the dough through all of the stages, to make it as thin as possible. Alternatively, roll the dough out on a floured surface with a rolling pin. Use a pastry cutter or large sharp knife to cut your pasta sheet into large triangles, squares and rectangles.

Fill a large pan a third full of vegetable oil, and heat to 170C, or until a piece of bread turns golden in 35 seconds. Fry the pasta ribbons in batches, turning occasionally, until puffed up, crisp and golden. Lift from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Enjoy warm or at room temperature, with a generous dusting of icing sugar.

Chocolate and peanut hokey pokey

Nothing creates kitchen drama like the making of hokey pokey (or honeycomb). Adding bicarbonate of soda makes the caramel rise like lava from an erupting volcano, which is why you need a deep pan. In this version I've added peanuts, then dipped the honeycomb shards in chocolate to make a home-made version of a Crunchie bar.

Serves 4-6

Butter, for greasing
300g caster sugar
8 tbsp golden syrup
100g roughly chopped peanuts
4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g plain chocolate

Grease a medium-sized roasting tin with butter. Place the caster sugar and golden syrup in a deep saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has melted. Increase the heat and simmer until the mixture looks like a light caramel.

Remove from the heat and quickly tip in the peanuts and bicarbonate. Stir with a wooden spoon until the foaming mixture is well combined and scrape into the prepared tin. Set aside until completely set and cooled.

Snap the honeycomb into chunks. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water.

Dip the honeycomb into the chocolate and lay on greaseproof paper to set.

Food preparation: Marina Filippelli; Props merchandising: Rachel Jukes