April is the time of year when thoughts that once drifted to summery desserts such as pavlovas and trifles turn to something more comforting, like those recipes found in the special April baking issue of delicious. magazine. And if I asked you whether chocolate, condensed milk or golden syrup was the most searched-for ingredient on delicious.com.au during this season, surely you’d have chocolate as the favourite with condensed milk as second. Bizarrely, it’s not; it’s actually golden syrup.

Now, there are reasons for this. Golden syrup – essentially, just runny sugar with a hit of citric acid – can substitute for glucose syrup in your honeycomb recipe, is cheaper than proper maple syrup, and tastes far more natural than the fake stuff (which is usually just corn syrup ladened with flavourings). There is also something about golden syrup that speaks to a lost yearning for your nanna’s cooking, or at least captures that feeling of Australian bush cookery, even if your nanna grew up in Shanwei, Santorini or Solapur. The joy is also in the desserts and bakes for which it is the foundation flavour, such as…

Related story: Matt Preston on why classic comfort food is making a comeback 

GOLDEN SYRUP DUMPLINGS

If you’ve never had one of these, you’re missing out. These puffy golden balls of happiness bob in a sauce made of golden syrup that cries out for ice cream, cus d or (at least) cream. They are the very definition of comfort food and almost come with a prescription for a cosy nap in front of the fire afterwards. It still amazes me that the sauce, which doubles as the poaching medium for the dumplings, is no more than 500ml water, 110g sugar and three tablespoons of golden syrup, with a good knob of butter (about 30g) added in when the sugar has dissolved.

To make the dumplings, rub 45g cold butter into 300g self-raising flour with a pinch of salt. Stir in two eggs with a knife and then enough milk to form a light dough (about 1/4 cup). Do not overwork it – you want the dough to be soft. Split the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Bring the syrup to the boil, stir in the butter, and then slip in the dumplings to simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on. They will swell up and the steam under the lid will cook their tops. Serve the dumplings with the syrup. It’s so simple, and so warming.

FLAPJACKS AND ANZACS

The wonderful combination of golden syrup with oats is for more than just for the biscuits you bake on ANZAC Day. If you’re ever in an ANZAC state of mind, may I suggest a recipe – an ANZAC-inspired cheesecake with oats, desiccated coconut and golden syrup in the crust and a brown sugar, butter and golden syrup caramel poured over the top, like sweet liquid gold. For me, the mixture is similar to an oat bar I grew up with in the UK called the flapjack. The ratios are so simple, I remember cooking them with my late mum: 250g oats, 125g melted butter, 125g brown sugar, and three tablespoons of golden syrup. Pulse that lot together and spread evenly into a small slice tin. Bake at 180 degrees until golden brown. Score the top when they’re just out of the oven into your required-sized squares and leave to cool in the tin. If you want to get fancy, add some sultanas or white chocolate pieces.

CARAMELS

When I think of golden syrup caramels, I think of things like toffee apples or Phoebe Wood’s golden syrup sticky date pudding. But try it instead of sugar in your soy sauce caramel or in glazes for pork belly bites, chicken, or even your Christmas ham. (Bourbon or rum can be added to those glazes, too, to give them a more adult twist.)

TREACLE TARTS

When cash was short growing up, my mum used to cook us what we felt was the most luxe dessert ever, the treacle tart. It was chewy when served cold, and soft and enveloping when we ate it warm. I remember the disappointment when I discovered that the filling was nothing more than toasted stale breadcrumbs mixed with a warmed golden syrup and a little lemon juice. This shock took me close to a decade to get over, but now I’m mature enough to look past the very basic ingredients in these waste-reducing and cash-strapped times and, boy, it still tastes as good as I remember.

Related story: 23 things you should never do at a restaurant, according to Matt Preston