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Cinder Toffee recipe: Lia Leendertz Photography: Kirstie Young

Cinder Toffee recipe: Lia Leendertz. Photography: Kirstie Young

Recipe: Cinder Toffee

Iona Bower November 5, 2024

Shards of crunchy cinder toffee are made for sharing – but we doubt they’ll last long

Cinder Toffee

330g caster sugar
1 tablespoon black treacle
4 tbsp water
15g butter, plus more to grease tray
pinch of salt
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

1  Butter a 24cm-square baking tray and set aside. 
2  Put all the ingredients except the bicarbonate of soda into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat gently, stirring until all the sugar crystals have dissolved. This takes a while but don’t move on to the next stage until the mixture looks like a completely smooth sauce, grit free. 
3  Turn the temperature up slightly so that the mixture gently bubbles, using a sugar thermometer to monitor its temperature. 
4 When the temperature reaches 138C, take the pan off of the heat and tip in the bicarbonate of soda, then whisk thoroughly so that it is well dispersed through the mix. The mixture will bubble up and grow and you will need to move fast, tipping it out onto the greased tray. 
5  Leave it to cool and set completely, then break it into shards and eat.


This recipe was first published in issue 41 (November 2015)

We have more food ideas to enjoy around the fire in the November issue of the Simple Things, on sale now.

November's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe.

More Bonfire Night delights…

Featured
Nov 5, 2024
Recipe: Cinder Toffee
Nov 5, 2024
Nov 5, 2024
Fire Jonathan Cherry.JPG
Nov 5, 2020
Fun | Games to play around a fire
Nov 5, 2020
Nov 5, 2020
Cattern Cakes Kirstie Young.jpg
Nov 3, 2020
Recipe | Cattern Cakes
Nov 3, 2020
Nov 3, 2020

More from the November issue…

Featured
Zero Waste Pantry.jpg
Nov 19, 2024
How to | Make Easy Eco Switch Ups
Nov 19, 2024
Nov 19, 2024
Bedtime Cake.jpg
Nov 16, 2024
Recipe | Bedtime Cake
Nov 16, 2024
Nov 16, 2024
Fog.jpg
Nov 12, 2024
Meteorology | Types of Fog
Nov 12, 2024
Nov 12, 2024

 

In Eating Tags issue 41, november, comfort, bonfire night, cinder toffee, recipe, sweets
Comment
mental health shelf.jpg

Create | a mental health shelf

Iona Bower November 12, 2020

Why a small corner dedicated to your happiness is a vital part of any home

The art of curating is comforting and grounding. Gathering things together that go with each other or work with each other is calming and comforting, and it’s lovely to just remember a few of your favourite things, whether they’re raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, or a few treasured books and CDs.

For a mental health shelf, you gather together your favourite things that bring you comfort and joy, so that on a down day or in a blue moment, you have a little stash of things to lift you. They might be books you return to again and again, comfort DVDs best enjoyed with a roaring fire and a cup of tea, a picture that makes your heart sing, yarn and needles or colouring pencils and a notebook to lift you out of the doldrums, or simply a favourite old threadbare teddy. 

It doesn’t even need to be a shelf; a bag or box will do just as well. Heck, you can even create a mental health shelf in your mind, where size and reality are no barrier; who said you can’t have dragons and elephants on an imaginary mental health shelf if they make you happy?

You might already have something like this at home. If not, we hope we’ve inspired you to make one. The above is a picture of our editor at large, Iona’s mental health shelf. It includesbooks - Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, Alan Bennett’s letters and the complete Mapp and Lucia novels; some childhood favourite DVDs (Moondial and The Box of Delights) to transport one back to Sunday afternoons with tea and crumpets and BBC1; some illustrated jazz musicians, a candle that smells of the sea (to complement the shells from the East Sussex coast) a copy of her favourite comfort-read magazine (of course) and a snail (because we all need a surprising snail now and then). 

But we’d love to see yours, too. Take a photo and send it to us at thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk with a short note about what you keep on your shelf and why. We hope to share them in a future issue. 


From our November issue…

Featured
Fire Jonathan Cherry.JPG
Nov 5, 2020
Fun | Games to play around a fire
Nov 5, 2020
Nov 5, 2020
Cattern Cakes Kirstie Young.jpg
Nov 3, 2020
Recipe | Cattern Cakes
Nov 3, 2020
Nov 3, 2020
Seed packets Emma harris.jpg
Nov 1, 2020
Make | Personalised Seed Packets
Nov 1, 2020
Nov 1, 2020

More balm for your soul…

Featured
Choose Day.jpeg
Jun 3, 2025
Wellbeing | Tuesday Choose Day
Jun 3, 2025
Jun 3, 2025
Wellbeing woodland walk.jpeg
Mar 29, 2025
Wellbeing | Moodscapes and walking routes
Mar 29, 2025
Mar 29, 2025
Sorry.jpg
Mar 2, 2025
Wellbeing | Say 'Sorry' Well
Mar 2, 2025
Mar 2, 2025
In Wellbeing Tags wellbeing, mental health, comfort
Comment
Recipe: Sea salt hot chocolate from Hot Chocolate by Hannah Miles, photography Steve Painter (Ryland Peters & Small). 

Recipe: Sea salt hot chocolate from Hot Chocolate by Hannah Miles, photography Steve Painter (Ryland Peters & Small). 

Recipe: Sea salt hot chocolate

Lottie Storey November 12, 2015

This deliciously thick hot chocolate is the perfect combination of sweet and salty, and was deemed beautiful enough to be our November cover star. You can make it with milk, white or dark chocolate and adjust the salt to your own taste.

For a salted caramel hot chocolate and a richer flavour, use a caramel chocolate such as Caramac.

Sea salt hot chocolate

SERVES 2

250 ml milk
250 ml double cream
100 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
1 tbsp caster sugar
1⁄2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 egg yolk

1 Place the milk, cream and chopped chocolate in a saucepan with the sugar and salt, and heat over low heat until the chocolate has melted, whisking all the time.

2 Taste to see whether you need to add a little more salt for an extra salty kick. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolk to thicken the hot chocolate.

3 Pass it through a sieve, then pour into two cups and serve immediately. 

 

Read more:

From the November issue

Buttered bourbon mulled cider

Chocolate recipes

Fancy sea salt hot chocolate, cinder toffee and firepit cakes, a celebration of toast plus ways to tell a good story around the fire, subversive cross stitch and how to keep your herbs going over winter? Oh and bibliotherapy, crafternoons and a poem about beautiful librarians. 

All this in our November COMFORT issue. You'll find us in even more Waitrose and Sainsbury's stores this month plus WH Smiths, Tesco and good independents. We're on sale now somewhere near you.

November's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe.

In Eating Tags issue 41, november, comfort, chocolate, hot chocolate recipe, hot chocolate, hygge, hygge post
6 Comments
Danish dream cake recipe from The Scandi Kitchen by Brontë Aurell (Ryland Peters & Small). Photography by Peter Cassidy.

Danish dream cake recipe from The Scandi Kitchen by Brontë Aurell (Ryland Peters & Small). Photography by Peter Cassidy.

Recipe: Danish dream cake

Lottie Storey November 10, 2015

In 1965, a young girl baked her grandmother’s secret family recipe in a competition and won, and the cake has been a Danish favourite ever since... 

DANISH DREAM CAKE

Serves 10–12

for the cake:
3 eggs
225g caster sugar
1 ⁄ 2 tsp vanilla sugar
225g plain flour or cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
150ml whole milk
75g butter, melted

for the topping:
100g butter
150g desiccated coconut
250g cups dark brown sugar
75ml whole milk
a pinch of salt

equipment:
23cm springform or round cake tin, greased and lined with baking parchment

1 Preheat the oven to 190/Fan 170/375.

2 In the bowl of a food mixer, whisk the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla sugar on high speed for a few mins, until white and light. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together.

3 Carefully fold the flour into the egg mixture. Mix the milk with the melted butter in a jug and carefully pour into the batter, folding it in until incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.

4 Bake for 35–40 mins or until almost done (try not to open the oven door for the first 20 mins of the total baking time).

5 To make the topping, gently melt all the ingredients in a saucepan together.

6 Remove the cake from the oven and carefully spread the topping all over the cake.

7 Return to the oven. Turn up the heat to 200C/Fan 180/400F and bake for a further 5 mins. Allow to cool before eating.

 

Read more:

From the November issue

Cake recipes

Download our Copenhagen city guide

 

Fancy sea salt hot chocolate, cinder toffee and firepit cakes, a celebration of toast plus ways to tell a good story around the fire, subversive cross stitch and how to keep your herbs going over winter? Oh and bibliotherapy, crafternoons and a poem about beautiful librarians. 

All this in our November COMFORT issue. You'll find us in even more Waitrose and Sainsbury's stores this month plus WH Smiths, Tesco and good independents. We're on sale now somewhere near you.

November's The Simple Things is out now - buy, download or subscribe.

 

In Eating Tags issue 41, november, cake recipe, cake, comfort, danish
1 Comment

Comfort: November cover reveal

David Parker October 28, 2015

Weather is what defines November. The joy of a crisp, bright day, just right for a walk among the autumn colours. Wrap up warm on a cold night for spicy food under the stars. On a rainy afternoon, will you hole up on the sofa with a homemade hot chocolate and toast or perhaps some cake and ale? Light a fire and try out a new skill – subversive cross stitch, anyone? Learn to mend things and make them last. On a grey day, make breakfast in bed and tell a story. There’s comfort to be had in The Simple Things. 

November's The Simple Things is out today - buy, download or subscribe now.

In Magazine Tags comfort, cover reveal, issue 41, november
7 Comments
Featured
  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well
Feb 27, 2025
Feb 27, 2025

Buy, download or subscribe

See the sample of our latest issue here

Buy a copy of our latest anthology: A Year of Celebrations

Buy a copy of Flourish 2, our wellbeing bookazine

Listen to our podcast - Small Ways to Live Well

Feb 27, 2025
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The Simple Things is published by Iceberg Press

The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

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