Recipe: Easter rabbit biscuits

Studded with juicy currants and scattered with caster sugar, these biscuits would make an alternative sweet treat when chocolate eggs are beginning to cloy. Who says you can’t eat the Easter bunny?

MAKES 14
120g unsalted butter, softened
80g golden caster sugar, plus more to sprinkle
1 egg, separated
200g plain flour, plus more to dust
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1⁄2 tsp mixed spice
Pinch of salt
80g currants
1 tbsp whole milk 

TOOLS
10cm rabbit cutter, or other shape

1 Line two baking trays with baking parchment. Using a food mixer or a large bowl with hand-held electric whisk or wooden spoon, cream the butter and sugar together and beat in the egg yolk. Sift in the flour, spices and salt. Stir in the currants and milk to make a pliable dough. Do not over-mix, or the biscuits will become tough. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan 170/375F.
2 Lightly flour a work top and a rolling pin and roll the dough out to 5-6mm thick. Cut biscuits out quite close together. You need to press down hard to cut through the currants! Re-roll the dough and cut out the
biscuits until all the dough is used. (At this point, you can freeze the cut-out biscuits.) Place on the baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for about 10 mins.
3 Remove from the oven, brush each biscuit with a little ofthe egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar. Return to the oven for 5–7 mins, until golden. If you’ve used a smaller cutter, bear in mind that the baking time will be slightly less than for these 10cm-long rabbits,
so keep an eye on them.
4 Leave on the tray for a few mins to harden a bit, then carefully remove to cool on a wire rack. These will keep well in an airtight container for a few days.

Recipe taken from Seasonal Baking by Fiona Cairns (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, £17). This recipe was originally published in The Simple Things for Easter 2015.

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More from the April issue…

More Easter inspiration…

Recipe: Chocolate truffles

Make somebody’s Easter with a box of handmade dark chocolate and vanilla truffles. No hidden ingredients or mysterious methods in this simple but delicious recipe.

Chocolate truffles

Makes about 20 truffles

For the ganache:
125ml fresh double cream
2 whole vanilla pods
250g dark chocolate, finely chopped

For the shell:
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
200g dark chocolate, grated 50g unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Place the cream in a heavy- based pan and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, run a very sharp knife along the vanilla pods to open one side, add them to the cream and continue to simmer for 5 mins.
2. Take the pan off the heat and remove the pods. Using your thumbnail, gently push out the seeds from the pods into the cream. Cover with a cloth for a further 5 mins.
3. Put the chocolate in a bowl, pour over the still-hot cream and stir until fully blended. This is your vanilla ganache. Put in the fridge. 
4. Next, prepare the shell. The tempering process is tricky for beginners, so this is our easy version. It takes about 10 mins; time it so the ganache has had 30 mins in the fridge by the time the tempering is complete.
5. Melt two-thirds of the roughly- chopped chocolate and leave for 5 mins. Now add the remaining pieces and stir with a spatula until they are smooth and melted. Test by putting a spot on your lip - when it feels neither hot nor cold it is ready for coating the ganache balls.
6. Remove ganache from fridge and scoop out small amounts for hand-rolling into balls. Do this quickly so it doesn’t soften too much in your hands. Use a fork to dip them into the shell chocolate and then roll in the chocolate gratings, or leave them to harden at room temperature and roll in cocoa powder.
7. Leave the balls to set.

This was first puclished in our April 2015 issue. The recipe is from Montezuma’s Chocolate Cookbook by Simon and Helen Pattinson
(Kyle Books, £16.99.) 

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From our April issue…

More things to make for Easter…

Make: Easter origami

Go to work on an egg cup... On page 60 of April's The Simple Things, Frances Ambler meets the arty couple on an egg cup making challenge.  

Alex Brady is a printmaker and illustrator. Her partner Dave Briggs is a filmmaker and artist. The 12 Dozen Eggcups project evolved from a creative couple's desire to try out a new skill together. Their blog about their plan to make 144 different egg cups is at www.12dozeneggcups.com.   

As it's Easter Sunday, we've found an easy origami egg holder that you can fashion in no time. Just get hold of some paper, watch this YouTube tutorial, and start making.

Or try your hand at an origami chicken:

How about a warren of festive rabbits?

If you've mastered those, you could give these 3D origami eggs a go. Not for the faint-hearted...

This blog was originally published in our April 2015 issue. Our current April issue is on sale now, in shops and though our website.

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More from our April issue…

More spring things…

Proudly Homemade Days Out: Planting plans and foraged finds

Join us for a special ‘veg and hedge’ day, hosted by Yeo Valley. Tour the gardens, make a planting plan and fresh pesto to take home, and learn what to cook with wild plants. 

The day takes place on Friday 22 May. Arrive just in time for elevenses in the tea rooms where you’ll be making fresh pesto with ransoms (wild garlic). Then the chefs from Yeo Valley’s staff canteen, Fodder, will bring in foraged finds from the hedgerow and demonstrate what you can use them for.

After a leisurely lunch, during which you can taste the morning’s work, you’ll get the chance to tour the gardens with Eileen, Yeo Valley’s garden designer. She’ll talk about how to make your garden both pretty and productive, answer your questions and you’ll get a planting plan for a raised bed to take home with you.

Tea and cake will furnish you for the journey home. All equipment will be provided, just bring your enthusiasm.

To book, contact Jill at events@yeovalley.co.uk or call 01761461425. Limited to 24 places. Price £65 per person. The day takes place at Yeo Valley Organic Garden, Holt Farm, Bath Road, Blagdon, North Somerset BS40 7SQ. Travel to and from Yeo Valley is not included.

Nest: The record player

Tomorrow is Record Store Day, celebrating the UK's independent record shops. With much of today's music arriving at our ears digitally, it's a day to go tactile. Queue up with the rest of the record nerds for limited edition vinyl and CDs on sale for one day only, live performances entertaining the dedicated throng.

In April's The Simple Things, Clare Gogerty pens a love letter to mechanically played music - turn to page 97 to read her nostalgic notes.

And on our Pinterest Style board, we've been collecting images of analogue players in contemporary settings, such as the image above. A calm and feminine take on a stereo system, it's a good example of how to integrate technology into your home in a fresh and attractive way. 

Follow The Simple Things's board Home on Pinterest.

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

Nest: Style tips from Sandra Lorch

The colourful Hamburg home of Sandra Lorch and Tom Oehne, both jewellery designers, manages to pull off modern-meets-vintage without a hint of fustiness. Turn to page 94 of April's The Simple Things for a tour of their beautiful home, or read on for Sandra's top style tips.

Sandra's style advice

1. Group your collections. I love Danish teak candlesticks, and grouped them together with other things in the same material, like my bird by Danish architect Kristian Vedel. I put my collection of single bud vases together on a table, too.

2. Be selective. Once we came up with the look of our apartment, we were rigorous about what to include and what to leave out.

3. Don't be afraid of contrasting colours. I love to combine yellow with the colours of the sea, and red with green. It brings out the luminosity of each colour.

4. Resist perfection. I hate it when an old building is totally sanitised and its original features removed. We sanded the floors in our flat to reveal the beautiful old planks, for example. 

More style tips from back issues of The Simple Things are appearing on our newest Pinterest board, Nest: Interiors tips. Head over and take a look, or read more interiors posts now.

Follow The Simple Things's board Nest: Interiors tips on Pinterest.

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

Think: Leaping Hare Press

Ever wonder what would happen if you lobbed a seed bomb into a shabby urban wasteland? Or, instead of galloping along the usual route to work, you took time to really see what you pass by every day?

Leaping Hare Press (an imprint of Ivy Press) is about encouraging moments like this – a mood of mindfulness – whether it’s during the working day, strolling through the natural world, baking bread or heading out for a spin on a bike. The books present “edgy, exciting subjects from passionate, expert authors,” says Nikki Tilbury. They’re all about “helping us to embrace those little creative steps that engage us as individuals and communities with each other, and the natural world.”

With the mystical hare as their emblem – “fast and free, rare” – and their eye-catching jackets, the books are original, fun, accessible and share practical know-how. They are also a great way to kickstart a habit of curiosity about the world around us. 

Words: Eithne Farry

Pottering in the potting shed:

In her Pottering in the potting shed series, our garden editor Cinead McTernan, shares ideas for things to do in your plot. This month, try planting wasabi.

"OK - first of all I should be clear that growing wasabi requires a bit of patience! Just like asparagus or rhubarb where you need to wait at least until the second year to really get a bumper crop, you have to wait for at least 18 months to harvest the tuber. However, it's worth the wait - the taste of genuine wasabi is far more firey and complex than the shop-bought lurid green wasabi paste (which is actually a mix of mustard and horseradish... and colouring!). If you can't wait that long, in the first year you can pick a few of the spring flowers and make a tempura with them as well as harvesting a few leaves of the wasabi, using them to add a kick to salads or, as Suttons Seeds suggests, wrap them around smoked salmon or cream cheese. The flavour isn't as strong as the tuber but it's sill delicious.

To grow...
Perfect for our climate, wasabi is most happy in overcast, damp chilly weather so make sure you can find it a shady spot. I planted a tuber in a container this time last year and overwintered it in a sheltered corner of the garden under a table - it's looking incredibly healthy already with a glossy clump of heart-shaped leaves showing all the promise of a big, juicy tuber that I'll harvest at the end of the growing season.

You can buy plants from The Wasabi Company or Suttons Seeds. Plant the tuber in a 9cm pot and when it's had chance to get established, about 6 weeks later, plant out in a larger container (I went for a 40cmx40cm) or in a shady spot in the border or by the edge of a pond with other marginal plants and keep well-watered. Given its preferred growing site, I was vigilant about slugs and snails - they seemed to get a taste for it and the only answer was a night-time visit to pick them off! 

Once it comes to harvesting, pull out the entire plant and remove the leaves from the rhizome. Give it a wash and you can then keep it, wrapped in damp tissue in the fridge until you're ready to use it."

Words: Cinead McTernan

More from Cinead's Pottering in the potting shed series

Recipe: Homemade 'Nutella'

Kerstin Rodgers is better known as the blogger Ms Marmite Lover. She was a pioneer of the secret tea room. These recipes are from her book MsMarmiteLover’s Secret Tea Party.  

Kerstin says "the thing I don’t like about Nutella is the claggy palm oil sensation in your mouth. Making this at home means you know exactly what’s going into it."

Makes 2 200g jars
200g whole hazelnuts, shelled 
350g milk chocolate, chopped 
2 tbsp groundnut or hazelnut oil 
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp sea salt or vanilla salt

1 Preheat the oven to 180/Fan 160/350F.
2 Place the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 5–10 mins, watching that they don’t burn. Remove from the oven and carefully rub off the papery skins using a rough tea towel. Leave to cool.
3 Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or in a bowl in short bursts in the microwave (on full power).
4 Grind the toasted hazelnuts with the remaining ingredients in a blender until they form a paste, adding the melted chocolate. The paste will thicken as it cools. 

Homemade ‘Nutella’ will keep for up to a month in an airtight container in the fridge.

Recipe by Kerstin Rodgers from her book MsMarmiteLover’s Secret Tea Party (Random House, £20). Turn to page 24 of April's The Simple Things for the rest of her high tea menu, including recipes for: 

Rachael’s Secret Tea Room Muffins, Hobbit Seed Cake, Lemon, Almond and Pistachio Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting, Homemade Nutella, and Cupcakes baked in a cup.

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

Joyce Hatto: Love and lies

Love can mean so many things. A person, a passion, a life’s work. Pianist Joyce Hatto was blessed with all three – a talent for playing music, the drive to perfect her skill, and a loving husband who adored her playing and championed her career.

Joyce and her husband William Barrington-Coupe became implicated in one of the biggest scandals to hit the music world, involving love, lies and digital manipulation. But there’s a strong case to be made that this sorry tale is also a love story.

In retrospect, the idea that a pianist could spend her twilight years making recordings whose critical reception surpassed that of any of the live performances of her youth never quite added up. Joyce Hatto had a solid, consistent career in the 1950s and 60s, but never hit the dizzy heights of a piano star like Lang Lang (listen to a 1959 recording here). Yet in her 70s, she apparently recorded multiple works for both solo piano and piano and orchestra which received some serious critical acclaim. William, who had established his own career as a producer, released his wife’s recordings on his Concert Artist label. After a career during which she had at times felt either ignored or patronised by the music establishment, Joyce seemed at last to be receiving the credit she deserved.

But it was too good to be true. The recordings – over 100 of them – were discovered in 2007 to be fakes. Perhaps the truth is that William’s abilities as a producer outweighed those of his wife as a player – he cleverly manipulated her playing on hundreds of recordings, ‘patching up’ weak passages and her moans of pain (she was suffering from cancer) with extracts from existing recordings by, in some cases, world-famous players, ultimately rendering average playing extraordinary. This in itself requires a high level of musicality and brilliant technical skills, but William couldn’t escape the fact that he had been caught in a huge lie.

He was disgraced and his wife discredited; their names have become a byword for musical fraud. And yet, despite the scandal and shock of William’s actions, he said it was all done out of love. He always maintained that Joyce never knew what he’d done – she died in 2006, before the discovery was made – and that he was motivated by wanting to give her the gift she craved above all; recognition of her talent, and acceptance by an industry that she felt had rejected her.

Only somebody who knew her intimately, perhaps better than she knew herself, could have both recognised that need and, disregarding the consequences, fulfilled it for her. Joyce died feeling that her playing had been heard and appreciated.

It’s a favourable reading of William’s actions, for sure – but he has had ample censure. Let’s reserve that for the men like Walter Keane, who did rather the opposite – keeping his wife captive, drawing pictures that sold in their millions, while he took the credit himself. The Keanes’ story inspired Tim Burton’s 2014 film Big Eyes. Unfortunately he was far from the only artist to overshadow his talented wife.

In the April issue of The Simple Things, out now, we explore the ‘con artists’ who did just that, and redress the balance by highlighting the female artists who were stifled by their partners.

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

Words: Catherine Smith

Recipe: Homemade crumpets

The most important thing when making crumpets is getting enough holes into them. Flat crumpets have nowhere for the butter to sink into! Make sure you beat the butter sufficiently, don’t overfill the rings with butter and cook them very slowly so that the bubbles have enough time to form and then pop.

Makes 12

70g strong white bread flour
70g plain white flour
1 sachet (7g) fast-action dried yeast 
1⁄2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
275l milk, warm (not hot)
1⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
75–100ml warm water
Melted unsalted butter, for greasing 

Lots of salty butter, for spreading! 

Equipment

Cast-iron or good-quality heavy- based frying pan (or griddle)
At least 4 metal crumpet or egg rings or plain metal pastry cutters about 7.5cm in diameter
Heatproof pastry brush

Method

1 Mix together the flours, yeast and salt. Add the sugar and milk and beat until you have a smooth batter. Cover and leave to rise for 45 mins.

2 Combine the bicarbonate of soda with the warm water and mix it into the batter. Cover again and rest for 20 mins. 

3 Heat the pan, then butter it and sufficiently grease the insides of the rings or cutters with the pastry brush. Allow the rings to heat up in the pan, then fill each one with about 2cm batter. Don’t overfill them as the crumpets will take too long to cook and the holes won’t have time to form.

4 Wait. Be patient. Turn your crumpets over only once you can see holes starting to poke through the batter. Then lift away the rings and flip over the crumpets to continue cooking.

5 Brush the empty rings with more butter and ladle in more batter.

6 To keep the crumpets hot, lay them one by one in a large ‘envelope’ of tin foil and keep them in the oven on its lowest heat. Or butter them copiously and rush them out to your guests, piping hot. 

Recipe by Kerstin Rodgers from her book MsMarmiteLover’s Secret Tea Party (Random House, £20). Turn to page 24 of April's The Simple Things for the rest of her high tea menu, including recipes for: 

Rachael’s Secret Tea Room Muffins, Hobbit Seed Cake, Lemon, Almond and Pistachio Cake with Lemon Cream Frosting, Homemade Nutella, and Cupcakes baked in a cup.

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

Curious: April cover reveal

The circus has come to town. Let the show begin! Top of the bill is Easter: bake a pie and rabbit  biscuits. Put on a record, hang the Alice in Wonderland bunting and throw a tea party. For the grand finale, take a walk, be curious. There are primroses, and is that a bird of prey high in the sky? Feel the sun on your face, play cards around a campfire and potter peacefully in your shed. That's slow business. That's The Simple Things.

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

Craftier and Craftier: White Rabbit & Cheshire Cat Masks

Celebrate the birthday of curious classic Alice in Wonderland with this easy make.

This year is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The world would be a considerably less curious place without the likes of the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. From 2 May to 1 November, the V&A Museum of Childhood in east London will be hosting a free display called ‘The Alice Look’, exploring how Alice has been a trendsetter over the years, or to mark the anniversary you could simply curl up with one of the beautiful editions of the book (see page 115 of April’s The Simple Things) and transport yourself to Wonderland.

You could also try your hand at a make or two, taken from Everything Alice, a whole book of Wonderland-inspired craft projects. The masks are perfect for parties and festivals, and should put a smile on your face worthy of the Cheshire Cat.

White Rabbit & Cheshire Cat Masks

You will need:
Templates - download cat or rabbit templates
PVA glue
White mosaic grout
Tile clippers
Hot glue gun

For the White Rabbit:
1 sheet of white A2 mount board 
10mm square mosaic tiles: approx 230 white, 100 cream, 90 pink
35cm length of 5mm dowelling rod, for the handle
White acrylic paint

For the Cheshire Cat:
1 sheet of black A3 mount board 
10mm square mosaic tiles: approx 120 black, 50 grey
35cm length of 5mm dowelling rod, for the handle
Black acrylic paint

1 Print out the templates and cut your selected mask shape from the mount board (or you could cut them out from sturdy card and decorate with crayons for an ultra-speedy make).
2 Paint your dowelling the corresponding mask colour – white for the rabbit and black for the cat – and allow to dry.
3 Cover your work surface with a protective sheet – mosaic work can be messy! Apply a small blob of PVA glue to the back of each mosaic tile and adhere to the first mask shape, leaving a 2mm space between each tile. Get creative and make up your own pattern. Trim away any overhanging tiles with the clippers. Allow to dry thoroughly for at least two hours. 
4 As an alternative to readymade 10mm mosaic tiles, you could make your own tiles from old pots and crockery. Wrap the crockery in sheets of newspaper, then place into a thick plastic bag. Put the bag on a durable surface before smashing the crockery with a hammer. Remove the pieces carefully – they’ll be sharp!
5 Mix the white mosaic grout to the manufacturer’s instructions in a jam jar or plastic container. Keep a bowl of water and a sponge nearby. Use your hand to spread the grout over the mosaic, working it into the spaces between each tile. Try to keep the surface of the grout as smooth as possible. Leave the mask on a flat surface and allow the grout to dry fully. It’s best to leave it overnight.
6 Once dry, wipe down the mosaic with a damp cloth to remove any excess grout. Allow to dry for a further few hours, then give it a final polish with a soft cloth.
7 With a hot-glue gun, stick the second mask shape onto the back of the tiled one, with the dowelling in the middle.

The wonder of walking

It stills the mind, rejuvenates the body and helps to connect our inner and outer world. Walking is so much more than getting from A to B.

On any given weekend, between seven and eight million people in the UK go for a walk, many leaving cities to walk in the hills or across the fields of the open countryside. Whether hiking alone or perambulating with friends, we share the sense of liberation that comes with walking. Out in the open air, free from observation or judgement, you can sing as loudly as you care to, shout out loud at the wind, lie down and sleep... eat with your mouth open, if you must.

Read Peter Owen Jones’ paean to perambulating on page 93 of the April issue of The Simple Things - out on 25 March 2015. Off on a jaunt of your own? Have a listen to Associate Editor, Clare Gogerty’s walking playlist while you explore the great outdoors.

WIN! A camper van holiday (closed 1 May 2015)

Isle of Wight campervan holidays are offering the chance to explore the island for six nights in a classic 1970s VW Camper

Get some serious kerb appeal in one of Isle of Wight Campervan Holidays’ candy coloured campers. Overflowing with character, these classics will happily remind you of a simpler time for you, your family and friends.

Anchors Away 

Taking to the sea is where your adventure begins as you cross the Solent on a ferry to the lovely Isle of Wight. With its gorgeous rolling countryside and spectacular beaches, there really is something for everyone. What better way to explore than at your own pace in a charismatic campervan?

Home is where you park it

Well equipped for self-catering, there is nothing more convenient and fun that hitting the open road with all of your kit including your bed and the kitchen sink. Relax at camp in the evenings thanks to two great Island campsites that have joined in to offer this fantastic prize. Ninham Country Holidays is located in a beautiful wooded valley, with a heated pool,landscaped pitches and private coarse fishing. Grange Farm Holidays looks over the sea in an area of outstanding natural beauty with friendly animals to pet and direct access to a sandy beach, so don’t forget your bucket and spade.

What’s included and how to enter

• A six-night self-catering break worth £1,050
• For four people in a 1970s VW Camper on the Isle of Wight
• A return car ferry crossing or passenger tickets to the Isle of Wight 
• Three nights’ camping at both Grange Farm Holidays and Ninham Country Holidays

The prize can be taken from May–October 2015 or May–October 2016. 

Enter below by 1 May 2015.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Download full insurance terms and conditions. 

Competition Terms and Conditions.

The prize includes a six-night hire for four people in one of Isle of Wight Campervans Holidays’ right-hand drive classic VW campervans. The driver of the camper must be aged between 25 and 75 and comply with all the insurance and collision conditions as set out in Isle of Wight Campervans Terms and Conditions.  The prize must be taken before October 2015 or between May and October 2016 and is subject to availability. The 1970s VW camper can sleep two adults and two children at night. If required, Isle of Wight Campervan Holidays will provide a tent to accommodate groups of more than two adults. 

Isle of Wight Campervan Holidays will provide a return ferry crossing to the Isle of Wight for four people with the most appropriate service provider, to coincide with the hire period. 

The camping pitches offered by Ninham Country Holidays and Grange Farm Holidays is subject to availability and each three-night stay must be taken consecutively. You will have the choice of which to enjoy first. The campsite rules and regulations must be adhered to at all time by the winning group. Isle of Wight Campervan Holidays reserves the right to terminate the hire period with immediate effect if this is not the case.

The prize winner and their group are responsible for all incidental expenses, insurance excesses and petrol. The prize is non-exchangeable and not redeemable for cash or any other prize.

For full terms and conditions please visit www.icebergpress.co.uk/comprules