Recipe: Raspberry biscuits with lemon coriander curd

Lemon coriander curd teamed with the sour tang of raspberry biscuit is no cake substitute but a delectable treat in its own right

Makes 20
FOR THE CURD:
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 large lemons
2 tbsp coriander seeds
100g caster sugar
20g cornflour
3 egg yolks, beaten
25g unsalted butter, softened

FOR THE BISCUITS:
80g unsalted butter, softened
80g caster sugar
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp freeze-dried raspberry powder* 
1⁄4 tsp vanilla bean paste
150g self-raising flour, sifted
60g custard powder

1 To make the curd, put the lemon zest and juice, coriander seeds, sugar and cornflour in a saucepan with a pinch of salt and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then immediately take the pan off the heat. Stir in the beaten egg yolks, then set the pan over a very low heat, whisking continuously. Cook for 3–4 mins, whisking all the time, until nice and thick.
2 Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the butter until it is all fully incorporated. Strain the curd through a sieve into a clean bowl and leave to cool.
3 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking parchment.
4 To make the dough, in a bowl, cream the
butter and sugar with an electric whisk until light and creamy. Add milk, raspberry powder and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the sifted flour and custard powder and mix to a soft dough.
5 Roll 1 tbsp of dough into a ball and place it on a prepared tray. Repeat until you have around 20 balls. Use the back of a small measuring spoon to make an indentation in each ball. Fill each hole with 1⁄2 tsp of
curd. (Any leftover curd will keep, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to 3–4 weeks.) Bake the filled biscuits for 15 mins. Transfer them to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Keep in an airtight container for up to four days.

* If your supermarket doesn’t stock freeze-dried raspberry powder, search online – it is readily available from specialist stores and some health food shops.

Recipe from The Cardamom Trail by Chetna Makan (Mitchell Beazley). 

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Winter Skin Tonic

A facial toning elixir for all skin types – soothes irritated skin, tightens pores and keeps acne at bay

MAKES: 375ml
KEEPS: For two weeks in the fridge 

INGREDIENTS
375ml water
1 peppermint teabag
1 rooibos teabag
1 chamomile teabag
ESSENTIAL OILS:
1 drop rosemary
4 drops lavender

1 Bring the water to the boil, then leave to cool for 3 mins.
2 Pour the water over the tea bags in a pot and leave to stand for 5 mins. 
3 Cool completely before removing the tea bags. Add the oils and pour into a glass bottle. 
4 Shake bottle before use. Apply toner daily to cleansed skin prior to moisturising.

Courtesy of Jenny Pao. Found in The Domestic Alchemist: 501 Herbal Recipes for Home, Health and Happiness by Pip Waller (Leaping Hare Press)

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Recipe: DIY tortilla chips

As inviting as just-baked bread - with a kick of spice

Serves 3–4
3 large tortilla wraps, torn into chunky strips
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds
1⁄2 tsp chilli flakes
1⁄2 tsp salt flakes

1 Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/400F. Line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment. Spread the torn wraps on the parchment without overlapping the pieces.
2 In a bowl add the oil, fennel, chilli and salt; mix together and, using a pastry brush, coat the torn tortilla with spiced oil.
3 Bake in the oven for 3–5 minutes or until golden. Serve with dips.

Turn to page 24 of the January 2017 issue for the rest of our box set supper menu including Hot artichoke & spinach dip, Feta, cream cheese & parsley dip, Flatbreads with three-herb garlic butter, Mushroom, pancetta & sage tagliatelle, and Pile-it-up apple crumble with custard & maple syrup.
 

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Recipe: Simply Goan fish curry

Indian dishes can have endless ingredients but this light and spicy curry is a doddle

Serves 4
4 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 dried red Kashmiri chillies
2cm root ginger, peeled and finely grated
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large plum tomato, finely chopped
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
1 tbsp palm sugar, or soft light brown sugar
2 tsp tamarind paste
1 green chilli, deseeded
and finely sliced
500g firm white fish fillets, skinned, cut into 3cm chunks
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Thyme sprigs or chopped chives, to garnish
Lemon zest strips, to garnish

1 Toast the coriander and cumin seeds and dried chillies in a dry frying pan for about a minute. Crush in a pestle and mortar, then mix in the ginger, garlic, turmeric and 1 tsp salt.
2 Heat the oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat and fry the onion until soft and golden. Stir in the spice mix. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the tomato and cook until it is soft.
3 Add the coconut milk, sugar, tamarind and green chilli and bring to just under the boil. Immediately reduce the heat and simmer for about five minutes, until slightly thickened. Taste for seasoning.
4 Season the fish all over, then add it to the sauce and simmer for about four mins until cooked through. Add the coriander leaves and serve with rice.

Recipe from Simple by Diana Henry (Mitchell Beazley)
 

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Escape: Low-season romance

See, do, stay, love the UK. This month: Lou Archell stays in a Georgian B&B in quiet and wintry Penzance

Our regular travel series comes from online UK travel guide This is Your Kingdom, whose handpicked contributors explore favourite places, special finds and great goings on.

You can read about one we love each month in The Simple Things - turn to page 66 of the January issue for more of this Cornish adventure - and plenty of others at thisisyourkingdom.co.uk.

Lou Archell is a regular contributor to thisisyourkingdom.co.uk. Follow her blog at Littlegreenshedblog.co.uk and find her on Instagram as @littlegreenshed. 

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How to make egg box firelighters

Made from recycled material, these are super eco-friendly and non toxic

You will need:
Ends of candles
Empty baked beans (or other) tins
Egg cartons
Some sheets of newspaper
Sawdust
Scissors

1 Place the candle stubs in a rinsed out baked beans tin and place in a bain marie with a couple of inches of water.
2 Turn the heat on low to gently melt the candle wax.
3 Remove the lid from the egg boxes and place on a few sheets of newspaper to protect your worktop.
4 Put a large pinch of sawdust in the bottom of each egg holder.
5 When the wax is liquid, fill each egg holder to about half full.
6 Wait until completely cooled and set, before using scissors to cut up into individual firelighters.
The egg cartons light really easily and the sawdust acts like a wick for a candle, keeping it lit more than long enough for the fire to get going.

Idea from sugarandloaf.com/cottages/the-stable-at-huntington, who use these lighters for their wood-fired hot tub and Kotlich outdoor cooking pot/fire pit.
 

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Make: Detoxifying matcha tea face mask

This wonderful green paste may make you look like a witch temporarily but will cast a spell on your skin, leaving it refreshed and glowing

1 tsp matcha tea powder
1 tsp yoghurt

1 Put the matcha tea powder in a bowl and stir in the yogurt to make a smooth paste.
2 Apply to a cleansed face and relax for 15 minutes.
3 Remove gently with tepid water and enjoy a healthy glow.

Why it works
Matcha tea is high in vitamins, antioxidants, polyphenols, flavonoids and minerals. It is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and draws out impurities. Yoghurt is moisturising and nourishing.

From All Natural Beauty by Karin Berndl and Nici Hofer (Hardie Grant). 

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Recipe: Coffee, walnut and maple porridge

A bowl of hot porridge made with a cup of home-brewed coffee (that’s coffee to put in the porridge, rather than drink), toasted walnuts and a drizzle of syrup is tasty fuel to kickstart those midwinter mornings when getting out from under your duvet is almost unbearable. Toast walnuts in advance to build in extra snooze time.

This recipe for winter morning fuel comes from the co-owner of London-based Danish restaurant Snaps+Rye

MAKES 2–3 BOWLS
2 tbsp chopped toasted walnuts
125g jumbo oats*
250ml full-fat milk
250ml home-brewed coffee 

TOPPING
Drizzle of maple syrup

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F. Place the walnuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 15 mins, turning after 5 mins.
2 Meanwhile, put the oats, milk and brewed coffee in a pan and cook over a medium heat for 5–10 mins.
3 Remove the walnuts from the oven and leave to cool.
4 Spoon the porridge into the bowls, top with the toasted walnuts and drizzle over a little maple syrup.

Recipe from Spoon by Annie Morris and Jonny Shimmin (Hardie Grant). Photography: Hugh Johnson

* Jumbo oats lend themselves perfectly to full-fat milk, you get a creaminess that you cannot be achieved from other milks.

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Weekend project: Brioche tin candles

On a gloomy January day, why not take a bit of comfort from the relaxing glow of a candle? 

These projects offer bright ideas for refashioning bits you may well already have about into candleholders – then strategically place around the home, for instant cheer. We even tell you how to make – and scent – the candles themselves.

A quick word about wax. These projects use soy, which is made from vegetable oil (paraffin candles use petroleum oil). Soy candles have a longer burn time and less black soot than a paraffin equivalent. Using soy also means you can add essential oils to scent them – try vanilla oil for the hint of freshly baked brioches, or mosquito-repelling citronella oil to conjure balmy summer nights (remember those?). To get even fancier, you can buy colour wax flakes or add dyes. For wicks and wax, try Hobbycraft (hobbycraft.co.uk).

Brioche tin candles

Turn your old tins into something as sweet as the bread itself

Makes three candles
You will need:
3 x 10cm pre-waxed wick assembly
3 small brioche tins or metal jelly moulds, roughly 150ml capacity
Glue dots or glue gun
6 wick-supporting sticks (or wooden cooking skewers cut in half)
750g flaked soy wax – about 225g (or roughly twice the volume of your tin) for each candle
6 small elastic bands
Small pan or metal mixing bowl
Large saucepan
Old spoon
Scissors

1 Fix the wick assembly to the centre of the bottom of your tins by using a glue dot or a dab of hot glue from a glue gun. 
2 Take the supporting sticks or skewers in pairs and bind them together by wrapping a small elastic band around them at either end. Use the skewers to hold the wicks vertically by resting them across the rim of each tin, the wicks pinched firmly between the skewers. 
3 Put the wax in a small pan or bowl and set the bowl in a pan of water on the hob over a medium heat. Add about three drops of fragrance oil (if using) to the wax. When melted, the wax will appear completely clear. Use your spoon to stir the oil into the wax.
4 Pour a small amount of the liquid wax 5 into the bottom of your prepared tins to just cover the metal wick assembly in each one. Leave to harden for about ten minutes. This is to make sure that the wicks stay in place for the main pour in the following step.
5 Return the pan to the hob to ensure the wax is fully melted, then pour it into your tins to within about 6mm of the top edges and leave to cool and harden fully. If the wax dries with a small dip around the wick, top it up with more melted wax and thinly cover the surface of the candle evenly.
6 Using scissors, trim the wicks to about 12mm from the top surface of the wax. Leave your candles for at least 24 hours before lighting.

Adapted from Take a Tin by Jemima Schlee (GMC, available from thegmcgroup.com)

Turn to page 113 of January’s The Simple Things for two more candle projects: gold painted hurricanes and a candle in a jar. 

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My kitchen is for dancing

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A could-do list for January

Things you might want to do this month (no pressure!)

Turn up your internal central heating with spicy stews and aromatic teas

Have your sledge at the ready for the first snowfall

Enjoy the peace and order that this month brings

Take a pot of steaming soup to a friend or neighbour in need

Change your route for a month and notice new things around you

What would you add? Come over and tell us on Facebook or Twitter. 

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Finding hygge

January is full of possibilities. Plans and hopes and dreams. As it should be at the start of things. But no need to rush. The warmth of hearth and home is what we need during these dark midwinter days. Appreciating what we have and where we live, embracing being indoors, cosy and comfortable together — a hygge life. Let your mind wander while you sit; make the case for adventure, for exploring the unfamiliar, for strange languages, for the mountains and for the stars and where they could lead you. 

January’s The Simple Things is all about hygge. Pronounced hue-gah, hygge is a Danish word to portray a feeling or mood that comes taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary, every day moments more meaningful, beautiful or special. Get your copy now for plenty of ideas to try this month. 

We might not have the snow here but you can pretend you’re in Scandinavia with one of these fun Nordic experiences. If you can’t beat them and all that...

l If you’re going to Paris and fancy a very different experience, head to the Insitut Finlandais and spend the night in a Finnish wood cabin (above). The cabins are a temporary installation (until May) designed in a pared-back Nordic style and guests will be treated to a taste of the Finnish hospitality with a traditional breakfast and themed events from music to film screenings. kotisleepover.com

l There’s plenty of hygge to be had in London this winter. At Southbank Winter Festival (until 25 January) pop into the Rekorderlig Cider Lodge to sample the new Spiced Plum cider and huddle round firepits with bowls of Swedish food. Or go to Winter Wigwam in Hoxton and feast at a long table, warm up with hot mead by the fire and join a hair braiding or ukulele session. queenofhoxton.com

l It’s bound to be chilly in Scotland but keeping warm is easy in the new 40ft loch-side sauna with panoramic views of Loch Tay in the Taymouth Marina. When it all gets too sweaty, you can jump into the loch to cool off before cosying up by the firepit.
taymouthmarina.com

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Hygge: January cover reveal

January is full of possibilities. Plans and hopes and dreams. As it should be at the start of things. But no need to rush. The warmth of hearth and home is what we need during these dark midwinter days. Appreciating what we have and where we live, embracing being indoors, cosy and comfortable together — a hygge life. Let your mind wander while you sit; make the case for adventure, for exploring the unfamiliar, for strange languages, for the mountains and for the stars and where they could lead you. Happy New Year from The Simple Things.

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Buy back issues, subscribe or try our sister mag, Oh Comely

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Pukkapedia: Herbs to help rebalance

Many of us take the new year as a cue to give our bodies an MOT, with rebalancing what we eat as good a place as any to start. Nature’s medicine cabinet contains many cleansing plants.

Fennel, a key ingredient of Pukka’s Detox tea, is great for easing nausea and indigestion and can help to reduce the other physical effects of alcohol. A warm cup of fennel tea will help to relieve digestive ailments, making it a handy hangover tonic and a gentle cleanser.

Marvellous matcha
Matcha is made from a special type of powdered green tea. It’s packed full of antioxidants which help to fight free radicals built up by pollution, exposure to alcohol and those not-so-healthy party foods. Sip this tea, perhaps with a squeeze of lemon, the next time you feel the need to rebalance your body. Or try Pukka’s Clean Matcha Green.

Turn to page 15 of January’s The Simple Things for more rebalancing herbs, including Mint, Ginger, Rosemary, Chamomile, Parsley and Turmeric.

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Competition: Win a copy of The Wicked Plants Coloring Book

Some plants are the root, berry and bark of all evil. In January’s Miscellany we take a look at the darker side of horticulture.

In The Wicked Plants Coloring Book, Amy Stewart and Briony Morrow-Cribbs offer up 40 menacing plants in gorgeous, vintage-style botanical illustrations to colour. from the vine that ate the South to the weed that killed Lincoln’s mother to the world’s deadliest seed. 

We’ve got five copies to give away. Enter below

ENTER NOW

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Listen: Scandi playlist

Some are moody – some, poppy: songs with a Nordic soul to make you feel cooler.  

Listen to our Scandi playlist

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WIN! A walking holiday worth £600

Have a breath of fresh air and head into the hills with a three-night guided walking break with HF Holidays

There’s a drama that comes with mountain ranges and rolling hills. Snowdonia, the Scottish Highlands, the Lakes... the UK is home to some spectacular mountain scenery – close enough to home to be enjoyed in a short break. Walking specialist HF Holidays has teamed up with The Simple Things to give away a guided walking break for two, staying at one of its 19 country houses. Your first challenge? Deciding where to go... 

HF Holidays has been organising walking trips for more than a century, so the company knows its stuff. All of its UK guided walking breaks come with a choice of walks each day – easier, medium, harder – which means you can pick a route to suit your mood/the weather/energy levels.
As well as bases at Derwent Water in the Lakes, Glencoe and two properties in Snowdonia, highlights include escapes in the Yorkshire Dales, the Cotswolds and Peak District, and coastal getaways from Northumberland to Dorset. All HF Holidays UK locations are within National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its country houses can be as sociable or relaxed as you like. 

Walk together during the day or explore independently. Meet up in the bar before dining with fellow walkers. Each house offers a different experience; from legendary packed lunches to dedicated boot rooms, maps and books galore… If you’re new to walking, opt for one of HF Holidays’ taster breaks – self-guided and guided walks, from gentle rambles to longer hikes. And there are experts on hand to give advice on everything from boots to routes. 

For more info, visit hfholidays.co.uk/taster or call 0345 470 7558

HOW TO ENTER

For your chance to win a three-night guided walking break for two on a full-board basis at a country house in the UK, courtesy of HF Holidays, enter below

ENTER NOW

The winner gets to choose from any of HF Holidays’ UK country house locations, subject to availability and some peak-season restrictions. You have until 31 October 2017 to take your holiday. And you cannot transfer it or swap it for cash. The closing date for entries is 8 February 2017.

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