Recipe: Hot Cross Bun Cakes

Make Good Friday the best Friday ever with these seasonal buns that are just a bit different from an ordinary HCB

Makes 12

2 duck eggs or 3 large chicken eggs
90ml buttermilk
185g butter
Zest of 1 orange
185g self-raising flour
1⁄2 tsp baking powder
70g ground almonds
185g light brown sugar
2 tsp mixed spice
120g sultanas
1 tbsp apricot jam or marmalade 

for the icing
60g cream cheese
40g butter
60g icing sugar
Zest of 1⁄2 an orange equipment

Cupcake tin
12 cupcake cases Piping bag and nozzle 

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F. Beat the eggs in a bowl and then add the buttermilk. Melt the butter, add it to the bowl and mix well. Stir in the orange zest. 
2 In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and mixed spice, and stir in the ground almonds. Then fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Stir in the sultanas. 
3 Spoon the cake batter into the cake cases, about three-quarters full, and bake for 18–20 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for a few mins before transferring cakes in their cases to a cooling rack. 
4 Meanwhile, heat the apricot jam or marmalade in a saucepan with a dash of water until it becomes liquid. Using a pastry brush, glaze the cakes while they are still warm and then allow to cool. 
5 Mix all the icing ingredients together. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a small, plain nozzle and pipe a cross onto the top of each cake.

Recipe from Love, Aimee x by Aimee Twigger (Murdoch Books)

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From our April issue:

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Recipe: Wild garlic soup

Ramsons, or wild garlic, makes for easy foraging. Around now, damp woodland becomes carpeted in bright green leaves, the air heavy with its savoury aroma. If you can’t find any wild garlic, you can replace it with watercress, young nettles (wear gloves when harvesting – the sting will go when cooked!), spinach, kale or chard. 

Wild garlic soup

25g butter
2 potatoes, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
2 large handfuls of wild garlic leaves, washed and roughly chopped
110ml regular or double cream
Crusty bread, to serve

1 Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When foaming, add the potatoes and onion, and toss in the butter until well coated, then season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down, cover the pan and cook for 10 mins or until vegetables are soft, stirring regularly so that the vegetables don’t stick and burn.
2 Next, add stock and bring to a rolling boil, then add the wild garlic leaves and cook for 2 mins or until the leaves have wilted. Don’t overcook or it will lose its fresh green colour and flavour.
3 Immediately pour into a blender and blitz until smooth, then return to the clean pan, stir in the cream and taste for seasoning.
4 Serve hot with crusty bread.

COOK’S NOTE: Harvest garlic leaves between March and May before the plant flowers. Be mindful and pick a little here and there. Wild garlic looks similar to the poisonous lily of the valley so always crush the leaves and check for the smell of garlic before picking.

Recipe from Recipes From My Mother by Rachel Allen (Harper Collins). 

If you’ve got a lust for something green and pungent after that you won’t want to miss the start of our new foraging series, Finders Keepers, by Lia Leendertz (first part in our April issue, in shops now). Foraged crops are free, abundant and flavourful. All you need do is get yourself to a good spot at the right time, basket and secateurs in hand, and you have some of the best crops available. Through the foraging seasons of spring, summer and autumn, we’ll show you where to find these crops, how to pick them, and ways to turn them into delicious dishes. This month’s pages include a fabulous recipe for wild garlic, nettle and broad bean frittata that has already gone in our best recipes notebook.

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Escape: Rainy day adventures

A rainy walk with friends or family feels somehow enlivening, as if you’re defying the weather, having fun and making memories... even when water gets in your wellies

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing”
Lake District fellwalking legend Alfred Wainwright (originally from a Norwegian adage)

Feel the rain on your skin, see it drip through a hazel leaf funnel onto the forest floor. Touch the bark of a gnarled, rough oak or a smooth, grey beech trunk made dark by running water. Run your fingers over a velvety bracket fungus. As the sun comes out from behind a cloud, find a clearing and hold your face to the sky. A free dose of Vitamin D, courtesy of spring.

Hear the squelch and suck of wellies in gloopy mud, splash through a puddle, or linger on a bridge over a babbling brook. Hush up a little and you’ll notice birdsong all around, maybe a woodpecker at work. If the wind picks up, the branches creak and groan in an arboreal conversation that makes you believe in magical creatures. Big kid or little kid, climb a tree and feel the breeze whistle through the branches around you.

Turn to page 24 of April's The Simple Things for more of our April Showers ideas.

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Good things come in small packages

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Recipe: Hot cross carrot salad

This salad nods to its bun namesake with fruit and spice. Try it for Easter

Hot cross carrot salad

Serves 6
190g sultanas
30ml gin
Juice of 2 oranges
2 tbsp olive oil
4 bunches baby carrots, peeled and sliced into 1cm rounds
11⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra for garnish
2 tbsp honey
Zest of 1 lemon
125g pistachios, lightly crushed
1 handful chervil, leaves picked for the yogurt dressing
6 cardamon pods
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
375ml Greek yogurt
1⁄4 tsp fine sea salt

1 Place sultanas in a bowl with gin and orange juice. Allow to soak for at least 30 mins. Drain excess liquid.
2 Toast cardamom pods, fennel seeds and cumin in a dry pan. After toasting the cardamon pods, break them open, remove the seeds and discard the shell. Grind the spices using a pestle and mortar until a fine powder. Place yogurt in a bowl, mix in spices and season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Set aside.
3 Blanch carrots in a pot of salted boiling water for 2 mins. Drain and set aside to dry.
4 Heat the olive oil in a shallow frying pan and cook the blanched carrots over a medium heat for 2–3 mins. Add cinnamon and fry for a minute longer. Add honey and allow the carrots to caramelise. Season with salt to taste and set aside to cool.
5 Toss carrots, sultanas and lemon zest together. Divide carrot mix onto individual serving plates and spoon over a cross of yogurt dressing. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and scatter over crushed pistachios and chervil.

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Escape: The modern pilgrimage

Modern pilgrims quietly travel on foot to places with meaning or significance. You may have been on a pilgrimage without even knowing it. All it takes is to walk purposefully towards a place that means something to you. 

All over the world, different religions have taken up pilgrimages: Muslims head to Mecca, Christians to Santiago de Compostela, Hindus walk the length of the Ganges. Whereas modern pilgrimages don’t require a belief in God, they can follow the paths of these earlier pilgrims to a cathedral, chapel or shrine, and appreciate these places for the holy spaces they are.

What is considered sacred today, however, is much broader. Many ancient sites exert a powerful pull and have the additional benefit of being in the landscape, often in out-of-the-way and lovely places. Journey to a long barrow on the crest of a hill, a standing stone overlooking a bay, or a stone circle in the heart of a wheat field, and chances are that you will experience something profound and steadying. As philosopher and writer Alain de Botton puts it: “Certain places, perhaps because of their remoteness, vastness, chaotic energy, haunting melancholy, exert a capacity to salve the wounded parts of us.”

Five British pilgrimage sites

Join other wayfarers at these ancient and sacred places. 

Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles, Wiltshire
Solstice gatherings of druids at the UK’s most famous stone circle are well known, but at other times of the year it’s impossible to get close to the megaliths. Better to head to nearby Avebury for more convenient stone-hugging. 

Bardsey Island, Wales
Bardsey was a major pilgrimage destination in medieval times, and is still a destination for anyone seeking a spiritual place. 

Walsingham, Norfolk
Following a vision of the Virgin Mary, a rich widow called Richeldis de Faverches built a shrine here in the 11th century. The site has remained significant for Roman Catholics, and still attracts 100,000 pilgrims a year. 

Iona, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
Iona has been a centre of spirituality since Saint Columba established a monastery here in AD653. It now attracts visitors on religious and secular retreats. 

Glastonbury Tor, Somerset
Glastonbury attracts both Christians and non-believers. The town may be full of crystal shops but up on the Tor, it’s all about the view and King Arthur.

Turn to page 74 of April’s The Simple Things for more on Clare Gogerty’s look at modern pilgrimages.

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Cake in the house: Unbelievably dark and delicious chocolate cake

This wonderful celebration cake also works ‘dressed down’ without its sugary decorations, leaving the hints of cinnamon and sea salt to do the talking

UNBELIEVABLY DARK AND DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CAKE

For the cake:
380g butter
380g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
380g caster sugar
2 small pinches ground cinnamon
Several large pinches of salt
200g plain flour
6 eggs

For a crazy celebration topping:
4 Mars bars
100ml whole milk
3 tbsp golden syrup
90g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
500ml double cream
3 Flakes, chopped into 2cm lengths
2 packets of Rolos
1 large packet of peanut M&Ms (optional) 
Edible glitter, as many colours as possible

1 Preheat oven to 190C/Fan 170C/375F and butter and line the base of two 20cm cake tins with baking parchment.
2 Melt the butter in a medium pan over a low heat, then stir in the chocolate, being careful not to burn it. When the mixture becomes a smooth, velvety consistency, add the sugar, cinnamon and salt.
3 Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat and slowly sift in the flour, stirring to combine. In a separate bowl beat the eggs, then beat into the chocolate mixture a little at a time until fully incorporated.
4 Pour into the prepared tins and bake in the oven for 30–40 mins until the outside is dark and delicious looking and a skewer comes out just clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 15 mins before turning out to cool on wire racks.
5 To make the topping, chop up the Mars bars and melt with the milk, syrup, dark chocolate and 50ml of the double cream. In a separate bowl whip the rest of the cream until it just holds its shape.
6 Sandwich the cooled cakes together with the whipped cream and pour over the Mars bar sauce. Scatter the various chocolates and glitter over the surface of the cake in a higgledy-piggledy fashion, involving as many over-excited little helpers as you dare.

Recipe from Home Cook by Thomasina Miers (Faber).

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Think: Calm in a jiffy

Quick fixes and inner peace may seem unlikely bedfellows - but there are simple tools you can use to feel more serene

Wouldn’t it be great to be more patient, unruffled and at ease? To be able to hold onto that sense of contentment and serenity that comes over you when you experience a gorgeous sunset, a walk in the woods or a restful soak in a bath. Yet those moments of peace tend to quickly evaporate and anxiety, ever present in the background, finds a way to creep back to the surface. The good news is that becoming more serene doesn’t have to mean changing your lifestyle completely or hours of meditation or yoga. It can be as simple as practising some easy calming techniques that you can call upon in stressful circumstances or when you’re just feeling a bit ruffled. Have a go at the following micro-practices, find out what works for you and use them whenever you need an extra dose of calm.

Feed your good wolf

You may have heard the old Native American parable about the two wolves fighting inside of us all. There’s the wolf of fear and hate and the wolf of love and compassion, and whichever wolf we feed will win the fight. Most people are incredibly hard on themselves both in their thoughts (self-criticism) and behaviour (destructive and self-sabotaging). Yet if we are kind and compassionate to ourselves and feed our good wolf, we develop the ability to have compassion for others.

Try the 4-7-8 breath

This is an ancient breathing technique that restores and recalibrates the central nervous system. The combination of a short inhale followed by a twice-as-long exhale has an immediate effect on the parasympathetic nervous system, putting the brakes on your stress response.
1 Inhale to the count of 4.
2 Hold your breath to the count of 7.
3 Exhale through your mouth as if blowing through a straw to the count of 8.
4 Repeat cycle twice more.
5 Do three cycles in the morning and the evening for a calmer, less reactive disposition.

Consult your inner wise woman

Imagine if you could consult your future self for advice or counsel? Perhaps your 98-year-old self, even now, has some wisdom to impart to you.
1 Close your eyes and imagine yourself at the age of 98.
2 Formulate a question or a concern that you’d like to ask your inner wise woman.
3 Imagine your older, wiser self conversing with your current self – you could even have her write you a letter if that makes it easier.
4 See if a wider perspective shifts your current perception of what’s going on today.

Turn to page 86 of April's The Simple Things for more suggestions, including how to embrace change, giving morning thanks, armchair travel, sitting in child’s pose, carrying a talisman, 
and the butterfly hug technique.

Taken from The Little Book of Inner Peace: Simple Practices for Less Angst, More Calm by Ashley Davis Bush (Octopus)

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Nest: Tulips

A bunch of spring tulips bought from a pavement flower seller and wrapped in brown paper is one of the most gratifying of purchases.

Bring them home, snip a little off the stems, plunge into a tall, upright vase and suddenly spring has arrived in the kitchen. Buy blooms with tight buds and enjoy watching them as they open and even grow a little. If you want to keep stems upright, place in a vase that covers at least half their height, but we can’t help thinking that the sinuous movement of the stems as they twist towards the light is all part of their charm.

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Home truths: Houseplants

Maybe it's our love for all things Scandi that kickstarted the houseplant revival. The Danes and Swedes have always appreciated the power of plants in the home, whereas we lost sight of it in the 80s when too many parched spider plants expired on windowsills. Or perhaps it’s because we now spend between 80–90% of our time indoors, and hanker for a link to nature, however slender.

Whatever the reason, a potted plant does us good both mentally and physically, and is a cheap way of enlivening a room. Try one of these five lovely house plants:

1. ALOE VERA (Barbados aloe): a very undemanding desert plant, above, with sharp spiky leaves and tubular flowers. Can withstand both direct sunlight and damp and humid conditions. 

2. CHINESE MONEY PLANT (Pilea peperomiodes): can be tricky to find but worth the search. Its lily-pad shaped leaves on long stems have a white spot in their centre. 

3. MONEY PLANT (Crassula ovata): a bringer of fortune. It needs little attention but is happiest in direct light.

4. PURPLELEAF FALSE SHAMROCK (Oxalis triangularis subsp. papilionacea): each stem has three butterfly-shaped leaves that fold up at night. Pretty pink flowers in spring.

5. STRING OF BEADS (Senecio rowleyanus): trails prettily from a hanging planter. It looks delicate but is hardy and requires infrequent watering.

Turn to page 118 of April's The Simple Things for more on the wonderful world of houseplants, including planters, displaying your plants, terrariums, airplants and house plant accessories.

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Reader offer: National Art Pass for £10

We’ve teamed up with Art Fund to offer The Simple Things readers a special offer: a three-month National Art Pass for £10. 

From Cardiff Castle and Kensington Palace to the V&A and Tate Modern – the National Art Pass gives you free entry to over 240 museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK as well as 50% off entry to major exhibitions.

National Art Pass also gives you discount in a number of museum shops and cafes. Life is sweet with coffee and cake, and sweeter still with a National Art Pass discount.

An annual National Art Pass costs £65 but The Simple Things readers can now take advantage of a special trial offer: a three-month National Art Pass for just £10.

To start your three month trial, simply visit artfund.org/thesimplethings

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A could-do list for April

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

• Choose one thing you’re going to make and not buy this month
• Rediscover qualities you had as a child (like spontaneity or fearlessness)
• Feast on homemade hot cross buns
• Switch everything off and get used to silence
• Make a list of the niggling jobs in your home and get them fixed
• Learn how to do a headstand
• Write down the things you miss most when you’re away from home

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

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Growing: A city allotment

Bloggers and enthusiastic veg growers, Ade and Sophie Sellars tell us about the joys of harvesting their own and life on their plot

Sophie and Ade took on their allotment three years ago to grow more veg. Little did they know that it would change their lives. Sophie used to organise film shoots but now writes about gardening and cooking, and Ade used to work in TV but is now a photographer and horticulturalist. Together they produce a blog Agents of Field, which won Blog of the Year 2016.

“If you are interested in taking on an allotment, contact your local council and see what the situation is. You might be lucky like us, and not have to wait. But even if you do have to wait, try growing things at home first. We still grow herbs and berries in our back garden, along with rhubarb, which we grow in pots. You can easily grow tomatoes on a sunny balcony, and a windowsill is great for herbs and microgreens.

“In January, when there was the big furore over the salad shortage because adverse weather conditions had affected supplies from Spain, Sophie planted some pea shoots on the windowsill in our living room, and we were harvesting our own salad three weeks later.

“Don’t be discouraged if something fails, there’s always the following year to try it again. I’ve grown most vegetables by now, to be honest, but it’s always exciting to try something new. See what takes your fancy and give it a go!

“We’ve had our allotment for three years, and it has become such a central part of our lives. I jokily refer to it as my ‘fortress of solitude’ – it’s where I go when I want to escape the bustle of London life. It’s taught me so much, and I have a real passion for growing things now, something I wasn’t remotely interested in only a few years ago.

“Since taking on the allotment, we’ve launched an award-winning gardening and food blog, I’ve retrained in horticulture with the RHS at Capel Manor and Regent’s Park, and I’m now embarking on a new career in garden writing and photography. It’s totally changed my life and I love it!”

Turn to page 108 of April’s The Simple Things for more of Sophie and Ade’s allotment advice, plus their recipe for Rhubarb and banana squares.

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Escape: A light-filled wooden cabin on Skye

See, do, stay, love the UK. This month: India Hobson and Magnus Edmondson experience a window on wildlife in Scotland

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 80 of the April issue for more of this Scottish adventure – and plenty of others at thisisyourkingdom.co.uk.

India Hobson and Magnus Edmondson are contributors to thisisyourkingdom.co.uk. Their findings on travel, lifestyle and design are at haarkon.co.uk and on Instagram @haarkon_ 

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Recipe: Rosemary orangeade

This is a fruity and herbal drink, and beautifully refreshing. Make the syrup ahead of time and store it in the fridge, and then you can make the orangeade up as you need it.

Serves 6–8

500ml water
400g granulated sugar
About 4 good sprigs of rosemary
Fresh orange juice
Sparkling water

1 Put the water, sugar and rosemary into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Once all of the graininess has vanished, bring to the boil and then simmer for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, leaving the pieces of rosemary in the syrup to infuse. Pour into a jar and refrigerate until needed.

2 To make up the orangeade, combine one part cooled syrup with one part orange juice and one part fizzy water. Pour over ice cubes and garnish with a sprig of rosemary. 

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Recipe: Spelt with chorizo, sweet potato, red onion & spinach

One-tin wonders… Not just for Sunday lunch, a good roast can be anything from a fish supper to tasty spiced veg. Simple to prepare (and light on washing up), turn to page 54 of April’s The Simple Things for roast recipe including Sea bass & asparagus with jasmine rice & ginger lime dressing, Roast chicken with fennel, lemon & shallots, and Ras el hanout slow roasted mushrooms. 

Spelt with chorizo, sweet potato, red onion & spinach

A hearty, substantial dinner – any leftovers will make for a proper next-day lunchbox. You can use pearl barley as an alternative to spelt if you prefer it.

Serves 4

Prep: 10–15 mins
Cook: 1 hour
150g spelt or pearl barley, rinsed
350g chicken stock
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 21⁄2cm chunks
1 red onion, peeled and quartered
5 cloves of garlic, skin on
225g cooking chorizo, cut into 2cm chunks
1 tbsp olive oil
300g spinach, roughly chopped
Juice of 1 lemon

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/ 350F. In a roasting tin, mix together the spelt or pearl barley, chicken stock, sweet potato chunks, red onion and garlic. Rub the chorizo chunks with the olive oil and scatter over the pearl barley mixture.
2 Cover the dish tightly with foil, then transfer to the oven and cook for an hour.
3 Remove the foil and stir in the spinach. Season to taste with the lemon juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve hot. 

Recipes from The Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer (Square Peg).

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Competition: Win the entire range of Pukka teas!

Tea is the world’s second-most- consumed drink – after water – and there are more blends and more styles of drinking to explore than ever before. The key to a great cup of tea (or mug – you won’t find any receptacle-ism here) could be water quality, it could be brewing temperature, and it’s certainly about the ingredients contained in those little bags of flavour.

Pukka Herbs prides itself on not using any synthetic flavourings in their range of 40 teas, only sustainably sourced, organically grown and fairly traded tea, herbs and fruit, which is of real importance to Sebastian Pole, Pukka’s master herbsmith and co-founder. For Sebastian, creating a Pukka blend is about capturing the vibrancy of the tea, herbs or fruit – an appeal that is reflected not just in the taste, but in its aroma, look and feel, too. Each of Pukka’s organic teas comes jam-packed with nature’s finest ingredients that smell mesmerising when you open the beautiful packaging and translate into taste with delicious depth. Wellbeing is high on the agenda, too, with teas such as Detox and Night Time blended to give specific physical benefits.

Green teas – particularly matcha blends – are increasingly popular. Reflecting this, new additions to the Pukka range include matcha greens blended with ginseng or mint. New Turmeric Gold is a blend of whole-leaf green tea with queen of protective spices turmeric, plus cardamom and lemon. Find your favourites blends online at pukkaherbs.com.

HOW TO ENTER
Enter our competition for your chance to win the entire range of Pukka organic teas. One lucky winner will receive one packet of each tea currently available at pukkaherbs.com. 

ENTER NOW

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
There is one prize of the full range of Pukka teas delivered to your door. No cash alternative is available and the prize cannot be transferred. The competition closes on 17 May 2017. The winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries after this date and notified soon after. You can find full terms and conditions on page 129 of the April issue and at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.

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Belong: April cover reveal

Where you belong is not about race or politics. It’s a sense of contentment, of inner peace. Cherish that feeling and build your life around it. In a complicated world, it is the simple things that matter most; sharing a cake, making a meaningful journey and growing something yourself. For some, it is the comfort of things – belongings are named for the way they evoke place and time – treasure them and tell their stories. One day, maybe they’ll let someone else know where they belong. 

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Listen: Songs of belonging

Surround yourself with friends and family and this month’s playlist

Listen now

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