Recipe: Smoked toffee apple bourbon

What’s the only thing better than a sticky toffee apple? This tipsy toffee apple brew, especially when sipped beside the fire

There are a few stages to this, but once made the syrups will last a few weeks in the fridge, so there’s no need to rush through it. The first step is to make a simple syrup, which you will then use to make a caramelised simple syrup that will give the bourbon a beautiful toffee taste.
 

Simple syrup

‘Cups’ are used here not in any exact way, but merely to show that we want the volume of sugar and water to be the same, and so you may as well pour each into the same cup to measure out.

2 cups water
2 cups granulated sugar

1 Heat water and sugar gently in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and simmer until the liquid turns clear.

2 When completely cool, pour into a jar and store in the fridge.
 

Caramelised simple syrup

This caramelised syrup recipe is adapted from Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits by Andrew Schloss (Storey Publishing).

1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups simple syrup

1 Heat the sugar in a small saucepan on a medium-high heat until it starts to turn brown at the edges. Stir with a wooden spoon. The sugar will turn lumpy. Keep on stirring for a few mins until it turns deep orange and completely liquid.

2 Stand back and carefully pour in the simple syrup. The mixture will bubble furiously and the sugar will turn solid. Keep heating and stirring and the lump of caramelised sugar will slowly dissolve into the syrup.

3 When cool, pour through a strainer into a jar and store in the fridge. Eat the pieces of caramel left behind in the strainer.
 

Bourbon

This infused bourbon combines the tastes and scents of the moment. Caramelised simple syrup is combined with grated apple and the whole given a note of smokiness with the addition of a teaspoon or so of Lapsang Souchong tea.

3 apples
360ml caramelised simple syrup
480ml bourbon
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp lapsang souchong

1 Grate the apples into a large, sterilised, sealable jar and pour in the syrup.

2 Muddle together and then add all the other ingredients and mix well. Leave to infuse for five days.

3 After five days, strain through a muslin into another sterilised, sealable jar. Leave to drip through the muslin for a few hours rather than squeezing it, for a clearer result.

4 You can drink immediately, or seal and store somewhere cool and dark for up to a year. 

Read more:

From the October issue

Seed to Stove recipes

Warming drinks

October's The Simple Things is on sale - buy, download or subscribe now.

October's The Simple Things PLUS pressed leaves craft ideas

On sale now, October's The Simple Things is all about the FORAGE. With such a beautiful cover, we've been inspired to get outside, hunt for colourful leaves and put them to crafty use. 

Try one of the ideas from our pressed leaves Pinterest board and let us know how you get on - share your pictures with us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

Follow The Simple Things's board Pressed leaves on Pinterest.

Read more:

From the October issue

Make a homemade reed diffuser

Pinterest ideas

October's The Simple Things is on sale - buy, download or subscribe now.

Recipe: Raspberry fruit leather

Use this recipe as a template for all kinds of fruit leathers – it works really well with strawberries, apricots and nectarines too. Essentially, all it entails is making a thick, gloopy purée of fruit and sugar and then drying it out very slowly in the oven until you have a pliable leather as clear and vivid as a stained glass window. Remember to add the lemon juice if you are using fruit that is likely to discolour.

Makes 2 sheets
A little groundnut oil for greasing the tins
500g raspberries
500g peeled, cored and chopped cooking apples
Juice of 1 lemon
130g honey

1. Preheat the oven to 70°C/Gas 1/4. Line two baking sheets of about 24cmx30cm with foil or several layers of clingfilm; lightly oil with groundnut oil.  
2. Put the berries, apples and lemon juice into a pan. Cook gently, partially covered at first, until soft and pulpy, about 20 minutes. Rub through a sieve or mouli into a bowl. You should have about 700g smooth fruit purée. Add the honey and mix well.  
3. Divide between two baking sheets, shaking the tins and smoothing with a spatula so the purée reaches right up to the edges. Place in the oven for 6-10 hours.
4. The leather should be a little tacky but no longer sticky and should peel easily off the clingfilm or foil. Leave to cool completely then roll up the leather in greaseproof paper or cling film and store in an airtight container in a cool place. Use within two months. Alternatively, you can freeze it, well sealed, for up to a year. 

Turn to page 120 of September's The Simple things (on sale 29 August 2015) for Postcards from the Hedge, where Mark Diacono is picking peppercorns and harvesting honey.

Read more

Autumn jam recipes

More Postcards from the Hedge recipes

More from the September issue

September's The Simple Things is on sale today - buy, download or subscribe now.

Pottering in the potting shed: Leaf mould compost

In a new series, our garden editor Cinead McTernan, shares ideas for things to do in your plot. This month, make your own compost using leaf mould.

“As a child I loved autumn. As soon as the leaves started falling, friends and I would pile them up in our school playground to make jumps so that we could spend every lunchtime galloping around and around jumping over them as if we were horses. Oh happy days!

“As a grown up I’m just as excitable about the start of autumn and I still gather leaves in to piles. The only difference is that I now scoop them up and keep them in bin liners for a few years so they can slowly decompose and transform into the most wonderful, crumbly, nutrient-rich compost, called leaf mould. If you’ve got space to store a few bin liners (out of the way behind the potting shed is always good) then it’s well worth giving this a try. If you don’t have enough leaves in your own garden to fill a bin liner or two, nip out to the park or your local woods where you’ll have plenty of material to gather.

“Oak, beech and hornbeam are the ultimate leaves for this bit of garden alchemy – they break down easily and make a very good leaf mould. Sycamore, walnut, horse and sweet chestnut leaves are actually thicker, which means it’s a good idea to shred them before storing them (you can use a rotary lawn mower to do this – just scatter them on the lawn and go over them a few times). It’s best to avoid evergreens and confer needles, as they take much longer to break down and if you’re going to recycle your christmas tree in this way, keep the pine needles separate and use for plants that like an acidic compost, like blueberries, camellias and rhododendrons.

“If the leaves are very dry when you gather them up, sprinkle some water in the bin liner to help them start them to decompose. Tie the bag in a knot and pierce with a fork a few times to create some air holes. You will have to be patient, as the process takes a couple of years, but start now and do it each year and you’ll have a great supply of good quality leaf mould to use as a seed-sowing compost in the spring. If you can’t wait that long or have enough space to store several bags, you can use year-old leaf mould, that hasn’t rotted down so well, as a mulch and soil improver.”

How to make a pumpkin bird feeder

Don't ditch the Halloween pumpkin just yet... Give it a new lease of life in the garden as a pumpkin bird feeder. Pumpkins spend all summer ballooning into huge, majestic,super-squash, then come autumn, most are either made into soup or carved into a lantern at Hallowe’en. These heavyweights of the fruit world – they often reach 35kg – have a rigid shell that’s great for hacking into. This year, why not carve out a new purpose for your pumpkin, as a bird feeder?

Here’s how:

1. Cut a 2kg pumpkin in half across its equator, scoop out the seeds but leave behind a wall of pumpkin flesh, around 2cm thick.

2. Cut a 1.5cm deep groove in the rim, then push the pumpkin seeds into the rim, making an attractive and edible border.

3. Create perches for robins, blackbirds and sparrows, which like to sit and eat, rather than hang, off a feeder. Poke holes into the pumpkin skin using a skewer or sharp knife and push twigs and sticks into them for perches.

4. Knot two lengths of twine or string together in the centre, then tack the knot of both lengths to the bottom of the pumpkin feeder, using a drawing pin. This creates a hanging basket effect.

5. Fill with seed and watch your birdie friends tuck in.

Want more Halloween reads? Take our Wicca quiz and find out which witch you are, or preserve your pumpkins with pride.

Passing on traditions: New boots

So shiny, not a mark on them. And all that leather, suede or, for the extrovert, patent. Your little bitty strappy sandals are all very well but with a pair of boots there’s far more shoe to show-off and tell. New boots are reassuringly expensive. Guilt-free, too: Fashion maths dictates that boots x per wear = good value. Is it the knowledge you’ll soon be in so-cosy woolly tights again or the fact that you can wear them every day till March that sends us skipping to the shops? Ooh, and that big box to take them home in. Nice.

Shallow, us? This is a seasonal ritual to be undertaken alongside harvest festivals and leaf kicking – maybe not in your splendid new boots though.

Our favourite winter boots, clockwise from top left:

1. UGG Kensington 1969 boots, £120, John Lewis

2. Horrigan boots, £150, Hudson

3. Nautical knee boots, £98, Office

4. Chelsea boots, £120, Timberland

5. Peu boots, £155, Camper

6. Grace ii boots, £90, Red or Dead

Cake in the house: Sticky toffee loaf

Gooey, gingery and cockle-warming, this sticky toffee loaf is comfort on a plate.

Sticky toffee ginger loaf

Serves 6–8

200g pitted dates, halved 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 75g unsalted butter, softened 115g soft brown sugar 2 tsp ground ginger 3 eggs 80g (about 4 balls) stem ginger, finely chopped 225g self-raising flour, sifted

For the caramel glaze: 110g caster sugar 40g butter 225ml single cream

1. Line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment and grease it. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F.

2. Put dates and bicarbonate of soda in a large mixing bowl, cover with 330ml boiling water, stir and set aside for at least 20 mins.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until thick and pale. Add the ground ginger, then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Stir in the soaked date mixture, the stem ginger and flour and mix until well combined – the mixture should be quite loose. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 50-60 mins until a skewer comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

6. To make the glaze, choose a pan large enough to ensure the sugar is no more than 2mm thick over the base, otherwise the heat won’t distribute evenly through the sugar. Set the pan over a gentle heat and add the sugar and 1 tsp water. Shake the pan rather than stir it with a spoon to avoid the sugar hardening before it liquifies – this will take around 15 mins and you want a deep, golden caramel. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until melted and well combined.

7. Heat cream in a separate pan over a gentle heat, then whisk it into the caramel until smooth and glossy. Set aside to cool and firm up slightly so that it has a good spreading consistency. Spread over the cooled cake and serve.

Recipe taken from Café Kitchen by Shelagh Ryan (Ryland Peters & Small, £17)

Recipe: Tangerine and nutmeg hot chocolate

There is a spectrum of hot chocolates. At one end, the instant and saccharine; at the other, chunks of the real deal – melted and laced. This warming number sits at the luxurious end, with hints of citrus and aromatic nutmeg lifting it onto an altogether cosy, autumnal plane.

Tangerine and nutmeg hot chocolate

Makes one small cup 20g plain chocolate (at least 70% cocoa) 1 piece dried tangerine or orange peel 100ml cold water 1–2 tsp icing sugar, according to taste and quality of chocolate

To serve: 1–2 tsp double cream Extra nutmeg

You will need: Nutmeg grater Small skewer or cocktail stick

1. Put the chocolate and tangerine peel in a non-stick pan. Add the water and gently bring to simmering point on a low heat, stirring to melt the chocolate. 2. Add sugar to taste, simmer and stir for 5–10 mins until the mixture just begins to thicken. 3. Remove the peel and pour into a small cup or tea bowl and float cream on the top, swirling or marbling using a cocktail stick or small skewer. Serve sprinkled with a grating of nutmeg.

Tip: For a comforting bedtime treat, add 100ml milk to the pan and, once the chocolate has thickened and heated through, pour into a mug to take to bed.

Variation: Try adding a 1cm piece of vanilla pod and a pinch of ground cinnamon or chilli in place of the tangerine and nutmeg.

Hot chocolate recipe from Artisan Drinks by Lindy Wildsmith (Jacqui Small, £25)

156th Mendip Ploughing Match

The 156th Mendip Ploughing Match was held on Yeo Valley’s Priddy Hill Farm earlier this month. A celebration of the local community, the soil, and of the heritage of the countryside, the Match also forms a stage in the progress of the Mendip champion to the National Ploughing Championships.

Featuring ploughing by hand, by horse, by tractor and even by steam engine, the art of ploughing through the ages is represented. Many of these forms of ploughing are unsustainable in modern agriculture so matches such as this enable people to come together and keep the skills alive. The love for these old machines - the tiny horticultural ploughs, a vintage Massey Ferguson that is over 50 years old - and the skill of those who maintain them is apparent all around. Vintage tractor entries made up the majority of competitors.

Yeo Valley Farm Manager, Jon Wilson, judged the grain and fodder classes, in which the best bale of hay, or 20lb bushel of oats is awarded a prize. There is even a class for the best piece of turf, and the heaviest pumpkin!

The atmosphere is that of a village fete. Mary Mead,  founder of Yeo Valley, is one of the vice presidents of the society and a number of staff participated. Some ploughed, some judged, and some just turned up for the fun.

Want more? Watch the film of the 2012 Mendip Ploughing Match.

Want, knead, love: Real, down-to-earth bread baking

There's something about bread that is so fundamental, so magical, so right. Our passionate baker boy, Alex Gooch, is here to pass on his bread baking knowhow.

Meet Alex Gooch, our new baker boy, in the first of his new series about baking bread.

“Good bread takes patience, passion and instinct. Making it brings you into the moment completely. It stimulates all of the senses, whether it be the feel of the dough, the sweet smell of the baking bread, or the crackle as you squeeze a ciabatta. “When I was growing up, my brothers and I ate toast, toast and more toast! And that was about as close to bread as I got until I started as a kitchen porter when I was doing my A levels. “I loved the camaraderie of the kitchen and felt at home there. They offered to train me, so I ditched the idea of college and settled into the chef’s life of long hours and a surrogate family of fellow foodies. “I liked baking bread and worked at a few Italians where I mastered focaccia pretty well and at hotels I made plenty of pastry and croissants. But it was while at Penrhos Court in Herefordshire that I started experimenting, encouraged by chef Daphne lambert (who I named my first sourdough starter after). In 2007 she let me take over one of the kitchens at night and this was my first bakery. I began selling bread and jams at farmers’ markets and food festivals, then the following year I opened my bakery called Alex Gooch Artisan Baker in Hay-on-Wye. “There are so many possibilities with bread: rye sourdough, mixed grain, ciabatta, brioche but one of the things that keeps me excited and inspired is following the seasons, and letting them dictate the bread I make. It turns out that pink fir apple potatoes make the most scrumptious potato and onion bread, and the magical cep makes a mind-blowing garlic and cep foccacia with herb oil. “Baking is a hard job – pulling all-nighters and the need to step up a gear when things are busy. But baking at home is different: one of the reasons I think it is now so popular is because the results are so rewarding. The process is so enjoyable, too. It is very natural; you can listen to the radio or chill out for a while – bread is at its best when it is left to rest a lot.”

Turn to page 49 of October's The Simple Things for Alex's seasonal bread bakes, including Black garlic flatbread with sesame, nigella and a kale, miso dressing; Roast pumpkin and apple rolls; and Plum and ginger bread with a cider and honey glaze.

Buy or download your copy now.

Alex Gooch supplies restaurants, hotels, delis, functions and events and sells at markets in different towns four days a week. He also runs bread-making courses: www.alexgoochbaker.com. Tweet Alex @alexgoochbaker to let him know how your bread bakes.

Plants for free: How to collect seeds

The flowering season may be coming to an end but there is still abundance in the garden. This is the time to collect seeds, propagate and divide.

October is the time to harvest a different sort of crop: seeds, cuttings and divided plants to fill the garden with colour next year. Here’s how to go about it...

Collect your own seeds

Set off with a brown paper bag, a pair of scissors and a skip in your step. If you want to bulk up stocks of a favourite plant or ensure new supplies of an annual, now’s the time to collect their seeds. Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea), love-in-a-mist (nigella damascena), cosmos (cosmos bipinnatus) and honesty (lunaria annua) are ideal for beginners and will easily store and germinate the following spring. However, there are many other annuals as well as perennials, biennials, alpines, ornamental grasses, vegetables, herbs and some trees and shrubs that can all be grown from seed that you’ve collected.

1 Choose your plants carefully

Go for strong, healthy ones as they’re likely to have good- quality seed. However, be aware if they’re hybrids (specially bred plants that are unlikely to have the same qualities as the parent plant) rather than species, as the plant won’t “come true” from seed. In the case of hybrids, either buy new plants the following year or be prepared for the collected seeds to produce something completely different from this year’s plants.

2 Collect the seeds

Once you’ve decided which plants you’re saving seed from, the trick is to collect it just before it has dispersed. It’s a bit of a waiting game, but once the seed head has ripened and changed colour (from green to brown, black or red) and is dry and crisp, it’s time to spring into action. Pick individual seed heads and use separate paper bags for each species or, if they’ll come away easily, place a paper bag over the seed head and gently shake.

3 Dry the seeds

Once you’ve gathered all the seeds you want, lay them out on a warm windowsill or a greenhouse bench – you can even find a spot in the airing cupboard. You need to give them time to dry out so you can get to the seed more easily. Clean away the ‘chaff’ or casing until you’re left with just the seed. Check to see which seeds you’ve collected and if they need to be sown straight away. Hellebores, for example, can be stored to sow next spring when the weather warms up.

4 Transfer your seeds into individual paper packets and label them

You’ll be surprised how satisfying this is. Keep them in an airtight container and, if you have any sachets of silica gel from new shoes or bags, place a couple in with the seeds to absorb excess moisture, which would otherwise cause the seeds to rot. If not, add a handful or two of rice to the container and find a spot for the container in the fridge.

Want more? Turn to page 97 of October's The Simple Things. Buy or download your copy now.

Recipe: Vibrant autumn coleslaw

No need to wait till next summer with this vibrant autumn salad from The Natural Cook by Tom Hunt.

This slaw is a great way to ‘eat the rainbow’ – colourful veg contain a range vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to ward off winter bugs.

Vibrant autumn coleslaw

Serves 4

200g carrots 1 small beetroot 3 beet tops or kale leaves, shredded 2 tbsp sunflower seeds 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds Juice of 1 lemon Small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped 150g blackberries Extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp sesame seeds

1. Grate the carrots coarsely, dress with a splash of extra virgin olive oil, a little lemon juice and salt and pepper. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan until they brown slightly. mix with the carrots.

2. Grate the beetroot and add it to the dish, but don’t mix the salad until you’re ready to eat, so the colours stay separate.

3. Add all of the remaining ingredients and season the mix to taste. Toss gently with a glug of the oil to coat, then serve.

Seasonal twist

Play around with different ingredients as the seasons change. As winter arrives, substitute the blackberries for dried fruits and grate in whatever raw root vegetables you have handy, from kohlrabi to celeriac.

Storage

The salad will keep for three days in a sealed container in the fridge, but is best eaten straight away.

Recipe from The Natural Cook by Tom Hunt.

Buy or download October's The Simple Things now.

Autumn fruit jam recipes

Go foraging for fruit and get jamming with some autumn preserve and jam recipes. Make the most of all the blackberries, plums and damsons this month. Stew with a bit of sugar and serve cool with cream on late summer days when you want to be outdoors, or pass a rainy afternoon happily in the kitchen making jars of homemade jam or jelly.

Jam recipes

How about trying one of these jam recipes for rosewater plum compote, bramble jelly, damson jam, or plum and Earl Grey jam?

For more ideas on our September 'could-do' list, turn to page 17 of The Simple Things. Not got your copy? Buy or download now.

Autumn leaf bunting

Oh my... autumn leaf bunting. Hello new craft crush.

How gorgeous is this autumn leaf bunting from Sea Field and Tribe?

Crispy leaves in muted russet tones plus delicate stitching, and the wonderful expectedness of it all make for a massive hit in our book. We think blogger Chelsea might be a bit of a genius.

Pop over to Sea Field and Tribe to see how it's done.

Hand warmer DIY

Brrr... there's a definite chill in the air these days! Craft your own home-made heat pack to keep you cosy.

Fellow Fellow has come up with the perfect solution to stop our fingers getting chilly in the nippy autumn air. This super simple heat pack DIY will tuck into your coat pocket to warm you up in no time.

Great idea, right? We'll be honest, though - we were sold from the minute we spotted blogger Claire's beautiful choice of Liberty style fabric.

Pop over to the Fellow Fellow blog to find out how it's done (we for one were mega-surprised to find out what goes inside these little pouches!) plus oodles more crafty gorgeousness.

Alternative pumpkin decorating

BOO! Halloween is fast approaching. Time to get planning! Whether you're past your dressing-up years or not, it'd be wrong not to mark the occasion with a carved pumpkin or two. We've shunned traditional approaches and rounded up the coolest alternative pumpkin decorating DIYs on the web.

Kicking off our round-up is the very dedicated (and artistically blessed) Alisa Burke. We've never seen such a spectacle as Alisa's painted pumpkins. Not so much a DIY as a gaze-in-awe-and-don't-even-think-about-attempting-it, we'd be distraught when it was time to throw these away.

For a much more achievable take on the metallic on white design, click over to Paper'n'stitch. A little white paint and a Sharpie or two is all that's needed for these simple and chic metallic spotted pumpkins.

Ramping up the glam factor a notch is A Field Journal. This sparkly pumpkin DIY combines a pale base with a liberal sprinkling of glitter for an eerie shimmer.

Not dramatic enough for you? If you really want to make a statement, check out Monograms and Manicures. This chevron pumpkin comes in neon pink with a heap of gold glitter to boot. Pair with a green spotted design to really start your Halloween with a bang!

The Simple Things Etsy lookbook

The Simple Things has curated an autumn lookbook for Etsy UK!

Etsy is where all the coolest and most talented indie makers and designers hang out. The Simple Things team are all massive fans, so we were honoured to be asked to curate an autumn lookbook for Etsy UK.

Want to see what we came up with? Click over to the Etsy UK Facebook page to see our pick of the best quirky, quaint and downright lovely products to in the cooler months in style.

October Gardening tips from Rural Mums

The allotmenteers at Rural Mums share their tips for gardening jobs to do in October.

Autumn may have well and truly set in, but there's still plenty to do in the garden. Rural Mums - an online community of countryside-dwelling mums and dads - includes a top team of growers dedicated to sharing their seasonal gardening tips.

Their most recent post is a round-up of things to do in your garden in October. There's also a collection of helpful posts to guide you though a year in your garden, whether you're after a beautiful floral display or something that'll provide you with veggies for the table!

Issue 2 - out soon!

Tah-dah! The Simple Things Issue 2 goes on sale in the UK on 4th October! What do you think of our cover?

As it's our October issue, we're embracing all things autumnal. We'll be chatting crusty loaves with a fabulous baker brother, seeing the sights of Amsterdam, whizzing through fallen leaves on bicycles and rounding the day off with a bonfire party. All, of course, with crafts and recipes worthy of fireworks.

Issue 1 is still available, but not for much longer. If you've not got your hands on one yet, get down to the shops sharpish to start your collection!

For a rundown of where you can get your hands on the mag, check out our 'Find us' page, or download our digital version here.