By late March suburban gardens are usually coming into their spring finery and nothing is more splendid than the magnolia. Flowers the size of communion chalices stand proud on almost leafless boughs (deciduous magnolias flower before the leaves) and waxlike, almost to the point of the fake, they remind me of preserved specimens so adored […]

Recipe taken from: 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & other tempting treats, ed. Susanna Tee (Parragon Books, 2009) where they are called mistakenly called ‘ricciaretti’, a mistake which I think has evaded the proof reader’s eyes. Ingredients 125 g /4 1/2 oz blanched almonds 15 g/1/2 oz candied orange peel 15 g/1/2 oz plain flour 60g/2 1/4 […]