£25 for a cookie? What the baffling luxury bakery boom tells us about Britain

Amid a cost of living crisis, pricey patisserie is all the rage – and not just in London. Our reporter goes on a crawl to find out if a tart can really be worth £45There was a time when you could get a stuffed vanilla cream slice or a neon-pink Tottenham cake for about £1 on the leafy, residential corner of Hackney, east London, where I stand today. But the branch of Percy Ingle bakery that was here for nearly 50 years is gone. In its place sits Fika, a cafe where a cinnamon bun costs £4.20 and a pistachio croissant will set you back nearly £5

Stuffed peppers and aubergine dip: Sami Tamimi’s recipes for savoury Palestinian snacks

I still remember, when I was a kid, the end of spring and early summer when markets in Jerusalem and across Palestine overflowed with freshly harvested freekeh. As you approached, the air carried a smoky, earthy aroma. Freekeh is an ancient grain, a staple across the Middle East and Turkey, made from green wheat roasted over open fires to burn off the husks, which gives it the characteristic nutty flavour. The name comes from the Arabic freek, meaning “to rub”, which describes how the grains are cleaned, dried, cracked and stored for the year.Throughout the Middle East and Palestine, mahashi (stuffing vegetables) is a true labour of love, creating dishes that are designed to be shared

Australian supermarket muesli bars taste test: the worst is ‘both dry and moist’

During a blind taste test of 19 muesli bars, for the first time in his life Nicholas Jordan asks: ‘Is this too much cinnamon?’Get our weekend culture and lifestyle emailIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayI have a long history with muesli. Muesli bars were a recess staple during my school years. As a uni student, I made muesli in 20kg batches and sold it from my sharehouse back yard like a drug dealer. In lockdown, I started an Instagram account where I would review and rate a different muesli every three or four days (I am the only contributor to the hashtag #mueslireviewsli). Even before this taste test, I would guess that I’ve tried more than 80% of all the muesli and muesli bar brands available in my area

Why do my potatoes go black after cooking? | Kitchen aide

Why do some potatoes turn black on cooking, and how do I stop this happening? I usually leave them to cool in the cooking water, but should I plunge them in cold water instead?”Jean, Hampshire“We’ve all been there,” sympathises spud queen Poppy O’Toole. “It’s a harmless chemical reaction,” the author of The Potato Book continues, “but it looks rank and only gets worse with the slow cooling process that Jean’s using.” But let’s wind things back for a moment. According to the food science guru Harold McGee, in his bible On Food & Cooking, the darkening of cooked potatoes “is caused by the combination of iron ions, a phenolic substance [chlorogenic acid] and oxygen, which react to form a pigmented complex”. So what’s the solution? Make the pH of the water “distinctly acidic”, which McGee does by adding cream of tartar or lemon juice “after the potatoes are half-cooked”

‘Where the magic really happens’: the influencers out to celebrate – and save – Britain’s ‘proper boozers’

The Calthorpe Arms on Gray’s Inn Road is a fairly atypical central London pub. With patterned red carpets, brass fittings, leather bar stools, a pool table and Christmas tinsel still hanging in early February, it feels very much a “local”, although on a Thursday evening it’s busy with the post-work crowd.It’s the fifth time Niall Walsh, who works nearby and runs the Proper Boozers Instagram account, has visited in recent months. “It’s just off the beaten track, but easy to get to,” Walsh says over a pint of Harvey’s. “You can get a real, authentic pub experience

Stuffed battered chillies and chilli cheese toasties: Maunika Gowardhan’s favourite Holi snacks – recipes

Celebrate Holi, the festival of colours and the arrival of spring, with sumptuous, delicious and addictive snacks. The bharwa mirchi pakode ki chaat is full of flavour and topped with tamarind, green chutney and chaat masala. Alongside it, a street-food favourite from my home town of Mumbai: the classic chilli cheese toastie stuffed with potato, peppers and green chutney. Both are the sort of dishes you can eat at any time of day, and the unifying ingredient is the humble potato, which I feel is the backbone of Indian cooking, be it in curries, stir-fries, flatbreads, snacks and even raitas.I’d happily eat this delicious street-food classic on any day of the week