Category Archives: gluten free

Lemon Chia Muffins (dairy-free, gluten free)

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I’ve got a bit of a busy weekend and my kitchen cupboards are woefully bare so I wanted to see what I could whip up that wouldn’t take long and used what I had left in the fridge and cupboard. These muffins are the result!  It’s been such lovely weather this week here that I was really in the mood for something light and refreshing and something lemony seemed to fit the bill. These muffins use courgette but don’t let that scare you – you really can’t taste the courgette. It gives them a lovely moistness though and quite a cool greenish hue! 🙂 Chia seeds are my egg replacer of choice here – they work really well in muffins and they’re packed full of goodness so there’s an added bonus there. These take only a few minutes to make so are perfect for a busy saturday afternoon and would be great for a picnic.

200g Courgette (grated – you can peel it if you want but I don’t bother)

2 tbsp Chia seeds + 6 tbsp water

120g Unrefined golden caster sugar (you can substitute this for 100g honey/sweet freedom/agave)

Zest of 1 Lemon

150g Rice flour

50g Ground almonds

2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp Himalayan rock salt

Golden icing sugar

a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Chia seeds for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Put the 2 tbsp of chia seeds and 6 tbsp water in a bowl, give them a good stir and leave to soak until the chia seeds have absorbed the water (this may take up to 10 mins and they will end up jelly-like). Put the sugar (or sugar substitute) in a bowl and add the soaked chia seeds and mix well. Add the lemon zest and grated courgette and mix with a fork. Add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well. If using sugar the mixture may be a bit dry, add 1 – 2 tbsp water if so. Spoon the mixture into muffin cases in a muffin tin (this should make approx 12 small muffins) and place in the oven for 30 – 40 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out pretty much clean.These muffins are quite moist so there may still be some mixture on the skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing mix the golden icing sugar with a few drops of lemon juice (to taste) and water until a smooth paste is formed. Wait until the muffins are totally cool before icing, then ice and sprinkle with chia seeds. These muffins can be frozon before being iced and will last a few weeks in the freezer (just ensure they’re inside a plastic bag or container to prevent freezer burn!).

Enjoy! 🙂

Chunky Cherry Chocolate Mini Loaves

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This is another one of Isa’s recipes – it sounded so good I just had to try it and it definitely doesn’t disappoint! You don’t have to use mini-loaf tins for this, you could just use muffin tins but loaves taste better for some reason! You can get the tins here.

I won’t waste anymore time talking about these – just get stuck in! 🙂

1/2 cup Apple puree

1/4 cup Almond butter

1/3 cup Cocoa powder

1/3 cup Almond milk/soya milk/any non-dairy milk

1/3 cup + 2 tbsp boiling water

3/4 cup Coconut palm sugar/ unrefined raw sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tsp Chocolate extract (if you don’t have this then use another tsp vanilla extract)

1/8 tsp Almond extract

1 1/2 cups Gluten-free flour mix (or spelt flour if you’re not worried about gluten-free)

3/4 tsp Bicarbonate soda

3/4 tsp Himalayan rock salt

4 oz Chocolate chopped into chunks (use vegan chocolate if you want to keep this dairy free – my favourite vegan recommends green and black’s)

1 cup chopped Sweet cherries

Preheat oven to 175 C and boil the kettle (no, not for tea – though that wouldn’t hurt!).

Put the apple, almond butter, milk and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Add 1/3 cup boiling water and mix quickly with a fork to make a thick chocolate sauce. Add the sugar and extracts and mix well. Sieve half the flour, bicarbonate soda and salt into the mix and mix gently. Add 1 tbsp boiling water and mix again. Add the rest of the flour mixture and another tbsp boiling water and stir until smooth. Go gently – don’t over mix. Finally add the chocolate chunks and cherries and fold in to the mixture.

Pour into the tins (this recipe will give approx 8 – 9 tins) and put in the oven for 25 – 30 mins.

Fresh out the oven

Check they’re done by sticking a skewer in the centre, if it comes out clean they’re done (bear in mind you may hit a cherry or chocolate when you do this so you’re looking for a lack of cake dough on the skewer – chocolate or cherry juice is fine!). Allow to cool in the tins for 10 mins then take out of the tins and cool on a wire rack. They really need to be eaten warm so the chocolate is all melty! 🙂 Yum Yum Yum! 🙂

 

Hot Cross Fun!

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Another weekend and another challenge! This time to have a go at some “healthy” hot cross buns!

So here goes – gluten-free, dairy free hot cross buns! If you’re not fussed about gluten free you could substitute the cornflour, rice flour and xantham gum for spelt flour. If you like it you can use candied peel instead of the orange and lemon zest too. I don’t think this recipe is quite right yet – the flavour seems to hit the mark, and they look ok (if a bit “rustic”) but they are quite dense. I willl have another play around with the recipe next weekend I think and see if I can impove it. I do wonder if it’s the flour mix causing the denseness? I’d be interested to hear how others get on if they try these 🙂 Being a little dense isn’t too much of a bad thing – I still managed to devour 3 of them in one sitting! 🙂

150g Cornflour

100g Rice flour

1.5 tsp Dried yeast

0.5 tsp Xanthan gum

2.5 tbsp Coconut palm sugar / unrefined raw sugar

0.5 tsp Himalayan rock salt

1 tsp Mixed spice

0.25 tsp Ground cinnamon

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

50g  Olive oil

225 ml Warm water

100g Raisins / currants

For the Cross (optional)

4 tbsps Rice flour

1.5 tsps Cornflour

pinch of Xanthan gum

1.5 tbsps Coconut palm sugar/ unrefined raw sugar

enough water to make a pipeable paste

For the glaze: 3-4 tbsps Golden syrup

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Put the flours, yeast, xantham gum, spices, sugar, salt and orange and lemon zest into a bowl and mix well. Next add the oil and then start to add the water gradually, mixing as you go using a wooden spoon. The mix will have the consistency of a cake batter. Beat until all the lumps are gone. Finally stir in the raisons/currants. Scrape the mixture into the centre of the bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for approximately 10 mins. It won’t rise dramatically but it will bulk up a bit.

The proof is in the pudding.... or the hot cross bun dough!

While you wait you can make the dough for the cross. Put the flours, sugar and xantham gum into a small bowl and add enough water and mix to make a pipeable paste. Put this mixture into a piping bag, or if like me you don’t have one just pop it in a small plastic sandwich bag and then cut off the corner to pipe through.

After the dough has sat for 10 mins spoon it out onto a baking tray. Try to give your buns as much height as possible when you put the dough out. Pipe the white cross over them. Cover the tray loosely with clingfilm and leave to prove in a warm place for another 5 mins.

Place then in the oven for 10 – 15 mins. Check them regularly – the tops should start to brown and they should sound hollow when tapped on the base! Once done remove from the oven and allow to cool. If you want to glaze them then gently warm the golden syrup and then paint over the top while the buns are cooling (warning it makes them deliciously sticky!).  Allow to cool.

These are definitely best eaten warmed or toasted with some lovely home-made jam! 🙂

Munchie buster! Raw Cocoa-orange balls!

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These are a perfect snack if you want something chocolatey but a little more filling. You can use orange zest or natural orange flavouring – whichever (or both if you like it really orangey). You can also leave out the orange altogether and just have them plain chocolate. They are around 158 cals per ball, but it very much depends how large you make them of course! This recipe makes approx ten.

IMG_7965

You will need:

175g cashews

200g Medjool dates, pitted

20g rasins

30g cocoa powder (plus a little extra for rolling)

Zest of 1 orange or natural orange flavouring 

Pop the cashews food processor and pulse until they’re in small pieces.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the processor and pulse until you have a sticky dough. 

It’s very sticky at the moment so scoop it out into some cling film and pop in the freezer for around 20 mins. 

Once it’s a little firmer, remove and roll into small balls. Roll the balls in cocoa powder and then store in the fridge in an airtight container. 

Enjoy 🙂

xx

Almost “healthy” Sticky Toffee Pudding

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Ah sticky toffee pudding, possibly one of my favourite childhood desserts! A classic school dinner pud that always brightened the coldest, wettest school day. I’ve not had a sticky toffee pudding for years though, so when my favourite vegan, Mel, suggested I have a go at making one this weekend I jumped at the chance.

This one’s perfect as a comfort pudding on a cold evening, served with some dairy free custard. It definitely needs to be served warm, and you definitely need the sauce with it – and lots of it! The pud itself is not over-sweet, if you’re looking for something sweeter you might want to use unrefined sugar instead of the agave. but once you pour the sauce over it I’m sure you’ll find it will satisy any sweet tooth.

As a nice twist you can soak the dates in rooibos tea and make an earl grey caramel sauce (I’ll explain below!). If you don’t have the rice and quinoa flour you can substitute it for an all purpose plain gluten free flour mix (you also need to leave out the xantham gum if you do this), or if you just want to make it low gluten you can use white spelt flour (and again, leave out the xantham gum).

1 1⁄4 cup Dates, pitted

3⁄4 cup Warm water or rooibos tea

1 tsp  Baking soda

1 cup Rice flour

1⁄4 cup Quinoa flour

1⁄2 tsp Himalayan rock salt

1 3⁄4 tsp Baking powder

1⁄4 tsp Xantham gum

1⁄4 cup Coconut oil (melted)

1⁄3 cup Agave nectar or Sweet Freedom (or 1/2 cup Coconut palm sugar or unrefined raw sugar)

1 Tbsp Date syrup

1⁄2 tsp Vanilla extract

2 tbsp Ground linseed (flax seed) mixed with 1/2 cup water (or rooibos tea)

For the sauce:

1⁄2 cup Coconut oil

1⁄2 cup Coconut palm sugar or unrefined raw sugar (or Agave)

1⁄2 cup Coconut milk or Soya milk (infused with earl grey tea if you want – details below)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tbsp Cornflour or Arrowroot powder mixed in a small amount of cold water (to form a loose paste)

Preheat the oven to 175 C and grease 5 – 6 small ramekins. This recipe filled 5 of these mini loaf tins (which are brilliant by the way!) but you could use a larger tin and create one big pud!

Put the dates and water/tea in a small pan and simmer for 5 mins. Then let it sit for 15 mins until the dates are nice and soft. Meanwhile sieve all the dry ingredients (except the bicarbonate of soda) into a bowl. Put the coconut oil, agave, date syrup, vanilla and flax mix in another bowl and mix until well combined. Once the dates are soft add in the bicarobonate of soda and let it foam. Then lightly mash the dates before adding to the wet ingredients. Mix it all together and add in the dry ingredients and combine well. Pour into the greased tins. Place the tins in a bain-marie – I used a roasting tin with enough water in to go up to half the height of the load tins.

5 little puds in my version of a bain-marie just waiting to go in the oven

Bake for 30 – 40 mins until a skewer comes out clean. Keep an eye on the puds – if they start to get too brown on top then lightly place a sheet of tin foil over them to prevent burning. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack.

Now for the sauce! If you want to go for an earl grey (or any flavoured tea) sauce then you need to infuse the coconut or soya milk with the tea first. Put the milk in a small pan on the hob, add 1 tbsp of loose tea or 2 tea bags and gently warm it. Do not let it simmer or boil. Let is sit for a good 15 mins, then strain it for use.  To make the sauce melt the coconut oil in a small pan over a low heat. Whisk in the sugar, stirring continuously until it dissolves (approx 3 – 4 mins). You may find it won’t completely dissolve – don’t worry about this, it will still work. Ad the milk a little at a time. When you first add it it will spit and fiz and you’ll panic like I did and think you’ve mucked it up! Just stir quickly and then add the rest in one go, stirring all the time. You’ll find this will instantly create a smooth sauce.  At this point keep stirring to combine the oil (it does tend to want to separate out). If you like your sauce runny leave it as it is, but if you want something thicker then add the cornflour/arrowroot mix – stirring continuously whilst still on the heat. Stir until it thickens and then remove from the heat and pour into a jug for serving.

This pud NEEDS to be served warm so either eat it right away or re-heat it later 🙂 Enjoy the stickiness! 🙂

Almond protein bars

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I’m always on the look out for high protein snacks for big work out days. I came across this recipe from Lifestyle inc and thought I’d give it a go. I subsituted the eggs out of the recipe and added some dried fruit as I like the tartness it adds. The original recipe calls them muffins but they’re pretty solid and dense so I think they’re more of a bar, though they’re not bar-shaped so I guess they’re more like protein lumps ?! 🙂

170g Almond Butter

1 cup Flaked Almonds

1 cup Coconut milk / Almond milk

2 cups Dessicated Coconut

1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

2 tsp Agave Nectar or Sweet Freedom

3/4 cup Soya milk with 3 tbsp Lemon Juice/ Cider Vinegar added (to curdle it)

6 tbsp Cornflour or Arrowroot powder

1/4 cup Unrefined Raw Sugar / Coconut Palm Sugar

A handful of Dried apricots, blueberries etc

Preheat oven to 190 C. Line a muffin tin with muffin cases or grease a set of small loaf tins (this should make 9 – 12 depending muffins on the size). Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Have a little taste and adjust the sweetner if you need it sweeter. Then pour into the tin and bake for at least 30 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Enjoy! 🙂

The Great Custard Taste Challenge

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My challenge this weekend from my lovely taster friends was to whip up some dairy-free, vegan friendly custard..How?! I hear you cry! Is that even possible?

Well first off, did you know that Bird’s custard powder is completely dairy free? I bet you didn’t – the only vegan I know didn’t either! Bird’s custard powder does not and has never contained egg, or milk powder! All it contains is starch, salt, colouring (Annatto) and flavouring. When you make it you add the milk and sweetner, so you can make it dairy free if you like but using an alternative milk. So that’s all good I guess but frankly I don’t want to be eating articifical colourings and flavourings so I still thought I’d have a go at recreating that custardy yumminess myself and to make it just a little more fun I asked my two official tasters, Colette and Mel, and some special guest star tasters, Rod, Ben, Debs and Sue, to try all the recipes out to see which they liked best.

Top row from left – custard 5, custard 2, custard 4. Bottom Row from left – custard 3, custard 1

So my 5 recipes were:

1. Bird’s custard powder, made following the instructions using Soya milk and unrefined raw sugar.

2. 1 pint soya milk, 3 tbsp unrefined raw sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp cornflour and a little water. The soya milk needs to be heated in a pan with the sugar to just below boiling point, stirring all the time to dissolve the sugar. meanwhile mix the cornflour with a very small amount of cold water to form a paste. Add that to the soya milk and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir all the time. Heat until you get the consistency you want. If you want it thicker add more cornflour.

3. 1 pint soya milk, agar flakes (follow the instructions on the packet for the amount of liquid used, I used 2 tbsps), agave nectar or sweet freedom to taste (about 2 – 3 tbsp but taste as you add!), half the seeds from a vanilla pod.  Heat the soya milk in a pan with the agar flakes stir until the flakes dissolve and bring to a very gentle boil then continue to heat for as long as it takes to dissolve them! Add the agave and vanilla at any time. It won’t set in the pan so it will still appear very runny, but as it cools it will start to get thicker so once the agar is dissolved you can take it off the heat and allow to cool.

4.1 carton of silken tofu (approx 350g or so), 1/3 cup of agave nectar or sweet freedom, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, pinch of salt. Blend all the ingredients together using a wand blender or normal blender. Chill to set.

5. 1 pint almond milk, agave nectar or sweet freedom (to taste – probably about 2 – 3 tbsp), seeds from 1/2 pod of vanilla, 1 tbsp cornflour and a little water. As for number one, heat the milk in a pan with the sugar to just below boiling point and add the agave or sweet freedom – stir to dissolve. Meanwhile mix the cornflour with a very small amount of cold water to form a paste. Add that to the soya milk and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir all the time. Heat until you get the consistency you want. If you want it thicker add more cornflour.

If any of them have lumps (which depending how good your stirring is then then may!) then just pass them through a sieve. They can be served chilled or warm!

Right so what was the verdict?

Debs and Sue braving the taste challenge...

  • Number 1 came in top from all my tasters – Debs said it was perfect and Sue agreed. This was Colette, Rod’s and Ben’s favourite.
  • Number 2  Joint top! Mel said it looked funny but it tasted lovely, Debs would be very happy to have over crumble and Sue said it was fab. Rod and Ben liked this and Colette thought it could be as good as number 1 with a bit more sweetner
  • Number 3  Mel wasn’t keen on this one, Debs said not much taste and Sue didn’t like the texture. Rod liked this one.
  • Number 4  – Everyone thought it was too cinnamony – and generally would be a nice accompaniment to things but wasn’t really a custard (and I agree).
  • Number 5 –  they all said it was ok but not great

So unsurprisingly everyone liked number 1! I think a big part of this is the fact that it “looks” like custard (i.e. fake yellow!) and of course it’s the taste we’re all conditioned to! But I’m pretty chuffed that number 2 came in joint top as it was my attempt to replicate it. In fact it’s not surprising as it’s basically the same ingredients, just without the articifical flavourings and colourings.

Number 5 was probably a bit too almondy but if you like almond milk it’s worth a try. The tofu one is a pretty nice accompaniment for a warm dessert but it’s not a custard really. The agar one was the least successful and I’m not surprised  – it sets too hard and becomes more of a pudding, it’s also hard to work with.

So the winner is soya milk (or whatever milk of your choice), cornflour, unrefined sugar and vanilla!

Top tip – if you hanker for a dairy free crème brûlée you can use this recipe with just a bit more cornflour. Pour into ramekins and leave in the fridge to set! 🙂 Pop a few raspberries or blueberries in before it sets if you want a fruity version, then when you’re ready to eat just remove from the fridge, sprinkly with coconut palm sugar (or unrefined raw sugar) and melt with a blowtorch or under the grill until you get a cripsy topping! 🙂 ta da!

PANCAKES!!!

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Ah pancake day is here again! I was going to try to resist jumping on the pancake posting bandwagon but I just can’t help myself!

There are loads of awesome recipes out there but this year I’m going for this gluten-free  recipe from Pure Form Fitness. I’ve used homemade puree’d apple as the egg subsitute and they’re light, fluffy and frankly delicious! I’m having my first batch (of many!) with fruit and maple syrup! Then I’m cracking out the lemon and sugar I think…..

Another fab recipe for vegan pancakes is from the Toxic Vegan. I tried these yesterday and they’re yummy!

And this popped in to my inbox this morning  from Paperbagblog which is FULL of lovely sounding recipes so give them a go!

Hope you all have a lovely pancake day! I’m off to troff some more .. nom nom nom 🙂

Pear and Almond Frangipane – Gluten and Dairy Free

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I absolutely LOVE almond and whenever there’s a frangipane or almond tart on offer somewhere you can bet that that will be the cake I choose. So when I came across this awesome recipe I just had to try it! It’s from Isa’s website but I’ve modified it to make it gluten free and substituted the margarine for coconut oil which is much healthier and less processed. My tasters almost didn’t get any of this as I pretty much inhaled it as soon as it came out the oven!

For the pastry:

2/3 cup Ground Almonds
1 cup Rice Flour / Gluten Free Plain Flour Mix / Spelt Flour (for low gluten not gluten free option)
2 tbsp Coconut Palm Sugar / Unrefined Raw Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt (ideally Himalayan Rock Salt)
6 tbsp Olive Oil
3 – 4 tbsp Cold Almond Milk

For the frangipane:

6 tbsp Coconut Oil (don’t melt it)
2/3 cup Coconut Palm Sugar / Unrefined Raw Sugar
1 and 1/4 cup Ground Almonds
2 tbsp Cornflour
pinch salt
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2/3 cup Almond Milk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
4 Pears (I used conference pears as it’s what I had in my fridge!), peeled, cored and sliced

Preheat the oven to 175 C.

Start with the pastry. Put the ground almonds into a food processor with the flour and salt and pulse to combine. Keep pulsing and add in the olive oil gradually. Add 2 tablespoons of almond milk and keep pulsing. The mixture should hold together when pressed, if it doesn’t then add some more almond milk, pulsing all the time, until it does. At this point have a taste. If you want a sweeter pastry then add some more sugar until you get the desired flavour. Press it into a pie dish. This amount should do a 9 inch pan. Using a fork prick the base of the pastry shell and place in the oven for 15 minutes to blind bake.

Now for the frangipane (my favourite bit! 🙂 ).Put the coconut oil, sugar, ground almonds, cornflour, cinnamon and salt in a food processor and pulse until well combined and all crumbly. Slowly add the almond milk, vanilla extract and almond extract whilst still pulsing the food processor until it forms a thick batter. Pour the batter into the pre-baked pastry shell. Peel and core the pears, slice them in half and then into thin slices (about a 1/4 of an inch thick). Lay the pear slices in the batter – overlap them and push them in so about 2/3 is under the batter and the top is sticking out (so you need to put them in at an angle if that makes sense!). Bake the tart for 40 – 45  minutes or until the top is golden brown, then move the tart onto a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes.

warning - this is seriously addictive

Because I used coconut oil, not margarine, for the frangipane this came out as rather like a treacle tart in texture. Now I quite liked that but if you want something a little more cakey then you might want to use vegetable shortening instead. I’ve not tried it yet (though I will be!) but a more solid fat should help with that. Personally I love the flavour the coconut oil gives and I can cope with a nice sticky tart! 🙂

Almond, Pear and Tahini Cake – gluten and dairy free!

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This is a recipe that a friend very kindly sent me from a newspaper clipping. I was a little dubious how this would turn out but I actually really like it. It’s got a lovely mix of richness and sweetness from the pear, some crunch from the almonds and then a fab very slightly savoury note from the tahini. I think you could probably reduce the amount of tahini and up the amount of date syrup if you prefer things sweeter. I tried this out on a couple of people without telling them what was in it and they all loved it so I think it’s a winner! 🙂

240g Tahini

260g Date Syrup

220g Rice flour/ gluten -free plain flour mix / spelt flour (if you want low gluten not gluten free)

100g Whole Almonds, chopped roughly (or pulversised in a pestel and mortar for a bit!)

150g Pears, peeled, cored and diced

250ml Pressed Apple Juice (the best you can get)

1tsp Gound Cinnamon

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Preheat the oven to 170 C and grease a 23 cm cake tin (a smaller one will also work, you’ll just have a deeper cake!)

Make sure the tahini is well stirred as the oil tends to separate out in the jar. Add to a bowl with the date syrup and mix until well combined.  In a separate bowl add the flour, cinnamon, almonds and pear and mix together. Add the bicarbonate of soda to the tahini mix and stir well. Then add a third of the flour mix and mix well. Add half the apple juice and mix again. Add another third of the flour mix and the final half of the apple juice and mix. Then finally add the rest of the flour mix.  Stir well until combined then pour into a the tin.

Place in oven and bake for 45 mins. Then turn the oven down to 160 C and bake for a further 30 mins. For the final 10 mins loosely cover with foil. Keep an eye on this cake – because it’s dark it’s hard to see when it’s starting to be a bit too well done (aka burnt!), if it starts to look too done just pop the foil on sooner, otherwise it will look like mine! I like burnt edges on my cakes though so I was happy! 🙂 Once done remove from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack.

fresh out the oven!

As I said before, the people I tried it on who didn’t know what was in it loved it! My loyal tasters also liked this cake, though some thought it needed a bit of something to sweeten it up. You could add more date syrup and remove some tahini, or some chopped dates or prunes would liven it up a bit too. I’d say adding a good handful of dates would do the trick! I’ll be trying that next time 🙂