Tag Archives: gluten free

Crunchy Granola Bars

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I’ve been needing a mid-afternoon pick me up lately and as I’m off the ‘Willies’ (chocolate, that is! :)) I thought I’d have a go at creating a crunchy, granola snack bar. My first attempt ended up as a chewy breakfast kinda bar (and although I don’t like it as much I will post the recipe as some of my tasters loved it even if I didn’t!). So I went back to the baking tray and came up with this little beauty 🙂 Totally detox friendly! 🙂

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500g Spelt porridge oats (the whole ones, not flakes) or Jumbo porridge oats

350g mixed nuts of your choice (I used almonds, pistachios and cashews)

100g Pumpkin seeds

100g Sunflower seeds

50g Chia seeds

50g Linseeds

200g dried fruit (I used blueberries, cranberries and banana chips this time)

1 tso cinnamon

250 – 350g Sweet Freedom (light or dark)

Preheat the oven to 150 C. Start by placing the spelt flakes in a baking tray and put in the oven to toast for approx 20 mins, until brown. Place the nuts in a dry frying pan and toast over a medium heat until they start to turn brown. Once the spelt and nuts are toasted add to a large bowl. Add in all the other ingredients, except the sweet freedom. Mix well and then start to drizzle in the sweet freedom. Keep going until you have a sticky mixture. It needs to start to hold together, but be careful not to add too much. Keep stirring well.

Turn the oven up to 200 C. Spread the sticky mixture out on to a baking tray covered in baking parchment. Arrange the mixture to the thickness you want for your bars, 1 – 2cm works well. Compress it down as much as you can. Place in the oven for up to 10 mins until it goes a lovely golden brown. Keep an eye on it as it can burn. As you take it out use the back of a spoon to compress the mixture again and leave to start to cool. It will not hold together at this point so don’t try to cut it! Keep an eye on it as it cools, once it starts to hold together you can divide it in to bars. It should be cool enough to snap. Peel it away from the baking parchment and put it upside down on a wire rack to cool. Keep an eye on it and move the pieces regularly or they will stick! Once totally cool it should be hard and crunchy. Pop it in an airtight tin and it will keep for ages! 🙂

 

Fruit and Nut Cookies – gluten, dairy, fat and sugar free! omg!

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I’m now mid week in to the first week of this amazing detox from Pure Form Fitness. I’ve done this programme before and I just love the energy it gives me and the results it achieves without leaving me feeling deprived or hungry. I also love the way it inspires me to create detox-friendly things to keep any rogue cravings at bay! These liitle cookies just sum up all of that! Fun and easy to make, delicious to eat and 100% detox friendly – just perfect with my afternoon cup of rooibos tea 🙂

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You can use any nuts and fruits you like but these are the ones I had in my cupboard and they seem to work well. If you substitute the fruit go for large, juice dried fruits like figs and dates, not things like blueberries etc.

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125g Almonds

75g Brazil nuts

40g Dried coconut flakes

85g Dried Prunes (or dates)

45g Dried apricots

20g Pumpkin seeds

15g Sunflower seeds

zest of 1/2 Lemon

1 tbsp freshly pressed Apple juice (or prune juice)

Preheat the oven to 150 C and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Place everything in a food processor and pulse until the nuts and fruit are finely chopped and the mixture starts to come together. Add a little more juice if you find it’s too dry. You can either make small balls of the mixture and then flatten them on to a baking tray, or if you want pretty little shapes like my flower-shaped biccies then line a baking tray with baking parchment and tip the mixture in to it. Flatten the mixture down. I found the easiest way was to use a piece of baking parchment and then apply pressure with a palette knife or my hands. You want it to be about 5mm thick and well compressed. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out shapes and carefully transfer to another lined baking tray.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until firm, then cool on a wire rack. They will be a little pliable when removed, but as they cool they will harden.

Eat with a lovely cup of tea! 🙂

If you’re feeling decandent you can also add a layer of peanut butter and make a cookie sandwich! omg! 🙂

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Nothing says homemade like…. homemade dairy free shortbread hearts!

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Home is where the heart is and it’s certainly where these little hearts are going to stay!

A very dear and thoughtful friend gave me some lovely biscuit cutters for christmas and I’ve been dying to try them out so I thought I’d have a go at a shortbread-type of biccie. My dairy free, spelt shortbread won’t work for this as it’s not “rollable” so I’ve had to come up with something else. I usually try to avoid dairy-free margarine but in this case I’ve compromised and used it… just this once! 🙂 These are not too sweet so if you have a very sweet tooth then you may want to add a bit more sugar, but I like them just as they are 🙂

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This makes LOADS so you may want to halve the recipe!

4 cups Spelt flour or gluten-free flour mix

2 cups Unrefined Icing sugar

12 oz Dairy-free Margarine (get the best quality you can)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Put the margarine in a large mixing bowl, sieve the flour and icing sugar in and cream it together. Try not to over mix but make sure the margarine is properly mixed with the dry ingredients. Once it’s formed a dough wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins. If you find the dough is too sticky then add some more flour.  Once chilled, roll out and use a biscuit cutter to cut whatever shape you have. Place on a greased baking tray and bake for 8 – 10 mins, or until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray.  Enjoy!

Cranberry and Apple Meringue pie! oh my!

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Hands up if you love Lemon Meringue Pie! I do! And yes I know, meringue contains eggs, so I’m very sorry to my vegan friends (although you can use a commercial egg replacer for meringue so all is not lost!), but this festive meringue pie is gluten and dairy free 🙂 It’s a nice change to the usual festive fair!

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Pastry

100g Ground almonds
100g Flaked almonds
75g Spelt or Rice flour(or other gluten free flour)
25g Golden raw Caster sugar
50ml Almond oil
3 -4 tbsp cold almond or other non dairy milk
Pinch of Himalayan rock salt

Filling

4-5 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
250g frozen or fresh Cranberries
juice of 1 clementine
75g Dried cranberries
1 tablespoon Corn flour
Raw unrefined sugar (if required)

Meringue

3 Large egg whites (or egg replacer)
150g Golden raw Caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Put the ground and almonds into a bowl with the flour and salt and stir to combine. Keep stirring and add in the olive oil gradually. Add 2 tablespoons of almond milk and keep stirring. The mixture should hold together when pressed, if it doesn’t then add some more almond milk, stirring 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 20 cm pie or fluted flan dish. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until set and barely golden.
Remove from the oven and brush the almond pastry with a little almond oil and return to the oven for a few minutes to set then set aside to cool.

Now for the filling! First you need to cook the cranberries. Place the frozen or fresh cranberries in a pan with the juice of 1 clementine (or half an orange if that’s easier!). Cook for 5 mins until the cranberries start to soften and burst. Taste – if too tart for you then add a little raw sugar. Put the apples, cooked cranberries and dried cranberries in a saucepan with 75ml water and bring to the boil. Simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes.

Mix the corn flour with a tbsp of cold water till smooth then stir into fruit mixture. Boil for 1 minute then pour into the pastry case.

If using them then whisk the egg whites until stiff, then beat in the sugar, a third at a time, to form a thick meringue. Spoon over the fruit and bake 20-25 minutes until golden.
Leave to cool for a few minutes then transfer to a plate to cool.

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IT’s CHRISTTTTTMAAAAASSSS! :) A rich tasting christmas cake that’s gluten and fat free!

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Well I had a special request to see if I could come up with a gluten free christmas cake. The big challenge was not only making it gluten free but also dairy free without turning to processed soya margarine… so I had little play around this week and I think I’ve got a winner here.  At first I wasn’t too sure about it, I was worried it was more of a bread pudding or tea loaf than a christmas cake. It’s now been tested by a good friend and christmas cake connoisseur and she gave it the thumbs up so I think it’s ready to be posted here!

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Gluten free flour blend:
65g Gram flour and 105g Rice flour
3/4 tsp Xantham gum
1 tsp Baking powder

or 170g White spelt flour for a low gluten option

For the rest of the cake:

85g Raw coconut sugar (or dark muscovado)
85g Currants
85g Sultanas
70g Raisins
25g Dried cherries– chopped
25g Dried cranberries
140ml Soya milk (or oat milk, rice milk, or coconut milk)
85g Ground linseed (just pop whole linseeds in a coffee grinder and whizz until powdery)
enough water to cover well.
Grated rind of 1/2 – 1 lemon
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Ground cloves
1/2 tsp Mixed spice
pinch Himalayan rock salt
45ml Brandy (optional)

Sieve the gluten free flour blend (gram and rice flour, xantham gum and baking powder) (or spelt flour) together with the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and mixed spice in to a large mixing bowl. Put the ground linseed into a small bowl and cover with water. Allow the linseed to soak up the water, then add a bit more, you want a gelatinous consistency. Stir it in to the flour mix. It will be quite hard to mix, add a little water if necessary, but not too much.

Stir in the sugar and dried fruit. Add the lemon rind and give it a good but gentle stir. Then add all but 2 tbsp of the soya milk and mix gently again. Gently warm the 2 tbsp of soya milk in a microwave or on the hob – don’t let it boil, just warm it (you should be able to put your finger in it without it burning!). Add the bicarbonate of soda to the warm milk and then add to the cake mixture amd stir gently until combined.

Pour the mixture into a lined 7 inch cake tin.  Smooth the top and make a small hollow in the centre. Bake at 180 C for one hour, then turn the oven down to 160 C and bake for a further 30 – 45 mins (or until a skewer insered in the middle comes out clean). Keep an eye on it while it’s baking.

Before you bake it you can add blanched almonds to the top. If you do this then make sure you check the cake regularly and when they start to brown cover the cake with foil for the rest of the baking time.

Once the cake is cooked remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the cake tin. Allow to cool.

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If you are going to use the brandy then once the cake is cool prick it with a cocktail stick or a small skewer  and feed with a third of the brandy. Then wrap the cake in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight container. You can pour the rest of the brandy over the cake at weekly intervals. With the Brandy in it it will keep for up to a year (apparently!), without it will last 4 weeks if stored properly.

Obviously you can then add marzipan and royal icing to this. I am going to have a go at creating some dairy and gluten free marzipan and royal icing so watch this space!

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Chocolate banana bread! Omg!

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So I have had some very ripe bananas hanging about in my kitchen for the past few days and decided I just had to do something with them… and it just had to be banana bread! But… I was in need of a chocolate fix….. and boy, is this a good chocolate fix!

I used my original non-dairy banana bread recipe with just a couple of additions:

2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
couple of handfuls of chopped non-dairy dark chocolate of your choice
1 cup coconut palm (or any unrefined) sugar
1/4 cup and 2 tbsps almond oil or olive oil
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup soya milk mixed with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp himalayan rock salt

Preheat oven to 350 F / 175 C. Line and grease a small loaf tin (approximately 8 inches x 4 inches) or 6 mini loaf tins.

Mix the flour, baking soda, raw cacao, cinnamon, allspice and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix the oil and sugar together until well combined. Add the mashed bananas and the soya milk (to which vinegar has been added) and the vanilla extract. Add this mix to the flour mixture and stir well. Finally stir in the chopped chocolate. Pour into the loaf tin and place in the oven for an hour, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Once cooked remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool. And then eat…. quickly.. while it’s still warm and the chocolate is still melted! yum!!

 

 

Heaven in a tub! CoYo coconut yoghurt review

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I am so so excited! I’ve been waiting to publish this post for a while now. I’ve mentioned this yoghurt a couple of times before so this review should come as no surprise! I first discovered this wonderful product in my local health food store but the fantastic news is that they’re now being sold through Ocado so everyone can get their paws on it! Wooohoo! 🙂

The wonderful people over at CO YO sent me some samples to review. I was sent the Natural, Raw Chocolate flavour, and the Mango one (in a rather nifty little cool bag – thank you! 🙂 ). There is also a mixed berry flavour and a pineapple one (which I’ve tried separately so I’ll give an overview of all of them!).

Firstly the thing I love most about these yoghurts, aside from the fact that they are dairy free, is that they are also totally free from added sugar. They do contain xylitol which is a low GI naturally derived sweetner though, but it’s low calorie and natural so I’m ok with that. They’re also gluten free (they contain tapioca starch but nothing else), nut free and soya free. To top it off they’re also probiotic, so all in all they’re just a little pot of amazingness!

My favourite comfort dessert of stewed apple, berries and toasted nuts and coconut with some natural CO YO! Yum!

All the flavours, apart from the raw chocolate one, are essentially the natural coconut yoghurt with a layer of fruit at the bottom (or not in the case of the natural one). The yoghurt itself is just so good – it’s rich, thick and creamy but still retains that yoghurty tang you’d expect from any natural yoghurt. They obviously have a coconuty taste about them but it’s not at all over-powering. The natural one is perfect on it’s own, or with nuts and seeds for brekkie, or in place of cream or ice cream with dessert. It works really well with my salty spicy pumpkin seed recipe I posted for hallowe’en too 🙂

The fruit flavours are all lovely. I think my favourite is probably the mixed berry but they’re all good. The layer of fruit is just about right – not too much, not too little. The fruit tastes lovely and natural, without that fake flavour you sometimes get in layered yoghurt products. Stir it in to the yoghurt for a yummy full flavoured treat 🙂 Again this is great as a snack or with your breakfast. I particularly like the mixed berry one sprinkled with some roasted hazelnuts as a dessert (or mid afternoon snack!).

The raw chocolate one is joint favourite with the mixed berry. This is simply divine. It tastes like an indulgent chocolate mousse and really hits the spot if you’re having a chocolate craving.

Look at that chocolately goodness! 🙂

These yoghurts are full fat, but there is increasing evidence that the fats in coconut products are “good” fats not bad so consuming more coconut-based products could actually bring you health benefits. In fact coconut is rich in medium-chain fatty acids which are processed by the body differently to other saturated fats and there is evidence that they help with maintaining weight without raising cholesterol. So if you’re worried that these yoghurts might be high in fat, then I really wouldn’t worry too much. We need fats in our diet, fat isn’t always a bad thing, and if you’re going to consume fat then this is a very good way to do it! The product is all natural and also delicious!

They cost a couple of pounds for a small 125g tub (they’re also available in 250g and 400g tubs for most flavours) but they are totally worth the price and you definitely get what you pay for, and in this case it’s heaven in a tub! 🙂

Kiwi loaf – dairy and gluten free and helps you sleep!

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It’s been a busy couple of months since I got back from my trip to Indonesia and in that time as well as having loads on at work, we’ve had our kitchen re-done and a load of building work at home. As a result, not only have I not been able to do any baking, but I’ve found living in a building site has been impacting on my sleep! So I did some research and discovered that there’s pretty good evidence that kiwi’s (the fruit!) can help improve the quality and quantity of sleep you get (you can read my article about it here). That got me thinking about creative things to do with kiwi’s other than fruit salads! Lots of the research also suggests that a carb-based snack will also aid restful sleep so I thought I’d try combining the two. I stumbled across a recipe for kiwi bread some time ago so now that the kitchen is finally finished I decided to adapt it and give it a go. I wasn’t sure exactly how it would turn out but it’s actually really good and rather like banana bread. It’s not too sweet but you get lovely flavours from the spices which really complement the slightly tangy kiwi flavour – delish, especially warm!

1/4 cup Agave nectar or sweet freedom (or you could use honey or any liquid sweetner)

1/3 cup Almond oil (or other neutral oil)

1 tbsp Ground flaxseed (linseed) in 3 tbsp warm water (or you could use 1 egg)

1 and 1/2 cups gluten-free flour

1 cup kiwi pulp (approx 4 kiwi’s)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used hazelnuts and almonds as it’s what I had in the cupboard!)

1 cup Raisins

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tbsp Ground cloves

1/4 tsp Himlayan Rock Salt

1 tsp Baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees CPut the ground flaxseed in the warm water and allow to thicken, then beat with the agave and oil until well mixed. Sieve in the flour, baking powder, salt and spices and combine. Then add the kiwi, raisins and nuts stirring gently. Transfer to a greased loaf tin and place in the oven for 40 – 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit before slicing (or it will crumble – as I discovered as I just couldn’t wait! 🙂 ). Enjoy slightly warm in the evening (or at any time of day to be honest!). Sweet dreams! 🙂

Salt and Spice and all things nice! The smallest pumpkin in the world and a yummy pumpkin seed snack!

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Well, when I asked for a small pumpkin I wasn’t expecting something quite as small as this….

But anyone who knows me knows I love a challenge so not to be thwarted I decided I’d do my best with this little munchkin of a pumpkin and lo and behold look what I managed to create! Scary eh?

So there wasn’t much meat in this little pumpkin so rather than create the pumpkin-based hallowe’en cake I had planned I decided instead to do something funky with the seeds. It’s a sweet salty treat which sounds odd but combines some wonderful autumn flavours. I adapted it from the SNOG healthy treats book.

Salty and Spicey Sweet potato, raisin, pumpkin seed yumminess!

So I started off by creating some salted roasted seeds. Take your pumpkin seeds, remove all the stringy bits of pumpkin flesh and put in a pan. For every half cup of pumpkin seeds add 2 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and allow to cool slightly.

Then spread them out in one layer on a baking tray and place in an oven at 200 degrees C for anything from 5 – 15 minutes. Just keep checking them as it will depend how big the seeds are. Mine took around 8 minutes 🙂

These are yummy as they are or you can hull (de-husk) them if you really want to (I couldn’t be bothered!). Eat them just like this or use them in the next bit of the recipe.

Take 1 sweet potato and cut it into 1cm cubes. Spread on a baking tray with 2 – 3 tablespoons of the salted roasted pumpkin seeds. Add a handful of raisins and then sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of coconut palm sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Finally drizzle over some coconut oil (approx 2 tablespoons) and place in the oven at 190 degrees C for about 20 – 25 minutes until the sweet potato is cooked through and the sugar is caramelised. Stir occasionally.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Then enjoy on it’s own or spoon it over some natural yoghurt (or ice cream!). It sounds odd but trust me – the sweetness of the sweet potato and raisins go really well with the salty roasted seeds and the cinnamon adds a lovely autumnal twist! Divine and healthy too! 🙂

Happy Hallowe’en!

Chocolate hazelnut Biscotti – Dairy Free, Gluten Free and yet more chocolate!

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As the end of chocolate week draws near I thought I’d finish with this little recipe which is another I’ve had for a while and not got round to posting. These do require double baking but it’s less of a faff than you think – honest! and it’s very much worth it!  I guarantee you won’t be able to tell these apart from “normal” (gluten filled, dairy filled) chocolate biscotti and they’re perfect with a cup of coffee over the weekend 🙂

I hope you enjoy it and do let me know if you try out this recipe and what you think of it (that goes for all my recipes!).

1/3 cup Almond milk
2 tbsp Ground linseed
3/4 cup and 2 tbsp Raw unrefined coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup Almond or Hazelnut oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Almond extract
1 and 1/4 cups Spelt flour (wholewheat or white) or Gluten free flour blend
1/2 cup Quinoa flour (if you don’t have this add more spelt flour)
1/3 cup Raw cocoa Powder
2 tbsp Arrowroot powder or Cornflour (also known as cornstarch in the US)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Himalayan rock salt
1 cup Whole, Raw Hazelnuts (these can be toasted first if you want really crunchy nuts!)

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and grease a large baking tray very well.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and ground linseed for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar, oil and extracts and stir until smooth. Sieve in the flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot or cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Stir to mix and just as the dough starts to come together, knead in hazelnuts. Knead very briefly to form a stiff dough.

Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and form it into a rectangle (approx 12 inches long and 3 – 4 inches wide). Push in the nuts if they pop out! Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. It will rise and get a bit puffy and the top may start to crackle. Keep an eye on it from 20 minutes onwards as it can start to burn. Obviously remove if it starts to burn (this can be hard to see because of the chocolate colour so give it a good sniff if in doubt!) 🙂

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes until very firm.

Turn up the oven to 375F/190C. Carefully transfer the baked dough to chopping board and using a serrated knife, slice 1/2 inch slices. Push the knife down in one go, don’t use a sawing action as you will find the biscotti crumble. They are extremely delicate at this stage so you need to be gentle. I ended up with a fair bit of crumbling and breakage but that’s not the end of the world, it just meant I had lots of bits to taste! 🙂

Place the slices on the baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes until brown and crispy. Don’t be tempted to over bake – they will still seem quite soft when you remove them from the oven but they will crisp up as they cool – I promise (Trust me, I’m a Dr 😉 ). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring the slices to a cooling rack. When completely cool, store in an air tight container and enjoy with a cup of your favourite coffee 🙂