Recipes

'Malt' Loaf Homage

Another Gluten-free cooking for kids recipe

A few days ago, Carly Talbot of gutenfreeb.com asked if anyone had a recipe for a gluten free version of a malt loaf. A malt loaf uses barley malt and barley flour, both of which are not gluten free.  To get the required squidgy, stogdgy texture and the malty flavour some improvising would be required.  I was keen to have a go.  

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If you are into malt loaf, then you will probably recognise the brand Soreen.  This is a quintessential English/British brand, makers of the original malt loaf.  Although I have seen it on the shelves with it's distinctive packaging,  I  admit, I have never actaully tried it.  Apparently you slice off a thick wedge and slather it with butter and wash it down with a strong cup of tea. A very British experience and a bit of an acquired taste.  

Well I tried it and I like the deep treacly flavour and the saltiness that comes from the malt.  The texture is a bit rubbery and reminds me of a bread that's gone badly wrong. So whilst not a traditional copy of the original,  my version has the deep caramely overtones and an earthiness similar to the original, but the texture is more like a moist tea bread.

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Mrs J's Molasses Cookies

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Here is a recipe from my first book The Little Red Barn Baking Book.  This recipe was one which has very happy memories, eating cookies at my best friend's house after school, whilst doing our homework. Mrs. J, was my friend's mum.  I've been wanting to make a gluten free version for a while, and I am pleased to tell you, they are as yummy as i remember them.  Crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the outside, with just the right amount of spice. 

The picture was styled by Ruthie, and features Ratty, Panda, Rabbity and if you look very closely a small cat, whose name escapes me.  They are settling down for some cookies and milk.  And yes, these cookies are pure bliss dunked in milk.  Those cuddlies sure do know how to live. Enjoy!

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Buttercrunch Toffee

buttercrunch 180 jpeg gf.jpgEveryone I know is currently on The Dukan Diet   As part of my plan to sabbotage this love affair with Pierre Dukan,  I made a batch of buttercrunch toffee, placed it in a nice box and took it  to a ladies lunch yesterday to test their will power. They all crumbled.  Even the ones I had down as Dukan Diet  die hards.  The box and the contents were demolished within minutes and every last little crispy fragment was scooped out. Lesson learned, the nice box was totally redundant.  Just a paper bag would have done the trick.  Anyway, diet or not, I urge you to make this little gem.  Your waistline may not thank you but it is a very good way to cheer yourself up when the weather is lousy and lousy it is my friends. For a summer that has drought written all over it, you could have fooled me.  It's pouring here. A piece or two or three of toffee, a cup of coffee, hey, who cares what the weather is like. The recipe comes from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz with a few minor adaptations made by yours truly. 

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Pumpkin Feta Muffins

pumpkin feta muffin jpeg vers 2.jpgIt's all things pumpkin 'round here at the moment.  These yummy muffins are savoury and just the right antidote to all those sugary treats that kids will be feasting on in a few days time.  Savoury muffins are all the rage in the US and I gather in Australia too.  This particular recipe adapted from www.101cookbooks.com caught my eye.  You may have to sell these in....as kids will be suspicious of anything looking like a muffin, but tasting decidely different from what they may be expecting. Tasty and nutritious I think these would be good in lunchboxes and as an after school treat.

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Homemade Gluten Free Sausages

Another Gluten-free cooking for kids recipe

These are delicious and can be made in advance and frozen.  Serve with oven chips and a fresh green salad.  Thank you to Moss for sharing his secret recipe.

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Chocolate Dipped Ghosts

Another Gluten-free cooking for kids recipe

Here's a quick little recipe for making ghostly biscuits.  The recipe is in my book (page 179) but I am reprinting it here.  What I like about this recipe is that the biscuits are very easy to make and there is no rolling out and cutting.  You can pipe them into ghostly shapes and then let the children decorate them.  A fun and not too messy activity during half term.

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Spooky grape jelly

Another Gluten-free cooking for kids recipe

Here's a fun recipe for Halloween.  I tried this on some of Ruthie's friends last week and they loved it.  It is really easy to make and if there are any left over maybe you can sneek a couple when the kids go to bed.  And there is nothing to stop you making this for adults.  You can substitute alchoholic sparkling grape juice to make a more adult centric dessert.

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Tortilla Espanola

Here is an easy recipe to have up your sleeve when the cupboard is bare or your purse is feeling empty. Three ingredients, eggs, potatoes and olive oil, come together to make something satisfying and very tasty. You can make your tortilla in advance and serve it a room temperature. Perfect picnic food, cut into chunks or wedges, nothing can beat having a wedge of tortilla served al fresco.

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Jelly Shots

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Light, refreshing and full of flavour, these little jelly shots are great for kids and adults alike. 

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Squishy Strawberry Cake

strawberry cake gf jpeg.jpgHere's a little gem which popped into my inbox this morning.  It hails from Smitten Kitchen a favourite website of mine.  But according to the author, the original recipe comes from Martha Stewart.  Well I've done very little in the way of adapting this into a gluten free version, substituting the flour with gluten free flour, adding some ground almonds and a spoonful of creme fraiche.  I've got to tell you folks, this is a fabulous cake, moist and flavoursome and jam packed with little morsels of strawberries.  The perfect cake to make when strawberry season hits us which in our neck of the woods is in about a weeks time. 

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Crispy Crackers

crackers baked.jpg gf.jpgI've been on a mission to find a good cracker recipe.  I'm fed up of crackers with no snap, tasting soapy, boring and expensive.  Imagine my delight when I stumbled across a very interesting recipe on www.101cookbooks.com for home made crackers using oats and rye.  After several attempts to make the recipe gluten free, I am pleased to tell you my work on crispy crackers is done. Simple to make, one batch makes a lot, so you can keep them for weeks in an airtight tin, that is, if you can resist scoffing the lot in one go.  Great with soup, dips or as a handy snack as you are driving the kids around during the holidays.

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Chocolate Bars

choc bars in lids vers 4.jpg gf.jpgA great activity to enjoy with the kids and one that the grownups will certainly like to get involved in too, is making your own home made chocolate bars.  You can go completely crazy with the flavour combinations or keep it simple.  Either way, you may not ever want to buy a ready made chocolate bar again and you may discover some fantastic new combinations along the way. 

Easter Choc gifts vers 2.jpg gf.jpgTo add a special touch you can package your chocolates using cellophane bags, ribbons and stickers along with a personalised message. These delicious bars make great gifts. 

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Coconut, Ginger and Lime Pound Cake

Here's a recipe that I stumbled upon recently.  I was looking through a copy of the first draft of my manuscript and found this little gem.  I had to edit it out of the book as my publisher needed to keep the page count down to save money and quite a few recipes hit the cutting room floor.  Sadly this was one of them.  But thanks to the internet I can now share it with you. 

And for those of you wondering what a pound cake is, it is the American version of a Madeira type cake. It's a dense, mosit butter cake and in this version, studded with bits of crystallised ginger and flavoured with lime and coconut.   

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The Catherine Sponge

Another Gluten-free cooking for kids recipe

Here's a recipe for The Catherine Sponge which I developed a few weeks ago in honour of our soon to be Princess Kate Middleton.  Don't be put off by the length of the recipe or the long list of ingredients.  It's actually quite quick to make and I promise you it's worth the effort.  Certainly a good recipe to impress your guests during the Royal Wedding and the perfect cake for all those street parties takng place around the country.

For the full story on the making of The Catherine Sponge see http://www.glutenfree4kids.com/?q=content/behind-scenes-making-catherine-sponge

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Dhruv Baker's Dark Chocolate Amaretto Torte

A moist dark chocolate torte with the sweetness of Amaretto.  Yum yum!  If you are worried about the amount of alcohol in the recipe then leave it out.  You will need to use whole blanched almonds for this recipe as the ready ground almonds will not give you such a moist and delectable cake.  I promise it is well worth the effort.

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Rice Crispy Bars

 

Rice crispy bar jpeg.jpgOkay, this has got to be the easiest recipe ever.  It comes from one of my favourite websites called www.smittenkitchen.com  The lady who writes this blog lives in a tiny apartment in New York with her husband and little baby.  She always manages to get my attention, with her humour and her knock out recipes.  This one is a real winner and you will see from the picture, I was only able to photograph the last little piece because the rest of it got scoffed within minutes. 

The secret here is to brown the butter until it's quite a nutty brown.  This gives the bars a slightly caramelly flavour.  The next ingredient will surprise you.  A small amount ie, 1/4 of a teaspon of Maldon Sea Salt.  These two additions turn what is normally a child's sickly confection into something much much more then the sum of it's parts.  The small addition of salt, seems to lift this into another dimension so that it's no longer sickly sweet, but be warned, incredibly addictive.

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Gorgeous Granola

granola jpeg gf.jpgGosh, I had forgotten how much I love granola.  During the Christmas holidays I watched glumly as my kids tucked into bowls of sugary disgusting cereal which dissolves into a rather alarming mass when left in the milk for a few hours.  So, with some trepidation I embarked on a PR campaign for good old granola preparing them for Mummy's New Year Resolution- getting the kids to have a healthier breakfast.  Well I'm pleased to tell you that despite the healthy contents, this cereal is a down right winner.  The kids loved it and have eaten bowl after bowl and now request it for pudding.  Now that's what I call a result!

And for those of us embracing even more dietary restrictions this year, this cereal is wheat and dairy free. 

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