Christmas Tree Biscuits

A little bit belated (or extremely organised for Christmas 2012!), this is my recipe for edible Christmas Tree decorations. I'd made these for many years as an annual tradition in my wheat-eating days, but this is one of those examples of an adapted recipe which works really well with Gluten and Wheat Free flour. The original was from a BBC Good Food Calendar from a number of years ago.

3 oz (85g) Margarine

4 oz (100g) Golden Caster Sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2tsp Mixed spice
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
9 oz (250g) Gluten and Wheat Free Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder

1. Beat together the Margarine and Sugar for about 3-5 minutes with an electric mixer.
2. Add the egg slowly and beat in.
3. Stir in the vanilla, mixed spice, golden syrup, flour and baking powder. It tends to be quite a sticky mixture, so if necessary, add more flour.
4. Bring together into a ball, wrap in cling film, and chill in the fridge for at least an hour (I sometimes leave it overnight, and find that it is often better the longer it is left).
5. Roll out half of the mixture onto a generously floured work surface until it is about 4-5mm thick. Cut out the biscuits using a tree or star cutter and place them on a lined baking sheet. Repeat this process until all of the dough is used up, re-rolling all of the off-cuts each time.
6. If you wish to hang these as decorations, the hole needs to be made at this stage. Use a cocktail stick to create the hole, bearing in mind that it will shrink when cooking.
7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160fan/gas 4 for 10 minutes until just browned.
8. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
9. Decorate and thread ribbon through when cooled.

Apple Cake

Apples are another thing which we've had a glut of from the allotment this year. James did a grand job with making vast quantities of chutney (much of which was sold in aid of Hospiscare), but I thought that for a bit of variety I'd try and make an apple cake. 

James's lovely display of chutney and jelly for sale

I had a couple of apple cake recipes to try courtesy of Mum's recipe scrapbooks, but neither of them had quite everything I fancied in, so I combined the two, and this is the result:

12 oz (350g) Gluten and Wheat Free self raising flour

8 oz (225g) Margarine

6 oz (175g) Sultanas

6 oz (175g) Light brown soft sugar

3 tsp mixed spice

1lb (454g) Apples – peeled, cored and chopped in to small pieces

2 large eggs, beaten

¼ pint (55ml) soya milk

Few apple slices and demerara sugar to top

  

1. Grease and flour an 8 inch round cake tin.
2. Sift the flour and mixed spice into a large bowl and rub in the margarine until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3.  Mix together the sugar, sultanas and prepared apples and add to the flour mixture.
4.  Mix the milk with the beaten eggs in a jug and stir gently into the rest of the mixture until well combined.
5.  Spoon into the prepared cake tin.
6.  Top with the slices apples and demerara sugar.
7.  Bake at 170˚Cfan/325˚F/gas 3 for 1 ½ hours or until a skewer comes out clean.
8.  Leave on a wire rack to cool before turning out.

Sticky Ginger Cake

This is a really good recipe for a gluten and dairy free cake, which is really moist. The cake mix before putting it in the oven is liquid like a batter, and I've found that any cake which contains a lot of liquid or fruit is ideal for baking gluten free, as it keeps the cake nice and moist. This is a lovely dark, sticky cake which improves with age, and is adapted from the BBC Good Food recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1462/sticky-stem-ginger-cake-with-lemon-icing

I substituted the flour with gluten free self raising, dairy free margarine in place of the butter, and soya milk.

Definitely one to add to the repertoire!

The lovely Leon

Not something I've baked this time, but I was so impressed with the cake selection (and food in general) at Leon, which we stumbled across in Spitalfields Market on a recent trip to London, that I thought I'd write about it. Their healthy fast food menu notes which items are gluten, wheat, dairy free, vegetarian etc, so it made choosing pretty easy! I was most impressed when we came to choose something for dessert, and I discovered that not one, but almost all of the lovely cakes on display were wheat and gluten free! I usually go for the one choice that there is, but this day I was able to not just stare longingly at the cakes, but to have my cake and eat it (and some of James' too!)

Chocolate tart and pecan pie - both with amazing gluten free pastry. I think this will be a new favourite place when visiting London!

Chocolate Courgette Cake

Due to a glut of rather large courgettes from the allotment, James suggested it was about time I turned one of them into a cake. After finding a variety of recipes online, I took inspiration from a few, and came up with the following.

12 oz (350g) Gluten and Wheat Free self raising flour

2 oz (50g) cocoa powder

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp mixed spice

11 oz (325g) caster sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

200ml sunflower oil

500ml peeled and grated courgette (measured in a measuring jug)

For the icing

1 ½ oz (40g) cocoa powder

4 oz (110g) icing sugar

Water to mix

1.    Mix the flour, xanthan gum, mixed spice, cocoa and sugar together in a large bowl or food mixer.

2.    Add the eggs, vanilla extract, oil and grated courgette and mix well until combined.

3.    Transfer to a 20cm round greased and lined cake tin.

4.   Bake at 160Cfan/180C/gas 4 for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If the grated courgettes are very moist, then it may take a little longer.

5.    Leave in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool.

6.    For the icing, sieve the cocoa powder and icing sugar together in a bowl. Gradually add a few drops of water at a time, mixing in between each addition. Pour over cooled cake. Leave to set.

I did add some GF baking powder as well just to make sure it rose, but it really wasn't necessary! The cake mix could easily take some more sugar and cocoa, so I would probably up the quantities of both by a few ounces next time.