Stem ginger and buckwheat cookies (GF, DF)

When you’re eating gluten free, you can usually find some great substitutions in the shops. Pasta, cereal, even the bread that’s available in shops is improving. But there’s one thing I’ve been struggling to find, and to make. The object of my desire is a perfectly chewy cookie. The cookies that I’ve been making and buying so far have all been wrong; too crunchy, too cakey, just plain wrong. That is, until now.

One day I decided to experiment with some buckwheat flour that I’d bought for another project. Buckwheat is a gluten-free grain with a nutty flavour, commonly used to make crepes. It’s also the not-so-secret ingredient to making perfect, chewy, flavoursome GF cookies.

In this recipe I don’t use a typical GF flour blend, just the buckwheat flour (this is available from health food shops). I also use chunks of crystallised ginger to add a really autumnal flavour and texture. I’m sure if you prefer you could use the balls of stem ginger in syrup, but the crystallised ginger lasts a long time in the cupboard and is generally neater to handle.

This may sound a bit nonsensical, bit I’ve started piping my chilled cookie dough onto the prepared trays before baking. I find that GF mixtures tend to be sticky and difficult to shape, and one day I decided to pipe the mixture using a piping bag and large round nozzle. Large chunks of ginger or chocolate chips tend to get a bit stuck (use the end of a teaspoon to unblock the nozzle) but I do think it makes my cookies more even in shape and size. They’re still not perfect, but they’re homemade, so I’m not worried about perfection! Plus, the piping saves me fiddling around with spoons.

I finished these babies off with a swirl of dark chocolate. This was a surprisingly relaxing process: cut the very tip off a piping bag and don’t try to be too neat about it. Let your wrist swing in a natural circular motion, the chocolate will flow and all will be well.

Stem ginger and buckwheat cookies (makes 18, GF, DF)

100g crystallised stem ginger, chopped into bite-size pieces

150g light brown sugar

110g soft butter or dairy-free spread

1 egg

150g buckwheat flour

pinch salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 bar dark chocolate for decoration (use dairy free chocolate if you’re making these DF)

Cream the soft butter/spread with the sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.
Add the egg and mix well.
Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix well to combine.
Stir in the chopped stem ginger until distributed.
Cover the bowl with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan and prepare two large, flat baking trays with baking paper.
Put the cookie dough into a piping bag fitted with a large, round nozzle and pipe the dough onto the trays, ensuring space between the cookies. This mixture will make about 18 cookies; each portion should be roughly the size of a golf ball.
Bake the cookies for around 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Once baked, carefully place the cookies on a cooling rack. Melt the whole bar of dark chocolate and allow to cool for two minutes before placing in a piping bag. cut the very end off the piping bag (you only want a very small opening for the chocolate to flow through).
When the cookies are fully cooled you can decorate them. Starting in the middle of the cookie, smoothly move your wrist in a circular motion to achieve the chocolate spiral effect. Leave for the chocolate to set, and then keep in an airtight container.

Coffee + sesame cakes

Long time, no bake!

I know there’s been quite a long hiatus since my last post. At that time I felt quite creatively blocked- I was putting myself under so much pressure to come up with original recipes and I wasn’t happy with anything I created.

Yesterday I felt an urge to bake and got inspired by the sesame seeds I had in my cupboard. I’d seen a lot of people on Instagram use them in desserts, particularly paired with chocolate. Although it’s a relatively new trend to Western baking, many Asian countries have used sesame in desserts for decades.

Sesame has a sweet, nutty flavour that I wanted to experiment with. I personally can’t tolerate much cocoa due to a medical condition, but I love coffee flavoured desserts. Coffee and chocolate have similar qualities, with deep, roasted flavour notes. So why not coffee and sesame?

I can assure you, this combination really works. The sesame adds a sophisticated depth of flavour to the cake (and makes it seem much fancier than it is). I also added a spoonful of treacle to the batter- I was aiming for a slightly sticky cake, and the deep molasses works well with the other strong flavours. I used golden caster sugar for this recipe, but it would be interesting to see the results with a darker sugar.

The cake is soft and moist, with a little bit of texture from the seeds flecked through. My boyfriend described the flavours as a rollercoaster; first sesame, then coffee, then sesame again to finish. A little squiggle of chocolate on the top finishes these cakes off, and it works brilliantly with the rest of the flavours. This is one of my new favourite flavour combinations, and I can’t wait to experiment with it more!

Coffee + Sesame cakes

170g gluten-free self-raising flour

115g golden caster sugar

170g butter or dairy-free spread

1 tbs treacle

1 tbs coffee extract

30g sesame seeds

3 eggs

Chocolate and more sesame seeds for the top

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan.
Prepare whatever tin you’re using. This would make a lovely traybake, cupcakes, or possibly a loaf cake. I used my silicone tin with 12 small rectangular holes.
Mix the flour, sugar, butter/spread, treacle, coffee extract, sesame seeds and eggs together thoroughly in a bowl.
When the mixture is smooth and well-combined, place it into your tin and bake for about 15 minutes (depending upon the shape and size of your tin, this is how long mine took). I believe that you can smell when a cake’s ready, but you can always use a toothpick if you don’t trust your nose (an inserted toothpick should come out clean).
When the cake/s are ready, bring them out and allow them to cool in the tray. When cool, drizzle them with a little melted milk or dark chocolate (make sure the chocolate isn’t too hot or runny, allowing it to cool a little will make it easier to pipe) and sprinkle a few more seeds on the top to finish. Enjoy!

Easter Rocky Road

When I was a child, we had an Easter tradition. Every year we would crush Shredded Wheat, mix it with melted chocolate and form it into nests. They were finished off with mini chocolate eggs and taken into primary school, where they were always received well.

Now, sadly, I can’t eat cocoa or wheat (shredded or otherwise). I can, however, eat white chocolate, and I think the colour looks so bright and springlike.

The textures of this rocky road are provided by crispy puffed rice, chunks of crumbly shortbread, and cubes of hot cross bun. If you’re disappointed by the lack of marshmallows in this recipe, then by all means put some into yours.

This recipe is definitely for those with a sweet tooth, so I’d recommend cutting it into dainty cubes. This would be a nice project to do with children; they’ll be entranced by the melted chocolate, and they’ll love the mixing and decorating.

To decorate, I used pastel sugar sprinkles and white chocolate eggs. Feel free to deviate! The shops are full with so many gorgeous Easter treats to use.

This quick, no-bake treat is also suitable for freezing! Why not make some this weekend and freeze them, ready for the big day (If you can wait that long!)

Easter Rocky Road

1 gluten-free hot cross bun

100g gluten-free shortbread

15g gluten-free puffed rice

405g white chocolate

Decorations

Cut the hot cross bun into small cubes and set aside.
Cut the shortbread into big chunks.
Measure out the rice and set aside.
Break all the chocolate. Place two thirds of it into a bowl set over a pot of water. Gnetly heat the pot to melt the chocolate, making sure to stir and watch it carefully.
Once the chocolate’s melted, add in the shortbread, rice and bun pieces. Stir to combine then press into a 20cm square pan (lined with baking paper).
Melt the final third of the chocolate. This will be poured over the top of the rocky road to make the surface smoother.
Once the chocolate has been poured and spread on top, the surface of the rocky road should look even and ready for decorating. Place your decorations on before the chocolate sets. When you’re happy, place in the fridge and leave to chill for about an hour.
Once it’s set, cut into small chunks and enjoy!

Mini jam + coconut sponges

I like to think of this bake as an exercise in simplicity. In the interests of simplicity, I’ll keep this post short and sweet (just like these cakes!). I saw a picture of a full-sized jam and coconut sponge on instagram recently and it took me back to my school days. Tender golden sponge, a thin layer of jam, and dessicated coconut on top. That’s it. It’s simple but comforting. I’ve made my version here, gluten free and in miniature. Enjoy!

Mini jam + coconut sponges

170g gluten-free self-raising flour

170g butter

110g caster sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Your favourite jam (red berry jams are traditional, but any seedless jam will work)

Dessicated coconut

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and prepare your baking tray. I used cardboard loaf cases which I bought from my local supermarket, but you could also make these as cupcakes.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Add in the eggs, vanilla extract and flour and mix to combine.
Distribute the mix evenly between the cases and bake for 12-15 minutes until the cakes are golden and springy to the touch.
Place the cakes on a cooling rack and warm up some jam in a saucepan. This shouldn’t take long, you just want to loosen it up. Add a thin layer of jam to each cake and sprinkle over the coconut. Et voila!

Nutty chocolate chunk cookies

I’d like to start this post by apologising to my followers- two cookie recipes in a row might seem excessive. Rest assured, these recipes are pretty different. The papaya and coconut biscuits which I posted yesterday are firm and slightly crumbly, with tropical flavours. These are closer to an American cookie, softer and cakier, with crunchy nuts and caramelised chocolate chunks.

I used what’s known as ‘blonde’ chocolate in this recipe. It’s a white chocolate which has a lovely caramel appearance and taste. I actually used a bar which already had almonds and hazelnuts in it, which made the prep for these cookies very easy. I found this in my local supermarket, but you could always replace the chocolate and nuts with your own preferences.

I tempered the sweetness of the chocolate and added a depth of flavour with a little coffee extract. This paired really well with the chocolate and the nuts. You may be able to find this in the supermarket, online, or in baking shops. A little goes a long way, and I didn’t want coffee to be the dominant flavour, so I used it as I would use a vanilla essence.

In this recipe I tried a few tricks from the blog Meaningful Eats. I’m not very practised in biscuits so I thought a bit or prior research wouldn’t hurt!

These biscuits turned out a bit pale (happens a lot with gluten free baking) but they’re soft and tasty with a great biscuit to chunk ratio!

Nutty chocolate chunk cookies (makes 12)

210g gluten-free plain flour

30g ground almonds

110g brown sugar

55g white sugar

110g butter

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp coffee extract

1 tsp baking powder

135g nuts and chocolate, roughly chopped

Mix the flour, ground almonds and baking powder together.
Melt the butter.
Mix the sugar, egg, milk and extracts into the melted butter. Add this mixture to the dry mixture and stir to combine.
Cover the bowl and leave to sit for half an hour. This will allow the dough to firm up a bit.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 160 degrees and line two oven trays with baking paper.
I used an ice cream scoop to measure out the dough into equal portions. The dough isn’t terribly firm and may be a bit sticky but do your best to wrangle it into a circle. My cookies didn’t spread too much so you can put them close together.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until they’re lightly golden and not sticking to the paper.

‘Death By Gin’ Mother’s day cake

I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to get a bit fed up with the cutesy mother’s day stuff. It all seems a bit too pink and schmaltzy. A bit impersonal. All too often, our gratitude towards our mothers is boiled down to a bunch of flowers, or a cake that looks like a bunch of flowers.

Don’t get me wrong, I love flowers (and so does my mum), and flowery cakes are lovely, but I wanted to personalise my cake to her. The spirit of the moment – gin- has always been my mum’s favourite (and, thankfully, not her ruin). This fact is so well known that she received three or four separate bottles for Christmas, much to her embarrassment (and delight).

Gin is a flavoursome and versatile spirit which is being increasingly used in baking. When coming up with my idea for this cake I researched popular gin botanicals. The possibilities are almost endless, but I decided to pick a few to create a sophisticated and harmonious flavour palate.

The cake itself is almond-based, which gives it a soft texture and subtle sweet flavour. To this I added a little gin and some cinnamon for some warmth. The cake was then soaked in a citrus-cardamom syrup (with some gin and tonic added) and topped with a gin icing and homemade candied citrus peels. I also got some gin gummy sweets from Lakeland, I popped one right in the centre of the cake.

I’d never candied anything before, but the process was fairly easy! The resulting peel tastes fresher and looks more vibrant than any that you buy at the shop, and can be used in so many ways. I candied limes, lemons, grapefruit and oranges. Limes worked well in slices, round or cut into halves. I hoped to create slices of the other fruits too, but that didn’t quite work out. I found that the orange slices didn’t dry out well, the flesh of the lemon slices disintegrated in the candying process, and the pith of the grapefruit was too large. I kept the peel of these three, however, and used it. You can keep it in a ring, cut it into strips, or cut it small to create a confetti effect.

I did two rounds of candying. After the first round I had a citrus-infused syrup left over, a light amber colour and slightly jellied from the pectin of the fruits. I decided to use this syrup again for my second round of candying, after which it was even more intense. I saved the syrup again and, after a few additions, it was the perfect thing to drizzle over the cake. In retrospect, I was so enthusiastic about this syrup that the cake ended up a bit soggy.

The final result is a cake which feels grown up. There’s enough sugar to balance out the bitterness from the gin and the citrus, there’s sharpness and a bit of spice from the cinnamon and cardamom. This is definitely a must-bake for any gin lovers out there.

‘Death By Gin’ Mother’s day cake

For the candied peel:

250g caster sugar

1 lime

1 grapefruit (I used one with a pale green skin)

1 lemon

1 orange

For the cake:

140g ground almonds

85g gluten-free self-raising flour

170g caster sugar

225g butter

4 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp gin

For the syrup:

125ml tonic water

60ml gin

6 cardamom pods

For the icing:

200g icing sugar

Gin

First, make the candied fruit. This should be done a day in advance to allow the peel to dry out fully, but you can also dry the fruit in an oven on a low temperature. Wash and slice the fruit into thin slices.
Combine the caster sugar with 250ml of water and heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is bubbling. Drop in half the fruit and lower the heat to a simmer.
Gently stir and turn the fruit every so often, cooking for 20-30 minutes or until the fruit is tender and translucent. If any slices fall apart you can still use the peel.
Bring the fruit out of the pot and place it on a cooling rack to drain. Reserve the syrup. You can either dry it out like this overnight or you can place them on a baking sheet and cook them at a low temperature (I used 75 degrees) for about half an hour. I used a combination of both methods.
Candy the other half of the fruit in the same manner and reserve the syrup. Once the peel is dry dust it lightly with more caster sugar.
To make the cake, preheat your oven to 180 degrees. I used a medium-sized round spring-form tin for this cake. I greased the sides and placed baking paper at the bottom.
Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Add to the tin and bake for about forty minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. My cake browned a lot so I put some tin foil over it halfway through cooking.
Whilst the cake is cooking prepare the syrup. Add the candying syrup to a pot along with the gin, tonic, and the seeds from the cardamom pods. Heat and stir to combine. Allow the syrup to bubble and reduce for about ten minutes, then turn off the heat and strain the syrup into a jug.
Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the cake and pour in some of the syrup. You won’t need all of the syrup, but the rest can be reserved for any number of uses.
Leave the cake to cool completely. Once it has, make a thick icing from the icing sugar and some gin. Pour it over the cake, and arrange your candied fruit as desired.

Rhubarb + custard cream cheesecake

I like to say that life is too short for regrets, but if I were pressed to find one I might well say this; I didn’t try rhubarb until I was about twenty years old. Can you blame me? Like many British children I only saw it as a fibrous green-grey mush lurking under a pile of crumble. When it’s cooked like that it doesn’t exactly look appetising.

When I was diagnosed with IBS at nineteen I decided to follow a low-FODMAP diet, which I still do today. On this particular diet a number of fruits are ‘banned’, including stone fruits, apples and pears. This meant that crumble, a treat which I always enjoyed so much, was almost impossible to create. That is, until I remembered that rhubarb was both crumble and FODMAP friendly, and I fell in love.

Rhubarb’s sweet-sour sherberty taste is complex and delicious, and it makes a great foil for richer desserts. Not to mention the colour of it (when it’s not boiled to a pulp) is a gorgeous vibrant pink. It’s a welcome burst of colour and taste in the cold winter months, which is when forced rhubarb comes into season. No strawberries, no raspberries? No problem. Rhubarb’s got it all.

As well as the aforementioned crumble, rhubarb is great as a compote (traditionally served with custard). This flavour combination is so iconic that I knew I had to bring these two flavours together. And here we have it: A creamy baked cheesecake with a custard cream biscuit base and a rhubarb jelly on the top.

This recipe involved a few firsts for me as a cook. I’d never baked a cheesecake before, or made jelly. Because of that I had a few stumbles which I think I should warn you of, if you’re in the same position.

The jelly was actually very easy to make! Luckily I had just the right proportions of ingredients and I used leaf gelatine to set it. The jelly set after just an hour in the fridge and looked so beautiful; a vibrant peachy pink which adds a much-needed tartness to the rich cheesecake (so rich that I recommend small slices, which is unlike me).

The cheesecake was trickier. The more experienced amongst you will notice that the outside of the cheesecake is quite dark around the edge. I struggled with my timings because I worried about the cheesecake being undercooked, so I baked it for longer than instructed. I must admit I was thrown off by the ‘slight wobble’ instructions of the recipes that I consulted. To judge something by wobbling is pretty subjective, in my opinion. This recipe is the result of some research and post-baking judgement on my part, and hopefully it will serve you well.

Rhubarb + custard cream cheesecake (serves 16)

175g gluten-free custard cream biscuits

50g melted butter

900g cream cheese

250g caster sugar

3 tbsp gluten-free plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1 orange

3 eggs plus 1 yolk

200ml double cream

For the rhubarb jelly:

225g rhubarb

juice of 1 orange

60g caster sugar

1 gelatine leaf

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Line the base of a springform baking tin (23cm) with baking paper or aluminium foil.
Crush the custard cream biscuits, either by hand of in a food processor, until you have fine crumbs. Combine the crumbs with the melted butter and press the mixture into the base of the tin.
Bake the cheesecake base for ten minutes, then remove from the oven and leave the tin on a cooling rack. Leave the oven on.
Combine the rest of the cheesecake ingredients together using a whisk or electric mixer. The mixture will be liquid and pale.
Butter the sides of the tin and then pour the cheesecake mixture in. Bake for an hour and then turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake inside. If you prefer your cheesecake firmer, leave the oven door closed. If you want a creamier result, open the oven door. Leave for two hours.
Once the two hours are up remove the cheesecake from the oven. When it’s completely cool place it in the fridge to chill.
To make the rhubarb jelly, wash and chop your rhubarb. The size of the pieces doesn’t matter so long as they are fairly uniform.
Place the rhubarb with the orange juice and sugar into a pan over a medium heat until the rhubarb softens, this should take about ten minutes.
Pour the contents of the pan into a food processor and blitz it until you have a smooth liquid with no lumps.
Strain the liquid through a sieve. If you follow this recipe you should yield 1/4 pint of liquid.
Pour the clear liquid into the pan over a gentle heat to warm. Take one leaf of gelatine and place it into cold water. Leave it for five minutes.
After five minutes retrieve the softened gelatine leaf from the water and squeeze out the excess water. Place the leaf into your warm rhubarb liquid and stir to dissolve. Turn off the heat and leave the mixture to cool.
Bring your cheesecake out of the fridge. Naturally, baked cheesecakes often dip a little in the middle and are higher around the sides. The top of my cheesecake was very golden brown. I scraped the top layer off with a spoon. This pronounced the dip which gave me somewhere to pour my jelly into.
Pour the jelly onto the cheesecake and place it in the fridge to chill. It should be set in one hour.

Salty Dog biscuits

I’ve been lucky enough to spend this weekend by the seaside with my family. I grew up in the countryside, and I’ve lived in cities for the past few years, but nothing compares to the seaside in my opinion. Every time I’m here I think, the Victorians got one thing right, health-wise: this place has healing properties. Something about the air and the water helps even the most wound-up amongst us to get some rest. As my mum says, the biggest problem around here is what to eat for lunch (a problem easily solved; platefuls of smoked fish and prawns for me, fresh lobster and chips for the parents).

I decided that during my visit I wanted to bake something which complimented my surroundings. That’s when the Salty Dog cocktail popped into my head. The name alone makes one think of the sea, and then when you consider the ingredients (gin, grapefruit juice, and a salt rim), it sounds like a very tasty way to keep scurvy at bay.

The next question to solve was the form of the bake itself. I briefly considered a traybake, but I don’t want this blog to be full of cake. I need to stretch myself a bit and do some other bakes. I’m not much of a biscuit baker though, and I was worried about how to get the strong flavours of this cocktail into a biscuit.

In order to do this, I added the zest of a grapefruit into my biscuit dough, as well as something a little more experimental. Before I mixed my dough ingredients together I dampened my sugar with a bit of grapefruit juice; not enough to dissolve the sugar or make it syrupy, just to make it sort of damp and clumpy. The citrus flavour definitely carries through these biscuits.

The icing is also made with grapefruit juice and some gin, and the biscuits are finished with a little more zest and some sea salt. The salt is my favourite part of these biscuits: it enhances the other flavours so well without being overwhelming. It’s not a consistent flavour either, as you would expect from a salted caramel, for example. The flecks of salt burst on your tongue at unexpected moments as you eat the biscuit.

I also really like the ‘sunburst’ design of the icing on these biscuits, but it’s tricky to master and required a bit of practice. I used a teaspoon with the icing, dripping the icing in a thin stream over the biscuits, but you could probably achieve more precise results with a piping bag.

These biscuits are quite light and crumbly, so for goodness’ sake PLEASE don’t even think about putting them in your tea. I think the elegant nature of these biscuits make them perfect for an afternoon tea. Pretty and delicate, with unexpected flavours, I reckon they’d be a hit.

Salty Dog biscuits: (makes 28)

300g plain gluten free flour

200g butter or substitute

100g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

2 grapefruits

1 tbsp gin

300g icing sugar

Sea salt

Combine the zest of 1 grapefruit with the flour and butter. In a separate bowl, dampen the sugar with a wedge of grapefruit until it is damp and clumpy but not syrupy or dissolved.
Add the sugar to the flour/butter mixture with the egg yolk and combine into a soft dough. Wrap with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
Prepare a large baking sheet with greaseproof paper and preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
Take your dough from the fridge and place it between two pieces of greaseproof paper. Roll it out until it is about the thickness of a pound coin, then cut circles. I used a glass to do this; my circles were about three inches across.
Place the biscuits onto the paper. You can place them closely together, the dough doesn’t really spread as it cooks. Bake them for 10-12 minutes until they are dry and do not stick to the baking paper. They should be golden brown at the edges.
Place the biscuits on a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely. Combine the icing sugar with the gin and mix. The icing should be of a pourable consistency. If it is not, add fresh grapefruit juice (you can use a sieve to avoid getting chunks of grapefruit flesh in the icing).
Drizzle the icing back and forth in a ‘sunburst’ pattern. Then, before the icing dries hard, sprinkle on a little sea salt and grate some fresh grapefruit zest on top.

Chicken and Chorizo Pasties

Pastry isn’t something I’ve tackled much in my baking, even before I became gluten free. I’ve always been more interested in cake. My efforts to make gluten free pastry, or even to use the ready-made stuff in the supermarket, haven’t gone very well so far.

I don’t usually like to eat pastry either, if I’m honest. There’s no real reason behind this I suppose, it’s just a matter of taste. The one type that I really like, however, that I’ll never turn down, is a crispy hot-water crust, the type that covers pork pies and pasties. When I went on a solo trip to St Ives a few years ago I was delighted to see that there were loads of gluten-free options, including cream teas and pasties. There’s nothing better to warm you up on a chilly beach than a hot pasty; portable, filling, and versatile.

The traditional filling of a Cornish pasty, with chunks of beef, potato, turnip and onion, is perfectly tasty: I’m not trying to suggest that the recipe can be improved on! This is just another twist on a classic with a tasty filling. I suppose the filling is more like an empanada- versions of this filled pastry exist throughout South America and Europe. In truth, many cultures around the world have their own rough version of this sort of food. If there’s anything the human race can agree on, we love to take tasty things and encase them in dough.

This recipe is a fair bit of work, but I think the result is worth it. The pastry recipe is not entirely my own, I followed Jamie Oliver’s and it worked very nicely. https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/gluten-free-veggie-pasties/

I also added some fresh thyme leaves to the pastry. I noticed that as the pastry was resting it got a bit crusty on the outside. Don’t worry, this doesn’t make a difference to the finished product. I improvised the filling with ingredients that I like. The pastry is crisp and cheesy, and the filling is tasty, savoury, and a bit spicy. This recipe would make 24 mini pasties, great for picnics or parties, or 12 larger pasties which make for a nice light meal.

Chicken and Chorizo Pasties (GF)

For the Pastry:

600g gluten free plain flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp xanthan gum

100g butter

2 eggs (and 1 more for the egg wash)

2 tsp thyme

75g cheddar cheese, grated

For the filling:

150g diced cooking chorizo

320g chicken breast

1 green pepper

6 cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

75g frozen peas

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp something spicy (I used a cajun spice mix)

To make the pastry, melt the butter in a pan with 260 ml of water. Bring to the boil and leave to cool slightly.
Sieve the flour, xanthan gum and salt together into a large bowl. Add two beaten eggs and the thyme and stir to combine. Pour in the butter water mixture and stir again until the dough comes together into a ball. Cover the dough and leave it while you make your filling.
First, fry the diced chorizo over a high-medium heat for about five minutes, then place the chorizo on a plate and set it to one side, reserving the red oil in the pan.
Chop the chicken into small chunks and fry it in the chorizo oil for about six minutes until cooked through. Place the chicken on a plate and put it to one side. Blot the remaining water and oil out of the frying pan.
Dice the green pepper and slice the cherry tomatoes into quarters. Add these to the frying pan with the tomatoes puree, herbs, spices, and a dash of water. Season and cook down for about six minutes until the tomatoes have softened and the water has been evaporated. Add the chicken and chorizo back into the mixture and stir to combine.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and prepare a large tray with baking paper.
Separate your dough into even balls (24 for mini pasties, 12 for full size). I sandwiched each dough ball between baking paper before rolling them into circles. The dough should be fairly thin, but not so thin that it will be difficult to form the pastries, about the thickness of a pound coin.
Add around two spoonfuls of mixture to the centre of the dough circle (teaspoons for mini pasties, dessert/cereal spoons for full size). Fold the pastry over the filling into a semicircle and press the edges together. You can use a fork to give the edges a nice crimp.
Place your pasties on the baking tray and cover them with egg wash and grated cheddar. Bake them for half an hour- they should be crisp and golden. Best eaten warm. SAFETY WARNING: unfortunately, as the meat has already been cooked twice, you should not reheat these pasties once they are cooked.

Hazelnut and Orange Blossom cakes

Hello all. I hope you’re well! I know that I haven’t shown any signs of life since Christmas (have any of us?) but I’m here today with a recipe and a hope- that this blog won’t wilt and die like the few houseplants I’ve owned.

I do feel more positive about this enterprise though. I’m always going to bake, and so I might as well carry on with the blog! It pushes me to go that bit further (this sometimes leads to existential baking crises in Lakeland, but it’s all in good fun! I’m happy!). It also justified me buying a new tin today, which really makes me happy, even though I have absolutely no space left anywhere and far too many tins to begin with.

This tin is silicone with a wire edge which gives it a bit of stability (hallelujah!). I think I’m definitely going to invest in more silicone tins, and I’ll tell you for why (if you care to read). I find that gluten free cakes are often a bit more delicate than their wheaty cousins, and the thin top layer of cake in particular is very liable to peel or flake off, and to be left stuck on metal tins no matter how well you grease them. With silicone tins, these cakes popped out as neat as you please, fully intact. I’m sold!

These cakes also happen to be dairy free as well as gluten free thanks to the fact that we had some dairy-free spread left in the fridge. The sponge has blitzed roasted hazelnuts taking the place of some of the flour, orange zest, and a little orange blossom extract. The sponge is light and moist, with crunchy pieces of hazelnut. I realised upon trying the batter that the way I had put this cake together resembles the composition of a perfume: the hazelnuts provide the rich, deep base note, the orange zest is a middle tone, and the orange blossom water offers a floral, zingy finish.

I absolutely love using marbled icing in bakes and I feel it’s worked well here! Please try it and use whichever colours you like, although I do feel that greens can give the impression that the cake is slightly mouldy. That said, do as you feel. I tend to choose my colours to represent the flavours that are in the cake; pink for rose, orange for orange blossom etc etc.

This recipe is fab if you’ve got posh friends you want to impress, or you want something that’s delicate but packs a punch in both flavour and texture. Naturally, you could make these as regular cupcakes, but if you’re an avid baker then maybe get a rectangular tin. I can’t wait to use mine again.

Hazelnut and Orange Blossom Cakes: makes 12 (gluten free, dairy free)

170g dairy-free spread (or butter, if you wish)

110g light brown sugar

110g plain gluten free flour

1 teaspoon baking powder (ensure it’s gluten free)

75g blanched hazelnuts (get chopped if you can)

3 eggs

1 orange

Orange blossom water

200g icing sugar

Food colouring

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Cream the dairy-free spread or butter with the sugar using an electric mixer.
If your hazelnuts are not chopped, chop them in a food processor until you have very small chunks.
Add the chopped nuts, flour, baking powder, eggs, one teaspoon of orange blossom water, and the zest of an orange to the butter mixture and combine using an electric mixer.
Distribute the mixture equally between the sections of the pan.
Bake for 15 minutes.
After a few minutes, pop the cakes out and leave to cool.
To make the icing, combine the icing sugar with two teaspoons or orange blossom water and a little fresh water until you have a thick, runny consistency. The icing should be opaque white.
Leaving the icing in the bowl, add around four dots of pure food colouring. Don’t mix it in! Use a teaspoon to dollop some icing on top of the cake. As you move the icing to cover the cake, the colouring will stretch into the white icing and you will see a marbling pattern. Some cakes will have more marbling than others, and they will all look different.
I had some hazelnuts left over so I finished each cake with a single hazelnut on the side. I think it looks fancy.