Rainbow Biscuits

Since going wheat free too, we've had to look for an alternative to 'sprinkles' on puddings for good boys. Dr Oetker seem to do a range of shapes (these are Ploka Dots, but we also have the Butterflies) that are rice and potato starch based and/or contain cocoa butter. They also seem to have decent allergy info on website. 

I loved that these dots come in a range of rainbow colours (although the artist in me would have liked to see purple too) and wanted to do something to show them off (clearly trying to put off more important jobs...). 

These are adapted from the Shortbread Buttons recipe in the Austarlian Womens Weekly Cookies and Biscuits Book. I only made 1/2 quantity, but if your little monsters have the same biscuit gene as mine, you might need to do the full amount - admittedly, I've eaten quite a few too - as they didn't last long.

For Milk, Egg and Soya Free:


125g Dairy and Soya Free Spread  (Pure/Vitalite)
125g Hard white vegetable fat (Trex/Cookeen) - you can use all spread, but wouldn't be so crispy
1/3 cup (75g) Caster Sugar
1/4 cup (35g) Rice Flour
2 1/4 cup (335g) Plain Flour
1 tsp Vanilla paste 
Polka Dots or other sugar decorations.




For Wheat, Milk, Egg and Soya Free:

125g Dairy and Soya Free Spread  (Pure/Vitalite)

125g Hard white vegetable fat (Trex/Cookeen)

1/3 cup (75g) Caster Sugar

1/4 cup (35g) Rice Flour (I used chestnut flour, just because I had some that needed using up)

2 1/4 cup (335g) Gluten/wheat free White Bread Flour Mix (you could just use 2 1/2 cups (370g) of Gluten Free Flour instead bothering with the extra rice flour)

1 tsp Vanilla paste 

Polka Dots or other sugar decorations.

Whisk sugar, fats and vanilla until pale and fluffy.


Mix in the flours with a spoon until well combined to give a soft dough.


Chill for at least 30 mins to firm up.


Roll out onto lightly floured surface (to about 3mm thick) and cut into rectangles.


Press on Polka Dots if using.


Bake at 160ºC for 15-20mins until just browning on the edges.


Carefully lift onto wire rack to cool.


Eat and enjoy!

Rich Bread Dough

My boys have been great with the addition of wheat free to our standard milk, egg and soya free diet. I don't know if it is just because they have been used to trying my recipes for work over the years, or that wheat free really isn't that bad. We had an initial wobble the first week when Mini Monster was told he couldn't have Shreddies any more, but he was more than happy with the swap from Weetabix to Oatibix and will now happily point out the wheat containing things he can no longer have.

Pre wheat free, we'd have oven baked doughnuts, croissants or something else bready for second breakfast, so with a wet bank holiday weekend on the cards it was time to experiment with a rich wheat free dough to use instead. For a change, I did use egg replacer (bought online), but plan to have a go without to see if it really does make any difference. 

Basic Recipe:

280g Wheat Free White Bread Flour

2tsp Caster Sugar

1tsp Xanthan Gum

3tsp Fast Action Dried Yeast

150mls Oat Milk (or other milk substitute)

40g Dairy Free Spread/ White Vegetable Fat (I used half and half)

2tsp egg replacer mixed with 50mls water (and a pinch of turmeric for colour)

Sprinkle yeast onto warm (hand hot) oat milk and set aside for 10 minutes until it begins to foam.

Mix flour, sugar and xanthan gum in a bowl.

Rub in spread (like making crumble).

Pour in the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and bring together using a knife.

Knead lightly to form a smooth dough.

Cover and set aside for an hour until, it feels spongy to a light touch, and you've decided what to do with it!

Just to show how versatile one recipe can be, I used this basic mix to make some tasty (but not very pretty) croissants and pain au chocolate in time to take to Audley End on Sunday morning, soft rolls, breadsticks and churros (Spanish dipping doughnut type things). It's way past bedtime (especially as Mini Monster already sounding disturbed, I think it's going to be a rough night!), so I'll post the instructions another time.

Pain au Chocolat

Bread Sticks

Hot Chocolate and Churros