Porridge Pancakes

Well, not really anything to do with porridge, except for the containing oats bit. These are more a cross between Pikelets (yeasted pancakes) and Staffordshire oatcakes.

We had sweet toppings today, but they also work really well with savoury toppings too.

I topped mine with fresh peach, frozen berries, coconut milk yogurt and chocolate sauce.

L went for the classic lemon and sugar, M drowned his in maple syrup. 

1 1/2 Cups Gluten Free Plain Flour (I used Dove's Farm White Bread Flour, you may need to adjust fluid for different blends)

1 cup Gluten Free Oats

1tsp Dried Yeast

3 Cups Milk Substitute (plus 1/4 cup)

Put dry ingredients in a bowl.

Mix in milk substitute with a balloon whisk.

Cover and leave in fridge over night.

Stir in extra milk substitute.

Heat a lightly oiled skillet or frying pan on medium heat.

Pour in 1/2 cup of mix and leave until bubbles formed and top beginning to set.

Flip over and brown lightly on other side.

Repeat until all mix used up. Mine made 8 about 6 inches across.

Sticky Gooey Chocolate Marshmallow Sandwiches - Smores(ish)

After a recent trip to Scotland where I introduced the boys to the joy of toasting marshmallows over a fire, we've been using more at home.

L, whose never been bothered by his allergies before, came home from Cubs a bit upset as they'd made Smores one evening. Had they told me in advance I would have sent in safe biscuits, chocolate and marshmallows so he could be included, but when he'd joined a few weeks earlier, they told me they don't do a snack while the boys are there. I've asked them to let me know when there are exceptions again!

Having just come home to an empty biscuit tin after a chilly winter walk, I thought I'd try our own variation...

Cinnamon Cookies (You could skip this step and use any suitable biscuits, I would have used Free From digestives but have run out)

100g Dairy and Soya Free Spread

100g Soft Brown Sugar

1tbsp Golden Syrup

1tsp Vanilla Paste (or extract)

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

150g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

*Apologies for lack of images, my App crashed overtime I tried to upload more

Whisk all ingredients, except flour, together until light and fluffy.

Add flour and whisk again until well combined.

Place scoops of mixture onto a lined baking sheet.

Bake at 180ºC for 12mins.

Leave on tray to cool for a few minuted before moving as very soft.

Cool until easy to handle

Assembly

Top the base of a cookie with marshmallows (I used sliced giant ones) and suitable chocolate.

Repeat for number you are making.

Put back in oven for 1-2minutes, until chocolate is melted (but still holding it's shape) and marshmallows squishy.

Top with another cookie.

Leave to cool slightly or warm cookie will crumble.

Serve on a plate to grateful children...

Flapjack Fingers

My usual packed lunch flapjacks are low in fat and sugar and have loads of fresh fruit added, but spotted this recipe yesterday and thought I'd make something a little different for the holidays (I'm also taking advantage of being able to add nuts, but these are optional). I hate shop bought pre packed flapjacks that are soft and doughy, almost like uncooked mix. To me, they should be crispy and taste like the ones I grew up with.

These have 30g of Nutribrex too as I didn't quite have enough oats left!

I sort of followed this recipe, but made a smaller quantity and reduced the sugar a little, oh, and cooked them for longer, because 20 minutes was never going to be enough!

150g Dairy and Soya Free margarine

80g Soft Brown Sugar

90g Golden Syrup

300g Oats

nuts/seeds/dried fruit/chocolate chips

Melt margarine, sugar and syrup together in a bowl in the microwave.

Stir in oats and fruit, seeds etc.

Tip into a lined tin (mine is 25cm x 18cm)

Press down with the back of a spoon.

Bake at 180ºc for 30-35 mins.

Cut into 16 fingers while still warm and leave to cool in the tin.

Tudor Gingerbread

Hello. I'm in year 6 and my topic is The Tudors. This week for my homework I had to choose and make a Tudor recipe. I chose this one for Tudor Gingerbread.

                                                                                                                                                                

Ingredients:

225g of breadcrumbs

125g of butter (melted) - we used dairy and soya free margarine

50g of honey

1/2 tablespoon of ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

Melt Margarine and honey

Grind black peppercorns

1. Mix the spices and the breadcrumbs together.

2. Pour the melted butter and honey into the breadcrumbs.

3. Stir it together.

4. Tip it into a lined tin.
5. Then flatten it out with the back of a spoon.
6. Chill in the fridge for one hour.

Blueberry and Apple Scones

I got a lift home from work today so had time to whip up some scones quickly for an afternoon snack before collecting the boys. After eating these, M (my non-wheat free son) announced "Best. Scones. Ever!", so I'm guessing they were good.

Today I used my normal recipe (120g flour), but ended up with a mix that was too wet and had to add some more flour. I was using Sainsbury's Gluten Free Self Raising Flour today, but usually use Orgran, be aware that different GF flour blends need different quantities of fluid. 

Scone mix doesn't like to be overworked, so it's better to have a little less flour and end up with too wet mix, adding more flour if necessary, then to have a too dry mix and try adding more fluid. Of course, it could be the extra wetness from the grated apple too...

150g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

1/2tsp Baking Powder

50g Hard Dairy and Soya Free Margarine (e.g. Stork Block) - cut into cubes

30mls Milk Substitute

100g Apple or Pear Puree

1 Apple (grated)

1/2 - 1 cup Blueberries

Extra Flour and Milk Substitute for kneading & glazing

Put flour, baking powder and margarine in a bowl, rub in with your fingers until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with a blunt knife until it all comes together.

If it looks too sticky, sprinkle extra flour round edges of bowl and lightly kneed together to form a ball.

Tip onto work surface (or straight onto oiled tray) and lightly shape into a circle about 4cm high (gluten free scones don't rise much more during baking, so make them about the thickness you want you finished scones to be).

Glaze the top with a little milk substitute (I put a splash into the container from the fruit puree and mix with whats left in there).

Cut into 8 and place on baking tray.

Bake at 220ºC for 15 minutes.

Cool slightly on a wire rack before eating.

These were the ones I made on the Friday when I started to write it up!

This was from the batch I did today (always good to check recipe works!)

Wanted to try to show the fluffy scone like texture inside
as often gluten free ones are very dry.

Summer Berry Buns

It's the end of the weekend and I have berries that will be considered too 'past it' for packed lunches tomorrow, so I'm popping them into mini cakes instead.

This is adapted from a cake recipe we have on the back of the diet sheet we give to new patients, but for these I cut down the sugar (the fruit will sweeten them enough) and added ground almonds to make them more like a friand.

175g Wheat Free Self Raising Flour

50g Ground Almonds

1/4tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

45g Dairy and Soya Free Spread

45g Caster Sugar

160mls Milk Substitute

1tsp Vinegar or Lemon Juice

1/2tsp Vanilla Paste or Extract

1 cup Chopped Fresh or Frozen Berries

Melt spread, sugar together in a bowl.

Stir in milk substitute, vanilla, vinegar/lemon juice and set aside.

Weigh out flour and ground almonds into another bowl and stir in the bicarb.

Pour in the liquid to mix to give a smooth batter.

Add the berries and fold in.

Spoon the mixture into a greased bun or muffin tin and bake at 190ºC for 18-20mins.

I have a round base bun tin and turn them over to cool (to hide the cracked tops)

Waffle Biscuits

I like to keep recipes as simple as possible for people who are new to baking, so I've stripped down my usual waffle recipe even further to make these crunchy, crispy biscuits. Perfect with ice cream or as a snack on their own.

I've been after a proper cast iron Krumkake pan for years, but second hand ones are rare and new they are only available in Scandanavia/Holland and are expensive to ship. When I spotted this in Lakeland a few weeks ago at quarter of the price I had seen them at before, I couldn't resist.

I added spices to these, but it can easily be left out for a plainer biscuit. I might try a savour cracker too.

Made 24

1 Cup Gluten Free Self Raising Flour (or plain flour, plus 1tsp Baking Powder)

1tbsp Caster Sugar

1 1/2tbsp Vegetable Oil

1/2tsp Vanilla Paste (or extract)

1/2 - 1tsp Mixed Spice (optional)

1 Cup Milk Substitute

Heat waffle press on a medium heat.

Put flour, sugar, oil, vanilla and spice in a bowl.

Pour in the milk substitute.

Gradually mix to a smooth batter with a balloon whisk.

Place 1 tablespoon of batter into the centre of a hot waffle cone press.

Close lid to flatten. Flip pan over after 1-2 minutes.

After a minute on the other side open to check colour.

Keep turning frequently until desired colour reached and crisp when removed.

If they colour too quickly, turn down the heat.

Leave to cool (unless, like me you have boys eating them as soon as they go on the plate!)

Will stay crisp in a tin for upto a week (I only know this as one of the cones I made last week got forgotten about, then we went away and Mini Monster found it still crispy last night!).