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!).

Black Forest Cookies

Ages ago I ordered some flavoured icing sugars from Sugar and Crumb, then put them away somewhere and forgot about them. I rediscovered them yesterday while I was looking for something else. 

I thought the black cherry flavour would pair perfectly with the slightly wrinkled cherries in the fridge. You could make them with unflavoured icing sugar too for a more subtle flavour.

100g Dairy and Soya Free Spread

85g Black Cherry Flavoured Icing Sugar (or unflavoured icing sugar)

15g Golden Syrup

20g Cocoa Powder

130g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

20g Dark Chocolate Chips

120g Chopped Fresh Cherries (or a pack of dried sour cherries)

Put the spread, sugar and syrup in a bowl and whisk until pale and fluffy.

Whisk in the cocoa powder (I find this saves having to sieve it).

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined.

Place spoonfuls (or ice cream scoops) onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Flatten slightly and bake for 12-15mins at 180ºC.

Leave for a couple of minutes on the tray to firm up before moving to a cooling rack.