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)

English Muffins (2017 version)

Not quite sure why it's so long since I last made muffins. Buoyed on by by watching Junior Bake Off, Mini Monster wanted something he could make by himself. He managed to make 6 English muffins from my old recipe (done just after he went wheat free). They were great, if a little wet inside, but had all been finished by mid afternoon. So much for having some for this weeks packed lunch! 

My expertise in MEWS free baking has come a long way since those days, so I set about making a second batch with a few tweaks (these did make it to packed lunches, but only because I split and froze some to take out as needed).

These were left under the grill a little longer than I intended...

The pictures don't quite match up with the method as some were taken while Mini Monster was making the first batch with oil, I haven't missed something from the ingredients!

300mls Milk Substitute

100mls Boiling Water

2tsp (1 sachet) Dried Yeast

300g Gluten Free White Bread Flour

60g Dairy & Soya Free Margarine (I used hard Stork that had been left out to soften, but spread would work too)

Polenta (or ground rice) for lining the tray/tins

Mix milk substitute and water in a jug or bowl. Sprinkle on the yeast, stir and set aside for 15 mins to froth.

Ignore the jug of oil, this was the first batch of the day!

Put flour into a bowl, add frothed yeast mixture and beat until a smooth thick batter is formed.

Cover and set aside for 30-40 mins until dough has expanded in size (may not double). This stage is not essential, but as a bread baker pre kids, I always preferred a double rise (think I just do it for psychological reasons now!).

Grease a tray and the inside of 6 baking rings. Sprinkle on polenta to cover evenly.

Add the soft margarine to the dough and beat again with the whisk until evenly incorporated.

Ladle the mixture into the prepared rings. Cover with greased cling film and allow to rise until just below the top of the ring.

Bake at 190ºc for 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins are just coming away from the edges of the tins.

Remove from tins and place on a cooling rack.

Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Feel like I'm cheating a bit posting a variation of someone else's free from recipe, but after Laurna posted this recipe (useful way to sneak in avocado in her version too!) on Twitter recently, it's been a useful emergency muffin recipe. 

I'm in London most of this week on a course, and trying to prepare some easy meals and snacks. I had 2 overripe bananas in the fruit bowl, so rather than coming home to 2 rotten bananas in the fruit bowl, I whipped up another batch of these. 

2 Ripe Bananas

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup milk substitute

100ml pot fruit puree
2 cups Gluten Free Plain Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1tsp cinnamon

1/4cup Caster Sugar

1tsp vinegar
Dairy & Soya Free chocolate chips/buttons or chunks (I used about 40g cut into chunks for these)
You can add additional chopped fruit too.

Add bananas (broken into pieces), oil, milk substitute and fruit puree to a bowl.

Blend until smooth (or just mash the banana).

Add all the other ingredients and mix well.

Put into muffin cases (about 10), or a greased muffin tin.

Bake at 180ºc for 25mins.