Jam Tarts

Who doesn't like a jam tart? The problem with the free from ones is they either contain egg, or the few that are really milk, egg, wheat and soya free, contain nuts, making them instantly not suitable for packed lunch (school nut ban).

Key Stage 1 party tomorrow afternoon, with the usual helpful 24hours notice about what food I need to provide! Fortunately, this year, they helpfully suggested that rather than me providing food for 8 children (sausages/carrot sticks etc), I have only been asked to provide a plate of food for Mini Monster. Now I just need to figure out what the others will have and make sure he gets an equivalent…

Obviously, I've started with pudding...

Makes 12 tarts

200g Gluten/Wheat Free Plain Flour 

70g Hard vegetable fat (Stork(the hard one not the spreadable, which contains milk)/cookeen/trex)

5-6tbsp Dairy and soya free cream/milk substitute
Extra Fruit Jam, or Clearspring fruit spread for no added sugar ones

Put flour in bowl and rub in fat until resembles breadcrumbs.

Slowly mix in the milk substitute, using a blunt knife, until the mix begins to come together.

Kneed well.

Roll out thinly between 2 sheets of cling film (means you don't need to add extra flour and risk it drying out).

Cut rounds and place in a greased tart tin.

Fill with 1tspn fruit spread/jam.

Bake at 200ºC for 15-20mins.

Mini Fruit Strudels

My 7 year old is going to cooking club after school this term. They are not allowed to eat the food at school, which means forward planning to make sure Mini Monster has something similar. So far, we've had salad, fruit salad and chocolate chip cookies, which are all pretty straight forward, bit I know they have filo parcels coming up soon. I can cobble together pastry for jam tarts or a pie, but wheat free filo pastry? Not sure even I can manage that one!

I thought about just making thin pancakes, but knew it wouldn't be quite right. I almost feel this is cheating it was so easy, but then I wouldn't have made filo pastry either!

For 2

4 Rice Pancakes (for spring rolls - not spring roll wrappers which contain wheat)

3-4tbsp Stewed Fruit (I softened 1 apple and 3 apricots in a frying pan with vanilla paste and a little water - you don't want it too wet) 

3-4tbsp Wheat Free Bread/Cake Crumbs

1-2tsp sugar

Olive Oil (or other suitable oil)

Hot Water for softening Rice Pancakes

Caster Sugar to caramelise outside (optional)

Cook some suitable fruit and set aside to cool.

Put bread or cake crumbs in a frying pan with a little oil and sugar. Probably about a tsp of each.

Cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently until caramelised and crispy.

Add crumbs to fruit mixture.

I don't have pictures of dipping the pancakes, but dip them in a bowl of hot water for a few seconds until soft.

Put 2 softened pancakes onto an oiled worktop (or greaseproof paper makes for easier clearing up).

Place 2tbsp of fruit mix onto the pancake.

Fold in sides and roll up the pancake like a spring roll.

Repeat for remaining pancakes.

Fry in a little oil, turning frequently to brown all the way round.

If you want them caramelised, put a tsp of caster sugar in the pan (it should melt almost immediately) and toss them around in the caramel until covered.

Serve with suitable custard, cream or ice-cream.

Orange and Chocolate Drizzle Tart

My boys love looking through my BBC Good Food Magazine  and were particularly excited by the cover photo when this month's copy came through the door (subscription is a present from my lovely big brother). I still live in hope that one day they will stop at one of the savoury recipes and ask me to make that... Fortunately, there is always something in there that's easy to adapt to suit our milk, egg, wheat and soya free need.

My version on top of the magazine picture

This is basically just a tweak on the custard tart recipe, but, oh, so worth the effort. It was light and refreshing and very very tasty. There was enough pastry left over to make animal biscuits to restock the sadly neglected biscuit tin too. Both boys particularly liked the filling, so I plan to make more for packed lunch pots (orange panna cotta…). 

Pastry

25g White Veg Shortening (Trex/Cookeen)

100g Dairy and Soya Free Spread ('Pure' Sunflower/Vitalite)

80g Sugar

20g Golden Syrup 

60ml Dairy and Soya Free Cream (Oat/Almond/Rice)

210g Wheat Free Plain Flour (or Plain flour if don't need to be wheat free)

45g Cocoa Powder

35g Wheat Free Self Raising Flour

Filling

1 tbsp Custard Powder (can use all corn flour, but will be lighter in colour)

3 tbsp  Corn Flour

Juice and zest of 2 oranges (or 200mls fresh orange juice)

1tsp orange flower water (optional)

2 tbsp sugar

200mls Dairy and Soya Free Cream (Oat/Almond/Rice)

300mls Milk Substitute

4 leaves gelatine (or equivalent veggie gel - follow instructions on pack)

Sauce

45g Dairy and Soya Free Chocolate (I use Mortimer's powder as dissolves easily)

1 tbsp Golden Syrup

50-100mls Dairy and Soya Free Cream (Oat/Almond/Rice)

I used a round 20cm loose bottom tin to make this in. The deepness of the filling was good, but the straight edges of the tin make it difficult to line with pastry. One with sloped sides would probably be easier with fragile wheat free pastry, but fortunately, even with patching up and cracking in the oven (as you can see in the picture), the filling is thick enough not to leak out.

Pastry:

Put the shortening, spread, sugar, 'cream' and syrup in a bowl .

Whisk until light and fluffy.

Add the cocoa powder and flour.

Fold in the flour with a spatula or wooden spoon until mostly combined.

Kneed lightly until smooth.

Roll out to about 3-5mm (depending how thick you want your pastry). Doing it under cling film means it doesn't stick and reduces risk of cross contamination from rolling pin.

Line your tart tin with the pastry.

Patch up any gaps or tears.

Trim the top using the back of a knife.

Blind bake for about 10 mins at 200ºC to stop the base puffing up (wet a piece of greaseproof paper and scrunch it up, put it in the pie crust and fill with baking beans/rice/dry beans etc).

Remove greaseproof paper and baking beans and bake for a further 15mins, or until dried out (Don't worry if it cracks).

Leave to cool while you make the filling.

Filling:
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 10 mins, or until soft.

Meanwhile, put the orange juice and milk substitute in a pan and heat gently.

Mix the cornflour, custard powder, sugar and a little water to form a smooth paste.

Add to the warmed liquid, mixing well all the time.

Continue to heat, mixing constantly, until boiled and thick.

Remove the softened gelatine from the water and stir into the hot orange custard until dissolved.

Add the zest and 'cream' (and orange flower water, if using) and mix well.

Pour into the pie crust and leave to set (I left mine in the fridge overnight).

Sauce:

Bring the 'cream' and syrup to a boil (I used a microwave).

Stir in the chocolate until dissolved and well combined.

Drizzle some onto the top of the tart and serve the rest warmed in a jug to pour over.

Great British Bake Off Challenge - Week 4 - Custard Tarts

Finally, after 4 weeks of our Milk, Egg, Wheat and Soya Free Challenge, the nice people at The Great British Bake Off have given us a slightly easier technical challenge! Not sure how Gemma from Iced Gem Bakes is getting on this week though, go and check out her blog here. 

On my first go, this amount made 12, but next time I did it, I wanted them to be deeper. There was enough for 6 muffin tin sized ones and a tray of sunflower biscuits.

On my first attempt I just used a thick custard, with a little gelatine to give it a better line when cut. But then it didn't have the smooth top of a real custard tart so I had another go with a panna cotta type filling. Much better than thick custard as even has the slight 'wobble' of the real thing.

We're lucky that at home we don't need to be nut free (shame can't say same for school, preschool or childminder as it's a great source of protein that Mini Monster doesn't react to) and I love the taste of a custard made with the Almond cream in a cold tart (used it for the fruit tarts for afternoon tea, posted some time in July...), but works equally well with Oat cream, which is my default custard cream. Not actually tried the rice cream yet, but it is becoming more readily available.

Pastry

175g Wheat Free Plain Flour (can use ordinary plain flour if you don't need wheat free, as original recipe was not wheat free) 

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

65g Dairy and Soya Free Spread (Pure/Vitalite)

30g Sugar (I used soft brown to give pastry a bit more colour)

2tbsp Dairy and Soya Free Cream (Oat, Almond or Rice Cream) or Milk Substitute (but this gives slightly tougher pastry)

2tbsp Golden Syrup
1/2 tsp Vanilla Paste (or extract)

Put dry ingredients in a bowl.

Rub in dairy and soya free spread and vanilla.

Add syrup and 'cream' and mix with a blunt knife until it comes together.

Kneed lightly, and roll out on a floured surface.

Cut rounds slightly larger than the dips in the tin you are using.

Gently press into the greased tin.

Bake at 180ºC for about 12-15 mins, until they are just beginning to colour and coming away from the sides of the tin.

To stop the pastry going soft, brush the insides with apricot jam while still warm (or, I brushed with gelatine - 1 sheet soaked in water for 10 mins, drain, microwave for 10 seconds until dissolved, brush generously over inside of pastry cases.)

Custard
1tbsp Custard Powder
1tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Paste
200mls Milk Substitute
200mls Dairy and Soya Free Cream (Almond, Oat or Rice)
4 Leaves of Gelatine (soaked in water for 10 minutes) or 2 Sachets of Veg Gel if need to be vegan
Grated Nutmeg

Mix custard powder, vanilla, sugar and some grated nutmeg (depends how strong you like the taste, I used about 1/4 tsp - better to use less if you're not sure and adjust taste by grating on top if not strong enough flavour in custard) to a paste with a little of the milk substitute (if using Veg Gel, needs to be added at this stage - follow instructions on box).

Add rest of milk substitute and heat gently, stirring constantly until boiling and beginning to thicken (or bung in microwave for 1 minute, stir and microwave again for 1 1/2 - 2 mins until boiled.).

Add Gelatine (if using) and stir until dissolved.

Mix in the cream.

Carefully pour into the pastry cases. Pop any bubbles on the surface.

Grate on a little more nutmeg and put in fridge to set (at least 3 hours).

Great British Bake Off Challenge - Week 3 - Floating Islands

Great British Bake Off Challenge - Week 2 - English Muffins

Great British Bake Off Challenge - Week 1 - Angel Food Cake

Mince Pies

I did find a pack of Milk, Egg, Wheat and Soya free mince pies at the health food shop in Stortford a few weeks ago, but they are no longer available (although I did see them in Cambridge last Wednesday in the health food shop opposite Lakeland). As seems to be the case with many seasonal free from foods, they only produce a small amount and when they 
sell out, that's it for another year. 

Just in case you want to hunt them out yourself, this is the box with ingredients on the back. (Sorry, not nut free)


























If you can't get them now, or you want to have a go yourself...

I do know a good recipe though.

This pastry is fab, not gluten free, with the addition of barley flour, but it gives a lovely colour and texture to the pastry. If you need gluten free as well as wheat free, just substitiute the barley flour for another 1/2 cup of wheat free plain flour.

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

125g Vegetable Shortening (Trex/Cookeen) - you can use all spread, but wouldn't be so crispy

1/3 cup (75g) Caster Sugar

1/2 cup (60g) Barley Flour

2 cups (330g) Wheat Free White Bread Flour (or Wheat Free Plain Flour, plus 2tsp Xanthan gum)

1 tsp Vanilla paste 

1/2 jar Mincemeat (if like me you find it too sweet, try grating in an apple or adding chopped frozen cranberries)

Whisk Sugar, Vanilla, Shortening and Spread until light and fluffy.

Stir in flour.

Kneed gently and shape into a ball. Cover and chill for 20-30 minutes.

Roll out 2/3 of the mix to 5mm (will be too crumbly if too thin).

Cut circles to fit a greased shallow bun tin (muffin tin will be too deep).

Fill each case with 1tsp of mincemeat.

Roll out remaining 1/3 pastry and cut circles/stars/snowflakes for lids. Moisten edges with a little milk substitute before sticking on lids. You can also wipe tops with milk substitute and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Bake at 200ºC for about 20mins, or until golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin for a minute before carefully removing them and cooling on a wire rack.

This pastry also makes great apple pie...