Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Gluten free, dairy free spice cookies and sesame crackers



Last weekend, I had the most wonderful time away with friends at Anglesea, along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.  It was gorgeous to leave behind all my cares and chores for a couple of days, and really just do - well, nothing.  We talked and watched TV and walked along the beach, and grocery shopping, cleaning, washing and vacuuming did not even enter my head.  Here is a view of Roadknight Beach at Anglesea:





Isn't it stunning?  The weather was just glorious on Saturday morning when we went for a walk along the beach, but turned to rain in the afternoon, so we turned to cooking TV for entertainment while the rain bucketed down outside.  Bliss!
As you can imagine, plenty of eating was also done.  Saturday morning was a highlight, with Sian making a bang up fry up breakfast of blueberry pancakes with honey, bacon and eggs.  It was fabulous!

One of my friends, Craig, is gluten and dairy intolerant, so I brought along a couple of treats that I baked to make sure he wouldn't miss out.  The first of those treats was the spice biscuits pictured at the top of this post - or the "nipple biscuits", as they became known.  The recipe came from the Fisher & Paykel website here.  These biscuits were very easy to make and tasty to boot - they would be particularly good at Christmas, when spice cookies are a given.  I used hazelnuts on top of my biscuits instead of almonds or walnuts, hence the reason for their "nipple" moniker.

I also made Craig these sesame crackers from Elana's Pantry:


They may not look like much, but they pack a punch - the sesame seeds make these crackers crunchy and flavoursome, and don't be tempted to add more salt - the recipe contains the perfect amount of salt.

Both of these treats were delicious, whether or not you have food intolerances.  I would definitely make them both again.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

How nice of you to bake special treats for your friend. They both look great, even for those who can eat whatever they want!

Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...

Oh, the spice cookie looks great...always excellent to have a gluten free recipe like this:)

Ivy said...

You are always so considerate with your friends. Although no one is non tolerant to gluten in my family, I would like trying to bake something gluten free yet. I wonder if these would work with rice flour and chickpea flour because I bought some recently and want to use them.

Conor @ Hold the Beef said...

Ooh, perfect recipe for someone on a low FODMAP diet too!!!

Love those exposed rock beaches, you never know what little treasures you might find in the puddles :)

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Lovely scenery pictures and it's sweet of you to make these for your friend! He must have really appreciated these thoughtful little treats :)

Amanda said...

It is always good to find tasty gluten free recipes - especially crackers. The cost of buying commercially made gluten free crackers is just that - crackers!

Anonymous said...

Both snacks look tasty! I'll definitely have to try the nipple cookies so I can see everyone's faces when I tell them what they're called!

Unknown said...

I have a great recipe for sesame cookies on my blog. You are right, they really do pack some delicious flavour. They go awesome with tea.
*kisses* HH

Johanna GGG said...

oh I loved going to Roadknight beach as a kid - haven't been there for too too long - such a lovely place to unwind

biscuits and crackers look good - did you use ground almonds or have you found almond flour (which I believe is drier and finer but have never seen it)

Cakelaw said...

Hi Johanna, I just used almond meal.

Nutmeg Nanny said...

Yum! With all the allergies that people suffer from nowadays these cookies are perfect!