Gluten free ANZAC biscuits

 I made these gluten free ANZAC biscuits for ANZAC Day today to share with my gluten sensitive friends. The recipe is online here.

People who are sensitive to gluten also can’t eat oats either because of cross-contamination or a protein in the oats themselves. Some gluten free recipes replace the oats with quinoa flakes, which is a big no no for me. I was pleased to have found this recipe, which uses crushed gluten free cornflakes in place of oats.

These biscuits were really tasty, and smelled and had the general flavour of normal ANZAC biscuits. I would recommend this recipe as a gluten free alternative.

TWD - Mocha-Walnut Torte

 This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Mocha-Walnut Torte.

I didn’t have enough walnuts, so I used almonds instead. This worked out well, as I took it to a friend’s house for dessert and her husband has a walnut allergy.

I didn’t bother putting anything on top of my torte, but my friend served it with butterscotch and gingerbread icecream - yum. I loved the nutty interior of this cake.

To see what everyone else made this week and what hey thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

TWD - Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

 Today’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Cinnamon-Raisin Bread. This bread is super easy to make and smells heavenly when baking and cooling.

The raisins are soaked in water or tea. I soaked mixed fruit in Peach and Pineapple tea because - why not?

The cinnamon spiced dough is then made in a stand mixer, and the soaked raisins kneaded through the dough.

The dough is left to rise (it took mine ~ 90 minutes to double in size) before being shaped, put into a buttered loaf tin, and rising again for 45 minutes.

I glazed the top of my loaf with heated jam and sprinkled it with sugar before baking. Forty-five minutes later, you end up with a golden brown loaf that smells divine. 

Once cooled, the loaf can be sliced and enjoyed however you like:

To see what everyone else made this week and their thoughts on it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website. 

TWD - Lick The Pot Chocolate Pudding Pie

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Lick The Pot Chocolate Pudding Pie, so named because Dorie’s husband always licks the pot when she makes the chocolate pudding filling.

There’s nothing not to like here - a spiced biscuit crumb crust, chocolate pudding filling (containing 200g of chocolate!) and a marscapone cream topping.

It really is the kind of dessert you want to sink your teeth into with its smooth velvety filling and creamy topping.

To see what everyone else made this week and what they thought of it, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

For Valentine’s Day this year, I made decorated sugar cookies for the first time in a couple of years.  I wanted to make my cookies gluten free to share them with others, so I used this recipe.

I love how gluten free recipes have really stepped up in recent years. Once, there was a compromise on flavour or texture, or the need to use loads of different flours. Now, provided that you have a good gluten free flour mix and xantham gum, both of which are now readily available in supermarkets, the sky is the limit, and you can’t tell the difference between the gluten free versions and their glutinous counterparts.

 I used royal icing to decorate the cookies. Because I was worried about running out of icing, I outlined the cookies first and them flooded them, so the outlining dried and didn’t blend with the flooding. They are still pretty though, I think, and were appreciated by those I shared them with.

If you are looking for a good gluten free sugar cookie recipe, I can recommend the one that i used, linked to above.

TWD - Carrot Muffins

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is Carrot Muffins. These are not your average muffins in that there is quote a number of steps and ingredients that you probably don’t need to make muffins. That said, these muffins are delicious.

 I subbed date syrup for pomegranate molasses (because I had the former but not the latter), and for the dried fruit component, I used cranberries.

I recommend using your food processor if you have one to grate the carrots, because it saves an awful lot of time.

These muffins are attractive to look at and nice and moist to eat. They taste good, undoubtedly. However, they are a little fussier to make than your average muffins, so do bear that in mind if you decide to make them.

To see everyone’s bakes this week, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.

Bara Brith

For St David’s Day, the Welsh National Day, I made Nigella’s Bara Brith recipe. You can find it online here.

 You can mix up the flavours of the Bara Brith by using different dried fruits and different flavoured teas to soak the fruit in. While currants are a must, I went non-traditional with the rest of the fruit, using cranberries and dates. This was of necessity to use what I had rather than by design, but it turned out well.

You can butter the slices of Bara Brith as Nigella suggests, but I served it without, like any fruit cake.