Twice as Nice...1 ingredient, 2 ways. Edition 1: Pastry

Another new feature I've dragged out for the depths of my imagination (which, judging by my groundbreaking titles is more like a puddle than a never ending abyss of creativeness).
As you probably gathered from the highly innovative concept, each edition will feature one ingredient used two different ways. The two recipes featured here came about after I was sent the Dietary Specials new recipe Shortcrust Pastry.
I must preface this now by saying this is NOT a sponsored post, I just really love this product. In fact I'd go so far as to say its probably in my top three of favourite gluten-free products ever. Not only because it tastes great, but because it saves me from the colossal ball-ache of making pastry from scratch. Plus you can freeze it until you need it. AND you can roll it out without the whole lot falling apart and sticking to the rolling pin, making you want to throw yourself on the floor in a grown woman tantrum. In short, I am a slut for this pastry.
The first recipe is one that I created when trying desperately to think of something with strawberries in as my recipe that could be made for a Breast Cancer Care Strawberry Tea Party. I wanted something (other than the run of the mill cupcakes) that anyone hosting a party might fancy rustling up.
I don't like to blow my own trumpet, but this recipe is one of my most genius ideas to date. Not genius in a MENSA kind of way, but ye gads its ruddy bloomin' scrummy.
I'll be honest and say the strawberry curd is a wee bit of arsing around, but I promise its so very worth it that it could be sponsered by Loreal.
The second recipe is for a sweet onion tart adapted from an ancient recipe I picked up in Waitrose when I was at uni in Sheffield.
Tarts and quiches with a bit of salad are so nice this time of year around the end of summer and unless your Mrs or Mr Cast Iron Guts you'll never eat a whole tart all at once, so you can pop it in your lunchbox or have it warm for your tea the next day. Economic, no? George Osbourne could learn a thing or two from me.Fact.

 Ingredients

• Nice big wedge of butter (around 25g)
• 2 Large red onions
• 1 Large white onion
• 200g Dietary Specials Shortcrust Pastry (take out a few hours in advance to defrost)
• 330ml Creme fraiche (go lite if your counting the cals)
• 3 Eggs (I use free-range)
• Generous pinch of nutmeg
• 15-20g Chives
• 150 Cheese (Emmental is ideal, but a mild Cheddar works just as well)

 Extras

• Quiche or flan tin
• Rolling pin
• Small sprinkle of plain flour for dusting
• Baking beans or something to weigh down the parchment during blind baking

Method

• Throw the butter to melt in a nice big frying pan. Get a sharp knife (mind fingers!) and chop the white onion up finely, then slice the red onions up thinly. Pop the lot in the pan and cook gently over a low heat for around 30-40mins. Give them a stir every now and then. 
• When the onions are soft and starting to go all lovely and caramelised take the pan off the heat and set it aside to cool.
• Whack your oven up to gas 5. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out your pastry and use to line your tart tin. Use a bit of parchment to line the pastry and pop in a few baking beans or some rice and blind bake for 10mins.
• Take the tin from the oven and take out the parchment and baking beans and pop the back in the oven for 5minutes, it should colour slightly.
• Get yourself a big ol' bowl and pop in the creme fraiche, eggs and the pinch of nutmeg. Use a pair of scissors snip the chives into the bowl, season everything with salt and pepper and spoon in the cooked onions and around half of the cheese. Make sure everything is mixed thoroughly and pour the lot into the pastry case and scatter over the rest of the cheese.
• Return the filled pastry case to the oven and bake until golden and set and the mixture no longer has a wobble. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5minutes before you eat it or tuck in when its cold. Grab a fork, a glass of Chablis and tuck in.Yummers.

   Ingredients

• 250g Strawberries
• 150g Caster sugar
• 2 Eggs and 2 egg whites (I use free-range)
• 60g Butter
• 200g Dietary Specials Shortcrust Pastry (take out of the freezer in time to defrost)

    Extras

• Electric whisk
• Tart/flan tin
• Baking parchment
• Baking beans or rice/lentils
• Rolling pin

     Method

• Crank your oven up to gas 5. Lightly flour your worktop and get to work kneading the pastry for a few minutes and then roll out using a floured rolling pin. Line a tart/flan tin with the pastry and then line the pastry with some baking parchment and throw in the baking beans or rice.
• Pop the pastry in the oven. After around 10mins take it out and remove the parchment and beans and return it to the oven for another 5-7mins. It should be slightly browned but not drastically different in colour. Leave somewhere to cool while you get on with the curd.
• Lop your strawberries tops off and halve them, popping them in a decent sized pan with a few tbsp's of cold water over a medium heat.
• Keep the pan at a simmer for 5minutes or until your strawb's are soft. Transfer the strawb's from the pan into a sieve over a clean bowl (must be heatproof) using a slotted spoon. 
• Get yourself a metal spoon and push your strawb's through the sieve. Add the pulp to the strained strawb syrup left in the pan. 
• Next you need to make yourself a Bain-Marie which is a beyond preposterous way of saying 'bowl over pan of water'. You will need a bowl that fits into your pan without touching the cm or two of water that's in the bottom. 
• Bring the water to a simmer over a medium heat and add 50g of sugar, the eggs (beaten before hand) and butter to the bowl and give it all a proper good stir and keep stirring gently and continuously for about 10minutes.
• Crank the heat up and keeping stirring for another 8-10minutes.Stirring, I know, can get beyond boring...don't be tempted to stop because it will curdle and then you'll be so vexed you'll throw the lot at the wall.
• When the mixture starts to thicken, take off the heat and pour immediately into the pastry case and set aside while you make the meringue.
• Get yourself an OCD clean bowl and make sure your whisk is spanking clean too (any grease etc will stop the meringue from rising, and if you stopped stirring when I told you not to with the curd, your already going to be cross without flat meringues).
• Separate your remaining eggs and plop the whites into the bowl. Using an electric whisk (or a hand whisk if your a martyr to the cause) beat the eggs whites on a medium speed until stiff and foamy. 
• Add a tbsp at a time of the remaining 100g of sugar and continue to whisk it all until the meringue is very stiff, white and glossy. You can  risk it for a biscuit and try the old 'bowl over the head' trick if you want, but if its forming peaks I'd pass on the biscuit risking!
• Spoon the meringue over the curd in the pastry case, make sure you can't see any of the curd.
• Pop back in the oven for 8-10minutes, the meringue should be slightly golden on top. Leave for a few minutes to cool before eating, or gobble it down directly from the oven and burn your entire digestive tract. Claim ownership over this recipe when people tell you how tummy gurgling awesome it is...I'll let you just this one time.

Ludicrously Lovely Lemon Syrup Cake

 

We all know by now that I am a total lemon slut. I love anything with/near/like lemon and as a result I perhaps post more lemon recipes than any other. I had promised that I wouldn't do anymore lemon containing recipes for a while, but after I converted this one from the The Hummingbird Bakery book I knew it was far too yummy not to post it on here (despite it being a doppelganger of one I posted last year) 

The original recipe contains poppy seeds, but since I neither like poppy seeds nor had any in my house at the time the recipe is without them, but if you fancy popping them in I'll give the measurements for them. 

Handily my mother had squirreled away a bagel shaped baking tin which the recipe uses but feel free to use any shaped tin of the same dimensions. I often get asked what products I use so in the brackets are the types of ingredients and the brands that I use (where applicable).

Ingredients

• 90g Butter (take it out the fridge 10minutes before you start baking to let it soften)
• 250g Caster sugar
• 3 Large egg whites (Free Range)
• 170ml Milk-whole or semi skimmed
• Grated zest of two small lemons
• 240g Plain Flour (Doves Farm)
• 2 Tsp's Gluten-free baking powder  (Dr Oetkar)
• 1/2 Tsp Xanthan gum (Doves Farm)
• 1/2 Table salt
• 20g Poppy seeds if you choose to add them

Lemon Syrup

• Zest and juice of one large lemon
• 50g Caster Sugar

I used a lemon glaze but if the thought of all that sugar is setting your teeth on edge rest assured the lemon syrup is plenty to keep the sponge from drying out. Below are the amounts for the glaze.

Lemon Glaze

• Juice from one large lemon
• 250g Icing sugar

Extras

• Ring mould (24cm) or the equivalent
• Food mixer
• Whisk (hand or electric)
• Saucepan

Method

• Pop the oven on at Gas mark 3 and get down to greasing and flouring your baking tin. It's far too much of a ball ache to line with baking parchment especially if your using a ring tin.
• In you food mixer throw in the butter, sugar, lemon zest and the poppy seeds if your including them. Give it all a big whizz together until its well mixed.
• Add the milk a wee bit at a time with the mixer still running, until the whole lot is well mixed. At this point it may slightly split, but don't panic this will be remedied soon.
• In a large bowl sift in your flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt and give it all a big stir.
• Next add the flour mix into the butter, add a few heaped tablespoons at a time, making sure its all well mixed and combined. Keep mixing until the mixture goes from split to fluffy. (Told you not to panic!)
• In another bowl separate your egg whites and if your pathetic like me whisk with an electric whisk, if your made of hardier stuff have a go with a hand whisk. You need the whites to be stiff peaks and shiny.
• Stiffened and peaked, spoon the whites into the cake mix (I like to tip the cake mix into a separate bowl or the paddle gets in the way and hinders the white folding process) and fold them into the mixture, you don't want to fanny around to much folding them in but don't overdo it either because you don't want the mixture over mixed.
• Pour or spoon the combined mixture into your tin, give the sides of the tin a bang with the heel of your hand and this should level out the mixture. 
• Pop it in the oven for around 30-40 minutes.
• While the sponge is baking away you can get on with other things like making the glaze and syrup. 
• First the syrup. Put all the syrup ingredients into a small saucepan with 100ml's of water and over a low heat bring to the boil. Your looking to reduce the mixture by half, so once its reached boiling point turn the heat up a bit more. Your aiming for a thin syrup consistency, (too thick and it won't pour well). Set aside until the cake is baked.
• The sponge will rise but will stay pale maybe going slightly golden on top. Use the poke test and insert a knife or skewer in, if it comes away clean your good to go, with mixture on, it needs a few more minutes. The sponge should be firm and bounce back when you prod it.
• Leaving the sponge in the tin for a moment, pour the syrup all over the top of the cake. Leave the cake to cool for a few minutes or so and then turn it out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Or at least until you won't risk third degree burns to your throat eating it.
• To distract yourself from the maddening smell and to resist diving head first into the cake get on with making the glaze.
• In a small bowl mix the icing sugar and lemon juice until its lump free, smooth and pourable. If you find it's too thick to pour add a little bit of water, if it's too thin add more icing sugar, you know the drill. 
• Cool and ready for glazing, pop the cake on a stand or plate and drizzle with the glaze. You can throw a few poppy seeds over it for decoration at this point if you fancy.
• Of a generous nature? Cut into slices and serve to friends and family. Greedy? Run for the hills with your lemon delight and don't look back. I said don't look back!

Oopsy Daisy Upside Down Apple Cake

After you've finished yakking after reading my vom worthy 'Daddy Cool' post I thought you might like to indulge in a yummy-o, calorific Apple Upside Down Cake (the point being you turn the cake upside down,not eat it whilst upside down...but you knew that already).
I wouldn't have ever attempted an upside down anything due to my innate ability to pretty much drop anything I pick up, but my Dad found it while flicking though my new Rachel Allen cook book (a barginlicious £5 from W H Smith) and I had promised him a dessert of his choice for Fathers Day and this was what he chose, and blow me if it didn't actually come out pretty much perfectly! I refuse to revel silently in my success since nothing ever really goes exactly how I want it when I make it!

Ingredients

• 3 Eating apples (I used Pink Ladies,cos I like the name and the stickers on them)
• 250g Light brown sugar (you could use caster sugar but the darker sugar works well with the apple and the cinnamon)
• 50g Butter
• 200g Plain Flour (Doves Farm as per usual)
• 2 Large eggs
• 3 fl oz Sunflower Oil (veg oil would also do,but not olive oil-too strong in taste)
• 1 tsp G/F baking powder (I use Dr Oetker)
• 1/2 Salt
• A generous pinch of bicarbonate of soda (Dr Oekter again)
• A nice big heaped tsp pf cinnamon
• 7 fl oz Buttermilk

Extras

• You can make this in a largish oven proof frying pan (around 10inches across) or you can use a Pyrex dish as I did. (I'll give instructions for both methods)
• Sieve

Method

• Whack your oven up to Gas 4.
• While the oven warms you can get on with melting your butter over a gentle heat in a frying pan. Once its melted add in half the sugar giving it a good old stir and cook the mixture of a low heat for around 2-3 minutes. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the sugar. Burnt sugar on a pan is a pain in the arse to get off.
• Slice your apples to a decent thickness and add into the pan. If your cooking your cake in your frying pan, set to the side while you get on with making your cake mix. If your using a dish spoon the toffee/apple mix evenly over the bottom of your dish and set aside.
• Sieve your flour, baking powder, bicarb, cinnamon and salt together into a big bowl and give it a quick stir. 
• In a separate bowl crack in your eggs and whisk with a fork. Add in the buttermilk, the rest of the sugar and the oil, giving it all a proper good stir to combine.
• Pour the egg/buttermilk mix in with your dry ingredients, give it some welly and stir until you have a smooth cake mix. Don't worry if there's a lump or two here and there. Raymond Blanc isn't coming to tea.
• Pour the cake mix over the apples (whether in a pan or dish) and pop your pan/dish in the oven for around 30minutes or until the cake has turned golden and is firm to touch.
• When it's cooked, take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool. As it cools it will start to come away from the sides of the dish/pan.
• Now for the utterly terrifying bit. Find yourself a big plate and place (face down) over the frying pan/dish and flip the pan/dish and plate over quickly and in one motion if possible. If the cake doesn't quite come away, leave the dish upside over the plate, it will start to suction away after a few seconds.
• If like my Dad and I you can't wait and are willing to risk third degree burns to your gullet tuck in. It's also yummy a bit cooler with a drop of cream (I don't even know why I said that since I hate cream on puddings). 
• Take to Twitter and tell the world you have successfully completed an upside down cake.Back of the net.

Lovely Lemon Macarons (Are you on Team Macaron?)

 So here we go a lovely gluten free macaroon recipe you can get your teeth into. Make sure you make these on a day when you have no appointments/things to do/people to see/sleep to be had. The times I've had to ring up and cancel appointments because my macaron's aren't ready..
The original recipe is gluten-free anyway, but I couldn't resist twiddling with the recipe and changing the lemon curd around so I could use my own recipe for it.

  
Ingredients

• 2 Large eggs (I always use free range, chickens have feelings to y'know)
• 60g Ground almonds
• 110g Confectioners sugar  (icing sugar to you and me)
• 20g Superfine white sugar
• 1 Tbsp of lemon juice
• Yellow food colouring (optional)

For the lemon curd

• 50g Butter
• 1 Large egg
• 2 Heaped tbsp of cornflour or potato flour
• Zest and juice of a nice big chunky lemon
• 50g Caster sugar

Extras

• Saucepan
• Piping bag and nozzles
• Hand whisk

Method

• Make your lemon curd first then you can let it cool and forget about it until you need it later. Whisk the egg in a small pan, add the rest of the ingredients and whisk over a medium heat for about 3-4 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. When it reaches this stage turn the heat down to the lowest heat and simmer for about a minute. Take off the heat and let it cool and then pop in the fridge.
• Pop the oven up to gas mark 5. You need to finely grind your almonds and icing sugar together, so whack them in a blender together and whizz up until the mixture is fine enough to strain. Next strain over a baking tray lined with parchment and cook for 5-7 minutes and take it out to cool.
• Separate your eggs and plop the whites in a big bowl and whisk into peaks with your hand whisk or by hand if your Iron Man. 
• Gradually add the superfine sugar a bit at a time whilst still whisking on a fairly fast speed. At this stage you can add your lemon juice and your food colouring if you want to add it, it just makes the mixture nice and yellow and lemony looking.Obviously.
• Fold your cooled almond and sugar mixture into the egg white mix until nicely combined.
• Spoon the mixture into your icing bag (you'll need a fairly wide nozzle, big enough to make small(ish) circles). Pipe your macarons mix onto a baking sheet with fresh parchment and let it stand for an hour somewhere nice and dry away from tiny hands, nosey boyfriends and clumsy cats, until the macarons have started to form a crust on the tops.
• Pop in the oven for 10-12minutes. Once cooked let them cool and then gently (and I mean gently because after all this faffing your going to scream the house down if you break them by being a clumsy oaf) remove them from the tray and leave to cool completely on a baking tray.
• Next you can sandwich the macarons together with the lemon curd you made about 36 hours ago.  Spread the curd carefully over a macaroon and sandwich another on top. Pop them in the fridge for another hour before you dish them out to family and friends. Cupcakes not looking so bad now, huh?

Cracking Good Crepes

A lot of peoples prevailing idea of gluten-free food is that it tastes profoundly different from non gluten-free food. This is another one of those recipes where I dare any non gluten freer to taste the difference. The original recipe is from the February issue of Delicious magazine and I've tweaked it here and there to make it gluten-free. It's not vastly different from a normal pancake recipe but I think the little differences that are there make for a far nicer pancake.

Ingredients

• 75g Caster sugar
• 150g Plain flour mix, I used Doves Farm but Glutafin also do a mix as well
• 1 Egg, plus 1 egg yolk
• 300ml Whole milk
• 100ml Melted butter
• Knob of butter for frying your pancakes
• 1-2 Drops of vanilla extract (Sainsbury's do a cheap vanilla extract for just under a £1)

Serves 6-8

Extras

• Large non stick frying pan

Method

• Get yourself a large bowl and sieve your flour into it. Add the sugar and a pinch of salt and give it a quick mix.
• Make a well in the centre with your finger and crack in your whole egg and the yolk and give it a stir, bringing the flour in from the edges (like when you mix cement).
• As you stir add a little of the milk at a time and continue stirring until its lump free and a fairly thin smooth batter mix.
• Pour your melted butter into the batter mix and add a few drops of vanilla. Cover over with some clingfilm and let it sit for around 5 minutes or the time it takes you to make a cup of coffee.
• Pop your frying pan over a medium to high heat and melt a few cubes of butter. When the butter is slightly starting to spit add a ladleful (or a small cup full) of your mix to the pan and swirl and tip the pan around until the mixture covers the bottom of the base of the pan.
• It won't take long for the batter to cook,when its ready flip and cook the other side. Repeat until all the mixtures gone and your belly is full. Awesome.

Filling idea's

• Lemon and sugar classic combo
• Strawberries and dollop of mascarpone continental
• Cinnamon sugar spicy
• Golden syrup tooth rotting
• Cheese and cubed bacon savoury
• Mini marshmallows and melted chocolate good for ankle biters

I ♥ Mince Pie's

An ability to produce homemade mince pie's is a skill in other people that I greatly admire, and at the start of the year I decided I wanted to be one of these clever people and endeavoured to make my very own mince pies, from scratch, from the pastry to the mincemeat, every last bit of it would be made by my own fair hands. I talked about the hitch I had with the mincemeat, but luckily I found a Gluten-Free mincemeat recipe (god bless Nigella) which I made at the very start of November, and finally this week I decided the time was right to unite mince with pie and bake a batch. Now, while I used my own pastry for the first batch, I wanted to test the Dietary Specials roll out pastry (which is AMAZING by the way and everyone should buy it) so the pictures here are with the ready made pastry. Should you want to make your own pastry click here for the amounts, ingredients and method. I really won't blame you if you want to use the ready made stuff, pastry, especially gluten free pastry is a colossal ball ache, throw in the pressures and tensions of Xmas you might be hitting the mulled wine at 10am.

Ingredients
Makes 32 pies

• Home made or ready made pastry.
• Jar of home made or shop bought mince meat (if your buying in remember to check the label for gluten)
• 1-2 Tsp's icing sugar
• 1-2 Tsp's cinnamon
• I Egg
• Round and star or heart cutters
• 12 Hole cake tray

Method

• Whack your oven up high to Gas 7.
• Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with some plain gluten free flour and roll out your pastry, fairly thin but not drastically so, if you can see your boyfriend through it when you hold it up its probably a tad too thin.
• Cut out 12 rounds with your circular cutter, (I usually use a medium sized tumbler) and then mould gently into the holes of your cupcake tray, don't be too over zealous moulding them in or it will be nigh on impossible trying to take them out once they're cooked.
• Next spoon around a teaspoon and a half of your mincemeat mix into the pastry rounds you've just moulded.
• If you want your mince pies to have 'lids' you'll need to cut our a further 12 rounds and 'glue' them into place with some egg wash. If your making heart of star topped mince pies then cut out 12 of whichever your making and gently place them on top of your mincemeat, giving the a brush with your egg wash.
• Pop in the oven for about 10minutes, I find the ready made pastry doesn't take quite as long as the homemade kind, and will burn quickly if you don't keep an eye on it, so keep checking your pies every now and then.
• As soon as they're cooked take them out of the oven and then remove the pies from the tray straight away, if you don't they'll carry on cooking in the tray, and burn and go all horrible and bitter and you don't want that now do you?
• When the pies are cooled sprinkle with a little bit of icing sugar and weeny bit of cinnamon. 
• Enjoy with an Eggnog while you write your Christmas cards and misspell the same persons name 4 times and have to rewrite the card again. And again.

Katie-Boo k

 

Floating on a sea of cinnamon.

Before I get started on a tangent I just wanted to say a quick hello to my new readers/followers! Welcome to 'A Girls Guide...' You'll find my readers/followers are the most gorgeous in the whole blogasphere, so good choice! :)
I got another lovely letter from the doctors yesterday asking me to come in to talk to my GP about my blood test results, surely she can't tell from my blood tests that I've been eating snicker doodles day and night for a week can she?
As well as burning a hole, the presents stacked to the rafters in my wardrobe are starting to grate on my nerves, the ruddy things fall out every time I open the door to get a jumper/coat/boots/scarf out, and I've actually hit full capacity on the rail, so NO MORE clothes can fit in my wardrobe, I don't quite know where my clothes are going to go from now on but the situations quite desperate.
I've got a nice christmassy A Week In Pictures post for you this week, and I'm quite proud of some of the pictures I've taken, I'm taking more time to set up the shots and get the lighting right, rather than a snap and run job which is quite usual for me.
Today we're finally putting the Xmas decorations up, so my vintage-style Sainsbury's are going to get their debut at last, I love putting up our tree, all the decorations smell so nice, and theres' a lovely spicy cinnamon smell on everything.  I finally put two and two together and realised why I love cinnamon so much...when I was an ankle biter I had croup (which is an infection in your upper airway which gives you a 'barking' cough ) anyway my mum would douse my pillows and bedding with Karvol (Rugrat friendly decongestant drops) and it wasn't until the other day that I realised one of the ingredients is cinnamon! Even now at the ripe old age of 25 I find nothing more comforting than a few drops of Karvol on my pillow.
I'm officially on pudding duty at Christmas, and although last year my blueberry cheesecake went down a treat, my white chocolate cranberry roulade crashed and burned, and I literally sulked for days. I'm going to be a bit more savvy in my planning and I'm defiantly not going to believe any Jamie recipe which tries to convince me that its easy (you lied Jamie, the roulade was akin to the Mensa exam).
For Xmas day it's just me and The 'Rents so I'm doing an eggnog cream mousse type thing which I can make in advance on Christmas eve. On boxing day my grandad and his lovely partner Sylvia are over, so I've got to find some sort of epic pudding, especially as they were present for the roulade debacle last year, I have to redeem myself with the mother of all puds!
Anyway, before I immerse myself in Christmas decorations and I'm up to my eyeballs in tinsel, I'll post the marshmallow recipe. As I said before its surprisingly easy and fairly quick (apart from the 1-2 hour setting) and once done can be used for all sorts of things, I'm also posting a list of ideas that you might like to use your marshmallows for once done.
See you all tomorrow for the Mince Pie post and A Week in Pictures.

Review: Tru Free Mince Pies

The low down
Established in 1999 Tru Free are considered one of the leading manufacturers of wheat and gluten free snacks and treats, as well as gluten-free versions of well known and favourite biscuits such as custard creams and digestives. Tru Free are relaunching their mince pies at ASDA for Christmas this year.


What Tru Free say
"Our delicious new Mince Pies are ideal for those following these special diets but are equally tasty for the whole family"

Price
RRP £1.50 for a pack of 4

My take
In a word...yummy. The pastry has the same crumbly and soft texture as a non gluten-free mince pie (and dare I say, nicer than some non g/f mince pies) and isn't powdery and chalky like some gluten free pastries, the worst thing in the world is biting into gluten free pastry and feeling like you have a full of talcum powder, so I'm glad to report this isn't the case with these.
The mincemeat is moist, and doesn't have hard bits of chewy peel that you sometimes find. I know some people may like brandy or similar in their mince pies, but I often find it a bit overpowering and you can't taste the mincemeat properly, luckily the Tru Free pies had not even a whiff brandy, but still stayed lovely, moist and gooey.
The pies are a good size with none of those gluten-free mini portions you come across sometimes (very annoying!), I liked the shape and also the ratio of mincemeat filling to pastry.


Verdict
As always Tru Free delivers on value, taste and quality. The easy recognisable packaging reminds you of how popular the brand has now become, and how trusted it now is. The mince pies are soft, buttery with a lovely moist filling, perfect for Xmas and delicious with a glass of mulled wine after dinner. Yum! They were gobbled down within 24 hours! I hope they come to Sainsbury's soon because they really are great value for money for one of the best gluten free products on the market.

My Mama's Mini Bread n' Butter Pudding's

 My Mum never actually gave me a recipe for B&B pudding, I just watched her make it over the years and picked it up along the way. This version is of course G/F and is so quick and easy you'll wonder why you didn't make it before. This recipe serves 4, and you'll need 4 ramekins or 4 small oven proof dishes which are oven safe and roughly the same size.

Ingredients

• 4 Slices of gluten free bread, with the crusts cut off and quartered.i used genius bread for this recipe, other bread is smaller so you may need more.
• Marmalade
• Butter or margarine
• Sultana's
• Soft brown sugar
• 2 Medium eggs beaten
• 100ml Milk
• Cinnamon

Method

• Pre-heat your oven to Gas 6

• Butter both sides of your cubed bread and spread marmalade over one side, start a layer of bread in the bottom of the ramekins, sprinkle over sugar, cinnamon and sultana's.
• Keep building up the layers this way with the bread as the base of every layer.
• After you've finished layering your pudding, beat the eggs and milk together and pour over the puddings.
• Pop in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the egg is cooking and the top layer is golden.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before serving (when they first come out of the oven the puddings are nuclear).

Lovely Lemon Curd Souffle's

Here we go then, good luck! Don't worry too much, if a ditsy dope like me can make a souffle there's more than enough hope for the rest of the world!

Ingredients

For the lemon curd

• Grated zest and juice of a lemon
• 1 Egg
• 40g (1 1/2 oz) Golden caster sugar
• 25g (1 oz) cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
• 1 Teaspoon of cornflour

For the souffles

• 3 Eggs
• Grated zest and juice of a lemon
• 50g (2 oz) Golden caster sugar
• 1 Dessestspoon of golden caster sugar

You will also need 4 ramekins, buttered and popped on a small baking tray.

Method

• Make the lemon curd by whisking the egg in saucepan, then add the rest of the lemon curd ingredients and pop the pan over a medium heat and whisk continuously until the mixture thickens, this won't take long, about 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat right down to the lowest setting and let the curd gently simmer for a minute still whisking, you don't want lumpy curd!
• Remove from the heat and divide the curd between the bases of the ramekins. You can do this in advance, which is especially useful if your having this pud at the end of a dinner party because it can a good few hours before your guests arrive and saves you doing it later. Remember to cover and leave somewhere at room temperature.
• For the souffles,pre-heat the oven to gas 3 (170C, 325F) separate the eggs, putting the yolks into a big bowl and the whites in a super clean bowl. Using an electric whisk or if you like to work your guns whilst cooking use a manual whisk, whisk the egg whites to the stiff-peak stage which should take 4-5 minutes (nigh on forever if your going manual!) next add the dessertspoon of sugar and whisk for 30seconds to a minute.
• Next add the zest and lemon juice and the rest of the sugar to the yolks and mix for 10 seconds. Now add a spoonful of the whisked whites and fold them into the yolks just to loosen the mixture up, then fold in the rest of the whites gently, keeping as much air in the mixture as possible, DO NOT MIX OR STIR VIGOROUSLY, gently fold the whites in, it helps to use big sweeping movements with your arm to keep the air in mixture,think up-over-round, I'm serious! Yes you will defiantly look like a dipstick doing this, best do it out of sight of others!
• Spoon the mixture into the ramekins and run a (clean!) finger round the edge of the ramekins so the edges are clean. Place in the oven on the centre shelf for 15-17 minutes or until golden (this is one GF pud that will go golden!). Don't open the oven to take a peek, you may have to sit on your hands to stop yourself doing this because the temptation to see if they've risen is very great!
• Once golden and (hopefully) risen remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes, it will sink slightly but according to Delia this is to be expected. Dust with icing sugar and serve up to your guests (with a smug smile!).

Top Tips for Smug Souffles

• Keep your eggs yolks cold, it makes them easier to separate, but make sure you whisk your whites at room temperature, it makes them easier to whisk and you'll get more air into them.
  
• Don't over whisk your whites, you'll kill your air bubbles and that makes them sad!
  
• Make sure the bowl you whisk your egg whites in is super spanking clean, any dirt or grease will hinder the egg whites in their quest to rise.
• According to the cooking snobs a copper bowl is your fail safe to perfect souffles. as much as I'd like a copped bowl (because they're pretty and It'd make me look a proper foodie) a normal bowl works just as well, don't let the food snobs coerce you into buying things you don't need!
• Make sure all your ingredients are weighed out perfectly, one ounce over and your gonna fluff that recipe up quicker than you can say Creme Brulee. A conscientious cook is a clever cook, don't rush it just to look flash!

'E' Lime Pie

I am of course talking about Key-lime Pie if you didn't get the gist of the post title! This recipe for Key Lime pie is my Dads favourite and I usually make it for him every year on his birthday, I call it E-Lime Pie as my Dads nickname is E (a tenuous abbreviation of Ian if ever there was one!).
Its such a lovely zesty summer recipe and never fails to remind me of being on holiday in Florida and trying it for the first time, way before coeliac's was even a twinkle in my belly!
Key-Lime Pie originated in the Florida keys and a traditional K-L-P uses Key limes found only in the Keys and has a meringue topping like a lemon meringue pie. Its more or less a cheesecake and has a biscuit base and a filling made from condensed milk like a normal cheesecake would have. If you haven't tried it before give it a go because its really quite yummy and really nice after a B-B-Q and the recipe I'm posting here is big enough for a good 10-12 slices, you will also find that the longer its kept in the fridge the better the texture and taste gets. I dare any non gluten-freer to taste the difference between this GF version and a regular Key-Lime Pie.

'E'-Lime, Key-Lime Pie

Ingredients

• 8 Egg yolks
• 2 397g Tins of condensed milk
• 450ml Of whipping cream
• Zest and juice of 5 limes
• 500g Digestive or any other plain GF biscuit such as shortbread biscuits
• 200g Butter

You will also need a nice big pie dish greased, say 23cm sort of size or similar, remember if you use a smaller pie dish than the crust will be thicker and the pie higher, larger and the crust will be thinner and the pie flatter.

Method

• Pop the oven on to Gas mark 3 (170c)
• To make the crust whizz your biscuits up in a food blender until they are ground down to a course powder, if you don't have a food blender pop your biscuits into a couple of sandwich bags (do this in batches or you will split your bags!) and bash they're brains out with a rolling pin (always therapeutic!).
• Pour your melted butter into the food processor with your biscuits and mix, or if you are using the 'plastic bag' method pop your biccies in a bowl and pour over the butter and mix through with a wooden spoon.
  
• Next press your mixture into your pie dish and up the sides so all of the inside of the dish is covered in the butter/biscuit mixture, even out with the back of a spoon or your own (clean) mitts.
• Pop in the oven for around 20 minutes. I've said it once and I'll say it again, don't expect the mixture to darken that much, don't rely on the mixture darkening to guess if it is ready, do the touch test and press the base to see if it is firm. When it is firm remove it from the oven and set it to one side to cool down.
• Now turn your oven down to Gas 2 (150c)
• Pop your eggs yolks, lime juice and zest and condensed milk into a nice big bowl and give it a gentle whisk with a fork or a whisk if you own one, until all the ingredients are well mixed. Don't worry at this stage if the mixture looks a bit watery and pathetic, it will get thicker naturally.
• Pour your lime/egg/milk mix into your now cold crust mix and pop back in the oven for another 25-30minutes, if like me your working with a temperamental oven which ignores your commands and cooks things how it wants instead of how you want then make sure you keep checking the pie so it is undercooked or gets overcooked. When its ready the mixture should be firm with some movement still in the centre but not wobbly. Take it out the oven and leave to cool down before you pop it in the fridge (covered with clingfilm) and leave for an hour at the least, overnight if you can as I said above the texture and tastes improves the longer its left.
• When its time for some tucker tucker whip up the whipping cream and spread it over your pie, serve in big man-sized slices.
  

Perfect Pastry

Pastry is hard enough to make at the best of times without throwing in the added factor of trying to make it gluten free as well. Gluten unfortunately is the binding agent in foods which keeps all the ingredients together and keeps the food springy and moist.
But fear not! I have suffered the trials and tribulations of perfecting gluten free pastry so you don't have to!
This recipe covers most of your pastry wants and can be used for quiches,flans and any number of sweet desserts such as lemon meringue pie and treacle tart.
For a while I struggled along using the butter/flour/water recipe that I used to use for normal cooking, until one day I came across a recipe by James Martin on the BBC recipe search which used an egg and I haven't looked back since, the pastry is lighter, tastier and thus far I haven't broken any teeth trying to eat it!
below is my easy peasy recipe for pastry and how to use it to make a yum-in-your-tum treacle tart. Enjoy!


Ingredients

• 225g (8oz) plain flour (Doves Farm is the best)
• 110g (4oz) cold butter, cubed
  
• 1 medium egg, lightly beaten
  

Method

• Sift the flour into a large bowl and rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like bread crumbs.
• Mix the egg into the mixture with a knife. The mixture may still be a little dry, at this stage you can add a few tablespoons of water, but remember you don't want the mixture too wet, just moist enough so that when it is rolled it wont break apart. Pull the mixture together into a ball,cover with clingfilm and pop in the fridge for 30minutes.
• Pre-heat the oven to Gas mark 5. Next grease a flan/tart case with butter,spread or oil, pick your poison. Roll or flatten the pastry out with your hands onto a floured surface. Gently pick the pastry up and use to line your flan/tart case. Don't worry if it cracks or comes apart in your hands, you can patchwork the dough together in the case and smooth any cracks, once the filling is in no-one will see them anyway. Prick the base with a fork.
  
• Line the pastry with some baking parchment and weigh down with rice or dried lentils/beans. Bake blind for 10-15minutes. Remove the parchment and rice and pop back in the oven for a few more minutes. the pastry will not go super golden like normal pastry but there should be some colour change.

For the treacle filling

• 450g (1lb) golden syrup
• 85g/3oz gluten free bread
• pinch of cinnamon
• zest and juice of a lemon

method

• Once your perfect pastry is done its ready for any filling you want to put in it. Whizz the bread up in a blender, if you don't have a blender tear the bread up and crumble it as small as you can with your hands.
• Next mix all the ingredients for the filling together in a bowl and then spoon over into the pastry case. return to the oven for 30minutes. Serve cold or hot with your choice of cream or ice cream.