I like to think I eat healthily most of the time, but occasionally I just hanker for something just a little naughty, but nice. This recipe for Victoria Sandwich or Vanilla Layer Cake, whatever you want to call it, is so easy and makes a rather large cake for you to add whatever filling you like. … Continue reading
Month: November 2015
Yorkshire Pudding
This is my best ever Yorkshire pudding recipe, I have been using it for a couple of years now and no-one can tell that they are gluten-free. As you can see they make 12 lovely crispy and well risen Yorkshires.
The secret to great Yorkshire Puds is:
- to heat the oil in the tin first before adding the batter
- to cook in a very hot oven
- and lastly DON’T open the oven door whilst cooking
You will need:
- 50g cornflour
- 50 gluten-free plain flour (I use Dove Farm)
- pinch of salt
- 3 medium eggs, beaten
- 140ml milk
- 2tbsps vegetable oil for pan
- muffin tin
Next:
- pre-heat oven to 220c/210c fan/425f/gas mark7
- place oil in the muffin tray and heat for 5 minutes
- mix the flours and salt in a bowl and then add the beaten egg and whisk to a thick batter
- add milk and whisk again
- pour the batter into the tin, it should sizzle when it hits the oil – this is good
- then put in oven straight away and cook for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden.
If you are like me and find you have too many, then try adding jam and crème fraiche to them cold, they are yummy and remind me of choux pastry! Enjoy!
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Baked Syrup Sponges
This is another recipe that is in my favourites list from the book ‘Totally Flour-Free Baking’ by Dinah Wilson. These are so tasty, they are so sweet and syrupy and the sponge is so light, they only have five ingredients, all of which are easily bought from your local supermarket. They really remind me of and old fashioned steamed pud and are so easy to make. Have them with custard or ice-cream or maybe on their own with more syrup poured over. Yummy.
You will need:
- 5 dstsp golden syrup
- 120g ground almonds
- 80g icing sugar
- 3 medium eggs – separated
- ½ tsp vanilla essence
- 5 oven proof cups – about 200ml in size – well buttered/greased
Next:
- Turn oven on to 170C/325F/Gas mark 3 or if you are like me and have a fan oven then 150C works well.
- Spoon one level desert spoon of the golden syrup into the base of each of the well buttered cups
- Sift the ground almonds and icing sugar together two times.
- Beat the eggs yolks together with the vanilla essence, I just use a wire whisk
- Beat the eggs whites until very stiff, I use my Kitchen Aid for this, then pour the egg yolk mixture onto the egg whites and stir thoroughly with a wire whisk
- Now sprinkle the almond/icing sugar mix over the top of the egg mix and fold in gently using a large metal spoon. At this point I find a last mix with a rubber spatula collects all the mixture on the sides and gives it a final proper mix in.
- Spoon the fluffy mixture on top of the syrup in the cups and level out carefully. The mixture will rise up and then sink back as it cooks, so be careful not to overfill the cups.
- Now put the cups on a baking bray and cook in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. The centres should be just firm and the sponge a golden colour. Mine took 30 minutes but yours make take less depending on what oven you have.
- When they are ready, pop them out of the oven and then run a knife around the edges to loosen and turn out onto your desert plate. Enjoy on their own or add your favourite custard/icecream.
Now, if you are able to resist and not eat them all at once, then they are fine to keep in their cups and turn out the next day for a lunch treat, eat them cold on their own or with custard or if you want them hot, nuke them in a microwave for about 20 seconds, be careful as the syrup will be hotter than the sponge.
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My visit to York
At the weekend we all went to York for a wedding. We stayed in a most delicious B&B called No.21 York , it was situated within walking distance to the town centre which was very convenient for shopping and of course going out in the evening for a meal. Simon, the owner, couldn’t do enough for me and my daughter (who is vegan), he made gluten free bread daily and had gluten free granola bought in especially. He sourced all his ingredients locally and nothing was a problem when cooking our gluten free and vegan breakfasts. After a big bowl of yoghurt, fresh fruit salad and granola I opted for a mushroom omelette, with home made potato rosti and home made baked beans. The beans were divine and both my daughter and I are inspired to make our own baked beans from now on.
For the evening I had pre-booked a table at Ate O’clock , I sourced this restaurant from Coeliac UK (of which I am a member) so I new it would be ok for me. The restaurant was situated down a little alley and was very eclectic, it had a lovely atmosphere and all six of us enjoyed our meals. Both my starter and main were divine, I didn’t have a desert as I was full. I can’t remember what my starter was but I did take a picture
and my main was pork medallions with potato cakes and onion marmalade.
The menu didn’t stipulate whether the items were gluten free or not, I just chose and the waitress checked with the chef. I must admit, I do prefer it when a menu has a little ‘gf’ sign next to it as this takes out the guess work. Nevertheless, the waitress was clued up on gluten free and so it wasn’t an issue.
We had a fantastic time in York, it was the first time we’d been and unfortunately we were only there for two days, but we will be definitely going back.
GlutenfreeSally 