Gluten free Banana Muffins with Raisins and Macadamia nuts

I love baking & cooking so my storage bursts with food and as a result with left over food stuff. Somehow you can always buy everything in large quantities only, and you need itty bitty bits of things in your recipes. So I have jars with raisins, coconut, nuts, several kinds of gluten free flours, preserves... well you name it actually, and it is all in my fridge or storage. I realize I buy a gigantic amount of food each week with all my gluten free stuff and I always need stuff in storage, just in case. That's what you get when you make everything from scratch because prefab gluten free is even more expensive. It's a bit insane, I know, I could feed half a village on what's in our store cupboard. But I use it all. 

Because what do I do with all that? Well, I bake with what I can find. These muffins were born out of left overs and the urge of my three year old to bake with mommy.  :-)

I just tossed in what I could find and ended up with this lovely result. Soft, sweet, fragrant muffins.

These muffins make a great lunchbox treat too!

This recipe makes about 16 muffins. 

Ingredients:

• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of soft butter
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 200 grams (7 oz) of gluten free (brown) rice flour
• 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum
• 250 grams (9 oz) of bananas (mashed to a pulp)
• 5 tablespoons of buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 0.5 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
• 200 grams (7 oz) of sultanas
• 85 grams (3 oz) of chopped up Macadamia nuts

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (350 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Beat the butter and powdered sugar in a big bowl to a frothy substance.
3. Beat in the eggs, make sure the mixture doesn't split. If it does, add a bit of the flour. 
4. Mash up the bananas and add these together with the milk to the mixture in the bowl.
5. Sift the flour, cream of tartar and the xanthan gum and add it to the bowl.  Mix it in with the grated nutmeg, raisins and chopped up Macadamia nuts. Pecans would taste amazing as well. 
6. Take out muffin tins, line them with paper muffin cups and scoop in the batter. 
7. Put the muffin tins in the oven, and bake the muffins until golden. It will take about 45 minutes. 
8. Take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.
9. Dust with powdered sugar before serving. 

Enjoy! 

Gluten Free Lemon Scones that brighten your day

All you need on a rainy day to make it all better.

I just love scones. To me, they represent cosy days in front of a fire, with a good book and great company. They also bring me back to Scotland, where my husband and I had the best pre-kids holidays. The most delicious scones I ever ate, I ate in Scotland. In front of a fire. And pouring rain outside. My day was made.  To make them gluten free still is a bit of a thing for me. Making scones isn't difficult, but somehow the gluten free ones always were either too crumbly or just rock hard. Not good. I realized these scones turned out the way they did, because they lacked extra fluids in the recipe. Gluten free flour tends to need more fluids to get the same result. So when I bumped into a (gluten) recipe that used double cream I decided to try to make that one gluten free. Since I didn't have double cream, I decided to use plain old yoghurt. And they turned out wonderfully well. Maybe the could have risen a bit more, but other than that, they taste like proper scones. Real, proper scones. Needless to say, I'm over the moon!

Here's the recipe. If you love scones, go for it!

Ingredients:

• 250 grams (9 oz) of gluten free rice flour
• 25 grams (1 oz) of almond flour
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• a quarter of a teaspoon of (iodized) salt
• 2-3 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of cane sugar
• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of cold butter, chopped in tiny pieces
• 1 lemon
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons of yoghurt

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (400 degrees fahrenheit)
2. Mix the flour with the cream of tartar, xanthan gum, cane sugar and salt. 
3. Knead the cold butter through this mixture, until it turns a bit flaky. 
4. Grate the zest of the lemon and add it to the flaky dough together with the egg, 4 tablespoons of yoghurt and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. 
5. Knead the dough, make it into a ball, cover it with cling foil and put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. 
6. Roll out the dough till it's about 3 cm (a bit over 1 inch) thick and punch out the scones with a round cookie cutter. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking parchement and bake them for about 15-20 minutes until golden. 
7. Leave them to cool on a wire rack and them serve them with clotted cream and lemon curd. 

Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

EEEEEKKKK! ;-)

This recipe was born because my oldest son Thijmen wanted to make scary cupcakes for Halloween. I'm a bit late posting this recipe, but sometimes there just doesn't seem to be enough time in a day, or a week. So, you can bookmark this recipe for next year. :-)
Since I've made a gazillion cupcakes of late, I decided to turn them into scary muffins. The basic recipe is of a Apple, Cinnamon Oatmeal cake I've found in a Jamie magazine that I figured would make great gluten free muffins if i canted the recipe somewhat. Yes, I'm a daredevil, boldly changing that into a muffin recipe. LOL
Apple, Cinnamon & Oatmeal make a great combination, so if you aren't into a scary breakfast of snack, you can very well do without the marzipan spiders we put on top.


Ingredients:

• 180 grams (6 oz) of butter at room temperature
• 140 grams (5 oz) of cane sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of rice flour
• 80 grams (about 2.75 oz) of buckwheat flour
• 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 1 large apple (do not use a very sour one, pick a sweet tasting apple)
• 2 tablespoons of oatmeal
• Icing sugar
• To make the spiders, use gluten free marzipan

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade (325 fahrenheit).
2. Line a muffin tin with butter or paper muffin cups. 
3. Take a large bowl and add the soft butter and sugar. Beat it into a creamy mixture. 
4. Whisk the eggs into the sugar and butter mixture and sift the flour, cream of tartar, cinnamon and xanthan gum and fold all this into the egg/butter/sugar batter in the bowl. 
5. Peel the apple, take out the centre and grate it. Fold it into the batter.
6. Now, if you want to decorate your muffins with marzipan, toss the oatmeal into the mixture now and fold it in. It will give the muffins an extra bite and extra fibers. If you don't feel like making scary spiders, keep the oatmeal aside to decorate the muffins with later. 
7. Now scoop the batter into the paper cups in the muffin tin. Grab your oatmeal if you kept that for decoration and sprinkle it on top.
8. Put the muffin tins in the oven and bake them for about 35-40 minutes. If they look golden, smell wonderful and if you poke a skewer in them and it comes out clean, they're done. 
9. Take them out of the oven and let them cool a bit before you transfer them to a wire rack to let them cool completely. Then decorate with the marzipan spiders (stick them onto the muffin with bit of basic icing) or just dust the oatmeal topped muffins with some icing sugar for extra prettiness.

Enjoy!

My gluten free version of The Cupcake Cafe Peacekeeper Cookies

If you are a sucker for funny, sweet stories, if you love books that just make you smile and if you like baking, just like me, then Jenny Colgan's books are a must read. I'm currently reading Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe, a sequel to Meet me at the Cupcake Cafe, and it is bakers heaven. The story just captures your heart and the recipes make you want to hit the kitchen. 

So when my three year old asked if we could make cookies today, which in his world means: "Can we make cookie dough and then eat it?" I knew what to make. This recipe had just stolen my heart and it is really easy to make in a glutenfree version. These cookies are filled with raisins, dates and walnuts. What more can you want? Ok, so they are actually Christmas cookies, but don't we all just love Christmas?

Here's the recipe. I divided the amounts in half, because over 1 kg of cookies is just a bit much in my opinion, but other than that i stuck to the recipe and added the ingredients to turn it into a gluten free cookie. 

Ingredients:

• 115 grams (4 oz) of soft butter
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of sugar
• 115 ml of treacle (about 4 fl oz) (since we don't know treacle as such, I used Dutch apple syrup)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp sour cream
• 275 grams of gluten free rice flour
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of gluten free buckwheat flour
• 1 tbsp of baking powder
• 5 grams (0.125 oz) of baking soda
• 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• a pinch of salt
• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of chopped walnuts
• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of golden raisins
• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of chopped dates 

Instructions:

• In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar together. 
• Add the treacle, sour cream and egg and mix well. 
• Combine the rice flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, cinnamon, ginger and salt and gradually add this to the creamed mixture.
• Stir in the walnuts, raisins and dates.
• Chill the dough in the fridge for about 2 hours or until easy to handle. I wrapped it in cling foil  as gluten free dough is even more sticky. 
• On a floured (and gluten free!) surface, roll out the dough finely. Cut out cookies with an 2,5 inch round cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 160 degrees centigrade /325 degrees fahrenheit (gasmark 3) for 12-15 minutes. Let them cool completely before serving them.

Dear Jenny, thank you for the recipe & inspiration and I look forward to more Cupcake Cafe adventures & recipes. :-)

Gluten free pecan and choc chip cookies filled with chocolate ganache

My head is filled with recipes. I can walk through a supermarket and end up with a gazillion different things to make in my already busy head. And some ideas just have to be made instead of just thought up. This recipe is no different. I follow a bunch of food blogs on Tumblr (don't ever do that if you are like me, it will make you constantly hungry and constantly thinking about new things to bake) and one of the things that ended up on my dashboard was an ice cream cookie sandwich. I saw it and thought: "That would be so much better if the cookie were choc chip and the filling between the cookies would be dark chocolate ganache". And that thought kept coming back. It haunted me, saying: "Bake me, bake me!"

I put it off for about a week, but today I couldn't any longer. My youngest wanted to bake cookies so we made these heavenly choc chip & pecan cookies (thought up in the isle in the supermarket this morning) with a dark chocolate & nougat ganache in between them. 

I recommend you do not count the calorie intake and just enjoy them. :-)

I always bake a lot, so I have a stash of regular pecan & choc chip cookies now too

Ingredients for a small batch:

• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of soft butter
• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of light caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 125 grams (4.5 oz) of gluten free rice flour
• 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of chocolate (chopped up to tiny pieces)
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of pecans (chopped up to tiny pieces)

For the ganache:

• 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) of double cream
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of dark chocolate
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of nougat (chopped) or nougatine

Normally ganache is made with some liqor in it, but since my kids eat these cookies too, mine is alcohol free!

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade or 450 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Put the sugar and butter in a bowl and beat it until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and mix it in. Add the other ingredients until you have a soft dough. If your dough doesn't form a ball, add a bit of the left over egg white to help  the dough along.
4. Put parchment paper on some big baking trays and form little balls the size of a walnut and place them on the baking trays. 
5. Put them into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes till they are golden.
6. Let them cool a bit before you transfer them to a wire rack to let them cool completely.
7. Now you make the ganache. Blitz the living daylights out of the dark chocolate until you are left with very tiny pieces. Heat up the double cream. Take it off the fire as soon as it starts boiling and pour it over the chocolate. Now stir it till it is all combined and let it cool off for some time. Since I am lousy at being patient I placed the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes and then the freezer for some 10 more minutes (yes, I really don't have any patience) until my ganache was quite thick and added the nougatine. I stirred that in and then put a big dollop on the cookies and placed another one on top.

Enjoy!

Glutenfree multigrain bread with Parmesan cheese and Italian herbs

It's no biggie, having two glutenfree kids at home, but they eat like maniacs. Which means I have to bake 2-3 breads per week for them. I do not even want to think about the fact that they'll eat an insane amount when they are teenagers with an appetite. I fear I'll have to start up a full time bakery by that time.
Baking a bread (especially in the breadmaker) isn't that big of a deal, the machine does all the work for me. Iit just takes up to 4 hours before it's done. But my kids like different stuff (well, I convince myself that they like eating different kinds of bread LOL) so i bake other variantions in the oven as well. Some bread are an instant success, like the pizza bread that you will find in the bread section of this blog. Others... not so much. And who gets to eat those? Yes, my husband and myself. In the end it's me experimenting, so if my kids don't like it, I will gladly eat it for lunch or breakfast. I don't mind eating it, because I actually like the taste. Of course you musn't compare it to normal bread because the structure of the bread will always be different, but glutenfree bread (especially if you bake it yourself) is a perfect alternative.
My husband and I eat everything glutenfree (except for the bread, otherwise I would have to bake even more and it really would be a bit too much. And glutenfree is also pretty expensive, so it saves money if we eat a "normal" breakfast and lunch. But if i have to, I will gladly eat my kids cast aways. ;-)

My oldest appreciates this bread, my youngest doesn't. He helped me kneed the dough and when he smelled the dough he yelled: Eeeeeewwwww!I guess he is not a fan of the aromatic smells of Parmesan cheese and Italian herbs. Oh well, I'll eat his slices then... 

Ingredients:

• 250 ml (7 fl oz) warm water
• 200 ml (9 fl oz) warm milk
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of fiber husk
• 450 grams (1 lb) of a glutenfree multigrain flour.  
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of xanthan gum
• 4 grams (0.14 oz) of iodized salt
• 8 grams (0.28 oz) of granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 15 grams (0.5 oz) of yeast
• 2 teaspoons of dried mixed Italian herbs 
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of Parmesan cheese (grated) and a bit extra for decoration 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees fahrenheit) and put a bowl of water in the oven.  
2. Put the ingredients in a big bowl in the order shown above and kneed it (with an electrix mixer) to a sticky dough. Make sure it is well combined. 
3. Put some baking parchement on a tray and transfer the dough to it. Wet your hands and form an oval bread of the dough.  Carve it (diagonal) a couple of times and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on it for decoration. 
4. Put the dough in a preheated oven and let it proof for about 30-45 minutes. 
5. Take it out of the oven when the dough has risen and preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (400 degrees fahrenheit). 
6. Piut the bread back into the oven as soon as it is on temperature and bake your bread golden in 30-35 minutes. 
7. Leave it to cool on a wire rack before serving. 

Apple, chocolate & walnut cake decorated with marzipan

Spring is in the air! ;-)

This colorful cake was made using one of my most favorite "glutencakes" ever: chocolate, apple and walnut cake. Of course I made a glutenfree version of it, but the original recipe has been a long favorite of mine. Because it is foolproof and it is so incredibly tasty. I used to make it for every birthday and it was a hit every single time. 

Here's the recipe for the chocolate, apple and walnut cake. I covered a simple cake with a bit of vanilla buttercream and then decorated it with marzipan. The bug & butterfly (made of the same cake batter) were made with a small cakemould and then covered in marzipan. 

Ingredients:

• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of chocolate
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of walnuts
• 2-3 apples
• lemonjuice
• 2 x 0.5 a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 3 + 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
• 125 (4.5 oz) grams of butter
• 150 (5.5 oz) grams of light caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 jar of sour cream (125 ml/ 4.5 fl oz)
• 250 grams (9 oz) of rice flour
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of cream of tartar
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of xanthan gum

Instructions: 

1. Grease a cakemould & the bug & insect mould (if you want to make the cake you see above) or (for just a simple undecorated cake) a rectangular pyrex bowl.
2. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade or 350 degrees fahrenheit.
3. Chop the chocolate & walnuts to small pieces. Peel the apples, remove the core and chop them into tiny pieces or grate them.
4. Mix the apples with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, half a teaspoon of cinnamon and 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
5. Make the cakebatter by mixing the soft butter, caster sugar, eggs, sour cream, xanthan gum, cream of tartar and riceflour. Add the apple, chocolate and a third of the chopped walnuts to the batter. (If you make the cake as shown above, add all the walnuts and the extra sugar and cinnamon at this stage)
6. Pour the batter in the cake moulds or the pyrex bowl. If you make a simple undecorated cake, mix the remainder of the nuts with half a teaspoon of cinnamon and two tablespoons of granulated sugar and sprinkle on top of the cake.
7. Put the cake in the oven and bake them for about 50-60 minutes until golden. 
8. Leave it to cool before you cut the cake in squares (re: the one in the pyrex bowl) or before you decorate your cake with vanilla buttercream and marzipan. 

Chocolate and Cherry Bread that will make your mouth water

Does this bread actually need an introduction? It's just gluten free heaven, filled with dark chocolate and lovely cherries. The original recipe is by Paul Hollywood, my favorite bread guru. I had to change his recipe a bit to make it gluten free. I added the usual things that help gluten free bread to impersonate normal bread, like fiber husk and xanthan gum, but I also had to change the method a bit. Paul lets his bread proof twice, but that will only create a gluten free bread disaster if you do. You end up with a very compact bread, not a lovely fluffy bread as intended. Simply because if you kneed it after it has proofed you will undo the work the yeast has done so far and the dough will not proof properly again. That's what you get when you lack the elastic abilities that gluten bring to your dough and in the end, your bread. So here's how you make Paul's miracle bread without those buggers of gluten to help you. 

Fluffy & light bread filled with cherries and dark chocolate

Ingredients:

• 500 grams (1 lb 2 oz) of gluten free bread flour
• Some rice flour to dust the bread with and to add to the dough if it becomes too soft and moist.
• 6 grams (0.21 oz)of iodized salt
• 30 ml (1.01 fl oz) of olive oil
• 20 grams (0.75 oz) of yeast
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of xanthan gum
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of fiber husk
• 12 grams (0.42 oz) of granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons of brown caster sugar
• 450 ml (16 fl oz) of warm water
• 175 grams (6 oz) of drained cherries ( I used canned ones, obviously)
• 200 grams (7 oz) of dark chocolate

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees fahrenheit) and put a bowl of water in the oven. This will help your dough proof later.
2. Take a big bowl and put the flour, salt, olive oil, granulated sugar, yeast, xanthan gum and fiber husk to it and mix it all with a fork. 
3. Now slowly add the water while you kneed the dough with an electric mixer. Your dough will be a bit sticky but firm. 
4. Bash the chocolate with a rolling pin until you have small chuncks. Add these together with the caster sugar to the dough and mix again.
5. Drain the cherries and add them to the dough. Now mix well and add some rice flour if your dough gets moist. You want it a bit sticky but firm again. 
6. Transfer the dough to a baking tray lined with parchment paper and form into an oval bread with wet hands. (If you do not wet your hands, the dough will all stick to your hands ;-))
7. Dust the dough with some rice flour and carve the dough diagonal.
8. Put it into the oven for an hour to let it proof. It will double in size in that hour. 
9. When the dough has risen, take it out of the oven. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (400 degrees fahrenheit).
10. When the oven is warm, put the bread back into the oven and watch it turn golden in about 25-30 minutes. 
11. Take the bread out of the oven and let it cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Glutenfree and Dairyfree Cinnamon Cookies

Fall is here. To me fall means beautiful autumn colors outside, walking through the woods and the scent of cinnamon and vanilla roaming my house. Vanilla is by far the scent I love the most. It lifts my spirit, but combined with cinnamon I get that homely feeling. These glutenfree and dairyfree cookies are wonderful with a cup of soothing tea, a book and a fire crackling away in the fireplace. Fall doesn't sound so bad now does it? :-)

I sprinkled colored sugar and cinnamon sugar on the cookies before baking

Ingredients:

• 175 grams (0.75 cup) of granulated sugar
• 125 grams (0.5 cup) of shortening
• 1 egg
• 250 grams (1 cup) of buckwheat flour
• 250 grams (1 cup) of rice flour
• 0.5 teaspoon of iodized salt
• 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of gingerbread spices
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla (or the seeds of one vanilla pod)
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons of soymilk or other dairyfree milk

Instructions:

1. Beat the granulated sugar and shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. 
2. Whisk the buckwheat flour, rice flour, salt, cream of tartar, xanthan gum, cinnamon and gingerbread spices in a medium bowl. Gradually beat into the sugar mixture. Beat in the vanilla, maple syrup and soymilk to make a soft dough. Make a ball, wrap it in plastic foil and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (350 degrees fahrenheit)
4. Roll out the dough between sheets of waxed paper until 0,5 cm (0.25 inches) thick.Cut out the cookies, transfer them to baking trays lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with either colored sugar or cinnamon sugar. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Let them cool on a wire rack before serving them.

 Enjoy!

A perfect glutenfree Halloween treat: pumpkin and walnut cupcakes

This is the story of a lonely pumpkin that blossomed into sassy pumpkin cupcakes. There once was a lonely pumpkin, lying in my fridge. It had been there a while, waiting to be turned into pumpkin soup or Jamie Olivers pumpkin risotto... 

Don't worry, I won't write this whole story in fairytale style. ;-)
My husband had nearly thrown a perfectly good pumpkin away, because it was not big enough to make soup or my beloved risotto with. I hate to waste food, so I decided to use it to make pumpkin cupcakes. That left over pumpkin was a great reason to finally try a new recipe that had been lingering in my mind for a while. And since fall is here and that means Halloween is getting nearer, I decided to turn them into a wonderful Halloween treat. 

The pumpkins on top are made with a Wilton mold that normally makes chocolate lollipops.

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes and 3 mini-bund cakes.Thank you Lisl, for giving me those. Whenever I make to much batter, those moulds come in handy. :-)

Ingredients:

• 300 grams (10.5 oz) of pumpkin. Peeled, seeds removed and chopped to chuncks so you can blitz them with the walnuts.
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of walnuts
• 200 grams (7 oz) of glutenfree riceflour
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of cane sugar (granulated sugar is an option too)
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 5 eggs
• 8 grams (0.28 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of fiber husk
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of xanthan gum
• 12 grams (0.42 oz) of glutenfree baking powder (I used cream of tartar)
• For decoration: powdered sugar and orange melting candy for the pumpkins.

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (350 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Blitz the walnuts and the pumpkin to a fine pulp/paste in a blender. 
3. Add the riceflour, honey, fiberhusk, xanthan gum and cream of tartar and mix with a fork. 
4. Beat the eggs, vanilla sugar and cane sugar to a frothy substance and add to the pumkin, walnut, flour mixture.
5. Line the cupcake tins with paper cups and grease the bund cake moulds. Spoon the mixture in and place the capcake tins and the bund cakes in the oven. 
6. Bake it all in 45 minutes till your cupcakes and bundcakes smell delicious and look golden brown.
7. Leave them to cool on a wire rack. 
8. While the cupcakes are in the oven, make the candy pumpkins. I used a Wilton plastic mold that makes chocolate lollipops. Melt the candy in a bowl in the microwave or as I did, in a bowl above a pan with softly boiling water. Pour the melted candy in the molds, place in the freezer until the candy has become firm and take out of the mold.
9. To decorate the cupcakes: dust them with powdered sugar. Make some glazing/frosting with powdered sugar and a tiny bit of water and use it to stick the candy pumpkins onto the cupcakes. To decorate the bund cakes, just dust them with powdered sugar. 

Enjoy!

Glutenfree fig & walnut soda bread rolls full of vitamins, minerals and fibers

As a mom of two boys I get the strangest questions about my kids glutenfree diet. People ask me if the kids can actually eat potatoes, if they can eat dairy or if the diet is is the cause of their slim frame. That's when I start rolling my eyes. First of all, my oldest has been struggling to gain weight for years now and that has not been a picnic. My youngest is below average when it comes to weight (and to us he is bulkier than his brother has ever been). And no, that is NOT because of this diet. 

It is because of celiac disease that Thijmen is very thin and he seems to have inherited my build (I've always been slim until I ate myself into oblivion for some years of my life, but that aside LOL). This diet, that thanks to some brainless celebs who call their kids Apple, is now labeled a great way to lose weight. And it isn't anything as such. 

I've written a whole blog on what this diet means to my kids, so I won't put you all through that again ;-). But what I haven't stressed is that this diet is not as healthy as people make it seem. Because glutenfree flour lacks fibers, certain vitamins and minerals that people who can eat wheat, rye, barley, kamut and spelt wheat will get by means of their daily intake of bread, pasta and such. 

So basically, if you do not substitute that in some way, you will lack nutrients your body desperately needs. How healthy is that? If you feel the need to drop carbs, be my guest, but don't call yourself 'glutenfree'. Because glutenfree products (bread, pasta etc) have often have just as much carbs as the "regular" version. They may be different carbs, but you are still eating carbs. So who's fooling who? Sorry, but everytime I hear or read such nonsense I feel the need to get up on my soapbox. Again. And this blog is my soapbox. Just eat healthy people and use your brain! My mom always says, too much of everything (no matter what it is) isn't healthy. Just think about it, it really is true. 

Anyway, because I need to substitute certain minerals & fibers in my kids food, I like to add (dried) fruits, nuts or even veggies to my kids bread. Today I made small sodabread rolls for lunch and added walnuts and figs. Figs contain a lot of fibers and vitamins such as vitamin A & B and minerals such as iron and calcium. Walnuts are a source of Omega 3, magnesium and vitamine E. By adding them I make sure my kids get the nutrients they need to grow into healthy boys and the bread only tastes better!

They look like regular bread rolls, but you can smell the figs and walnuts a mile away! 

Here's the recipe, it makes 10 soda bread rolls.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams (1 lb 2 oz) of glutenfree flour
• 1.5 teaspoon of iodized salt
• 400 ml (14 fl oz) of goat yoghurt (yes, this makes all the difference, it gives the bread a soft but fresh taste.
• 35 grams (1.25 oz) of granulated sugar
• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of soft butter
• 25 grams (1 oz) of baking powder
• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of walnuts
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of dried figs
• 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoons of fiber husk

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees centigrade (425 degrees fahrenheit) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Blitz the figs and walnuts into a paste and put it in a bowl. 
3. Add all the other ingredients to the bowl and mix it all with an electric mixer till you have a sticky but combined dough. 
4. Wet your hands with cold water and form 10 rolls and place them on the baking tray. 
5. Carve them at the top and pop them in the oven for about 30-40 minutes till your house smells divine and the rolls are nice and golden. 
6. Take them out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack. 
7. I love these with a bit of soft goats cheese on them, my kids eat them with regular Gouda cheese or preserve. 

My kids all time favorite glutenfree Chicken Nuggets

The hardest part of this glutenfree diet, in my eyes, is having to disappoint my children so often. And most of the time it isn't me who is disappointing them, it's the (catering) world around us that does. When we go a themepark or something like that, I always drag a bag around with glutenfree candy, fruits, chips and a glutenfree lunch. I understand catering celiacs is difficult and scary and requieres a staff that knows exactly what they are doing. Trust me, having worked for a company that was responsible for the retail and catering on train stations, I know exactly how difficult it is. Yet the mom in me wishes more restaurants and F&B managers in themeparks or zoo's took it seriously. Took a chance. See catering for people living on a glutenfree diet as an opportunity instead of something scary and difficult. Providing defrosted glutenfree bread, (sometimes) a plate of french fries (that usually is a hit with my kids) or a salad with barely anything in it is a nice try, but it is unimaginative and easy. It's safe. And would you serve that to your "normal" guests as well? I don't think so. But this wish is something other people stuck on diets will probably voice too. Because catering is a general thing and in general, most people are not stuck on a diet for life.

Because options are so limited and because I understand it takes time & effort to cater for people with special diet needs I drag around my bag of food everywhere. Because in the end, a fun day is not determined by what you eat, but by the fun you have together. Often I promise my kids their own sandwich at the location and a feast when we get home. And in the feast I serve them these glutenfree chicken nuggets, or as my youngest son Gijs calls them: Chicken Muppets. And they are sooo easy to make!

Even though I am fully aware that most people who eat glutenfree will know how to coat meat with glutenfree breadcrumbs, I'm sharing this because the secret to them is the herbs that I add to the glutenfree breadcrumbs and the use of chicken fillets made from chickens who actually had a good life. I buy mine from our local butcher who knows where those chickens come from and knows they weren't pumped full of anitbiotics. Don't go for cheap meat! (Ouch, I sound like Jamie Oliver now, don't I? :-))

After eating these home made chicken nuggets you'll never want to eat a processed meat kind of nugget, I promise!

My kids favorite feast food!

Ingredients (for 4 people):

• 3 chicken breast fillets
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 150 grams of plain glutenfree flour
• 200 grams of glutenfree bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon of dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon of dried oregano 
• salt & papper to taste

Instructions:

1. Cut the chicken fillets into even pieces.
2. Take three plates or bowls and fill one with the glutenfree flour, one with the beaten egg and one with the breadcrumbs.
3. Season the glutenfree flour with pepper and salt.
4. Add the herbs to the glutenfree breadcrumb and mix well.
5. Now coat the pieces of chicken in the following order: Dust them with the glutenfree flour (I use a fork and roll them through the flour), coat them with the egg making sure there is egg allround the meat and then roll the egg covered chicken through the breadcrumbs with herbs.
6. When all are coated, fry them in batches in your deep fryer (temp 175 degrees centigrade or 350 degrees fahrenheit) for about 5 minutes till golden and crispy. If you don't have a deep fryer a pan with some olive oil will do too. Make sure the oil is hot before you fry the nuggets, otherwise the crust will soak up the oil, resulting in soggy nuggets. You can test the oil by dropping a but of breadcrumb in the pan. When it sizzles and bubbles, your oil is hot enough.

Enjoy!

An easy glutenfree treat: coconut cookies with chocolate pirate coins

Even though my sons birthday is months away, I'm already testing recipes for treats for his schoolmates. Not because I have to see if the recipe works, but to see how much work is involved. Because no matter how often I promise myself to make it easy, I never keep to my word. The result is that I end up in the kitchen for hours and when my husband comes home he shakes his head and then... does nothing except say: "If i was in charge of birthday treats, I'd buy them all a little bag of crisps". Well, how much I hate the time it takes me to make these birthday treats, I would never ever even consider that. Why? Because it's boring, it's an easy way out and it's not exactly healthy now is it? 

Not that my treats are usually very healthy, but they are small, i know what is in them and they are creative. Basically, a bag of crisps is just beneath me. Oh good lord, I am a treat snob! 

But since I am determined to make these treats easier this time, I'm testing a couple of ideas way ahead. This recipe is one of them. 

They are coconut cookies that are very easy to make. The most work is in the chocolate coins as you have to pour those. And I have a mould for them, but it only makes 4 coins at a time. But other than that, this recipe is a breeze. Now let's hope my little pirate loves them too. 

Argh, argh, argh!

This recipe makes 12 coconut macaroons.

Ingredients:

• 125 grams  (4,5 oz) of grated coconut
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 1 tablespoon of glutenfree rice flour
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 3 egg whites
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of (powdered) icing sugar
• About 175 grams (6 oz) of dark chocolate (for the coins) 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees centigrade (300 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Mix the coconut, vanilla sugar, rice flour, xanthan gum and icing sugar in a bowl. 
3. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl to firm peakes.
4. Fold the coconut mixture into the firm eggwhites.
5. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and make 12 heaps of dough (it is quite sticky dough by the way) on the parchment paper.
6. Put them in the oven for 30 minutes until they are lightly golden. 
7. leave them to cool on a wire rack when done
8. While the cookies are in the oven, make the chocolate coins. melt the chocolate in a bowl that you place on a pan with softly boiling water. Pour some chocolate into the mould and place it in the freezer to make the chocolate solid again. Slowly take them out of the mould, be careful not to bake them and place them on some baking parchment in the freezer until you have enough coins. 
9. Then pour a little bit of chocolate onto the fully cooled coconut macaroons, put a coin on them and quickly put them in the freezer again. Otherwise the warm chocolate will melt the coins again. 
10. Voila, your pirate treasure treat is finished! 

My Middle Eastern - Mediterranean fusion: bread rolls with yoghurt, feta, pecorino and mint

Yes, yes, I know! Fusion is a horrible word for saying: I took your original recipe, threw in some other ingredients and messed up your dish. To be honest, I don't like the word and the hype that was once created around it, but it got your attention, now didn't it? :-)
Fusion was once a hype, where chef's would make the most horrid combinations by mixing up two dishes from different origin and tadaa... a new cuisine was created. 
How "new" it was I don't know, because fusion is basically what we do daily in the kitchen, isn't it? I mean, the Italian dishes we serve in The Netherlands do by no means resemble the dishes you would eat in Italy. Why? Because we adapt it to our own taste and cooking methods that we are used too. We all do that. I do stuff like that daily in my kitchen. And this recipe is no exception, but in this case I feel a bit of remorse for doing so. Let me explain:

The basic recipe is from an exquisite cookbook called Saha, a culinary trip through the Middle East by Greg and Lucy Malouf. I once bought it as reference when I was working as a concept manager for a chain of Doner restaurants. I just wanted to read up and see how we could eventually expand the menu. You know, get some ideas. The book was just so beautiful and recipes so delicious I kept it on my desk as an ornament. The book just breathed Middle Eastern hospitality and ancient culinary traditions that captured my heart. When I left to another job (I went back to what I love doing most, being a communication consultant and writing for company magazines etc) I took that book with me, determined to cook from it often abiding to the culinary traditions that I loved when reading the recipes. Well, I haven't cooked from it, until today. And I left that job 5,5 years ago. So it was about time. 
And now, when I make the first recipe from it, I do that fusion thing to it. I'm sorry Greg and Lucy. I apologize from the bottom of my heart for putting a twist on your recipe. I promise next time I will make this recipe with Haloumi (which my supermarket in my un-cosmopolitan village just didn't have) and with parmesan instead of pecorino. I solemnly swear. 

If you could only smell these babies! 

Ingredients:

• 325 grams (11.5 oz) of basic glutenfree breadflour
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of xanthan gum
• 7 grams (0.25 oz) of fiber husk
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of dried yeast
• 8 grams (0.28 oz) of granulated sugar
• 5 grams (0.125 oz) of iodized salt
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 100 ml (3.5 fl oz) of lukewarm water
• 200 grams (7 oz) of Turkish yoghurt
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of grated feta (if you want to do it right, use Haloumi)
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of grated pecorino (or the original parmesan!) and a bit to put on top. 
• 1 tablespoon of mint

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees farenheit) and put a bowl of water in the oven. This will help the dough to proof. 
2. Put all the ingredients in a bowl, following the ranking of the ingredients above. 
3. Mix it all with an electric mixer till all is combined and you a left with a lump of sticky dough. Don't be alarmed, glutenfree dough needs to be a bit sticky. It needs the extra moisture in the dough to help it proof.
4. Now wet your hands with lukewarm water and created little balls of dough. The water will keep the dough from sticking to your hands. I made 8 and put them on a tray lined with baking parchment. Put them close togehter, so when they proof they will merge a bit. You can tear them off at the dinner table (or lunch table as we did ;-)).
5. Brush some olive oil on each roll and then top with some grated pecorino. (Also, the pecorino is not in the original recipe, but I figured it would make the rolls look even more pretty)
6. Put them in the preheated oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. 
7. Take them out, let them rest a while while you preheat the oven to 250 degrees centigrade, 482 degrees fahrenheit). When the oven is at the right temperature, bake the rolls in about 15-20 minutes till golden and they make your mouth water.
8. Let them cool a bit, but serve them while still warm.

Enjoy!

Glutenfree Turkish Pide that could easily be Focaccia

Yesterday I was writing down a possible glutenfree recipe at 6 am so my kid could take that and the ingredients (and our own baking parchment & mixer) to his outer school activities, because they had planned to bake Turkish pide. I was anxious to let my boy participate, because what if they didn't do it right and my boy got sick? What if they, by mistake, would contaminate his glutenfree stuff? What if they would bake his bread with the other 'gluten containing pide' in one oven? What if my recipe would fail as I had never attempted it myself (which was the least of my worries) and Thijmen would be all upset? What if? What if? What if? 

That is the problem with glutenintolerence. Not everybody knows how to go about it, keeping stuff separate, or thinking a bit of gluten can't hurt. They would never do it on purpose, the ladies at the activity centre are usually very careful, but keeping seperate butter, bread and so on for lunch is a bit different than baking with 15 kids, where you have to help them all. 
And baking glutenfree is different as a whole, because glutenfree dough does not react the way normal dough does. Because the gluten, that make normal dough flexible and supple, aren't in the flour. So you need to pay attention and act as you go along. Add more water or sometimes more flour, let it proof more, or bake longer. You have to act to what you see happening to your dough and you need to know your dough. That sounds very 'new age' but it is true. Heck, it is the case with normal bread too, conditions aren't always the same and it is a product of nature. But with glutenfree it is even a bit more so, because you need to create good conditions for the bread. That is why I always put a cup of water in the oven to create better proof conditions. It can fail so easily. So I had written down every step and  a gazillion warnings not to contaminate Thijmens bread in any way possible (they would probably think I am a overbearing control freak, but they have never seen him sick, I have. Too often). I had even written down my phone number and to call if they had any, really ANY questions at all and not to hesitate to do so. And that had to be it, because no way I would let my reservations keep my kid from fun activities. I just had to trust them. 

But all my worries weren't necessary. My husband texted me that morning: "They are not baking bread. They have no ovens. I have everything with me." 
No oven? Right, that will make baking pretty difficult. But since I had written down the recipe and measured all the ingredients, I decided to bake with Thijmen today. Together. Safely and guaranteed glutenfree.

Based on the recipe we created a bread that could be Pide as well as Focaccia. Glutenfree bread is never exactly like normal bread, so don't expect it to be. This bread isn't any different. But it tastes wonderful, isn't dry or crumbly and in a glutenfree diet it is a good substitute for real Pide and Focaccia. We ate it for lunch, but you could also serve it with dinner, or with some humous or olivespread or sundried tomato spread. 

Is it Pide or Focaccia?

This recipe makes one small pide.

Ingredients:

• 200 ml (7 fl oz) of lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 10 grams (0.25 oz) of dried yeast
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of bakers salt/iodized salt
• 250 grams (9 oz) of basic glutenfree bread flour
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon of fiber husk

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 50 degrees Centigrade (122 degrees Fahrenheit) and put a bowl of water in the oven. 
2. Put the lukewarm water, sugar and yeast in a bowl. Let it rest for 2-3 minutes.
3. Then add the olive oil, salt and a quarter of the flour. Mix it all well and then slowly add the rest of the flour, bit by bit, mixing it in till you have a firm ball.
4. Put the dough (still in the bowl) in the oven and let it proof for 40-45 minutes. 
5. Take the dough out of the oven and preheat the oven to 230 degrees Centigrade (450 degrees Fahrenheit).
6. Roll out the dough on parchment paper, form it into an oval and punch small holes in the top of the dough with your finger. Now brush it with some olive oil. If you want it to resemble Focaccia, you could sprinkle sea salt and rosemary sprigs over the top. Also you should make it a square or a rectangle shape. 
7. Put it in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven. Check every once in a while and you may want to turn the bread over once the top is lightly golden. This will give you an even, crispy crust.
8. Take it out of the oven when ready. Brush over it with some olive oil once again and let it cool before you serve it.

My youngest munchkin enjoying his Pide for lunch.
Recipe approved!

Glutenfree High Tea-worthy Strawberry Teabread

Sometimes you just want to bake something. Don't you? Well, I do. So yesterday morning I leafed through one of my gazillion cookbooks and saw a recipe for Strawberry Teabread and it made my mouth water. And since my hands itched to bake something, I decided to make a glutenfree version of it. It is made with fresh strawberries and strawberries happen to be both my kids favorite fruit, so I knew they would love it.

In fact, in Thijmens first year as a diagnosed celiac I bought them every week. In bulk. Whether they were in season or not. In winter they were ridiculously expensive but we bought them anyway. Why? Because he loved them mixed through his glutenfree porridge. And since the kid had to eat that glutenfree porridge every morning and every evening (as dessert) to make him gain weight (he ate 5-6 meals spread over the day, just to make him grow, to make him stronger). We did everything to make that enjoyable for him. So strawberries it was. And 5 years later, he still adores them.

This teabread is a great addition to any High Tea. It's light, it is delicate and it's full of flavour. And it is sooooo simple!

Easy does it with this simple cake

This recipe makes one small teabread. 

Ingredients:

• 115 grams (4 oz) of fresh strawberries, chopped.
• 115 grams (4 oz) of butter (on room temperature)
• 115 grams (4 oz) of icing sugar
• 125 grams (4,5 oz) of rice flour
• 40 grams (1.5 oz) of almond flour
• 7 grams (0.246 oz) of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon of fiber husk
• 2 eggs

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade (325 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Mix the icing sugar and the butter in a bowl till light and fluffy.
3. Mix in the eggs one by one, till dissolved into the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Now add the flour, xantahn gum, baking soda and fiber husk. Whisk it in.
5. Fold in the strawberries.
6. Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin.
7. Put it in the oven for about 40-50 minutes till firm and golden.
8. Tip it out of the cake tin onto a wire rack (carefully!!) and leave it to cool.

Enjoy!