Gluten Free Anzac Biscuits

Don't you just love an Anzac biccie ?  When they bake they fill your house with the most amazing buttery, oaty yumminess that has you lurking at the oven door just waiting for them to finish baking.


For my UK followers, the best way to describe an Anzac is...think of homemade Hobnob but better!  Oats, butter, coconut all combine to make the most delicious cookie that never sees out the day in my house.  I like my Anzacs soft;  like American cookie soft and fortunately this is how they bake with the GF flour.


Nothing makes me come over all Masterchef'y more than when I bake these babies.  I know the recipe off by heart and I can throw a batch together and get them into the oven in under five minutes  I feel like a pro.


Now there are many variations of this recipe floating around and I've read tons - but basically they're all the same.  This is the version I use.  Its super easy and I guarantee you'll be baking these off the top of your head in no time either and your family will love them.  You can add extra stuff to them too.  I love raisins in mine but you could put choc chips in or dried cranberries, nuts seeds - go crazy.

Ingredients
1 Cup Gluten Free Plain Flour
1 Cup Fine Desiccated Coconut
1 Cup Raw Oats (if you're Coeliac - be careful to use GF certified oats)
3/4 Cup White Sugar ( You can get away with less)
125g Unsalted Butter
1/4 Cup Golden Syrup
2 Tbsp Boiling water
1 tsp Baking Soda (Bicarb)

1. Turn oven to 180 C or 160C if fan forced.  Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
2. Measure out your flour, coconut, oats and sugar into a big bowl.
3. Measure your butter into a small microwaveable bowl and add the golden syrup to it.  Place in microwave for 1 minute or until butter has melted.
4. Boil kettle and measure out your baking soda into a glass.  Add the boiling water to the soda and swish about until dissolved.
5. Now you need to move quick.  Place your bowl of butter/syrup right beside your dry mix.  Pour the dissolved soda mix into the butter and syrup.  It should froth up straight away - pour it into the dry mix bowl.  If yours doesn't froth up - check the expiry date on your baking soda as it loses its punch after a while.
6. With a spoon mix the ingredients together until combined.  Your mix should not be overly wet.  If it is you need to add a little extra flour or some more oats.  It should hold together when you make balls but not be too 'wet'.  If the mix is too wet the biscuits will spread and run in the oven.  If too dry they will be stodgy and doughy.  You will find the middle ground with your brand of flour.
7. Make small plum sized balls and place them on a baking tray flattening a little with a fork.
8. Place in middle, to lower part of oven for appox 10-15 minutes or until the beautiful Anzac gold colour appears.  Leave on a cooling rack until completely cool.  These will firm up on cooling and will keep for a couple of days in a sealed container - good luck with that.  Don't tell the kids where you're hiding them...sssshhhh.

I really hope you enjoy these - they are my sons absolute fave - and sugar aside, its got to be healthier and more natural than shop bought biscuits or sweets.  You really can sneak a lot of healthy things into these biscuits and the kids will never know.

L x

Cherry Tarts

Think its about time for another recipe.  I LOVE cherries.  Strangely tho the fresh ones are always so lacking in flavour I think.  Now, a baked cherry....mmmmmm  Heavenly !  Marry that cherry with some vanilla and a buttery light pie crust and you have a desert worth swooning over.  Here is my Gluten Free take on a Cherry Tart.


I am going to use the Pie Crust Recipe from my first recipe post so I shall just post the ingredients but will refer you to that post for the method.

Ingredients - Pie Crust (makes 6 individual or one large pie crust)

162g  Plain GF Flour

38g GF Self Raising Flour

60g Pure Icing Sugar

1 level tsp Xanthan Gum

1/2 tsp GF Baking Powder

100g Cold Butter roughly chopped

1 large egg yolk (use an egg with a minimum whole weight of 59g)

A little of the egg white to aid binding

Ingredients - Filling

Morello Cherries in tin or jar (already pitted) About 450g tin.

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter

2 Tbsp of 100% Corn Cornflour
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1. Make one quantity of shortcrust pastry.  Rest it then press out into individual or one large pie crust.  You will have about half the pastry left over - this will form the lattice tops for your tarts.
2. Bake it in the oven at 160 Celsius for about 10 minutes then remove them and let them cool completely.  If you fill the shells while they are warm then they will absorb all the juice in the filling and make the base a bit soggy.
3. Set your case(s) aside to cool then prepare your filling.
4. Drain the juice from your tin of cherries into a small saucepan.
5. Add to the juice, your sugar, vanilla and 100% corn cornflour.  Stir it constantly over a medium heat until it boils gently and thickens.  Allow it to cook out for at least a minute once it boils - always stirring.
6. Then remove it from the heat and add your butter - this will gloss up the sauce.
7. Add the cherries back into the sauce and stir through.
8. Now carefully fill your cooled pastry shells with the cherries.
9. Take your pastry and cut long strips and work them into a lattice on the top of your shells over the filling.
10. Paint a little eggwash over the pastry and return it to the over for about 15-20 minutes.  Allow the tarts to completely cool before removing them from their cases - then dust with a little icing sugar.

Remember the flavour of tinned cherries varies A LOT.  Find one that you like.  You could also substitute tinned pie apple for this filling for a quick alternative.

Enjoy,

L x

Plants vs. Zombies Cake

I feel like I'm the Masterchef Kitchen and George is shouting"Boom Boom Shake the Room!"

Why oh why did I schedule Daniel's birthday party for the Friday before Launches at work...  Fortunately I have learnt my new Pump but the RPM is a bit sketchy.  I have until Sunday at least before I have to present the new RPM which does give me all day Saturday to polish it up shiny and faultless.

I am in the midst of creating a Plants vs. Zombies (a crazy Video Game) cake in all its 3D technicolour glory.  I have fashioned Cherry Bombs, Zombies, Chompers, SnowPeas, Chillis and Sunflowers from all manner of lurid shades of fondant icing.  Trust me there's enough food colouring in the cake and figures alone to send twenty kids into orbit!

I know you're waiting for me to say I created the most awesome Gluten Free cake for the occasion - Uh No.  Lets face it, he's turning seven.  Seven year old boys don't eat cake.  They eat the icing and toss the cake.  I used my faithful standby Basco Gluten Free Butter Cake Mix.  I have spent 2 days hunched over my counter creating crazy alien creatures out of fondant - why would I spend any more time than absolutely necessary on a cake thats going to get tossed in the bin.  Don't get me wrong the cake will taste great, but in the scheme of all things birthday- its trivial.

These big cakes really are a labour of love and there's no way I would ever consider doing this to make money - I could never charge enough  money to compensate for the amount of time or effort I pour into these creations.  I do it for love and money would just ruin it.  The look on the kids faces - and lets be honest now - the parents faces too, is priceless.  But here's the caveat - I would do this even if it was just for Dan and us at home - thats how much pleasure I get from it.  I look forward each year to the challenge of whatever creation he asks me to make and I dread the year he tells me he doesn't want a cake - you know I'll probably bake one anyway.

OK - here's the creation itself.  Its one Butter Cake, covered in White Chocolate Ganache and Fondant at the top tier, surrounded by 13 individual Vanilla Cupcakes (Everything Gluten Free) each with their own handmade Plants vs. Zombies topper.  Everything is edible and handmade by me.

I am loving my new Wilton "Grass" icing tip I got yesterday which makes all the groovy squiggly green grass and the Flower Press tool as well which allowed me to make all the tiny flowers.  I use Wilton Gel Colours to achieve the colours in the tinted fondant and buttercream icing.

The cake stand is a collapsable one from Cakes Around Town in Brisbane - it is made out of dense cardboard with a black high-gloss finish, perfect if you need to have a stand that breaks down for display  in another destination like we do today for the party.

Hope you like the design and the little critters.  No gluten in sight in this birthday cake creation - do you think the kids will miss it ?  In the words of Hairy McLary... "No, not a bit!"

Enjoy,
L x

Why Gluten Free? and Some Favourite Things

Whoa, No recipe today ?

Not today, but another lovely picture.  More wonderful cupcakes made into a bouquet of flowers plus a fabulous deep dish Lemon Meringue Pie.  A fabulous idea I stumbled across last year somewhere on the internet.  I use all my own photographs in this blog.  These are my creations photographed in my kitchen, so this is how the actual recipes look when baked - thought I'd just clear that up in case you thought I was hijacking awesome pics and posting as my own...now that would just be dishonest.

Now these cupcakes above - simple, yes; but the presentation blew my Mum away on her Birthday last year.  Find a gorgeous vase and get a polystyrene ball that will fit on top but sort of nestles snugly inside a bit (check out Spotlight if here in Oz) Bake and decorate your cupcakes then secure them to your ball at the last minute using long bamboo skewers and some great greenery - a vine is perfect for snaking through the cupcakes - remember to wash it first tho...Simple but effective.

As I state in my Welcome, I am not a diagnosed Coeliac but I do largely follow a Gluten Free diet.  I say largely because I have been known to be lured back into the glutinous world at my own peril and am then often left repenting at my own leisure in the days that follow with that gluten hangover and bloat.  I always swear I'm not having gluten again...

Much as been written about gluten and its role within the body.  I have done a lot of research myself and talked with many people about it including my GP, Naturopath and my Endocrinologist.  I have been particularly interested in the research surrounding gluten and inflammation in the body.  Its has been interesting to see many elite athletes adopting a gluten free lifestyle as an adjunct to their training regime and hear them talk about how they believe it has enhanced their performance.  I do not advocate a Gluten Free diet for all.  I only know that for myself, my body and mind seem to function in a superior fashion when I eliminate gluten from my diet.  I was diagnosed with re-occurring Graves Disease in 1999 while in London.  This is characterised by an overactive thyroid gland which can wreak havoc with the body's metabolic rate and has some rather severe side effects.  I controlled this disease with daily medication for over 10 years.  I believed I would be on this medication for life.

About 3 years ago I consulted a wonderful Naturopath, Sam Beau Patrick here on the Gold Coast, and through our discussions, I began to explore ways of optimizing my diet and nutrition and I began looking at a Gluten Free diet.  I did not eliminate it completely but reduced gluten dramatically, and eventually 2 years ago commenced gluten free living.  Well 12 months ago, my Graves disease ceased to be active.  I have been off medication for over a year now and am feeling fantastic.  The only change in my life during this time has been the adoption of a Gluten Free diet.  There are many articles published showing links between an inflammatory Gluten Diet and AutoImmune disorders (of which Graves disease is one).  I have no scientific proof that my diet change aided my remission and I still monitor my blood levels to ensure it hasn't re-occurred, but I strongly believe that my move to a gluten free diet has helped me leave my Graves Disease behind.  So there's my  "Why".

Now for some favourite things.  How wonderful if we always had time to bake from scratch.  We are so very fortunate here in Australia with the wide variety of quality Gluten Free products available in all mainstream supermarket chains here.  I can tell you from experience that this is not the case in the UK or the USA.  Gluten Free foods are almost mainstream here in Australia with Coles, Woolworths and Aldi all stocking a comprehensive range of products including flours, cake mixes, sliced breads, crackers, biscuits, pastas, soups and ready made meal bases.

Pictured above are 5 of my favourite things that I always have in my baking drawer.  Basco Golden Butter Cake Mix.  Awesome !  This bakes the most deliciously moist cake or cupcakes and can be adapted easily with a little ingenuity into some wonderful variants including choc chip, lemon or orange.
Melinda's Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix.  For die hard chocolate fans (of which I am not - but have friends who are...)this is the ultimate gooey fudgey brownie.  It is forgiving enough to adapt as well and I often throw in additional handfuls of choc bits, white and dark, or extra nuts.  The Aldi "Has No..." brand of Gluten Free flours has been very successful for me and price wise a great bargain.  White Wings 100% Corn Cornflour a must for every GF baker - beware the evils of the 'Wheaten Cornflour'.
I have also been really impressed with Ward's Gluten Free Baking Powder.

Well on that cheery note I shall sign off. If you pass any of these items in you supermarket travels and always wondered what they may be like, next time you pass them, perhaps throw one in your trolley.  I vouch for them :-)

Happy Gluten Free Shopping

L x

Orange Vanilla Cupcakes

Monday was my Mum's Birthday, which made it a very special day indeed.  With more than her fair share of health scares in the last six months, it made it a very very special birthday for us all.  I asked Mum what kind of cake she wanted for her Birthday and all I got was "Cupcakes", "just make me some cupcakes".  Now I'm sorry but where is the challenge in that ? So I set about making the tastiest most beautiful cupcakes I could think of.  As an additional challenge...  Well I was asked to bake this weekend for the Cycling Criterium that was taking place so they could sell my cupcakes in the Canteen.  No worries - how many ? - Oh, about 100!!!!  Well I compromised and made 50 but they were pretty special and not your usual 'run of the mill flat as a tack, ugly-as patty cakes', which are the usual fare at these events.


A cupcake should look so good that your mouth should be watering as you hand over the money and pick it out.  That first bite needs to delight your senses, it should be light, moist, full of flavour and the icing or frosting needs to complement not overpower it.


Here is my recipe for Orange Vanilla Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream Frosting.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did...yum yum yummmm.

I use a 250ml Cup and a 20ml Tbsp in all my recipes


Ingredients
125g Unsalted Butter, softened slightly
1 tsp Vanilla Extract (or Essence)
3/4 Cup Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1.5 Cups Plain Gluten Free Flour
2 tsp GF Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Milk
Zest from 2 large oranges

1. Preheat oven to 180Celsius of 160 if fan forced
2. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together until light and fluffy - about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time beating really well after each one - don't be concerned if the mix looks a little curdled.
4. In a separate bowl measure out the flour and baking powder and stir well with a balloon whisk to aerate and combine.
5. Using a large metal spoon fold into the butter mix about 1/3 of the flour mix, alternate the flour and milk into the butter mix until all combined but be careful not to overmix.
6. Add your grated orange zest and fold it through.
7. Place your paper cupcake wrappers inside your cupcake pans or grease if not using paper wrappers.
8. My tip for easy, beautifully filled cupcakes is to use a piping bag with no nozzle attached.  Using a large spatula spoon as much of your mix as you can into your piping bag being careful to keep the end pinched.  Then deliver a beautiful dollop into each case about 2/3 up the wrapper only.  If you overfill they will spill over and stick.
9. If you don't fancy the piping bag just fill using a large spoon.  If you have more than you need for 12 average sized cupcakes, the remaining mix will wait until your first batch is done.
10. Place the tray in the lower shelf in the oven and bake for approx 10-15 minutes keeping a close eye they will go from too soft to just right very quickly.  They should spring back when lightly pressed with your finger or when a skewer comes out clean.
11. Leave the cooked cupcakes on a wire rack to cool slightly remove them from the tin leaving them in their wrappers.
12. If you have additional mixture, place more paper wrappers in the holes and re-fill and get batch number two in the oven.

The icing is the crown on your cupcake, its the exciting bit that beckons you so don't skimp.  Let it look luxurious and ever so sinful...

Icing / Frosting

2 cups of pure icing sugar or GF Icing Mixture

50g Softened Unsalted Butter

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Grated Zest of One Large Orange

2 Tbsp Orange Juice (from above orange)

1. Turn electric hand mixer onto medium and combine ingredients.  If its a little dry add some extra orange juice or if a little wet more icing sugar.
2. When combined and a good consistency turn beaters to high and mix for about 2 minutes until very smooth.  You are looking for a consistency that will hold the ridges in your beater swirls.  Not too firm but not soft enough that when you stop beating the ridges soften back to a smooth mix - you want to see those ridges and have them hold up.
3. Your cupcakes need to be completely cool before you apply your icing or it will slide off.  If you are wanting to use fancy cupcake wrappers, the trick to keeping them looking immaculate is to now place your cupcake inside its second wrapper - yes an extra wrapper that hasn't been baked - your cupcakes will now look pristine and ready for their crowning glory.
4. Fill a piping bag with a large open or star shaped tip and pipe the frosting in decreasing circles onto your cupcakes.  3-4 circles is plenty or you'll have a mountain of icing that will overpower your cake.
5. If you are planning on sprinkles of any kind you need to have these at the ready or they will not stick once the icing starts to harden.  After every 3 cupcakes sprinkle over your decorations, then move on to the others.

Hope you love these,

Enjoy !

L x

The Ultimate Gluten Free Sticky Date Pudding

For years my husband and I argued that Sticky Date Pudding and Sticky Toffee Pudding were different things.  Well he argued they were different, I argued they were the same.  I, of course, was right.  Call it what you will, its the ultimate winter pud.  Sweet and sticky its a winner every time.  If you or someone you love has an aversion to dates, you can blend these up with a stick blender to make the gooey date pulp unrecognisable then tell them its toffee !!!


I have made mine in 6 very small ramekin dishes perfect for a single serve that won't be too sickly, but had enough mix left over to fill my small pudding basin 3/4 full which would easily serve 4-5 people on its own.  This recipe works particularly well if you make it a day in advance and leave the pudding soaking in about half the sauce then warm it through to serve making it ideal if planning for guests but you don't want to be cooking the pudding same day.

Ingredients
225g Dates
175g Boiling water
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
175g GF Self Raising Flour (I used White Wings as thats all I had.)
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 Eggs
85g Unsalted Butter
140g Dark Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp Treacle
100ml Milk


For the Sauce
175g Normal Brown Sugar
50g Unsalted Butter
225ml Double Cream
1 Tbsp Treacle

1. Chop the dates up quite small.  Most packet dates are already de-stoned but as you chop them up you'll find any stray ones left in and remove them.  
2. Place these in a small bowl then place the bowl on your scales and measure in your boiled water and stir through your vanilla essence and put aside to soften.
3. Turn your oven on and heat it to about 160C Fan forced or 180C normal.
4. Measure out the SR Flour and the Baking Soda into a bowl then grab a balloon whisk and give it a few good stirs with it to aerate and mix.  
5. In a large bowl beat with an electric hand mixer or in your kitchen stand mixer the brown sugar and butter until creamy.  
6. Add your eggs one at a time - don't worry if the mix looks curdled it will be just fine!
7. Beat in the treacle then using a large metal spoon gently 'fold' in 1/3 of your flour mix.
8. Now add 1/2 your milk continuing to 'fold' don't overmix.  Repeat until all the flour and milk have been added.
9. Now you need to add your dates which have been softened.  Take the bowl and either mash with a fork a little if you prefer chunks of dates in your puddings, or if you're of the "toffee not date brigade" grab your stick blender and give them a whizz until a satisfying datey pulp remains, now fold it through your batter.
10. I'm not a fan of sticky bowls and puds or cakes that don't come out cleanly - but I'm lazy.  Grease your Ramekins or pudding bowls with butter or in my case kitchen spray (shhhh!) then fill them leaving about a 2cm gap from the top of the dish.
11. Bake for approx 20 minutes or until risen and a skewer comes out clean.
12. While these are baking assemble your sauce ingredients
13. Place the sugar and butter for the sauce into a small saucepan with about half the cream and bring to the boil on a med heat.
14. Stir continually to prevent it burning until all the sugar is dissolved then add your treacle and stir it through.
15. Turn your heat up only a little more and let it bubble away for another 2-3 minutes stirring to ensure it doesnt burn.
16. Then remove it from the heat and beat the remaining cream through the sauce.  Balloon whisk is good for this or you can use a wooden spoon.
17. When done, remove puddings from the oven and leave for a few minutes to cool a little - don't let them go cold in the dishes or you'll never get them out.
18. Loosen them well around the sides with a knife before turning them out.  
19. You want to make sure each pud gets soaked with the gooey sauce so I recommend turning them all out into one shallow baking dish and pouring the sauce over them all and allow them to sit for about 10 minutes or so before pouring off the sauce in the dish into a jug.
20. If you're keeping the puddings for the following day or freezing them you can cover them at this point and leave them.
21. If you are serving straight away place individual puddings on plates then pour over extra sauce and top with a dollop of cream or custard.

Please don't be put off by the huge number of steps in this recipe its quite easy really, I just like to explain it well.  It is incredibly rich so go easy.  This is definitely a 'once a year' kinda thing in our house - thats probably a good thing!

Enjoy !

L x

Jam Drops - for kids big and small !

I dare you to stop at just one of these distinctly 'home made' but totally awesome Jam Drops.  These are the ultimate "whip 'em up in 10 minutes" kind of biscuit.  You can bake these babies quicker than it will take you to drive to the shops and buy a packet.  They combine a unique buttery crunch with the subtlety of a custard creme with their lovely jewel like topping how can you resist. Vary the Jam you use to create a whole range of wonderful flavours.  


One serious word of warning, kids will scoff the lot so make sure you eat your fill before you collect your little monsters from school...

I use a 250ml Cup and a 20ml tablespoon in all my recipes.
Ingredients
1.5 Cups Gluten Free Self Raising Flour (I use the "Has No.." range or Orgran)
1/2 Cup  Gluten Free Vanilla Custard Powder (I use White Wings brand)
125g Unsalted Butter 
1/4 Cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
Raspberry Jam or any flavour of your choice.  (I like the St Dalfour Brand)
Pure Icing Sugar to dust

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (160 C if fan forced)
2. Combine the Flour and Custard Powder in bowl or food processor.  If in a bowl, combine them with a balloon whisk to aerate and combine, or pulse the food processor blade to combine. 
3. Stir in the sugar, or just add to food processor
4. If using a bowl 'rub' the butter into the dry mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.  If using the food processor, add your butter and process for about 30 seconds until that breadcrumb stage.
5. Add the Vanilla Essence and Milk and mix to a firm dough.  If the dough is not quite holding together, add a tablespoon of cold water at a time until it holds together.  Mix should be firm but not wet.
6. Line a baking tray with Baking Paper (non-stick) and place small balls of the mix onto the tray.  Press them down with a fork to flatten slightly then press your thumb into the centre to create an indent for your jam.
7. Place a generous dollop of jam in the centre of each .
8. Bake in the oven for approx 10-15 minutes or until golden.
9. Cool them a little on the tray before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
10. Then dust lightly with a little icing sugar.

Enjoy !

L x

Short Crust Pastry

In my gluten free travels I have struggled to find a decent pastry.  There are numerous 'pie crusts' using almond meal, crushed GF biscuits/crackers etc but I was wanting a REAL pastry.  I got excited when I discovered my supermarket was stocking the pre-rolled GF pastry sheets, only to be disappointed with the cardboard texture and lack of taste.  


I decided it MUST be possible to create a pastry that could be rolled not just pushed into a pan.  To give credit where its due I was inspired by a recipe at www.exclusivelyfood.com.au.  I played around with some ideas and here is the result, the most deliciously buttery shortcrust pastry that also happens to be Gluten Free!

I used my precision electronic scales and to be honest I think exact measurements help a lot with this recipe.  I used generic GF Flour blends in this recipe.  Specifically I used the "Has No..." range from Aldi for this recipe.  It would also work well with the Orgran brand of flours.  I have personally had little luck with the White Wings GF  flour blends.  I have have had little to no success with this brand in my recipes - must be the ratios used.  

Remember that the key rules that apply to pastry making all apply here.  Ingredients cold straight from fridge.  Handle the mix as little as possible.  Ideally use a food processor to make.

Ingredients

162g  Plain GF Flour

38g GF Self Raising Flour

60g Pure Icing Sugar

1 level tsp Xanthan Gum

1/2 tsp GF Baking Powder

100g Cold Butter roughly chopped

1 large egg yolk (use an egg with a minimum whole weight of 59g)

A little of the egg white to aid binding

1. Place Plain Flour, Self Raising Flour, Icing Sugar, Xanthan Gum and Baking Powder (all your dry ingredients) in your food processor and process on medium speed for about 10 seconds to combine ingredients.

2. Add the cold chopped butter to the dry ingredients and process for another 20-30 seconds until only very tiny lumps of butter remain.  You may need to stop and give it a scrape around then pulse a few times to get it all.  Butter pieces should be small like grains of rice.

3. Add your egg yolk and process on medium speed until the yolk is incorporated and the mixture starts to clump together to form a dough. (About 30-60 seconds) Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  If after this time it is not coming together, add about a tsp of the egg white and pulse for a further 15 seconds.  Continue with a little eggwhite at a time until you get the desired pull together of the mix.  It should not be wet but just be holding together.

4. Tip the dough onto a large sheet of baking paper and use your hands to bring the pastry together.  Do not knead it - just handle it enough to bring it together then flatten into a round disc.  Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 40-60 minutes before rolling out.

5.  Unlike most GF Pastries - this dough actually WILL roll out .  You will have most success if you roll it out between 2 sheets of baking paper.  I added no extra flour to dust.  This will only dry the mixture more and make it more crumbly.

6.  As you roll it out to fill a pie dish, don't roll to thin as it IS fragile.  I had best success in individual pie dishes with loose bottoms.  These cases also benefit from a little 'blind' baking before placing your filling in.  I baked mine at about 160 C for about 5-10 minutes before adding my filling.

This bakes a beautifully buttery pastry shell best eaten on day you make it.  But good the following day too.  This is not just a great GF pastry shell its a great pastry shell full stop!  People not following a GF diet will love it too - Promise.

Fill with whatever takes your fancy.  Lemon Meringue, Apple, Frangipane the possibilities are endless  - Enjoy !

I will use this pastry in some recipes to follow but wanted first up to give you the basic pastry on its own for reference.  Now lets create some baking magic and see what we can do with it.....

L x

Enter the Blogosphere...

In the words of Willy Wonka...

Come with me and you'll be

In a world of pure imagination

Take a look and you'll see

Into your imagination

We'll begin with a spin

Trav'ling in the world of my creation

What we'll see will defy

Explanation

If you want to view paradise

Simply look around and view it

Anything you want to, do it

Want to change the world, there's nothing to it

My name is Loraine.  I bake.  I bake a lot.  I bake for myself, I bake for my family, I bake when I'm bored, when I'm happy, when I want to celebrate.  Oh yeah, but as for that stuff called gluten, well it doesn't agree with me, not one little bit.  Over the past three years since I started experimenting with eliminating gluten from my diet, I have become a bit of an expert at adapting my everyday baking recipes for Gluten Free alternatives.


I'm sorry but you won't find any savoury dishes here.  To be honest, cooking Gluten Free for most main meals is a breeze.  No gluten in my meat veges or herbs its all good.  Ahhhh... but a cake, a pastry a little sweet something - now there's a challenge.  How do we make it tasty not bland, moist but not heavy, crisp but not crumbly - now there's a challenge.


Join me on my baking adventures as I share with you my experiments in Gluten Free baking. My food is tasty and appealing, but homely.  I'm a mum to one beautiful little boy and a wife to a great food tester whose burgeoning waistline is testimony to the many cakes and goodies I create for him to taste. I use everyday ingredients bought from my distinctly average supermarket and this should make my recipes accessible for all.


Stay tuned as I update my blog with my latest inventions and discoveries.  I am rather excited right now about my success in devising the most delectable GF Short Crust pastry I have ever tried over the past weekend.  That will be my first recipe...are you ready ?


"Want to change the world, there's nothing to it..."