Gluten Free Flour Mix - courtesy of Phil Vickery

Having just blogged about my gluten free Christmas cake (adapted from Phil Vickery's fabulous recipe), here's the gluten free flour mix that you need for it:

Combine 300g fine polenta or chestnut flour
500g brown rice flour
200g cornflour

And that's it!

Gluten Free Christmas Cake

Every year, I always made a Christmas cake.  I'm not hugely keen on the iced version but had an old recipe from a Tesco magazine (circa 1999) that I followed religiously every year.  It was a light cake made with tropical dried fruits and light muscovado sugar - and we all loved it.

Fast forward a few years and here we are: recipe lost 6 years ago in the move to this house (I think I accidentally threw it out!) and my Mum (the Christmas cake's biggest fan) diagnosed as coeliac.  Hmmm, what to do?

Thankfully, Phil Vickery has stepped into the breech with his fabulous gluten free Christmas cake which I've made for a few years now.  So, having enjoyed success with it, this year I decided to revamp it slightly and here is the result (pre-decoration - more of which later) and my version of the recipe (which is very close to Phil's with a few alterations).

Ingredients:
350g/12oz raisins
150g/5oz sultanas
50g/2oz mixed peel
150ml/1/4pint sherry
zest and juice one lime
vegetable oil, for the tin
140g/5oz gluten free flour mix (use link)
1tsp gluten free baking powder
1tsp xanthan gum (you can buy Doves Farm at Tesco)
1tsp mixed spice
1 tsp all spice
140g/5oz unsalted butter
140g/5oz light muscovado sugar
3 medium free range eggs, at room temperature
50g/2oz ground almonds
2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
100g/4oz natural coloured glace cherries, washed & halved
1tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp clear honey

FOR THE DECORATION:
2 tbsp smooth apricot jam, warmed
100g/4oz mixed glace fruits (red or green cherries, ginger, melon or pineapple)
50g/2oz nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecan halves)

1. Place the dried fruit and mixed peel in a pan.  Add the sherry, lime zest and juice and bring to the boil.  Take the pan off the heat, cover and leave to soak overnight (or if you forget, like me, over two nights!).  Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2.  
2. Oil and line the base and sides of a 6 - 8cm deep round or square 18cm cake tin with a double layer of baking parchment, including a tall collar sticking up.
3. Sift the flour mix, baking powder, xanthan gum and spices.  In a separate bowl (or if you're lazy like me - in the food processor) beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and light.  Gradually and alternately add the effs and flour mix to the butter and sugar mix, then add the ground almonds.  Stir in the milk, soaked dried fruit and cherries.  Finally, stir in the agave nectar and honey and give everything a good stir.
4. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 1.5 - 2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Leave to cool in the tin.
5. To decorate (which I haven't done yet this year but will post photos when I have) brush the surface of the cake with half of the warmed jam.  Arrange a selection of glace fruits and nuts over the top and brush over a second layer of jam to glaze.

TO STORE:
The cake will keep for up to 1 month (undecorated) tightly wrapped in foil in an airtight container.

TO FREEZE:
When cold, remove the cake from the tin, wrap it (undecorated) in greaseproof paper and two thick layers of foil, then freeze in an airtight container.  Defrost for 3 - 4 hours.  When defrosted, decorate as before.

So here is my cake - will let you know how it tastes in a few weeks time!

Super Indulgent Summer Family Dinner - and it's Dairy Free!

To celebrate the fact that it has (finally) been sunny and, as we're nearing the end of the school holidays (boo), I cooked up a wee treat which I thought I'd share.

I love the fact that it's dairy free (for madam Toots) but we could all have it AND it still felt like we weren't compromising.  Toots often feels a bit left out when it comes to 'nice' food (by which she means 'totally indulgent') but this certainly didn't leave her complaining.

But please don't let the fact that it's got no dairy in it put you off - it's delicious, perfect for a summer celebratory dinner and more importantly, Cheeky Boy and Toots ate every last morsel (including the accompanying veg) and asked for seconds!!

Dairy Free Smoked Salmon Souffle Tart

I adapted this from the August 2012 edition of BBC Good Food. Toots can have eggs (she has thankfully grown out of that allergy).

Half 375g pack of shortcrust pastry (Jusrol is dairy free - and probably a few others too)

50g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

50g hard Stork (in the gold foil packet NOT the plastic tub)

300ml rice milk (almond or oat would probably do too but soya never cooks particularly well I find)

3 large eggs, separated

zest 1/2 a lemon

100g pack of smoked salmon slices (value range will do as it's being cooked in a tart with other ingredients rather than served on its own)

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.  Roll out pastry (or be lazy and buy ready rolled like I did!) and use to line a 22cm tart tin - mine has a loose base so it's easy to get things back out of once they're cooked.  Leave excess pastry hanging over the edge (you'll trim this off once it's cooked).  Line with baking parchment and baking beans (I used a packet of out of date dried Scotch broth mix but lentils or dried peas/beans would do it) and bake blind for 15 mins.  Remove paper, press fork over the base to create little air holes and bake for 10 mins more.

2. Meanwhile, make the filling by putting Stork, flour and rice milk in a pan together.  Heat, stirring constantly, until it makes a VERY thick smooth sauce.  Stir in the egg yolks, lemon zest and seasoning.  Tip: if you like dill, add in 1tbsp at this point - I loathe it so omitted it!

3. Beat the egg whites with an electric whisk (or whisk attachment on your food mixer as I did - best and most used wedding present EVER even 12 years later) until they hold their shape, then fold carefully into the sauce.  You want to make sure that the air bubbles stay in so don't go mad stirring them in.

4. Tear the smoked salmon slices into large pieces and arrange half over the base of the tart.  Sppon over the soufflé sauce, then arrange the remaining smoked salmon on top with black pepper (and the dreaded dill if you like).  Bake for 25 - 30 mins until puffed up and golden.  Trim the edges et voila!  Lovely Sunday lunch/dinner served up with new potatoes and some broccoli.

Empty plates AND requests for seconds from everyone!  Now that is what I call a result.

Then for seconds we had...

Squidgy Chocolate Brownies

These are not only dairy free but are gluten free too - oh yes, did I mention Granny Thrifty is ceoliac?!  Courtesy of Nigella Express but with a tiny adaptation to make sure they were dairy free for Toots.

225g dark chocolate (70%)

225g Stork (the old gold tin foil pack again)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (not essence)

200g caster sugar (I used golden but ordinary fine)

3 eggs, beaten

150g ground almonds

100g chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Melt chocolate and butter gently over a low heat.

2. Take pan off heat, mix in the vanilla and sugar and let it cool a little.

3. Beat eggs into the pan along with the ground almonds and chopped walnuts then turn into a 24cm square baking tin.  (I don't have one so used a similar sized square casserole dish which worked just as well).

4. Bake in the oven for 25 - 30 mins until the top is set but the filling is gooey beyond belief!  Once cooler, cut into 16 squares.

I then served this up with my Dairy Free Nutella made the week before and melted in the microwave for 30 seconds along with some homemade ice cream (for the grown ups and Cheeky Boy) and Swedish Glace for dairy free Toots (you can get it in Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Asda and the Co-op - the usual suspects and probably a few others too).

So, total indulgence (well, I had just done a spinning class!).

Let me know if you try either of these - and if you do, if you enjoy them.  Or are there any other adaptations you'd make?