Tag: gluten free

Gluten Free Amaretti Biscuits Recipe

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A lot of my recent bakes have been quite challenging, so today I am taking it back to  basics with my Italian Amaretti Biscuits Recipe.

Amaretti Biscuits are bite-sized almond flavoured biscuits which you will often find served alongside a cup of coffee. Traditionally they are made using Ground Almonds instead of flour which makes them Gluten Free, unfortunately a lot of shop bought versions are bulked out with wheat flour which makes them unsuitable for Coeliacs.

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Luckily they are incredibly quick and easy to make at home! This recipe makes approximately 44 small biscuits from only 4 ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes to do.

Amaretti Biscuits – GF/DF

Ingredients

1 egg white

85g ground almonds

85g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 190 C/170 C fan/gas mark 4.

2) In a mixing bowl whisk the egg whites with an electric hand mixer until they become firm.

3) Fold in the ground almonds, caster sugar and vanilla extract until the mixture comes together to form a paste. Do not over mix the paste or it will become too runny.

4) Line three baking sheets with greaseproof baking paper and lightly grease with butter using a pastry brush. You can use a diary free alternative such as oil or dairy free spread instead of butter if you wish.

5) Transfer the paste into a piping bag with a medium plain nozzle and pipe small round blobs onto the baking sheets, leaving space in between each one to allow the biscuits to expand in the oven.

If you are not confident with piping you can use a teaspoon to place each blob on to the baking trays, I just think piping gives a neater finish.

6) Bake the biscuits in a preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are a lovely golden brown.

7) Once you have removed your biscuits from the oven leave them to cool on the baking tray for a few moments, they should then lift off the baking paper quite easily.

Amaretti Biscuits will keep up to two weeks if you store them properly, either in a clip top jar or in an airtight container.

Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding

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Welcome to my first ever blog post!

This August I will have been on a gluten free diet for two years; from day one I refused to be restricted by my diet and was determined to enjoy every little bit of what I eat. I believe that it’s possible to enjoy food and to eat everything I used to eat before but that it often just takes a little bit of experimenting to get things right. I spend the majority of my spare time developing gluten free recipes and testing my bakes on my friends who always tell me that I should share my recipes, so that leads me to the blog!

I thought long and hard about the first recipe I would share, it needed to be a recipe goes down well every time I make it – it had to be my Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe.

I have tried and tested this recipe many times, and on gluten eaters! They thought it tastes every bit as good as a “normal” sticky toffee pudding – so if you’re on a gluten free diet, and you feel like you are missing out on real puddings, give this recipe a try. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding – GF/DF options

Serves 8

Ingredients
Sponge:
150g chopped dates
200ml strong black tea
150g butter, unsalted (or dairy free spread)
150g dark brown sugar
150g self raising gluten free flour
2 large eggs

Sauce:
50g Light brown sugar
50g butter (or dairy free spread)
120ml double cream (or dairy free alternative)
1tbsp black treacle
1 tbsp golden syrup

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200 C/180 C fas/gas mark 6.

2. Grease 2 glass dishes with butter (I used 2 glass dishes because that’s what I had lying around but you could use just one big glass dish or a cake tin, you may need to adjust the cooking time to ensure the sponge is cooked through).

3. Soak the dates in the tea and set aside to cool.

4. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, making sure you’ve worked out any of the lumps in the brown sugar. Add the eggs and flour then mix until all the ingredients are fully combined.

6. When adding the dates it entirely up to you whether to blend them or leave them chunky – I like to blend the tea and dates into a paste but either way is absolutely fine. Add the dates and tea into the sponge batter and mix until fully combined, then spoon the mixture into the prepared dishes and smooth it out with a spatula.

7. Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 25 – 30 minutes. To check the sponge is cooked through, test the middle with a skewer, if it comes out clean the sponge is cooked.

8. To make the sauce place the sugar, golden syrup, treacle and butter in a pan over a low heat. Once the butter has melted stir in the double cream.

9. Drizzle the sauce over a slice of the pudding to serve!