2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
75g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup cinnamon and sugar mix

Follow Nicole’s steps 1 and 2 (preheat oven to 190 deg cel, and mix all dry ingredients, followed by the butter, egg and vanilla essence), but when separating the dough, make the two parts evenly sized.

Roll out each half into something approximating a rectangle. Use plenty of flour to stop it sticking to the buttom surface, and get it as thin as you can. Brush with melted butter and then sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Starting with a straight edge (cut straight if needed), roll the dough into a pinwheel/swiss roll shape, and set aside. Repeat with other half, and then freeze both rolls for 10 minutes.

Once frozen, cut into 2cm wide slices and bake on a well greased tray for 8 minutes- allow to cool on the trays as they are pretty fragile when they come out. They last well in an air tight container.

http://flic.kr/p/b3ixGc

Enjoy

6 chicken thighs
1 cup ground almonds (mine were pretty chunkily done owing to lack of food processor)
zest of 2 oranges
1/4 cup melted butter

In a bowl, mix the almonds and orange zest together very well with a dash of salt and pepper. In a separate bowl set out the butter. Spreading out to as thin a piece as possible, coat the chicken in butter and then crumb with the almond mix. Place on a well greased tray and bake hot (200 deg cel) for 15 minutes (obviously depending on your oven, check that it is aactually cooked at this point- if not, give it another 5 minutes).

Next time I am going to try marinading the chicken first for about an hour with the inside of the orange

 Goes well with gem squash and roasted baby beets or perhaps a green salad (assuming your slugs are less active than mine!)

Dare I hope that another player in the gluten free bread market will (eventually) bring the price of a loaf down? Probably not, but I’ll continue to dream…

For every egg white use:
1 c desiccated coconut
1/2 c sugar
zest from a citrus

Put all in a mixing bowl and mix to combine. It doesn’t stick nicely together, it has a very breadcrumb like consistency and needs to be moulded into balls. It will stick into shape it just needs encouragement

Put on a well greased tray and bake at 180 deg cel for 8-10 minutes. Take then out when they look like this:

Immediately slide them around on the tray- as they cool their bottoms gets sticky and it can get rather messy…

Enjoy!

Well done Leigh Sawmill. Also, while you’re there make sure you try their homemade Lemonade- it’s a cracker!

Today, we gambled on a roadside cafe and came up trumps. The Corogate Cafe is on State Highway 25, about 2km east from the junction with State Highway 2. They have the usual take away cafe style things- burgers, toasted and untoasted sandwiches, cakes, scones, etc, BUT they have gluten free version of all of them, and the advertising for that option was prominent as we walked in. I tried the cheese burger because it seemed like a good idea- it was! My beloved followed suit allowing for a fair comparison and the GFree really measured up. The bun was soft and the patty taste (home made for sure), with a good amount of salad. The choices of sauces was also something else-they had 10! I’ll get back to you once I have tested the other GFree delights, but I reckon you’d be right with any of it.

It is also worthy going in for the decor- it is brilliant! The front room has completed puzzles covering the ceiling and it truly is a celebration of all things British- you can even buy Polo Mints and Hienz sandwich spread there (as well as other British goods that you had thought you could live without). I also appreciated that the memorabilia included items from the most recent of the royal weddings- these people are professional collectors

The other thing I appreciated was the service and the chat with the lady behind the counter- her mother-in-law was diagnosed with coeliac disease 7 years ago. It explains a lot about the menu, but also made me feel like I could trust the food. Good show, old bean!

GF bread has been improving steadily and there is often a loaf in our fridge these days but I am enamored with the young buck because, unlike many others, you can eat it without toasting it! And for that I take my hat off to Purebread (sandwiches again!). You can see in the photo that it is bending because it is indeed light and fluffy as advertised, and most of the ingredients are certified organic (if you’re into that sort of thing). You can also buy young buck rolls Purebreads have also quite helpfully put a list of stockists up on their website.

On a final note, I would be willing to bet that it is the kind of bread that grows mould- I kept the first GF loaf I bought in the fridge for a lot longer than the suggested shelf life and when I finally took it out again 3 months after the expiry date, it looked and tasted the same as it did 4 months before…. If you’re game enough, please let me know how the young buck goes, but I will putting mine to better use

Secondly, my beloved’s workplace has a huge lime tree littering the place with green grenades of goodness. There is only one logical conclusion- lime pie!

Filling*:
4 egg yolks
1 tin sweetened condensed milk (400g or thereabouts)
1/2 cup lime juice
zest from the limes above

Base:
3 cups dessicated coconut
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

To make filling:
Beat together egg yolks and zest and then add in the liquids. Mix till well combined. Set aside till you have done the base.

To make base:
Mix coconut and sugar together and add butter. Mix together and then pack tightly into a well greased pie dish. Blind bake at 180deg cel for about 10 minutes or until brown. Pour over the filling and bake again at 180 deg cel til wobbly but not runny.

Hey presto! An easy gluten free pie

Enjoy.

* This is a generic filling recipe- I looked at several websites and they all seemed remarkably similar. This one is most similar to Reluctant Gourmet with mine being a tonne better cause I can eat it.

Plus…. Cornbread mini-loaves (Makes 12 muffins)

1 C GFree flour (I used Bakels flour but Healtheries is my favourite)
1/2 C rice flour
1 C polenta
45g grated parmesan (you can use cheddar and more than 45g)
2 t baking powder
1 t ground cumin
pinch chilli powder
2 C milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 t vegetable oil

Place all dry ingredients plus the cheese in a bowl and mix to combine. Make a well in the center.

Mix wet ingredients together and then ad to well. Mix til just combined** and immediately put into greased muffin tins and bake for 25 mins at 190 deg cel. Always check that they are cooked by poking with a skewer.

** My top tip for fluffy muffins is that less is more- the more the mixture gets stirred, the tougher they get.

My mini-loaf tins are my favourite kitchen thing. Mum let me have them years ago- I remember my Mum making loaves using them when I started school!

For this original recipe, you’ll need:

4 tablespoons butter
1 leek, white part only, diced
5 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup chicken stock (I used home made)
4 cups water
2 cups chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup cheddar, grated

Heat half the butter in a large heavy based pot, and add 1/2 the garlic and the leek. Cook for a couple of minutes til the leek is soft. Add the rice and stir. After a further minute add the stock, and then the water 1/2 a cup at a time stirring well. Add another 1/2 cup when first lot is absorbed, stirring again. Repeat til the rice is cooked (taste a few grains, they should be firmly soft enough to enjoy but not soggy).

In the meantime, melt the rest of the butter in a frying pan over a low heat and add remaining garlic and the mushrooms. Stir often, and take off heat when the mushrooms are cooked, but still soft.

When both lots are done, add the mushrooms to the rice and mix really well. Add the cheddar, and top with freshly ground black pepper.

Given that I made up this recipe as I went along, I trust you to adjust the quantities to you own tastes. Let me know how it goes, and enjoy