Gluten Free Peanut Butter Blondies

Ingredients:

• 100g unsalted butter (or olive/sunflower spread)
• 150g peanut butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 100g white chocolate
• 125g gluten free plain flour (I just used a supermarket's own brand)
• 1 tsp baking powder

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 160C and line an 8 inch square tin.
• Beat the butter and peanut butter together.
• Mix in the sugar and egg.
• Chop up the chocolate and add into the mixture.
• Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 30-40 minutes until it starts to brown at the edges.

Gluten Free Whoopie Pie Recipe

A while ago I made some cookies using coconut flour and I remember them being very chocolatey, sturdy and not too sweet. When I had a sudden urge for one I thought these cookies would be pretty perfect, especially after adding a bit of chestnut flour to make them more spongey. 
For the middle I basically ended up with toasted marshmallows (hence the stickyness and slight browning) because most recipes use frosting or some kind of marshamallow fluff/frosting but I didn't want mine to be be too sickly sweet plus everyone likes toasted marshmallows.

Makes 4 whoopie pies

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 2-3 tbsp chestnut flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• just under 1/4 cup coco powder
• Marshmallows

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking paper
• Combine the flours in a bowl and mix in the eggs followed by the sugar, salt and oil.
• Sift in the cocoa powder and baking powder.
• Leave to rest for approx 5 mins (the coconut flour will absorb some of the moisture)
• Spoon the mixture into 8 circles.

• Bake for 8-10 mins and remove half of the cookies. Balance marshmallows   on the remaining cookies (the number of marshmallows is up to you) and return to the oven. Cook until the marshmallows melt (this won't take long).
• Sandwich the cookies together.

Gluten Free Cake Pops (what to do with leftovers)

Previously I made Nutella cakes with peanut butter icing (see previous recipe) and I decided to take some to jury service with me but they got a little mushed and were no longer very attractive.

So I decided that the best thing to do was to make them into cake pops.

The good thing about cake pops is that the ingredients aren't very specific. You can use leftovers, buy some cake or make some fresh cakes. It doesn't even matter if the cake is stale.
This time I used 4 leftover cakes which were already iced (400g in total) which make 10 pretty big cake pops. But you can use as much or as little as you like as long as you have enough icing to hold it together. You can use whichever cake you want and if your making them for an occasion you can prepare these well in advance.


Ingredients:

• Cake
• Icing/frosting
• Chocolate for melting

You will also need sticks (I don't always bother unless I'm making them for someone else but it does make them look better) and a deep bowl or cup.

Method:

• Crumble the cake into a large bowl and add in some of the icing.
• Use your hands to try to form balls. It may help to warm the mixture up in the microwave on medium for 10-20 seconds. If you can not easily form balls just add some more of the icing/frosting.
• Don't worry if their not very solid at this point. Place them on baking paper on a tray and make sure you have room in the freezer. 
• Melt a small amount of chocolate to hold the sticks in place. Make a hole on each ball using a stick (stop just before the stick reaches halfway through the ball).
• Get a clean stick and dip the top in the chocolate (the top 1/2 to 1 cm approx should be covered in chocolate). Push the stick into the hole you've made in the ball so the stick is pointing up.
• Repeat for each ball and then put the tray in the freezer for at least 30mins-1 hour.
• Melt chocolate in a deep bowl or cup.

• The cake should be pretty sturdy on the stick buy now so you can dunk each pop in the melted chocolate one by one.
• At this point you can add any decorations you want before the chocolate sets (I didn't have time to decorate them as nicely as I would have liked as my friend turned up etc...but you can make them as impressive as you like).
• Because they've been in the freezer the chocolate sets pretty quickly so you don't have to stand there holding them for long.
• You can stand them in a glass, vase or polystyrene but if it is a hot day you may want to put them in the fridge so they don't melt of their sticks (this happened to me here in London so mine are currently living on a plate in the fridge)

Gluten Free Nutella Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

I was just experimenting when I made these and this recipe made around 7 large cupcakes so I would recommend doubling it if you want more.

Ingredients:

• 100g butter (or olive/sunflower spread)
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 100g chestnut flour
• 1/4 tsp xantham gum
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3-4 tbsp nutella

• 75g butter
• 100g peanut butter
• 225g icing sugar (approx)
• milk

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
• Cream together the butter and sugar.
• Add in the egg and mix.
• Add in the flour, gum and baking powder (I don't find that chestnut flour needs sifting)
• Add in the nutella and mix until well combined.
• Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases in a cupcake tray and bake until the cake springs back to touch.

• Once the cakes have cooled add the butter and a splash of milk in a bowl and add in some of the icing sugar until it starts to form butter cream icing.
• Add in the peanut butter and the remaining icing sugar until well combined (you may need more or less icing sugar, if it becomes too thick just add a small amount of milk).
• You can either spread the icing on the cooled cakes or pipe it on.

Gluten Free Cheese and Bacon Bread

Ingredients:

• 75g cornflour
• 75g potato flour
• 45g buckwheat flour
• 10g tapioca flour
• 20g ground almonds
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 1 tsp easy bake yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• warm water (around 100ml)
• smoked bacon (around 5 rashers)
• grated cheese (I used 50g of cheddar)

Method:

• Cook (I grilled it and trimmed off the fat) and cut up the bacon into small pieces and grate the cheese.
• Combine the flours, almonds, yeast, gum, sugar and salt in a bowl so they're evenly mixed.
• Add in the egg and enough water to form a very sticky dough (a wooden spoon should have to be used not your hands).
• Add in the bacon and cheese and mix well.
• Cover the bowl and leave to rise for around an hour.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200C and use wet hands to shape the dough into your preferred shape (it can be made into a loaves, rolls or whatever else you may want).
• Bake until golden brown.

Chestnut Flour Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten Free)

Ingredients:

• 150g butter (or olive/sunflower spread)
• 150g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g dark chocolate
• 150g chestnut flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C
• Cream the butter and sugar together.
• Melt the chocolate (around 2 mins on medium in the microwave).
• Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture.
• Add in the flour, baking powder and melted chocolate and mix well.
• Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases in a cupcake pan.
• Bake for around 20mins until the cake springs back to touch.
• Leave to cool before making an icing of your choice.

Gluten Free Cheesy Bread Dippers

These were a bit of an experiment and I genuinely had to stop myself from eating all of them. You can add whatever filling or flavour you want (I left some plain with some salt on top and put some grated cheddar in some).

Ingredients:

• 50g cornflour
• 50g potato flour
• 25g buckwheat flour
• 20g ground almonds
• 1 tbsp tapioca flour
• 3/4 tsp xantham gum
• 1 tsp easy bake yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 egg
• warm water
• sourdough starter (optional)

Method:

• Combine the flours, almonds, gum, yeast, sugar and salt.
• Add in the egg and sourdough if you choose to use it. Add in enough warm water to form an extremely sticky dough (you should just be able to mix it with a wooden spoon).
• Leave to rise for an hour.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
• Use very wet hands to work in any cheese etc and mould into the desired shape.
• Bake in the oven until golden brown.

Gluten Free Poffertjes (Dutch Mini Pancakes)

I first had poffertjes in a pancake house in London and they were one of the best things I've ever eaten. Despite making them gluten free and not having the proper pan for them, everyone ,including the gluten-eaters, loved them.
If you do have the pan then definitely use it but I had no trouble using a normal frying pan.

Ingredients: 

• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tbsp milk
• 100g buckwheat flour
• 100g flour (I used a mixture of potato, corn, tapioca and quinoa) 
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 250ml warm milk
• oil or butter

Method:

• Dissolve the yeast in the tbsp of milk.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flours, eggs, salt, sugar and the milk and whisk until smooth.
• Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for an hour.
• Heat a frying pan and add a small amount of oil or butter. Use a small spoon to spoon the batter into the frying pan in small circles.

• Turn each pancake as soon as the bottom has set.
• Serve hot with your choice of topping (icing sugar, maple syrup, chocolate spread...)

Chestnut Flour Chocolate Cake Recipe (Gluten Free)

This is one of the moistest cakes I've ever had and the chestnut flour gives a great taste and texture. No one I've given it to has been able to tell it's gluten free.


Ingredients for the cake:

• 75g dark chocolate
• 300g softened butter (or olive/sunflower spread)
• 225g soft brown sugar
• 100g chestnut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 60g cocoa powder
• 60g ground almonds
• 4 tbsp milk
• 3 egg whites

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C and grease 2 20cm cake tins.
• Melt the chocolate in a small bowl (around 2 mins in the microwave on medium)
• In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar together.
• Add in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, gum, cocoa, almonds, chocolate and milk and mix well.
• In a separate bowl whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
• Gently add the egg whites and use a figure of 8 movement with a wooden spoon to fold them in.
• Divide the mixture between the 2 tins and bake for around 30 mins until the cake springs back to touch.
• Once cool, assemble the cake using your choice of icing.

Boiled Gluten Free Bread Rolls?!

I promise I haven't gone crazy. I was eating one of my freshly cooked bagels and thought how a similar method could lead to great bread rolls.
In the past any attempts at bread rolls had usually involved a tin to get them to keep their shape and the result was always ok or good... considering that they're gluten free. These rolls required no tins, have a great soft texture and have no 'special' taste that you often get with gluten free bread.

It can seem like a strange method if you are not used to it but I promise they won't disintegrate or fall apart when boiling - it actually makes them much firmer. 


Ingredients:

• 75g cornflour
• 75g potato flour
• 50g buckwheat flour
• 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour
• 25g ground almonds
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp easy bake yeast
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 5 tablespoons of sourdough starter (optional)
• 1 egg
• warm water 

Method:

• Combine the flours, almonds, salt, sugar, yeast and xantham gum. 
• Add in the egg, sourdough (if including) and enough water to form a thick and very sticky dough (you should have to use a wooden spoon for this not your hands)
• Leave to rise for around an hour.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200C and put a large pan of water to boil.
• Use very wet hands to shape the dough into rolls (I made 3 large rolls) on baking parchment (greaseproof paper). Trim the paper around each individual roll (they look like they're on little rafts in the water)

• When the water's boiling carefully lower one roll into the water on a spatula and let it boil for 45 seconds before flipping it and boiling it for 45 seconds again.

• Flip to the right way up and remove from the water. Place on a tray and brush with egg white and add any toppings if you wish. 
• Bake until golden brown.

Just a couple of serving suggestions

Gluten Free Flatbread Recipe

There is nothing about these flatbreads that would give away that they're gluten free.

Ingredients: 

• 75g cornflour
• 75g potato flour
• 50g buckwheat flour
• 10g tapioca flour
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 10g almonds
• 1 egg
• warm water
• 5 tablespoons of sourdough starter (if you don't want to use this you may need slightly more yeast and water)

Method:

• Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well so they're well combined
• Add in the egg, water and sourdough and mix to form a very sticky dough.

• Cover with cling film and leave to rise for around an hour.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
• Get a baking tray and cover with a piece of baking parchment (greaseproof paper).
• Using wet hands flatten handfuls of dough into flatbreads (I made 4 out of this recipe)
• Cook in the oven until done (you may need to turn them to bake evenly).

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (Chestnut flour)

I've always loved Millie's cookies and so decided to try and come up with a gluten free version. These cookies are soft and I love the taste the chestnut flour gives.  You could try this recipe with different flour and I would think that you would still get a good result.

Ingredients:

• 125g butter (soft)
• 100g light brown sugar
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 1 tsp baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 225g flour (I used 125g chestnut and 100g of a supermarket GF plain flour blend)
• 200g chocolate (chunks)

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Cream the butter and sugars together
• Mix in the egg
• Add the gum, baking powder, salt and flour and mix well.
• Add in the chocolate chunks and mix until well distributed.
• If the mixture is too thick add a splash of milk

• Line a baking sheet and spoon the mixture into blobs to the size you want but do not flatten the mixture.

• Bake in the oven until the cookies just start to brown.

Gluten Free Pizza and Dough balls

Pizza was one of the first things I tried to make when I had to go gluten free. I say tried because it has taken many failed attempts. Every other recipe I tried tasted 'special' and I refuse to settle for anything that couldn't pass as good 'normal' food.

I definitely count this as a success because when I made this last week for the first time my mother remarked that my pizza was better than the normal sourdough pizzas she had made for the rest of the family. I think that's the best compliment you can get when cooking gluten free.
I guess I should explain that I am the only person in my family who can't eat gluten so I spend a lot of time trying to get my food to be as good (or better!) than the food my mom (an amazing cook) makes for everyone else.

The dough balls were a result of leftover dough and a bit of bravery. I always used to make dough balls stuffed with halloumi or feta and so with a touch of courage and possibly stupidity I attempted to make some with the leftovers. I didn't hold out much hope but I was shocked to find that they came out almost perfectly.

This time I tried dough balls stuffed with pepperoni and halloumi and I can say they were a success

I apologise for the lack of good pictures for this recipe but every time I have made this I find I have eaten most of it before I even think about taking a photo (I think that is a good sign).

This is the texture that this recipe gives and I found it to be pretty good by normal pizza standards let alone gluten free standards. 
I topped my pizzas with homemade tomato sauce, halloumi, feta, pepperoni and homemade pesto (I'm half English and half Greek so unsurprisingly both halloumi and feta tend to feature heavily in my house but feel free to add whatever you want)

I use sourdough in most of my bread based recipes because I used it before I went gluten free and I feel that it improves the texture but I can't say I have tried this recipe without the sourdough so it may not make any difference. If you decide to make this without sourdough please let me know how it turns out.

This recipe made one pizza and 4 dough balls and I couldn't finish all of it (I tried) but if you want to make it for more than one person or you have a better appetite than me (I don't eat that much) you may want to double it etc...


Ingredients:

• 75g cornflour
• 75g potato flour
• 25g buckwheat flour
• 10g ground almonds
• 1 tablespoon of tapioca flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar (or some honey)
• 1 tsp yeast (you may want to use slightly more if you don't use sourdough)
• 1tsp xantham gum
• 6 tablespoons of sourdough starter
• 1 egg
• 75ml warm water (again you may want slightly more if not using sourdough)

Method: 

• Add the flours, almonds, salt, sugar, yeast and xantham gum to a mixing bowl and mix together well.
• Then add in the egg, sourdough and water and mix.
• The result will not be the same as typical 'dough' ,but it rarely is with gluten free cooking, so it should resemble very wet and sticky dough.
• Leave this to rise for around an hour (it should have a nice 'wobble' to it when it's done)
• Pre-heat the oven to 200C (maybe slightly higher if it is not a fan oven) and get out a baking tray, a bowl of water and some baking paper (greaseproof paper).
• Put the baking paper on the tray and wet your hands (you will need to do this regularly hence the bowl of water) before handling the dough.
• Scoop as much dough as you want onto the paper and use wet hands to push the dough into a pizza shape.

•  Once the oven is up to temperature cook the base until it is solid and starts to brown.
• Remove the base from the oven and add whatever toppings you like.
• Return to the oven and cook until done.

For the dough balls:

• After the bases have been pre-cooked take a small amount a dough and flatten it against one hand. Use the other to put a small amount of any filling into to the middle of the flattened dough. Seal the dough around the filling and bake along with the pizzas until they start to brown.

Gluten Free Sourdough Bagel Recipe

In my house friday nights were (and still are) "bagel night", which involves freshly baked sourdough bagels. I'm not sure how this tradition started but as soon as I started a gluten free diet I knew I would have to come up with an acceptable alternative.

After many failed attempts (some had a tendency to disintegrate when boiled and others simply tasted 'special'), I came up with these which could easily pass as 'normal' bagels.

Ingredients:

• 100g Cornflour
• 100g Potato flour
• 50g rice flour
• 10g tapioca flour
• 15g buckwheat flour
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 heaped tsp yeast*
• 1 tsp salt
• 25g ground almonds
• 5 tablespoons of sourdough starter*
• 1 egg
• 150ml warm water*

To finish: 1 egg and any toppings (sesame seeds...etc)

*(I use sourdough (gluten free) in most of my gluten free bread based bakes as I feel it improves the texture but I don't put enough in to really effect the taste. You could choose not to include sourdough, in which case you would want  to add a little bit more yeast and water*.)

Method:

1. Combine the flours, gum, sugar, yeast, salt and almonds in a bowl and mix well.
2. Add in the egg, sourdough. Then add the water gradually until you get the 'dough' (this tends to be somewhere between dough and sticky mashed potato)
   
   
   

3. Let this rise for around an hour.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 200C and put a large pan of water on to boil. To prepare to shape the bagels I get a bowl of water (to put my hands in before handling the dough because it prevents sticking better than flour or oil) and some baking paper to put the handfuls of dough on.

5. Shape a handful of dough into a flat-ish roll on the baking paper and make a whole in the middle. I usually make 4 or 5 bagels.

6. Cut the baking paper around each bagel so it's slightly bigger than the bagel.

7. Once the water is boiling carefully put a bagel into the water. Let it boil for 45sec-1min each side and then put it onto a baking tray.  Repeat with each bagel.

8. Brush the bagels with the egg and add any toppings.

9. Bake until golden brown

These can be eaten fresh or toasted and will keep for a few days.

Gluten Free Chocolate Fudge Brownie Recipe

These brownies were a favourite of mine before I had to go gluten free so I decided to adapt them.
 I had a bag of coconut flour which I didn't know what to do with so I decided to chuck some in this recipe along with some chestnut flour (it's expensive but so worth it). 
If you don't have either of these flours then I'm pretty sure others would work just as well due to the small quantity needed and the moistness of the brownie.


Ingredients : 

• 350g/12oz chocolate (dark or a mixture of dark and milk)
• 250g/9oz unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 250g/9oz sugar ( brown or muscovado sugar will produce a fudgey/toffee taste)
• 85g/3oz flour (see above)
• 1 tsp baking powder 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C and line a brownie tin (or a 23cm/9inch square tin). 
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together ( this can be done in the microwave in about 2 mins on medium).
3. Whisk the eggs so they start to go pale and then mix in the sugar until combined.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the sugar and eggs and mix.
5. Sift in the flour and baking powder.
6. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for around 35mins.