Gluten Free Cookie Recipe - Chewy Sultanna Cookies

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

These gluten free cookies are sooooo nice and have been adapted from an oat based recipe, so for those of you new to gluten free cooking and missing some old favourites, this will be a pleasant surprise.

Chewy Sultanna Gluten Free Cookies

100g pre-soaked rice flakes - this may take a few hours so prepare in advance.
100g butter or dairy free marg
75g brown sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
75g sultannas or raisins
50g ground hazelnuts or ground almonds
100g gluten free flour (remember that tapioca flour makes things more chewy, so use some of this if possible, about 30g will be a good amount)

Pre-soak your rice flakes by adding no more than double the quantity of lukewarm water and waiting until the water is absorbed. You may have to experiment with this stage depending on the type of rice flakes you have! You could leave the rice flakes dry but the biscuits will tend towards a toe-nail clipping like texture and not at all like their oaty equivalent in the gluten world. If you leave the rice-flakes too wet, you will have an oven disaster - oil and water don't mix and the hot fat will get splattered all over the inside of your oven. Not nice! So, somewhere in between is your goal!

Preheat your oven to 170oC.

Melt the butter or margarine, sugar and syrup over a low heat.
Add in the dry ingredients and mix well.
Take a sheet of greaseproof paper and line a flat baking tray.
Take about 1 tablespoon of dough and form into a ball in your hands, then flatten roughly and place on the baking tray. Makes about 15 gluten free cookies.

Enjoy these gluten free cookies with a nice cup of team and keep them out of reach of the kids :o)

Easier gluten free recipes!

Just a quick note - our gluten free recipes page was getting a bit unwieldy so I've organised it into sections. Hope that makes finding an appropriate gluten free recipes a little easier!

Gluten Free Biscuit Recipe - No Sugar Banana and Maple Syrup Stars

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

In a bid for my 19 month daughter to join her sweet-toothed nursery buddies, I made some gluten free biscuits - with the twist that the sweetness comes from banana and maple syrup.

Gluten Free Biscuits - No Sugar Banana and Maple Syrup Stars
Makes about 20 stars

225g gluten free flour (I used 125g corn flour, 50g rice flour and 50g tapioca flour)
85g dairy free margarine (if you need it to be dairy free)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 ripe medium banana
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat your oven to 180oC.

Rub the flour, spices, salt (optional) and marg together in a big bowl until it forms a breadcrumb like texture. Mash the banana in a seperate bowl with the maple syrup until it's smooth and wet.

Fold in the banana and maple syrup goo into the flour mixture and knead until you get a firm dough.

Take a large sheet of greaseproof paper (baking parchment), and use this to roll out your dough on. I've learned from experience that gluten free baking crumbles and sticks to the work surface, even if you use a dusting of flour, so I've adopted this method instead as you can lift up the dough in one piece. Roll out the dough evenly to about 7 or 8mm (roughly!) and use a cookie cutter to press out small shapes. I used a star cutter, but you can use any shape!

Place the cookies onto a flat baking tray, again on a sheet of greaseproof paper, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes. Leave to cool (although you'll be sorely tempted to eat them warm!).

This was a tricky adaptation of a regular flour recipe - I had to reduce the temperature, add a bit more marg and cook slightly under the recommended time. It was worth the failed attempts because although it always tasted nice, the texture left a lot to be desired. Anyway, the gluten free biscuit recipe above worked for me, so I hope it works for you too.

Gluten free pate - spinach and cashew

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

Most pates you buy aren't gluten free, so making your own is a great idea - and this gluten free pate is so quick and easy. Having it handy in the fridge is a great backup to have on rice cakes.

Gluten free spinach and cashew pate

120g/4oz cashew nuts
180g/6oz spinach leaves
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
salt and pepper

Steam the spinach just until properly wilted then squeeze when cool to remove excess moisture.

Blitz the cashews in a blender until finely ground and then add the spinach and nutmeg.

Season to taste.

Once you've started on gluten free pates you'll never stop.

Gluten free coconut sorbet

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

Thai Coconut Cream Sorbet - gluten free!

1x 400ml tin of gluten free coconut milk (yes, they even put modified starch in coconut milk sometimes, so make sure yours is gluten free. A safer alternative is coconut block that you make into milk - I've yet to see non gluten free coconut mlikblock).

4.5 oz sugar

Juice of one small lemon

1. Dissolve sugar in boiling water
2. Set aside in fridge to cool
3. Whisk in Coconut milk and lemon juice and put into ice cream maker or pop in freezer and take out and whisk after a couple of hours and ice crystals have appeared around the edge
4. whisk twice more at hourly intervals
5. if it remains in the fridge overnight then remove for about 30 mins prior to serving.

For something so simple, this gluten free coconut sorbet is extremely tasty. I think that substituting the lemon juice with lime juice might just be rather good too.

Gluten free spaghetti with hazlenut and lemon sauce

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

This is a super-quick gluten free spaghetti recipe - and super-healthy too. It happens to be vegetarian too.

You'll obviously need your own gluten free spaghetti - my favourite is Schar - it's pretty much indistinguishable from normal dry spaghetti.

Then, for the sauce...

1 lemon - rind grated, juice squeezed
75g hazlenuts
40ml olive oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
225g (8oz) dried gluten free spaghetti
4 tbsp chopped fresh basil
4 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsely
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toast the hazlenuts on a hot pan then crush and/or chop. (A good way is to put them in a tea towel and whack them with a rolling pin. This makes them easier to chop too.)

Heat the oil then add the chopped hazlenuts and garlic and fry gently for about a minute. Pop in the lemon rind and set the mix aside.

Cook the gluten free spaghetti in plenty of water. Drain and stir in the nut mixture. Stir the mixture over a low heat for a couple of minutes, then add the herbs, 4 tbsp lemon juice and salt and pepper. Serve and enjoy.

Gluten Free Cake Recipe - Kid's Party Cup Cakes

This recipe is:

• Gluten free
• Dairy free
• Egg free
• Yeast free

I knew there was an urgent need to find a gluten free cake recipe when my 19 month old daughter got a banana whilst all her nursery buddies got chocolate cake. Talk about unfair! So, here is a gluten, egg, dairy and soya free cake recipe for all those food freaks out there!

You can freeze these cakes and take them out and decorate as needed. I'm giving the nursery a bag of frozen cakes so they can take one out when there's birthday cake on the menu and my daughter willl be part of the celebrations.

(The good news is that since we've kept her gluten, egg, dairy and soya free, here eczema has finally cleared up - at long last! We are going to re-introduce each carefully over the next few months and see what happens).

Gluten Free Kid's Party Cup Cakes
Makes about 12 - 15
125g dairy free margarine
125g superfine (caster) sugar
2 eggs or equivalent egg replacement (I used Orgran's)
150g gluten free flour (I used 100g corn/maize and 50g tapioca)
90g rice flour
3 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
125ml rice drink (make sure it's a gluten free variety)
Optional - 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 180oC. Line 1 or 2 12 hole muffin tins with paper cases.

Either by hand or in a mixer, beat the margarine and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Add the eggs or egg replacer, one at a time, beating it in well.

Sift the flours into a large bowl. Fold the flours into the margarine mixture, adding a splash of rice milk with each spoonful of flour. Gently beat until the mixture is smooth and slightly runny.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin paper cases, then bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The cakes will have a pleasantly spongey texture. Either freeze immediately for future use, or dust with icing sugar or glace icing. (Glace icing is just a small amount if icing (confectioners) sugar and water, heated slightly to make it runny. You can add flavours/essences or colours too, such as mint or chocolate powder).

This is another straightforward and reliable gluten free cake recipe. Enjoy these lovely gluten free buns - they're not just for the kids!