Choc Dip Replacement

As a child I *loved* KP Choc Dips. Remember them? Those little pots with biscuit sticks and some chocolate spread to dip them in.



Well I was at a loose end in Cardiff this morning and decided to have a look at the 'Free From' sections in a few local supermarkets. I love seeing the range of products different stores stock, especially as their gluten free ranges vary so much from area to area.

So I wandered into Asda at Cardiff Gate. To my surprise I found a little Tru Free tub with chocolate spread and breadsticks. The sticks are not as sweet as I remember the Choc Dip version being but the slight savoury-ness combined with the sweet, hazelnut flavoured chocolate spread was a brilliant combination.

Quite expensive at 99p a pot but totally worth it!

Free to Enjoy "Indulgent Biscuit Deeelights"

Wow! All I can say to these is wow!

I nipped into Sainsbury's in High Wycombe while moving Ina from Reading to Birmingham to get some snacks for lunch. They had a huge quantity of gluten free stuff reduced. It was all short dated but most of it still had about a month left so I stocked up on pitta bread and sweet pancakes which were about 70% off!

Then I spotted these biscuits down to £2 from £4.99 and I couldn't resist them. That was before tasting them! I'm totally addicted to the crunchy wafers and the soft hazelnut crispy balls which remind me of Ferrero Rocher.




Normally I'm quite good at sharing my gluten free cakes and biscuits with gluten-eating house mates. But not these!

They are mine, all mine!

Final Update on ShakeAway

I've had another reply from the lovely Rob at ShakeAway:

You’re right (of course!), those four flavours are not good for coeliacs. They were on the lists we keep by the tills, but for some reason the “”ng” symbols got missed on the hand-out menus.

Our menus are currently being re-printed, but I have changed the artwork so the following re-print will be right.

Thanks for that!

Rob @ ShakeAway

Just to confirm, the four flavours mentioned are:
Ferrero Rocher
Horlicks
Iced Gems
Liquorice Allsorts

These four flavours contain gluten and are NOT suitable for coeliacs.

So any Southerners out there (or brave Northerners daring to venture down south!) get yourselves to a ShakeAway for a real treat.

But be warned - you'll be spoilt for choice!!

Update on Shakeaway

I mentioned in my previous post that I'd emailed ShakeAway Milkshakes to query a few items on their menu. I thought you guys would like to see the reply:

Hi Ju,

Thanks for the email, and I’m glad, on the whole, we get a thumbs up for the efforts we make! It’s always quite difficult to keep up with the detail of ingredients when manufacturers often change their recipes, but we do try to help coeliacs, nut allergy people, dairy intolerant, etc.

I will arrange for Ferrero Rocher, Horlicks, Iced Gems and Liquorice Allsorts to be checked again. We’d then be able to make any necessary changes on our next Menu reprint.

Regarding Smarties on the Toppings section, we don’t label items again if they are in the main list – with labels for registered trade mark, vegan or not vegetarian and not gluten, it can get crowded! We therefore hope that Customers will take such information from the main list.

Incidentally, each shop has a separate list by the till (shown on request) which itemises the allergy items to collate them all together.

Thanks for this and I will get it looked at, and we hope to see you at ShakeAway again soon!

Rob

Nice to see them making an effort!

Glutafin Digestive Biscuits and GF Samples

The kind folks over at the Gluten Free Message Board, where I am an active member, are very good at sharing links to any exciting free samples they find companies offering on the internet. Such samples take around 28 days to be delivered but are a great way of testing out products from different companies.

This morning a found a parcel waiting for me downstairs. I was quite surprised as I wasn't expecting any deliveries. It turned out to be a sample of Glutafin Digestive Biscuits which I must have ordered at some point.





I've not tried them yet but it's always worth checking the Glutafin and Juvela websites reasonably regularly to see if they are offering any free samples. Some of the other companies do this as well but the big ones can afford to do it more regularly.

Anyway I'm off for a revision break. Cup of tea and digestive biscuit I think!

ShakeAway Milkshakes

While in Reading (revising of course) Ina persuaded me that I needed a break and suggested we go for a nice walk. Living in Reading town centre I didn't really see how a 'nice' walk was possible but welcomed the break from revision (and secretly hoped I could drag him into a few clothes shops for some retail therapy!)

Unfortunately, knowing me too well, he had envisaged the consequences of taking me past clothes shops and come up with a plan. That plan was to give me the messiest drink possible, that no sales assistant in their right mind would ever allow you in a clothes shop with. To hear about this visit from his point of view you might want to visit his blog.




It worked rather well but I didn't complain too much - I ended up with the most awesome drink!
ShakeAway is a milkshake company with a difference. The difference being that they fill their stores with hundreds of varieties of chocolate, sweets, biscuits and fruit and allow you to make any combination of them into a milkshake! They have over 150 choices - from the heavenly to the down-right bizarre.

My first thought on walking in was how on earth I would choose a 'safe', gluten free milkshake without spending hours in conversation with the staff. I needn't had worried. I picked up a menu and saw that the key included "ng" for "not gluten free" after any items unsuitable for coeliacs like myself. This meant that everything else on the menu was suitable!

On further examination I realised they also did dairy-free milkshakes made with soya ice cream. I don't have a lactose intolerance but am aware that it often co-exists with coeliacs and I was really impressed that this company had gone to such an effort to cater for people needing special diets.

So Rhubarb and Custard milkshake with Minstrels on top for me (although the minstrels sunk to the bottom!) Ina chose a Fry's Orange Cream milkshake with extra cream which was equally delicious.

On further examination of the menu there were a few anomalies for me. That is a few milkshakes not marked "ng" that contained ingredients that I know to contain gluten (for example Ferrero Rocher.) So I would advise any coeliacs visiting to use common sense as well as the menu when deciding what it safe. I am currently composing an email to the company to raise these concerns and will report back when they reply.

Still, with stores all over the south of the country, and so much obviously gluten free on the menu, they are well worth a visit.

And full marks to ShakeAway for effort in catering for people with special diets.

I love Crimble's Slices!

I am addicted to Crimble's Cake Slices!

There are three in the range : Bakewell Slices, Lemon and Coconut Slices and Country Slices (kind of fruit cake-y)




And they are all delicious!!

Go try them!

Revision Snacks

I am currently revising for my third year (of a Masters degree) University exams. As every good student knows revision snacks are an essential part of revision.

Having got through my Easter eggs and the vast amount of Milka I bought from France I went in search of new snacks.

My best friend and I have revised together for the last 4 years and each year we share a 1kg tub of Jelly Belly jelly beans. They last us for the 8 weeks or so we spend revising. Luckily they are gluten free so I can still eat them :D

This week I am in Reading visiting my boyfriend, who works down here. I didn't have much food to bring with me so yesterday I paid a visit to Waitrose. I found Riceworks gourmet brown rice chips on buy one get one free. They are THE BEST savoury gluten free snacks. I'm tucking into a bag of the sweet chilli flavour as we speak.

I also found Kelkin Mini Milk Chocolate covered Rice Cakes. These are a nice chocolatey treat without just being a chunk of chocolate and go really nicely with a cup of tea!

Well that's enough of a break for me! Back to the revision

Lots and lots of cakes!

Friday was Aston University's Live Music Society's annual Battle of the Band competition. I am good friends with the guys in one of the bands who were competing.

Someone had the great idea to make lots of tiny fairy cakes and ice them with the band's name. I am well known for my love of cooking and was enlisted to help. I don't like baking anything that isn't gluten free (as half the fun is in the eating :P) so I made them all gluten free!




It took two of us 5 hours to produce the 300 mini cakes but it was great fun! Needless to say when they were given out as a promotional gimmick at the gig we were sick of the sight of them.

But it paid off! Leg!-End X were crowned champions of Aston BOTB 2008! All hail the Leg!-End!
Congratulations to the boys on their achievement!

Almondy Gluten Free Cheesecake

Almondy are a Swedish Company who make gluten free tarts and cheesecakes. I had heard good things about them so during a recent visit to Ikea I decided to buy some of their Daim Tart.

They have a very strange texture but I really like them. They are nice and sweet and a cross between cake and wafer!




When I was in Reading we visited Dunelm Mill at the Savacentre retail park. The cafe there had Almondy Tart as a gluten free option. It was out on a tray and fairly close to the other cakes but the staff knew to use separate servers and I was fine after it.

It seems the idea of having a gluten free option is finally spreading.

"Children's" GF Soft Rainbow Cookie Recipe

This is actually a very similar recipe to the Adult GF Soft Cookie Recipe below but thought it deserved its own post (partly because it has its own pretty picture!) The basic recipe is the same but I substituted the chocolate chips/chunks for children's sweets. In this batch I used skittles and snowies. I guess M&M's or any other GF coloured sweets would work too.

Children's GF Soft Rainbow Cookies

125g soft margarine
150g soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
150g GF flour
1 teaspoon GF baking powder
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
A splash of milk
2 packs of GF sweets

1. Cream the margarine and sugar together
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum
4. Add the milk and stir in
5. Stir in the sweets
6. Make small blobs and spread out
   
7. Bake at 200C for 15 mins
   

Leave to cool on the baking tray for 5 mins until cool

The skittles melt and burn a bit around the edges but I quite liked that!

"Adult" GF Soft Cookie Recipe

It's a rainy Saturday afternoon in Birmingham. I finished my exams yesterday and am feeling free! So I decided to bake. I had a few ideas but had a request from a good friend of mine for cookies so that's what I made!

One thing I miss being gluten free is soft cookies so I decided to play with a few non-gluten free recipes in the attempt to make a GF alternative.

I'm quite impressed with the outcome!

Adult GF Soft Cookies

125g soft margarine
150g light soft brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
150g GF flour
1 teaspoon GF baking powder
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
A splash of milk
half pack of white chocolate chips
half a pack of milk chocolate chips

1. Cream the butter and the sugar
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla essence
3. Add the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum
4. Fold in with a metal spoon
5. Stir in enough milk to make into a smooth slightly runny dough
   
6. Mix in the chocolate chips
7. Divide into blobs and bake at 200C for 15 mins

I made 8 quite big cookies but I think I'd go for 12 medium size ones next time.

Make sure you spread them out well as they expand a lot on cooking.

Leave them on the baking tray to cool for 5 mins before transferring to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Tiffin Recipe

I seem to have a problem finishing packs of biscuits! I open a pack, have a few, and then forget I've opened the pack! Then a week later I re-find the pack complete with soft biscuits. And as gluten free biscuits are so expensive I am reluctant to throw them away. So I came up with a solution!

My Granddad (affectionately known as "Beck-Beck") has always loved tiffin - a chocolately, biscuity tray bake. To me it has always been a comfort food reminding me of good times and safe places. So I decided to try a gluten free version of it to use up my half eaten packets of (now soft) biscuits.

Tiffin

200g dark chocolate
50g margarine
50g sugar
crushed GF biscuits
dried fruit

1. Melt chocolate and butter in pan
2. Stir in sugar
3. Remove from heat and stir in crushed biscuits and dried fruit
4. Set in fridge
   

I used Kinnerton chocolate - free from gluten, dairy, eggs and nuts. But any GF chocolate would do.

The amount of biscuits and fruit depends on personal taste (and how much biscuit you've got!) I just added the biscuits I had left.

Traditionally my mother and grandmother have always made this with raisins and glace cherries. I had neither of these so I added some tropical fruit mix.

You could also try adding marshmallow pieces and making a product similar to Rocky Road but I think I'd omit the sugar if I tried this.

Happy baking!

Banana Breakfast Omelette

(Don't knock it til you've tried it!)

One of the biggest problems I've found since diagnosis is what to eat for breakfast. I've never been a fan of cereal (except Weetabix and porridge, both of which became off limits.) So although there are some pretty nice GF cereals around it's just not what I want in the morning.

Although I'm a student, I am in uni 9-5 most days as pharmacy is pretty hard going so I need something to keep me going until lunch time. I also am not great at getting up and like to stay in bed as long as possible so don't have much time for breakfast.

Two things I've always found both appetising and filling in the morning are bananas and eggs. So in my normal cooking style (mix things together and see what happens!) I decided one morning to mix these two. It's a simple idea but the results are great!

Banana Breakfast Omelette

2 eggs
1 banana

1. mash the banana and beat the eggs
2. mix together
3. heat some oil in a frying pan (I use an oil spray)
4. add the mixture and cook on a low heat for a few mins
5. when sufficiently cooked turn one side into the middle
6. then slide a spatula underneath the fold and roll the omelette over again so you get a sausage shape without any visible folds
7. cook for another minute or so
8. serve immediately

I usually drizzle it with honey as soon as I put it on to the plate but have also been known to spread Nutella on the top for a chocolatey treat.

Yum!

Peanut Goo Recipe

This is my take on flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies but I find it works better as a tray bake. Its a quick and easy recipe so good for those times when you are craving something sweet.

Peanut Goo

1 jar crunchy peanut butter
2 medium eggs
50g sugar

1. mix peanut butter and sugar together in a bowl
2. beat the eggs and then add bit by bit
3. grease baking tray and spread mixture over the bottom
4. Cook at 200°C for about 10-15 mins until the edges begin to come away from the side of the tin.
5. Leave to cool in tin then cut into squares and enjoy!

By adding the egg bit by bit you should avoid the mixture getting too sticky but if you put too much in, add a little GF flour until its manageable again.

Try glazing the bake with any left over egg mixed with some milk.

You should end up with a sweet, gooey but crunchy tasty treat!

Mince pies

Might be a bit late for this year but I was given an awesome sweet pastry recipe by someone on the Gluten-free message board

Gluten Free Mince Pies

250g unsalted butter
550g flour
100g icing sugar
2 eggs
GF mincemeat

1. beat butter and sugar together
2. beat in eggs
3. blend in flour
4. chill in fridge for one hour
5. roll out, use a pastry cutter to make round cases
6. fill half the cases and cover with the other half
7. Cook at 180°C for about 15 mins until golden brown

For regular pastry use ordinary butter and leave out sugar

(Ok so these aren't mine. I forgot to take photos of them! But the post is prettier with a picture!)


I glazed them with egg and milk and then sprinkled them with demerara sugar and cinnamon.

So good! It was great to have gluten free pastry which didn't just fall apart when you tried to shape it.

I found I had to add a little bit of water to the mix to make it come together.

I also made some jam tarts from the same pastry...yum!