Sweet Cinnamon Apple Peel Crisps

A tasty treat from apple peelings!

Instead of throwing them in the compost heat, why not give this a go?

I've been making morning smoothies for everyone, and I've been peeling the apples in them as my children say they're 'bitty' when I add unpeeled apples. So, now I make a little bowl or container of acidulated water (just water, with a good squeeze of lemon juice), and peel the apples in relatively similar sized peices of peel (I go around the top and bottom in two strokes each, then vertically around the apple). Then, when I have three, I make this naughty little treat!! N.B. Apples with pink / red skins make pretty crisps - I like Gala, Braeburn etc.

Easy Sourdough Crumpets (from discard)

Forget doughy mass-made crumpets, and make your own, easily and quickly!

There's almost nothing to making these, and you just use your inactive starter straight from the fridge - give them a go, they're delicious!

Although it's tempting to double the quantity, I've tried this, and unfortunately the rise on the second batch just won't match the first batch, so if you want more than four, then it's best to make each batch seperately (unless you have two pans and eight crumpet rings!)

Christmas Pudding Liqueur (with a happy ending!)

A delicious whiskey based liqueur, made from all natural ingredients.

Make this delicious, Christmassy liqueur, perfect for a Christmas Eve tipple, or as a gift - and after straining, save the ingredients which are perfect for using in Christmas makes and bakes!

 

Decidedly Delicious Blueberry Muffins - Gluten Free

These are indescribably delicious freshly-baked and warm from the oven!

In fact, I'd say they're impossible to resist eating warm and moist after the fragrance of them baking has filled the house!

Not only that, they're gluten free - but you'd never guess! Only one of us in the household has to be gluten free, but when a batch of these come out of the oven there's a mad scramble for them!

This recipe makes 12 muffins, and I would say it's a very easy recipe to make - you just need to mix wet and dry ingredients together and combine.

Delicious Homemade Doner Kebab Meat / Lamb Gyro Meat - Gluten Free and Dairy Free (includes Thermomix instructions)

A delicious doner kebab that you don't have to feel guilty about!

If you love a doner kebab, but you feel kind of uncomfortable about not knowing exactly what you're eating, then here is the perfect recipe to recreate what you get from your local takeaway at home, without any fancy equipment, and know that only good, wholesome ingredients have gone into it!

If you also happen love a good fresh tomato chilli sauce on top, and some garlic yoghurt sauce, I have blogged my very easy recipes for those too, which require no cooking, just mixing ingredients together! The chilli sauce recipe is here, and the garlic yoghurt sauce recipe is here.

If you're not into sauces, this is also delicious without any sauces and just served with fresh salad and a tiny squeeze of lemon, as there is so much flavour in the meat - even though I might be biased, I do not think that you could come closer to the flavour and texture of the doner meat from a typical kebab house in this country if you tried! Close your eyes and eat it, and you're there - except, dare I say it, it's even tastier!

Anyway, enough eulogising, and onto the recipe. If you're familiar with my recipes, you'll know that I always prefer to use fresh ingredients. Using onions and garlic granules / powder is not something I usually do, and it's not a shortcut here - it's for the flavour, and to keep the texture of the meat firm and close enough to thinly slice when it's chilled: as opposed to using fresh onion which would add a lot of unwanted liquid to the mixture, as well as the flavour of raw onion (and garlic) in this context, which is less authentic-tasting.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, please bear in mind this is a homemade replication of the doner meat found in English takeaways, rather than one of my more gourmet affairs - if you give it a try, please leave me a comment to let me know what you think! If you'd like to make more authentic Turkish kebabs, please have a look at my recipes for chicken shish kebabs, and lamb (adana) kebabs and the various accompaniments - great for BBQs!

Also, did I mention, once your meat is cooked and sliced, and your salad is prepped - it takes about 10-15 seconds to heat the meat through, and less than 5 minutes to throw together a home made doner kebab - how amazing is that!!!

Serves: 800g of 20% fat organic lamb mince (plus herbs and spices) yielded approximately 770g of cooked meat after draining and cooling. 100g of sliced meat makes for a very generously stuffed large doner kebab, so in total this would serve around 8 to 12 people (depending on serving sizes). Freezes well.

Masala Chai Cake with Vanilla Cinnamon Frosting (Gluten Free)

A deliciously spiced, moist and light cake that no-one will guess the secret ingredient to!

I am always trying to think up new and exciting flavours for cakes to make that everyone can enjoy, and I thought my idea for a masala chai cake was inspired!

As it is autumn, I thought something with warming spices would be delicious, which made me think of masala chai - an Indian take on tea, simmered with whole spices - namely cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves and black peppercorns - with a cinnamon and vanilla cream cheese frosting to complement the flavours.

Crisp and Spicy Onion Bhajis (naturally gluten free)

These are hand-on-heart the best onion bhajis I've ever tasted!

Crispy, with a moist fluffy middle and absolutely packed full of flavour, they are absolutely unbeatable when home-made!

We're fortunate to live not too far from a very multicultural city where there are some excellent Indian restaurants, and delis that you can buy wonderful treats from, so trying to nail a tasty, crispy onion bhaji was actually quite fun after many years of eating all kinds!

I rarely cook deep fried foods - in fact, I seem to buy a deep fat fryer maybe once a decade for a special occasion, and then it languishes unused for many years in a cupboard. However, since my daughter was diagnosed with coeliac disease, I have a new reason to develop recipes for things which

are difficult to acquire gluten free and/or free from cross contamination (so for example, onion bhajis are naturally gluten free, being made from gram flour, however they sometimes contain wheat flour, or even trickier to spot, if you buy them, they're often a 'may contain', or more often than not may have been fried in oil that has had other things fried in it containing wheat - so a bit of a no-no when you can't risk even a crumb of something containing gluten!).

Makes 16 to 20 - easily doubled. Warning - VERY more-ish! And no, we're not mentioning calories for this recipe...!

Impossible Lemon and Coconut Tart - Gluten Free

A delicious dessert that you only have to make one simple mix for!

There's no faffing about with this dessert, you just mix everything together, bake, chill, and end up with an impossibly tasty dessert with a gorgeous coconut crust on top, a lemony custard in the middle, and a pastry-like base. 

What more could you ask for in a dessert! On top of that, it's gluten free, nut free, and you could easily use lactose free milk in it too, or your favourite dairy-free substitutes.

Makes ten portions at 349 calories each.

Cherry Bakewell Flapjack Bars - Gluten Free

Delicious, moist, flapjacks with the flavours of a cherry bakewell tart!

Since my daughter had to go on a gluten free diet, we've tried a fair few sweet and savoury snacks - some quite tasty, some... well... let's just say we didn't try them more than once!

If you're gluten free, you're probably aware of how horrendously expensive gluten free products are, with even just the basics often costing in excess of four times their gluten-y equivalent! So, it makes sense to make your own food from scratch, where you can, as it makes the cost a lot more manageable. Even when buying gluten free oats from the supermarket costs four times more than normal oats, you're still making a huge saving on baking your own treats with them - just imagine how much more it costs to buy the finished baked goods gluten free!

Anyway, I digress. There was a nice Bakewell-style slice that my children both liked, and so I came up with a home-made alternative - which I have made using predominantly oats, with plenty of almonds so it's more filling, and a bit healthier than just a cakey slice on top of pastry - plus who wants to make pastry, right?!

Makes 40 bars at 169 calories each (or cut these in half to make mini squares for lunchboxes / treats at 84 calories each, so they're under the 100 calorie mark!) - although if you want to cook fewer / use a smaller tin, you can easily halve this quantity, and just cook for about ten minutes or so less.

Traditional English Pikelets - Gluten Free

If you're a fan of crumpets, then you will love pikelets - they're very similar in taste and texture, far less faffing about, and a bit bit lighter and less stodgy!

You can make a batch of these, then either keep warm or store them in a resealable bag or container in the fridge or freezer, and toast lightly as needed.

They are delicious with a smear of butter, and your topping of choice - some like jam, some like golden syrup or honey, and some go for savoury with melted cheese and a splash of Worcerstershire sauce - me? I like to rebel against convention and have a smear of cream cheese, some smoked salmon and freshly snipped chives on top, a bit like large blinis!

I developed this recipe because my daughter and I had tried all the gluten free crumpets we could find on the market, and frankly we didn't like any of them, so I had to come up with something myself! If you want to make crumpets rather than pikelets, you can use this recipe and use greased rings to cook them in, and cook for a bit longer on each side. I just prefer pikelets, and of course less faffing about!

This amount of batter will make 20 small-ish pikelets (the same diameter as your average crumpet), and you can fit three or four in a large frying pan at once, so not too much time spent at the stove, as they only take a few minutes to cook!

Approximately 51 calories per pikelet (if yield is 20).

Nutty Chocolate Bark

So simple, it's cheeky to call this a recipe - but helpful for those counting calories, or sticking to allowances to be able to weigh out portions.

As a self-confessed chocoholic, I can easily inhale what should last several days within the space of an evening, without even thinking about it!

If I'm trying to lose weight, chocolate tends to be my nemesis, so I have to find ways of making it last / stretch and pad it out with things that will make it more satisfying, and add a more healthy element, without compromising on deliciousness!

Calories: 150 calories per portion (26g), makes 12 portions.

Slimming World: makes 12 portions (weigh out at 26g each), where the nuts and seeds can be your healthy 'B' choice for the day, and the chocolate part is 3.5 syns. If not counting the nuts and seeds as your healthy 'B' choice, add on 4 syns per portion (so 7.5 syns in total).

Mia's Easy Gluten Free Swiss Roll

A gluten free cake that's easy to make, and turns out beautifully.

I say easy to make, because this one was made by my 12 year old daughter, Mia, and with a little tweak to make it gluten free so she could eat it, the sponge turned out beautifully light and fluffy!

Because she made it gluten free, and it turned out so well, I wanted to record and save the recipe so that she can make it again, and also to share with anyone else who has to cater for gluten free diets and wants an easy recipe.

Serves 8 to 10 slices (above is just under half of what was left, when I realised I ought to take a photo!).

Orange and Almond Cake with Goldenberries and Cardamom (Gluten and Grain Free)

A moist, decadent almond cake with a hint of the exotic.

As ever, I was on the quest to create delicious cakes that can be enjoyed without gluten (for my daughter) without any of the dryness or grittiness that can sometimes be a downfall of gluten free cakes.

As this one is naturally gluten free because it is made with ground almonds, there is none of that - just a delicious moist and tasty cake that everyone will enjoy. In fact, it turned out so delicious that I didn't actually want to share it with the children!! (But I did, of course, because sharing is caring!!). This is based on a traditional Italian orange and almond cake, so if you can't get hold of goldenberries, you don't have to add them - or you could substitute some dried fruit of your choice (e.g. sultanas or chopped apricots). Cardamom is also an addition of mine, which is a spice I love to pair with oranges, so if you're not a fan, don't add it - although I think it's delicious!

It's very rich, and I think once it has had its dusting of icing sugar, with the complex flavours it is easily sophisticated enough to serve at a dinner party (and probably too posh for lunchboxes)! Either way, I highly recommend it, even though you might suspect me to be biased. I'd say there are at least 12 servings, given the richness.

Festive Fudge with Cranberry and Pistachio (for the Thermomix)

Fudge is one of those deliciously decadent treats that people love to make at Christmas - both to eat themselves and as gifts for others. 

Cranberry and pistachio makes a really delicious and colourful combination, which looks beautiful when cut up into cubes and popped into pretty packaging for gifts.

This is my version of festive fudge, tweaked to our preferences and mostly blogged for my own ailing memory, and for my children to be able to find my recipe (because who knows where those scraps of hastily scribbled on paper disappear to!). If you're cooking strictly gluten free, you will need to ensure you have an appropriate brand of white chocolate (check the label for 'may contain...', as some chocolate is processed in factories handling wheat etc.), and also check the nuts to be on the safe side.

If you want to make a selection of fudge, why not try my Salted Caramel Fudge and Chocolate Cookies and Cream Fudge recipes too?

Christmas Spiced Honey Roast Almonds (includes Thermomix instructions)

A delicious treat, perfect for serving up to guests with festive drinks, or packing up for Christmas gifts in pretty jars.

Beware, these are incredibly more-ish! And pretty easy to make too, so don't say I didn't warn you!

They do last a few weeks, but I don't think you'll be needing to worry about that - more about not eating them all in one sitting!

You can substitute your favourite nuts if you'd rather not use almonds, just keep an eye on them in the oven. Skin on almonds work particularly well, as the glaze adhers to the crinkly skin of the almond nicely.

Christmas Pudding Truffles (can be gluten free, includes Thermomix method)

Fun canapes, or a festive gift.

Inspired by pretty truffles I'd seen made last year with leftover Christmas pudding, I wanted to make something similar, but using the small fruit cakes that are widely available - and also available gluten free so making it even more accessible (do check the labels on the chocolate you use though, as some bars are prepared in factories handling wheat)!

           

If you don't want to use alcohol, you could just use pure apple, orange or pomegranate juice depending on your preference. I recommend using foodsafe gloves to roll up the balls as I feel it is much easier to handle them as well as being more hygienic, and you won't get into a sticky mess!

Makes around 25 truffles.

Mincemeat Stars (including Gluten Free alternatives)

A delicious alternative to traditional mince pies at Christmas time!

Several years ago, I saw these beautiful little traditional Finnish Christmas tarts called 'joulutorttu', which are traditionally filled with prune jam, that I thought would work wonderfully as a mince pie alternative filled with mincemeat instead.

I played around with them, trying different ways of making sure they didn't burst or come apart during baking, and looked pretty, and this is what I came up with.

You could make your own mincemeat and my easy (gluten free) puff pastry (Thermomix methods for both), or you can simply use a pack of pre-rolled puff pastry and a (411g) jar of mincemeat if you're pushed for time and want the easy alternative. Either way they'll have a lovely home-made look, keep well, and are perfect to offer to unexpected guests that drop by over the festive period, so make a nice little stash as they're very more-ish!

Makes either 20 mini mincemeat stars (my preference), or you could make eight large ones.

Gingerbread Men / Christmas Gingerbread Shapes (includes Thermomix method)

For many people gingerbread is synonymous with the festive period, and it's also pretty easy to make and fun to decorate!

As well as being delicious, it also keeps well, so makes wonderful gifts and even decorations for your tree (providing you haven't got any sneaky snackers in your household!).

Gingerbread my son made for his friends - see, it's that easy a child can make it!

With the icing sugar, if you're making these for anyone who has a compromised immune system, is pregnant or elderly etc., you can either purchase cartons of pasteurised egg white from most supermarkets, or buy powdered egg white in packets to make up, as an alternative to using a raw white egg white.

Gingerbread drizzled with white chocolate and shortbread drizzled with dark chocolate.

As an alternative they are also nice drizzled with white or dark chocolate. I've made them drizzled with white chocolate before, and packaged up with shortbread drizzled with dark chocolate, which made a really pretty contrast.

My son rolling out his final tray of gingerbread, there were three trays altogether.

This yields three baking sheets of biscuits - so approximately 30 larger shapes, or 60 small and medium mixed shapes.

Luxury Fruit Christmas Cake (includes Thermomix method)

A rich and decadent traditional style Christmas cake, packed with fruit

For me, this is best prepared by around mid-November, so you can give it a few 'feeds' of brandy before Christmas. This makes one large cake, which is great if you have a family who really love it and will get through it (although it will keep for up to a year!) - or if you don't want lots of leftovers, you can cook it in a large square tin (which is what I generally prefer to do), then just before you're ready to ice it, cut into four smaller square cakes and give three away!

Yes, there is a 'little' missing from the top left square of the cake in the bottom middle photo...

As far as the mixed fruit goes, you can play about with the dried fruit types and quantities I've given you in the ingredients. If you don't like something, then substitute it for something you do like, the same weight - chopped dried apricots or dates, dried cherries, blueberries, pineapple - whatever you fancy. Play around with the weights of different things if you want too, just try and keep the overall weight the same (1kg dried fruit including glace cherries). If you don't have bags of assorted dried fruits permanently hanging around your kitchen cupboards like I seem to have, then for convenience you could just buy an 800g pack of dried mixed fruit of your choice (preferably including peel if you like it) and a 200g tub of glace cherries (or buy a 1kg mix including glace cherries) and mix with the liquid ingredients. Easy peasy!

Apple and Blackberry Flapjack Crumble with Custard (includes Thermomix method)

Now that autumn is here, apples and blackberries are plentiful and often free, if you know where to look!

And what better pudding to warm you up on a chilly evening and share with the family (or not!). Best of all, you can make plenty and freeze once assembled for a ready-to-cook dessert, or if you prefer freeze leftovers once you've cooked it.

If you're not a huge fan of blackberries, you can use another berry or fruit of your choice to the same weight, or simply add a couple of extra apples. I like to use a mixture of cooking apples (Bramley) and eating apples (Gala / Cox / Braeburn or similar) for contrasting textures and flavours. Really, you can substitute pretty much any autumn fruits you like - you don't have to use apples - just moderate the sugar to your taste, cover in crumble and bake until bubbling around the edges and golden on top!

Not so long ago, I had a crumble which had a custard layer between the fruit and the crumble - and I have to say it was a very pleasant experience, which I think stops the fruit from making the bottom of the crumble a big soggy lump - so I have included a method for making your own custard to do the same - you don't have to do this, you can just serve custard on the side - or, of course, you can cheat and buy a couple of cartons of good quality thick custard, and use those in instead! Either way, it's optional (but very nice, so I do recommend giving it a go!).

Makes two crumbles which serve six generous portions each, but you could easily half this to make just one (I make one to bake, and then split the rest between small containers to freeze in double portions). Sorry, but I just don't think this is one to count calories on, for a change!!