Gluten Free Luxury Hot Cross Buns

Why not have a go at making your own gluten free hot cross buns?

It's actually not that difficult - and even easier making gluten free ones than making 'normal' wheat flour buns as there's no kneading involved. I adapted the ingredients from my sourdough hot cross buns recipe to get the same flavours from a gluten free mix this year and they're pretty tasty gluten free too!

I've included plenty of tips in the method to help you get the best (and least messy!) results, but feel free to do things like proving the buns your own way, if you'd rather cover them in oiled clingfilm and stick them in the airing cupboard, or whatever! 

The spices give the option to use the lower amount for more subtle spicing, or vice versa if you like a nicely spiced hot cross bun full of flavour. I hope you enjoy making and eating these buns - please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think!

Makes 8

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).

Gorgeous Gluten Free Yorkshire Puddings (Lactose Free Option)

Missing a decent Yorkshire pudding in your life?

Eating gluten free can often mean missing out on your favourite treats, or putting up with second rate substitutes that aren't a patch on the real thing.

As a parent who loves cooking, and has a child with coeliac disease who doesn't have a choice about eating gluten, I'm determined to make sure she can enjoy the same foods, and better where possible - and to share the recipes for anyone else who wants to make tasty gluten free food! 

Comforting Creamy Tomato Soup (Includes Thermomix and Instant Pot instructions)

A deliciously comforting tomato soup to take you back to your childhood...

There's nothing like a bowl of tasty tomato soup to comfort you on a cold day. It floods the house with delicious smells too, as it cooks. If you want to be really indulgent, you can't beat having a toasted cheese sandwich on the side!

I made this so my daughter could enjoy it too, as she is on a gluten free, lactose free diet (you could make it dairy free too, by using appropriate 'milk', e.g. rice, oat or nut milk, or and extra 500ml of stock - although we are avoiding oats for her as well - if you do this and cut out or substitute the honey, you can make it vegan too) - but if you're not restricted in your diet, there's nothing stopping you from adding a splash of cream at the end to make it ultra-indulgent!

If you'd rather avoid potatoes, you could substitute sweet potato or squash instead (although maybe don't add any kind of additional sweetener until after you've tasted it for seasoning). As we're a family of four, I do tend to cook in large quantities so we'll enjoy this two days on the trot then freeze the rest in portions - but you don't need to make this much if you don't want to - it's very easy to just make half the quantity.

Yields: approximately 4.5 to 5 litres; 16 servings (approximately two ladlefuls for a serving) - easily halved!

Calories: 101 calories per serving.

Lactose Free Thick and Creamy Yoghurt - with Thermomix and Easiyo method

Delicious lactose free yoghurt without the hefty price tag and with only two ingredients!

If you'd like to make your own lactose free yoghurt (if you're catering for lactose intolerance - this is not the same as dairy free though), it's no more difficult that making normal dairy yoghurt - you just need to get hold of a lactose (or dairy) free yoghurt with live bacteria in it, to start it off.

Having a few dairy yoghurt fails myself when I first started making my own in the Thermomix was what prompted me to do a bit of research on why, and then perfect my method in order to get the same result every time. Then I met someone who used lactose free products to cater for one of their children and was interested in making their own lactose free yoghurt, so decided to give that a go, after a little reading as to whether lactose free milk was viable to make yoghurt with (it is!).

This is my third post on making yoghurt, as the first one was quite long because it included reasons why your yoghurt could go wrong, and how to make it using various methods. So if you don't have a Thermomix or an Easiyo, have a look here for other ways to make it - the methods are the same, it's just the ingredients which are different (see below), although without the temperature controls you have with the Thermomix, and by using an Easiyo as per my method, you're not necessarily guaranteed success every time, as this method has proved to be foolproof (although if you have a yoghurt-making machine I'm sure that will do the job!). For regular, no-fail thick and creamy dairy yoghurt in the Thermomix, see here.