Gluten-free Shortbread

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

Gluten-free! What a minefield. The growing interest in the allergy-friendly baking section at Elwood Market meant that sooner rather than later, I had to cater for our coeliac friends. I'll admit to feeling a bit apprehensive. Apparently gluten works in mysterious ways so while one substitution can work perfectly in a recipe, it will fail dismally in another. Luckily shortbread is practically gluten-free anyway....so this turned out very nicely without much effort. Phew!

1/2 cup maize cornflour (some cornflours are wheaten so check ingredients)

1/2 cup pure icing sugar

1 cup rice flour

180g dairy-free margarine, chopped

Sift the cornflour, icing sugar and rice flour together. Add chopped margarine, and mix with hands until a soft dough forms. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180 C and line two baking trays. Roll out dough to 5mm thick, sprinkling lightly with cornflour (it's quite a wet mixture, so I also rolled out onto baking paper to prevent it sticking to the board). Cut into desired shapes and bake for approximately 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before storing.

Election Cupcakes

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Gloat post alert:

AS SEEN ON ABC TV!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/11/27/3078260.htm

My home-made, wish-i'd-spent-a-bit-more-time-on-them cupcakes got their 15 milliseconds of fame. I made a hurried batch for the Elwood Primary School fundraiser during election day recently in Victoria. So hurried in fact that when the usual issue arose of red icing refusing to budge darker than pink, I decided to add a drop of black colouring.  You can't make red out of pink. If you add black to pink, you  just get darker pink. I already knew this. And still, in my bleary-eyed state, I did it.

Early indicator to the result of the election, I believe.

Never mind, I thought - no-one will notice, or care, right? Well who should be skulking around the school doing vox pops at the polling booth but ABC TV.  After a few encouraging words to the cameraman by my husband, they took some footage. Unbelievably, it didn't end up on the cutting room floor - but closed the community piece on the 6pm news!

The winning cupcake



Rocky Road

dairy free egg free nut free

This is delectably simple - and your only real challenge is to find a dairy and nut free chocolate (with no traces).

I have a pathological aversion to glace cherries (slimey, squelchy things), so I replaced them with the new Natural Confectionery Company Berry Bursts... all the better I say. These were very popular at the last Elwood Community Market so I'll be making an extra slab or so again for the big Christmas market next Saturday. Who knew the blessed thing only takes 5 minutes to put together? For those who want a nut-free crunch, you can add roasted soy beans, but they are perfectly delicious as is.

And to the vegans who couldn't partake at the last market - apologies - but check out Angel Food, you can make your own gelatine-free marshmallows here

500g dairy free nut free chocolate
(I used Sweet William plain chocolate and white delight here but my favourite version so far has been Sweet William white delight and Kinnerton dark luxury chocolate bar)
250g pink and white marshmallows (use Pascal, no traces)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
200g Red Berry Bursts (by Natural Confectionery Company)
1/2 cup roasted soy beans (optional)
extra coconut to sprinkle

Melt chocolate in microwave (on high for a minute, then in 20 second bursts until melted) and stir to combine. Add coconut, red lollies and marshmallows and mix thoroughly. Pour into a lined lamington/rectangular pan, sprinkle with coconut and refrigerate until set.

Remove from pan and slice into squares or bars.

Lemon Coconut Bundt cake - part two

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Bundt, be gone.

Though this post is part 2, it's actually my third attempt at this cake, and I didn't dare risk the conundrum that is lining a bundt tin. So a plain round cake tin just had to do this time around. No matter - this is simple, light and moist - a perfect afternoon tea cake. Because it rises so well, I think you could easily make cupcakes with this recipe, adding a swirl of lemony frosting, and a sprinkling of coconut.

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup caster sugar
125g dairy-free margarine, melted
2 egg replacers
1 cup coconut milk
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and line a deep 20cm round cake tin.

Combine dry ingredients, then wet ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth. It will be runny.

Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted into centre of cake.

Leave cake to cool slightly before removing from tin on wire rack. Cool completely.

Sprinkle with icing sugar, coconut or desired icing.

Choc Chip Banana & Coconut Muffins (dairy free, egg free, nut free)

Another muffin. Well what can I say, kids love them, and they fill up a corner of the lunchbox!

125g dairy-free margarine, melted
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 egg replacers
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup dairy/nut free choc chips


Preheat oven to 200 C and fill a 12 hole muffin pan with muffin or cupcake liners. Beat melted margarine, sugar, banana, egg replacers and vanilla until well combined. Place flour, coconut and choc chips in a large bowl, then fold in banana mixture. Fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until risen and golden. Cool slightly in pan then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Moroccan Sausage Rolls (dairy free, egg free, nut free)

I'm very partial to a sausage roll. Though if, like me, you are more than a little suspicious of supermarket sausage meat (what IS it?), then you need to make your own. Crucial to any sausage roll filling is the fine processing of the raw mince - you want a very fine texture and regular minced meat doesn't do the job. Whack it in the food processor and blitz it with your choice of flavourings.

These Moroccan-spiced ones were gobbled up by both my girls - spices, herbs and all. Delicious!

Makes 40 mini size, approx

500g lamb mince
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 brown or red onion, chopped
1 tsp paprika 
½ tsp each ground coriander
½ tsp each ground ginger
½ tsp each ground cinnamon
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
1/4 cup fresh chopped coriander
4-5 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed (non-butter Pampas version and some supermarket-brand varieties are dairy/egg/nut free)
rice milk or water for the "egg" wash
sesame seeds

Preheat oven 200c. Line baking trays with baking paper.

Place the garlic, onion, ground spices and herbs in a food processor with sea salt & pepper. Pulse to chop the onion and garlic and combine. Add lamb and process until smooth.
Cut each pastry sheet in half lengthways and then across, making 4 sheets. Place one piece of filling on edge of each pastry square in a long sausage shape, then roll up to enclose. Turn rolls seam-side down and cut each roll into 3-4 pieces, trimming the ends.

Place on the lined baking trays, brush with rice milk and sprinkle sesame seeds. Cook in the oven for 10 – 12 mins until puffed and golden.