Scones fit for a Queen

 

Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend, courtesy of the Queen. I’m sure there were a few people out there nursing a hangover, thankfully I wasn’t one of them.

Having an extra day off work and with the weather being all rainy and miserable, it was a perfect opportunity for me to bake. Any excuse really! In light of the Queen’s birthday, I thought it would be appropriate to bring a touch of English flair to the weekend and what could be more English than scones?

There is nothing better than enjoying a cup of freshly brewed tea with a nice warm scone served with jam and whipped cream. And with this cold weather, who could resist indulging in such a treat! 

You can make so many different variations of scones from date & lemon, cheese & bacon, to pumpkin, just to name a few, but I’ve gone for a variation of my own, fig scones (after finding dried figs in the fridge that needed to be used up!).

The following recipe has been adapted from “Allergy-friendly cookbook” by Alice Sherwood

Fig Scones

125g gluten free self raising flour (plus extra for dusting)

100g potato flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

30g castor sugar

45g butter

1 egg lightly beaten

60ml black tea (English breakfast or earl grey)

30g dried figs, cut into small pieces

50ml milk

2-3 tbsp cream or milk to glaze

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Grease a baking sheet or line it with baking paper.

2. Soak the figs in the black tea for at least 30 minutes.

3. Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl: flours, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum. Stir in the sugar.

4. Cut up the butter and rub it into the dry mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the drained figs and egg to the mixture.

5. Add three quarters of the milk and mix it in quickly with a knife. Add the remaining milk to mix to a soft dough.  Don’t overmix as this will make the scones tough.

6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll out to 2cm thick.

7. Cut out the scones with a floured cutter. Gather any trimmings, roll into a ball and cut more scones.

8. Place the scones on a baking sheet and brush the tops with cream or milk.

9. Bake near top of oven for 10-12 minutes or until the scones have risen, are lightly browned on top and the bases sound hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy scones with nice jam and freshly whipped cream, yum!

 

Warm Spiced Quince Crumble

With the cooler days setting in and Romie away on a beach in Miami sipping a coconut cocktail (sometimes life’s not fair!), I’m finding warmth and comfort in my cooking. Is it just me or is it colder than last year? Needing something to warm me up, I thought I would make a classic homemade crumble for dessert.

I decided on using quinces. I have never cooked with quinces before and the only time I have eaten one was in the form of a paste on my crackers with cheese. I have never made a crumble before either, but surely it couldn’t be that hard right? Oh well I love a challenge and as you all know, gluten free cooking is just that.

It was easier than I thought and it tasted delicious. Here is recipe I put together, give it a go!

SPICED QUINCE CRUMBLE

For the poached quinces

2 quinces, peeled, cored and quartered

1 cinnamon stick

5 cloves

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

100g sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 fresh orange peel

For the crumble

60g gluten free flour

30g brown sugar

45g butter

4 tablespoons gluten free muesli (I used Carman’s)

1. To prepare the quinces, place all the ingredients in a saucepan and add just enough water to cover the quinces. Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the quinces are soft.

2. Remove the fruit from the liquid and let cool to room temperature. Thinly slice the quince and reserve.

3. Butter the inside of four 1 cup capacity ramekins and set them on a baking tray. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

4. To prepare the crumble, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

5. Divide the quince slices evenly among your dishes and sprinkle a generous amount of the crumble on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Serve warm from the oven topped with ice cream or gluten free custard.

Makes 4 ramekins.

Pâtisseries françaises sans gluten

My partner in crime Romie has dashed off on a fabulous holiday overseas with her girlfriends. After dropping her off at the airport on the weekend, I was left reminiscing about my past holidays (all pre-coeliac).

One of my best memories from a trip to Paris, was sitting under the Eiffel Tower with my sisters digging into a feast of French pastries, baguettes, cheese and champagne while the beautiful lights were twinkling above us! Hmmm I can still taste the pastries and baguettes as if it were yesterday!

When I was first diagnosed with coeliac disease, after the initial shock that I could no longer have real bread or real pasta again (I’m Italian, come on!), I realised I would never taste another buttery croissant. With this in mind, I was determined to create some gluten free pastries that would take me back to my memories of Paris.

So I had my first attempt at making chocolate croissants! It wasn’t as hard as I thought. The only thing that was challenging was trying to keep the kitchen cool and not melt the buttery pastry in my hands.

I was feeling quite proud of my first attempt at making the chocolate croissants, but the real test was getting my non-coeliac husband to taste my creation. So straight out of the oven, I presented him with a croissant. Guess what? He liked it! He even went back for seconds. Yeah!

I have to admit, they weren’t as flaky and melt in your mouth as the real deal, but they definitely pass as a croissant and went down well with a nice cup of tea that afternoon. The next day however, they weren’t as delicious as they had been straight out of the oven the day before, but a quick reheat is all that was needed to perk them back up again.

All in all I was happy with the outcome, but I will continue to practice my technique until I get the flakiness and buttery consistence of the French ones.

The recipe I used was from one of my favourite cookbooks,“Allergy-friendly Cookbook” by Alice Sherwood.

PAIN AU CHOCOLAT

225 gluten free plain white flour, plus extra for dusting

½ tsp salt

2 tsp caster sugar

2 tsp xanthin gum

1 tbsp fast-action dried yeast

55g cold butter, cut into 1cm dice

150ml milk

1 egg

a little vegetable oil for greasing

1. Shift flour with the salt, sugar, and gum in a food processor.Use the dough attachment. Add the yeast and diced butter.

2. Warm the milk very briefly until tepid then whisk in the egg. Add to the processor and run the machine for 1 minute to knead a soft ball.

3. Tip the mixture onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to a rectangle. Fold the top third down and the bottom third up over. Give the dough a quarter turn and roll and fold again. Turn, roll and fold once more.

4. Dust rolling pin with flour and roll the dough into an oblong about three times as long as it is high and about 5mm thick. Trim the edges and cut into 6 equal squares.

5. Grease baking sheet.

6. Beat the eggs with the icing sugar and brush all over the surfaces of the squares. Lay 3 squares of chocolate in the centre of the dough in line. Fold over the dough and place, folded sides down, on the baking sheet. Cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave in a warm place to prove until well risen, about 45 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200◦C. Brush the pains au chocolat with the remaining glaze. Bake until spongy and golden, about 15 minutes.

8. Dust with a little icing sugar. Best served warm or transfer to wire rack to cool before wrapping and storing. Makes 6.

Bon Appétit!

Mamma Mia!

Mum and her three daughters

With Mother’s Day coming up, I thought this was a great opportunity to dedicate this post to our mum.

When we were diagnosed with coeliac, I think mum took it the hardest. Having skipped the coeliac gene herself she felt awful that not one but two of her daughters had the disease. At first there was the shock… “What am I going to cook for you?” Then there was the guilt – guilt that she could indulge in foods that her daughters no longer could.

For our mother, food is everything. It always has been. Growing up in a small Italian village, life was not easy. Food was sparse and most was home grown or made. Many locals would share their produce with one another and vice versa. This meant food was always fresh, however if something were in season this would determine what was for dinner for the rest of the week!

Bread was homemade and cooked in wood fire ovens. Fresh tomato sauce was jarred and wine was bottled. Drinking water was collected fresh from the mountains. Small things we now take for granted were a luxury. I remember mum telling me how my grandfather would on the very rare occasion take home a small slab of fresh pure butter. It was shaped in a log and wrapped in silver paper. And when nobody was looking she would sneak just a tiny sliver and let it melt slowly in her mouth, enjoying every second it lasted.

Today with so much more food available, mum makes sure she experiments as much as she can. She loves her kitchen and creating new and exciting dishes for her family to enjoy. She loves the food channel, cooking magazines and anything food related! We still continue the traditions of homemade produce such as fresh tomato sauce, pickled vegetables, cracked olives and sundried tomatoes. Mum even makes her own breadcrumbs!

Since our diagnosis mum has been our biggest support. She now has a new passion – to make gluten free foods just as tasty as the rest of her cooking. From day one she has been experimenting in the kitchen for ways to change recipes to make them gluten free. It hasn’t been easy. Those of you who have baked gluten free goods before will know that dough’s are sticky and cakes are crumbly. But her determination has resulted in amazing food – from homemade pasta to gorgeous meatballs. Mum has adapted all her traditional recipes passed down from her mum to be gluten free. And she makes sure we never miss out on a dish. The flavours of her cooking are indescribable. She is the master of the kitchen!

Mum you are our inspiration and passion. We hope that one day we can be half the mum that you are to us. Ti amiamo.

Here is the recipe to one of mum's famous cakes.

TORTA DI FICHI (Fig Cake)

10 peeled figs, cut in quarters

3 eggs

250 g. gluten free self-raising flour

150 g. sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Pinch of salt

Lemon zest of 1 lemon

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°c. Grease a 22cm tin.

2. Beat egg yolks with sugar until pale in colour. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and beat until light and fluffy. Add flour and continue beating. Add milk and mix well.

3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites & salt until peaks are formed.

4. Fold egg whites into above mixture.

5. Pour into greased tin and place the figs on top of mixture. Bake for 45 minutes.

6. After cake has cooled down, sprinkle with icing sugar.

Serve and enjoy!

Charlie and the Gluten Free Chocolate Factory

Would Charlie still be the excited little golden ticket boy if he knew he was going to a gluten free chocolate factory? Probably not!

When I was first diagnosed with being Coeliac, I had no idea what gluten free meant. I thought that all I would have to do is cut out the obvious - bread, pasta and all things wheat. You would think that would be easy enough right? Well, it’s actually not. Gluten, I discovered, is in everything!

If you live in the gluten free world like us, you would know by now, that most of your favourite chocolate bars contain gluten. So what can we have I hear you ask?

On my first shop for gluten free chocolate, all I could find was chocolate that was gluten free, dairy-free, peanut-free, tree-nut free, egg free and taste free! Just because I need to be on a gluten free diet, doesn’t mean I should miss out on tasty chocolate.

I wanted to find good quality chocolate with all the yummies still in there, just minus the gluten. Surely that’s not too much to ask for? I found that my search was closer to home than I thought.

I discovered that Belle Fleur in Rozelle sold gluten free chocolate (insert happy dance here).  

Easter window display

This is a beautiful little chocolate shop that I frequented my pre-coeliac days. It always reminds me of the movie “Chocolat”. As you enter the shop there is a little bell on the door that announces your arrival. Once you are inside, the smell of fresh chocolate engulfs your senses making you automatically drool!

There is a beautiful glass cabinet with an overwhelming amount of handmade chocolates to choose from. All of the chocolates are GF, except for the Rice Crispies. However, as they are constantly adding new additions to their collection, I would suggest that you always ask the salesperson when choosing, just in case.

What I love about this shop is that they make “seasonal” chocolates. Leading up to Easter they have a shop full of bunnies and eggs in all shape and sizes. Valentines Day was full of chocolate love hearts and Christmas is always a treat. There are chocolate shoes, guitars and even Italian coffee makers!

I truly love this shop and recommend it to everyone. So if you are ever in the neighbourhood, pop in and if you aren’t, it’s definitely worth the trip.

I hope this makes your Easter a little more exciting. Wishing you all a very safe and happy Easter!

Belle Fleur Fine Chocolates
658 Darling Street Rozelle NSW 2039

(02)9810 2690

www.bellefleur.com.au