2021 weekly - week 4

24/01/2021, Sunday

January is about to slip away. Really? Where has the time gone?

Broccoli and Stilton soup: done.
Burger mix: chilled.
Time to do French.

I make - Gluten Free Carrot Cake

The recipe is adapted from Handle The Heat. I chose this because it doesn't use bucket load of oil like others. Just a quarter cup, topped up with applesauce. The result is, wow, really good, in fact as good as the conventional one. The cake is light, not damp and flavorful. This will be my go-to Carrot Cake from now on.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

For the cake:
175 g gluten-free flour (your favorite blend*)

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (or 1/4 t ground ginger + 1/4 t nutmeg)
1/4 cup (60 ml or 50 grams) olive oil
1 cup (200 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (125 grams) unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
150 grams finely shredded carrots

Zest from 1 orange

1/2 cup (65 g) sultanas or raisins 

chopped walnuts for decorating

For the frosting:
150 g cream cheese
3-4 tablespoons coconut cream
50 g powdered sugar

To make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking loaf or tray (20x20cm) with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and mixed spice.

In a large bowl, beat together the oil, brown sugar, and eggs until light and fluffy. Stir in the applesauce, vanilla, and carrots, orange zest. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in sultanas or raisins.

Pour the batter into the prepared tray. Bake until a cake tester inserted comes out clean, about 27-30 minutes. Let cool completely.

To make the frosting:

In the bowl, beat the cream cheese, coconut cream, and sugar on medium-high speed until very light, creamy, and smooth. 

Frost the cooled cake and decorate with chopped walnuts, if desired. Serve or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Remove from the fridge up to 60 minutes before eating.

*My blend is: 20% Sweet Rice + 30% Buckwheat + 30% Cornmeal + 20% Tapioca

*I made a version where I used 40 g desiccated coconut and 135 g flour, and used dried mango instead of sultanas. Finally I used thick yogurt in place of applesauce. A more tropical version of carrot cake and tastes equally good.

I make - Earl Grey and Orange Scones

I am very into orange and Earl Grey combination these days. This flavor combo in yogurt cake is marvelous for breakfast. I love it even more than lemon. This scone recipe comes from Naomi Devlin. It's another winner for me. Gotta say Mrs Devlin rarely lets me down. The scones are soft, airy and not dry at all. This is lighter than my usual scones with crème fraiche. As much as I love my crème fraiche scones, knowing that eating scones just slightly healthier makes me feel even happier. Here is my adaptation. 

Earl Grey and Orange Scones

Earl Grey and Orange Scones

50 g oat flour
50 g ground almond
110 g gluten-free flour (your favorite blend, I use Sainsbury's own brand this time)
1 tsp psyllium husk powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
50 g cold butter, in cubes
1/2 cup sultanas (optional)
Zest from 1 orange
1 beaten egg (save 1 tbsp aside for brushing)
70 g full-fat Greek yogurt (plus extra yogurt or milk if too dry)

Combine oats, ground almond, flour, psyllium husk, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl. Stir to mix all ingredients.

Cut the butter cubes into the flour mixture until the mixture look like bread crumbs. You could use fingertips for this. Lift and drop the flour-butter mixture down to the bowl a few times to aerate the mix further if you can. Stir in sultanas (or any dried fruits you prefer) and orange zest. 

Pour 1 beaten egg (minus 1 tbsp for later) and yogurt into the flour mixture. Use a rubber spatula to stir a few times to see whether you need more liquid or not. If you still see dry flour at the bottom of the bowl, add more yogurt or milk until you can bring the dough together. The dough is soft and on the damp side, not crumbly. Chill the dough in the fridge, well wrapped for a few hours. Chill dough makes cutting and shaping easier.

When you are about to bake the scones, preheat the oven to 200C and remove the dough from the fridge. Lightly flour a piece of cling film where you put the dough on. Flour the scone dough surface and cover with another piece of cling film. Roll the dough into a thickness of 2.5-cm. Use scone cutter to cut into individual scones. You may need to gather the scrapes, re-roll and cut a few times. With a 5-cm cutter, I get 11 scones.

Brush each scone top with some beaten egg. Bake the scones at 200C for 17-18 minutes until the top is golden. Rotate the tray half way through.

Cool them for 10 minutes before serving. The scones are best when straight out of the oven, still warm. To enjoy them later, reheat them in the oven (or in the microwave) before serving.

2021 weekly - week 3

18/01/2021

Hmm, I started to feel something funny again on my left knee (during running). Am I just not suitable for running?

Today's exercises:

1. Morning Physio
2. Park run: 2800m
3. Evening Physio

I make - Gluten-Free Cheese Crackers

This is a savory adaption of Ms Devlin's excellent recipe of digestive biscuits. You can adjust the amount of cheese depending on how cheesy you want. I used Red Leicester in the photo but any hard cheese such as cheddar, parmesan, gruyere would work nicely.

This has become our lockdown 3.0 snack!

Gluten Free Cheese Crackers

Gluten-Free Cheese Crackers

110 g gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)*
35 g ground almonds
35 g ground oats (aka oat flour)
1.5 tsp (5 g) ground linseeds
1 tsp ground psyllium husk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp mustard powder + 1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
1/2 tsp baking powder
45 g salted butter or spread, chilled and diced (25% of the total flour) 

1 tbsp oil
45 g finely grated hard cheese (cheddar, parmesan etc, can be up to 60 g)
4-6 tbsps milk or water

Combine flour, ground almonds, oats, linseeds, psyllium husk, salt, sugar, mustard and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix well. 

Rub cold butter cubes into the flour mixture until your mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add the oil and the grated cheese to the mixture and stir to combine. Drizzle enough milk or water to bring the dough together. Knead it a few times. Your dough should look like wet sand. Chill the dough for a few hours.

Preheat the oven at 200C. Line a baking tray with a parchment paper.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to a thickness of 3mm. Use a cutter or pizza wheel to cut into any shape you like. Place the cut-out dough onto the baking sheet, 1-cm apart (they don't spread much). Use a skewer or a fork to dot the top and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden around the edges.

Cool the baked crackers on the tray for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

*My blend is: 25% Buckwheat + 25% Brown Rice + 30% Cornmeal + 20% Tapioca

I make - Naomi Devlin's Gluten-Free Digestives

Hands down, one of the best homemade biscuits I have made, gluten-free or not. My only addition is the orange extract and some mixed spice. This is totally not traditional for digestives but we love it. The effect is subtle and adds some background warmth. The biscuits crumble lightly to the bite but hold up well with fingers. Great as cheesecake base too. I've made so many times since I first tried. One of my favorite recipes from Ms Devlin.

Gluten Free Digestives in Rectangles

Naomi Devlin's Gluten-Free Digestives

110 g gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)*
35 g ground almonds
35 g ground oats (aka oat flour)
1.5 tsp (5 g) ground linseeds
1 tsp ground psyllium husk
1/4 tsp salt
50 g light muscovado sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp orange extract or zest
1/4 tsp mixed spice
80 g salted butter, chilled and diced (or 50 g butter + 1 tbsp olive oil)**
2-3 tbsps milk

Combine flour, ground almonds, oats, linseeds, psyllium husk, salt, sugar, baking soda, orange extract and mixed spice in a large bowl. Mix well. 

Rub cold butter cubes into the flour mixture until your mixture looks like bread crumbs. Drizzle enough milk to bring the dough together. Your dough should look like slightly wet sand. Chill the dough for a few hours or overnight (which is what I do).

Preheat the oven at 180C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Start with half of the dough and roll out between two pieces of clingfilm to a thickness of 3mm. Use a cookie cutter or a pizza wheel to cut into any shape you want. Lay the cookie pieces on to a baking tray and dot the top with a fork or a bamboo skewer. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges start to color. Rotate the tray half way through.

Repeat the same rolling and cutting process for the remaining dough. If you use a 5-cm round cutter, you should get around 30 5-cm rounds from the whole recipe.

Cool the biscuits on the tray for a few minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before eating.

*Ms Devlin uses: 50 g sorghum or teff + 40 g tapioca + 20 g brown rice and my blend: 20% sweet rice + 30% Buckwheat + 30% Cornmeal + 20% Tapioca. In fact, I've tried several customized blends and they've all worked well.

**80 g butter gives a shortbread texture whereas 50 g butter + oil produces a slightly richer than Rich Tea taste. 

2021 weekly - week 2

10/01/2021, Sunday

We've had a cold week last week, finishing with -1C yesterday at max. The sun is finally out today and looks less cold? Will take this opportunity to have a walk.

I make - Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky toffee pudding is an evil thing. Sticky, gooey, caramelly, the kind of thing you want to devour the whole tray of it during winter. There are two camps with sticky toffee pudding, with or without dates. I like the date version. The recipe by Dan Lepard is a good one. He uses more dates per flour ratio than others and reduces the sugar as result. In fact, I don't think it needs extra sugar, considering the amount of dates and the toffee sauce later. So I eschewed the extra sugar and am pleased with the results. Regarding the toffee sauce, I would double or triple the amount specified below if having guests. If just for myself, there is enough decadence as is.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky Toffee Pudding

For the cake:
300 g chopped dates
50 g black treacle
25 g butter
150 ml boiling water

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp mixed spice
1 large egg
225 g gluten-free flour (your favorite blend*)

1/8 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
chopped walnuts to decorate the top

For the toffee sauce:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup double cream

1/4 tsp vanilla extract
a knob of butter
pinch of salt

Heat the oven to 180C and line a 20x20cm tin with tinfoil.

Put the dates, sugar, black treacle and butter in a bowl, pour on the boiling water and leave for 10 minutes. Beat in vanilla, mixed spice and the egg, then mix in the flour, salt, baking powder and soda.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and scatter the walnut pieces on top. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

To prepare the toffee sauce, combine everything in a milk pan and bring it to boil. Reduce the heat to simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened. Drizzle the sauce onto the cake top while it's still warm. There is not a lot of sauce but enough to cover the top. Cool the whole tray for 30 minutes before serving.

The cake is good for a few days when wrapped and stored in the fridge. Microwave for 20 seconds to bring the warmth and gooeyness back.

*My blend is: 25% Buckwheat + 25% Brown rice + 25% Oats + 25% Tapioca

I make - Apple Yogurt Cake

This is an adaptation of Ms Tandoh's Blueberry Yogurt Cake. Perfect for breakfast or snacking.

Apple Yogurt Cake

75ml sunflower oil
1/2 cup full-fat natural yoghurt (Skyr 0% works fine for me)
125 g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
170 g gluten-free flour (your favorite blend)*
40 g ground almond
1½ tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 medium apple, peeled, cored and diced
Walnut pieces

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a loaf tin.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, yoghurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, mixed spice and cinnamon. Sift in the flour, ground almond, baking powder and salt. Stir to mix the dry ingredients into the yoghurt mixture. Fold in apple dices and stir very gently with just enough strokes to mix everything together.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin, smooth the top and scatter walnut pieces. Bake for 35-40 minutes (it'll depend on the loaf tin size). A cake is cooked when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack before cutting into fat slices to serve.

*My blend is: 25% buckwheat + 25% brown rice + 25% ground oats + 25% tapioca

2021 weekly - week 1

01/01/2021, Friday

Lyra Silvertongue led us to the New Year. After a few episodes of His Dark Material, I have become rather addicted to it.

Good Morning to you all.

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We walked along the river to the city centre and then headed back. It was raining, a typical British winter day but we were not the only ones on the road, not to mention a good number of brave runners.

Can't believe that my holidays are coming to an end. Let's see what 2021 brings.