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Gluten Free Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding for Two

Ahhh yes, February 14th. Valentine’s Day.

I find that these days you pretty much fall into two camps with regards to Valentine’s Day.
1. You’re single and you despise everybody else that is posting mushy lovey dovey crap and just want to bury yourself in a bottle of wine and block of chocolate until it all blows over.
2. You’re in a great relationship that doesn’t need validating because of a special date and despise everybody else that makes a big deal about V-Day…. BUT you still wouldn’t mind being surprised with wine, chocolate and flowers. (This is totally me, by the way).

Actually I think, technically we need a third camp here, but you get the point.

Whether you believe Valentine’s Day to be a whole lot of baloney or not, I think we can mutually agree on the point that there should be chocolate involved. …. so maybe we should just make it the official International Day of Chocolate Eating and Wine Drinking instead.

Now, I bet I know what you’re thinking. “Here she goes, off about chocolate again, and she’s going to tell me to bake up this amazing cake, which will require me going to the shops and you know, actually baking something… and then waiting to you know, eat it, which is kind of the whole point… so maybe I’ll just buy a big block of chocolate and be done with it.”

Well sorry, but I’m going to prove you wrong.

There is nothing worse than needing a chocolate fix, or wanting to create something really sweet and simple for your honey, and having to slave away in the kitchen for hours on end to get it.

Trust me. I may be a baker, but I totally get it.

That’s why I knew I had to share this amazing recipe with you.

It’s beyond quick and crazy delicious. And when I say quick, I mean, done and dusted, ready to dig in and enjoy it, in under 10 minutes! Yup! That damn quick.

Oh and did I mention you don’t need your oven either? Or any fancy pants ingredients, just some flour, sugar and cocoa, all stuff, we pretty much keep stocked in the cupboard right?

So whether it be for Valentine’s Day or just because you’ve got a hankering, you have to give this one a shot!

Gluten Free Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding for  Two
(or one, I mean really, we’ve all been there)

Serves: 2
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 3 Minutes

Ingredients:
20g Butter, melted
1/2 Cup Gluten Free Self Raising Flour – any brand of packaged flour will work fine for this. I love the White Wings Gluten Free range 
1/3 Cup Caster Sugar
1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
2/3 Cup Boiling Water
Additional 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

Method:
Probably the best part of this whole gorgeous recipe, is the fact that it’s all done in the microwave! You simply mix it all together and whack it in for 3 minutes!! Yup, so if you can get your prep time down and speed through it (like I do) then you could have this whole dish served up in under 5 minutes!

Oh yeah, it’s amazing.

Place the butter in a medium sized ceramic bowl and melt it in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

On top of that, throw in the flour, caster sugar, 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder, vanilla and milk. Mix really well together. Sometimes gluten free flour can go a little clumpy no matter what you do to it, so use the back of a spoon to really work it together and you should end up with a thick, glossy, (uncooked) muffin type mixture.

Boil the kettle. Now on top of your chocolately mousse mix, sprinkle the brown sugar and extra tablespoon of cocoa powder. No need to be fancy here, just sprinkle across the top.

Carefully add the boiling water over top of this, if you have little bits of cocoa that haven’t dissolved, don’t stress! It won’t matter in a minute, or three.

Pop it straight into the microwave and cook on High for 3 Minutes. It’s done when the cake is springy but set in the middle and your sauce becomes thick and luscious!

Be careful now, as it will be piping hot! Though if you serve it up with a good dollop of thickened cream or vanilla bean ice cream it will help cut through the heat and richness nicely. You know, so it can get in your belly faster!

I honestly, cannot rave about this dessert enough. It’s rich and chocolatey and perfect to share with a loved one this Valentine’s Day.

What are you waiting for? Give it a whirl now, you don’t need an excuse!!

Have you tried any of my other delicious recipes that would be perfect to share with a loved one? Why not check some of these out! Old Fashioned Gluten Free Ice Cream Sandwich, Mocha Choc Chip Cream Dessert, Salted Chocolate Tart.

And don’t forget to tag me in your creations on Instagram! I love to see what you’ve been whipping up in the kitchen.

Old Fashioned Gluten Free Ice Cream Sandwich

I have these memories, of sitting on the floor scoffing down fish and chips on a Friday night. I couldn’t of been more than 8 years old? God I don’t know, it was forever ago.

Friday nights were junk food and movie nights with my family and their closest friends. We kids would get a feed of junk food, then an ice cream, then we’d bundle up in bed and watch a movie, while the adults did the same in the lounge room.

It was fab. Though I suspect, like most childhood memories, that things weren’t quite as fantastical as I remember them. The best part of these nights though, was always the ice cream. Naturally my favourite flavour/type at the time would vary… but my god, some days I just couldn’t go past a good ole Peters Giant Sandwich.

As most things do, they changed over time, and by the time I was a teenager, I swear the simple giant sandwich was half the size and tasted totally different. My dad swears the same, we were both avid lovers.

Of course, you eventually move on, to other delicious and amazing ice cream selections, but I would always love that classic giant sandwich and would occasionally eat one, purely for nostalgia.

The problem of course arose when I was diagnosed gluten intolerant. Hmm yup. I bet you know what happened next…. I was never able to eat another one again! … I mean, even if they weren’t the same as before… I still wanted the CHOICE!

Years have gone by and I hadn’t given much thought to the simple ice cream sandwich, I mean, I pretty much wrote off all ice creams on a stick.

But then, something happened the other day. I can’t even tell you exactly what. All I knew, was that I HAD to try my hand at making one myself. “Surely they can’t be that hard!” I told myself……

…. well guess what. They are so freaking easy to make, I mean, seriously simple. And what’s better is they work so easily as gluten free too! No crazy flour combinations or weird ingredients you have to source because you need to recreate some fluffy, light texture that gluten would normally do.

Nope. None of that! Oh and did I mention, they taste better than the ones available in shops now! They actually taste just like the old fashioned ones we used to eat as children, I kid you not!

So stop day dreaming about that classic childhood ice cream and get in the kitchen and whip up a batch now…. or better yet, make two… because, you know, they won’t last more than  5 minutes.

Australian Mess: My Gluten Free No-Bake Mango Cheesecake

Ahhhh January 26th. Australia Day. An iconic day where we celebrate our nation’s beginnings and embrace our inner bogan….  *ahem* I mean patriot.

We Aussies like our Summers hot, our beers cold, our beaches sandy and our bodies bronzed, well most of us anyway. We also have this little thing about plastering our flag everywhere, including ourselves. But hey, it’s what we do.

With Australia day only a week away or so, I got to thinking about what fabulous dessert I was going to whip up for it. I always make something, and I knew I had to get into the spirit and create a dessert that was truly Australian this time.

For about a second I considered creating the Aussie flag in cheesecake form… but, well that might be taking it a step too far.

I did also consider a lamington styled cheesecake, which is still something I’m thinking about, but I need to really consider the flavours before venturing in that direction. For now though, I knew I wanted a dessert that showed off our lesser seen colours of green and gold  and it just had to imbue everything that is an Australian summer.

What do you think of when I say Aussie Summer?

I know several friends of mine would jump up and down and scream Mango, mango, mango! I mean what is a summer feast without a perfectly ripened mango….. well in my mind, it’s a good one!

Ahhh yes, my little secret is out in the world now. I don’t like mango. I think I must be one of the few Australians who don’t! You should see the looks I get when I actively avoid it too, god it’s like I’m burning the flag or something!

So I thought I would push myself out of comfort zone and whip up a delicious Aussie cheesecake packed full of mango and hey, guess what! I actually liked it! I mean I avoided the plain fruit on top, because, yuck! But the cheesecake itself it’s so gorgeous and light and the perfect end to a summer BBQ.

So if you need a dessert to take along to a little shindig, or you’re just feeling patriotic… or hell, maybe you just feel like cheesecake. This baby is for you.

Now grab a can of Export, whack your thongs on, turn up the ACDC and let’s get cooking!

Australian Mess: My Gluten Free No-Bake Mango Cheesecake

Dream Home Coming to Life: Part Nineteen

“Collect things you love, that are authentic to you, and your house becomes your story.”

– homeowner Eric Flett – from CountryLiving

Whether you can believe it or not, it’s now 2017!

I know right? Where and how did that happen!

Amazingly it’s been a whole year since we started this crazy journey we call building our dream home. In fact it was the week just before Christmas 2015 that we signed off on the house plans and things really got rolling.

Now it’s a year later and soooo much has changed, well I mean obviously, but so much has changed in our lives and the way I feel about this place, that it surprises me. It’s quite hard to explain but, before, it was just a dream, something that was taking its sweet time to happen, and now it’s here and built (and nowhere near finished!).

But it feels like home. Like we’ve always lived here and that this is where we were always meant to be. Weird, I know… or maybe not so much.

Either way you look at it, we’ve been living in the new house for 7 weeks now and these last two weeks have found me waking up and not feeling overwhelmed by it all.

Yes I know, I know. Everyone says, be patient, it takes time, to get it all unpacked and sorted. I’ve done that though and it was still overwhelming me. You can blame my big head, full of ideas for that I think.

Well, that was until recently anyway.

A year ago we were looking at dozens of these babies, trying to decide on light switches, power points and wall placements!

Gluten Free Lemon Meringue Pie with a Twist

What’s the first thing you think of when I say, Summer?

What about your childhood summers? Is there some thing, some memory that really sticks out for you?

For me, on both counts, it’s fruit.

Yup, kind of weird I guess. To me though summer means it’s time for delicious, juicy fruits and colourful fruit salads and the smell alone can completely take me to another place and time.

It’s not even a particular kind of fruit either, though some of my strongest memories from my childhood are of my great grandparents bringing huge trays of fresh peaches and apricots home from their travels up north.

The minute the weather starts to warm up, I start keeping an eye out for all kinds of glorious fruit and I just love bringing it all home and figuring out what I’m going to do with it! Just imagine all the things you can create; fruit smoothies that are every colour under the sun, fruit salads for breakfast, toppings for cheesecakes or better yet, freshly barbecued with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream… mmmmm, delicious!

There is one fruit though, that just screams summer. Lemons!

Yes I know, that’s not entirely accurate since lemons aren’t technically in season at this time of year. But there is something about balmy summer days that make me crave an ice cold Gin and Tonic with a big wedge of lemon. Or better yet, that classic dessert, Lemon Meringue Pie.

I have to admit, I haven’t made a lemon meringue pie in a very very long time, much to my husbands dismay. Of course it was made just that little bit harder when I found out I was gluten intolerant several years ago.

Because hey, we all know what a bitch gluten free crusts and pastry can be!

So it was whilst considering what to serve at a small family gathering, that I decided I just had to try my hand at it again but this time with a twist!

Imagine this, a beautiful zesty lemon curd, smothered in pillows of soft meringue and encased in a crunchy, coconut base. Sounds pretty good right?!Not only is it good, or shall I say, insanely delicious, but it’s also easy as…. well… pie!

So if you’re sick of your gluten free crust failing, your pastry not holding together and not getting to enjoy your favourite desserts because of your intolerance, then this recipe is for you!

Summer In A Bite – Pina Colada Popsicles

Ahh those summer days.

Hot, sunshiny days spent at the beach, the smell of hot chips and sunscreen. Sand in places where you really wish it wasn’t and the sound of waves crashing onto the shore as the sun finally sets, letting the temperature drop 10 plus degrees.

Where ever you envisage yourself on those crazy hot days, the simple fact is there are few ways to cool down better than plonking yourself beside the seaside. The exception to this of course, is gobbling down an icy cold popsicle.

Especially if, like me, you live no where near a goddamn beach!

I don’t know about you, but a scrummy, icy cold, perfectly flavoured popsicle can easily transport me right back to that perfect scenario and make me feel like I’m on holidays again.

What To Do With Christmas Leftovers

Boxing Day has quickly become a day of rest for me and my family. This is only the 3rd boxing day I’ve not had to work in quite a long time, so I still like to really take advantage of it and relax fully. There’s nothing worse than having to slave away in the kitchen creating something yummy for lunch for the people still milling around. Not that I really hate it or anything, I just think after days of non-stop cooking, running around and generally being busy I want an easy, fairly no fuss, lunch.

So I’m guessing, like me, you have a huge pile of Christmas leftovers. It really can seem like you’re eating ham and turkey for days can’t it. So what do you do with all those leftovers? I mean other than just re-heating them and picking at them as you feel like it or sending copious amounts home with family.

Here’s a quick and relatively easy meal idea that won’t require too many ingredients. There’s no need to duck down to the shops either, I mean who actually wants to go shopping on Boxing day anyhow?

So here is my quick and easy Christmas Leftover Pasties.

 

What To Do With Christmas Leftovers

The great thing about these pasties is there really are no rules.
You can use any leftover meat you have in any quantity you like.
Throw in some leftover roast veggies and a bit of a sauce and you’re done! So for that reason I’ve used very little in the way of quantities here.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6-10

Ingredients:
Leftover Meat = Turkey, Ham, Duck, Chicken, whatever you’ve got
Leftover Roasted Vegetables or a mix of Frozen Veg
Frozen Puff Pastry = Simply Wize Gluten Free Puff Pastry is fantastic!
1 Heaped Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Plain Flour
1/2 – 3/4 Tsp Powdered Chicken Stock (Or 250ml pre-mixed stock liquid)
250ml Thick Cream
Salt & Pepper
1 Egg, Beaten for Glazing

 

Method:
Preheat your oven to 220º Celsius and line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Pull out your frozen puff pastry (because who wants to be making pastry today!) and separate the sheets onto your bench top. Allow pastry to defrost until soft and floppy.

To keep your pastry soft and easy to work with, cover the sheets with a slightly damp, clean tea towel! For best results when working with gluten free frozen pastry, I recommend rolling it out thinner to create a truly soft, flaky morsel.

Cut or shred your chosen meat into small pieces, how small is up to you and how chunky you’d like your pasties. Do the same with your selection of roasted vegetables. You can use what ever you like, but some good veggies to chuck in are carrot, potato, corn, peas, beans etc. If you’re using frozen vegetables it is worth heating them through to defrost slightly.

In a medium sized saucepan melt your butter. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute or two. Now depending on how many pasties you’d like to make will depend on how much of this liquid you are going to need. So I have 2 steps for you to choose from here.

1. Makes 4-6 Pasties = To your melted butter and flour mix add 1/2 a teaspoon of your chicken stock powder and cream.Whisk to blend well. Now do a quick taste test. Some stock powders are quite strong and others weak,so add more if you think it needs it. Continue to cook over medium heat until the sauce is thick and smooth, about 3-5 minutes.
2. Makes 8-10 Big Pasties = To your melted butter and flour mix add 250ml of Liquid Chicken Stock (you can make it up with the above powder or use store bought. I did the latter as I had some left over from the day before). To this mix add your cream and whisk well. This mix won’t be anywhere near as thick but will stretch a lot further and still give you a beautiful creamy filling in your pasties.

Add all of your chopped meat and veg to the cream mix and stir to coat. You can continue to add more until you’ve reached the quantity you want, or in my case, use up as much turkey as I could. Season well with salt and pepper.

Now grab a sheet of puff pastry and a round plate or bowl about the size of the pastie you want. Remember to leave 1cm or so around the edges so you can crimp them over to seal. Lay your plate or bowl over the pastry and cut out a circle. This will become your pastie.

Take your meat and veg mix and spoon approx. 2 tablespoons on to half of the pastie. Fold the other half over top and line up your edges. Using your fingers pinch and fold over the edges, working your way around. You may have a little liquid escape out the edges but don’t worry about it. Be sure to not over fill your pasties though as they may explode, so it may take a little bit of trial and error before you get the right quantity.

If you’re feeling creative cut out a couple of little leaves from the left over pastry and add them to the top, just brush lightly with egg wash first to help them stick. Now pop your pasties onto your trays, a couple of centimeters apart will do as they don’t spread much. Brush with the beaten egg and pop into the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy all over.

So how’s that for a simple way to get rid of leftovers…. not to mention how damn yummy they are. Why not think ahead and have everything on hand, this will make your Boxing Day celebrations truly relaxing!

If you haven’t already planned your Christmas feast to a T, why not swing by and take a look at my Caramelized Pineapple & Rum Glazed Ham! It goes fantastically well in these babies!

 

 

 

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Gluten Free Shortbread

There are some recipes that are just timeless classics and to me, none are more timeless than shortbread cookies, especially at Christmas time!

They just scream Christmas don’t they?!

Prior to being told I was gluten intolerant, it was always tradition to buy a box of Walkers Shortbread, well OK, there may of been more than one box! But once I went gluten free I thought, well easy! I can just make them myself again, just with different flour.

Wrong!!!!

In the 4 years of being gluten free I have never found a shortbread cookie that worked perfectly! I’m serious!

Sure they might taste OK, but my cute cookie cutters never held their shape once cooked and no matter what I tried they wouldn’t not spread. Not to mention it was so hard to find an easy recipe that actually melted in your mouth.

Every year I have tried to perfect the classic shortbread and every year I have failed. Well, until now that is.

You can in part, thank my budding knowledge on subbing gluten free flours (it’s never that simple is it!) you can also thank the gorgeous people over at the The Cookie Stamp Co, as it was thanks to their amazing cookie stamps that I finally found a recipe that converts to gluten free and still works. 

Dream Home Coming to Life: A Year in Review

“When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things – not the great occasions – give off the greatest glow of happiness.”
– Bob Hope

Well what can I say, it’s been one hell of a year.

It has, simultaneously gone by so quickly but ever so slowly and of course, like all things, much has changed.

This time last year we were celebrating the purchase of a block of land, signing a contract on a new home and preparing for our first Christmas as a family with one rambunctious 9 month old. It was a fantastic Christmas surrounded by lots of family and some wonderful friends.

This year though, the lead up to Christmas was quite a bit different. Actually the last six months in general have been difficult and new.

Family members got sick and had operations, others tried to remove parts of their own body in farming accidents (yes Dad, we won’t let you forget that one!), relationships ended, new ones flourished, old friendships changed and new ones began. And my stress levels hit an all time high.

That wasn’t all of it either.

We moved house for one, into the new home we hope to create, and lots of things went wrong. They were mostly small things in hindsight, but they were all pieces in the ever expanding pile that weighed on our shoulders. That’s why I was looking forward so much to Christmas, a fun and carefree time, a chance to celebrate with childlike joy.

I planned on it being like those of Christmas past, relaxed, happy, full of good food, people and carols. But that hasn’t gone to plan either! (having said that Christmas has actually happened yet either, so there’s still hope!!)

It’s taken a couple of weeks now and lots of slow and small efforts, but finally I feel like I’m getting to a better place. A place where the stress doesn’t have my shoulders bunched up in stress from the minute I wake up, to the second I fall asleep. A place where Christmas carols play, twinkly lights twinkle and the smell of freshly baked cookies waft. It’s not a bad place to be actually.

It’s no wonder then, with all this stress and chaos floating about, that both Mr D and I ended up sick, (luckily for us it was at different times). In fact I’m writing this to you now from my huddled position on the lounge with a cloud of cold and flu tablets as company. I’m on the mend now, though perhaps you should keep that in mind if you find spelling mistakes and weird sentence structure in today’s post hehe.

From this position however, I can see that all the downs of the last few months were just things that had to happen. That we had to get out of the way for a new year and a new start.

And that’s exactly what it feels like now.

A new year, a new home, a new chance to achieve some big dreams.

On the actual home front, we are starting to get settled in. As settled in as one can be when one still feels like they’re camping. Seriously, there is yellow sand everywhere!! But we are slowly starting to tick things off the list. We still have a while to go and some hard work to get there, but we will get there. (It helps that we actually have WiFi now!)

So with the tree up, twinkling at me, and a simple family Christmas planned with very little fuss, I’m starting to relish the little things. Like having a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and a wonderful (somewhat healthy) family to share in it all.

Here’s to the New Year.

A brilliantly bright moon had me out the back the other night capturing a quick snap. I’ll definitely be spending more time out here with my camera in the future. 

The kitchen is probably the only room in the whole house that is actually nearly finished…. I mean, this is me we are talking about here right?!

It may of taken me a few days to get the Christmas tree up, but once I did everything started to feel like it was coming together. 

Sadly most of our furniture was all bought for our Perth house (which was much smaller!), so we’ll be upgrading some key pieces, including the dining table over the coming months. 

The sunsets never disappoint here. (Just ignore the looming light poles out the front, they’re not staying!… are they Dad?!)

There’s still lots more to come my friends. Exteriors to be painted, bedrooms to be decorated, new lounge furniture to be chosen and delivered and of course decking to be done.

Stay tuned over the coming months and keep an eye out for an update every few weeks.

Cheerio and Merry Christmas xxx