Gluten free lemon drizzle cake

This cake is fairly heavy on the carbs but is light and delicious.

200g butter
20g powdered sucralose
50g milk powder
4 eggs
175g almond flour
250g mashed potatoes
zest of 3 lemons
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp sugar

Cream together the butter, sucralose and milk powder until soft and light. Gradually beat in the eggs. Mix the almond flour, potatoes, lemon zest and baking powder and fold into the egg mixture. Pour into a greased and lined cake tin and bake at 160 oC for 40 minutes. Leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out. Dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice and drizzle over the cake before serving.

Gluten free lemon meringue pie

I've had a bit of a sweet tooth of late, which isn't like me! My partner and children have not been complaining though... This pie was a great success - even with no gluten or added sugar.
The pastry case is based one from Elana's pantry.
The pastry and lemon filling also made some delicious jam tart style treats. Just press the pastry into a cup cake tin, add the filling and bake for 15 minutes. No need for blind baking with the little ones.

For the pastry case
2 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter (or coconut oil)
1 tsp sweetener (I used Truvia)
1 egg

For the lemon filling
zest and juice of 2 lemons
3 level tbsp potato starch (or corn flour)
1/4 cup sweetener (if using truvia use less - I used about a quarter cup)
4 egg yolks
40g butter

For the meringue
4 egg whites
3/4 cup sweetener (I used half a cup of sucralose and 1/4 cup of truvia. Next time I'll just use the 1/4 cup of truvia)

Heat oven to 180 oC (160 for a fan oven). Put the almond flour in a food processor and add the salt and sweetener. Pulse to mix. Then add the 2 tbsp of butter (or coconut oil) in and blend until mixed well. Add the egg and process until it forms a smooth ball. Then press the dough into a loose bottomed pie dish. I found the easiest way to do this was the pull off small balls of dough and put them over the bottom of the dish, then press flat with the back of a spoon. Then form a lip around the edges in the same way. Take a piece of parchment paper and scrunch it a few times to soften it. Line the pastry case with it and fill with baking beans, or even better, loose change. Coins work best as they heat up quickly and transmit the heat well. Bake the pastry case for 10 minutes lined, then 5 minutes with out the coins and paper. Set aside and lower the oven temperature by 20 oC.
Next make the lemon filling. Fill a jug with 10 fl oz of cold water. Mix the sugar and cornflour/potato starch in a bowl and add enough of the water to make a paste. Put the remaining water and the lemon zest into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Gradually add to the flour mix, beating all the time. Return this mixture to the pan when all the water is added and carefully bring up to a simmer, stirring all the time in case it burns. Remove from the heat when it starts to simmer. Beat in the lemon juice, then the egg yolks and finally the butter. Pour the mixture into the pastry case. Put the egg whites into a large bowl and whisk until they form still peaks. Whisk in the sweetener, a little at a time. Spoon the meringue mixture over the lemon filling and use a palette knife to make sure it's totally covered. Put into the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Allow to settle for at least 20 minutes before serving.

How to take high vitamin butter oil (chocolate truffles)

Every morning I torture my children with a dose of fermented cod liver oil and a dose of high vitamin butter oil. Why? Not (as my children occasionally wonder) because I hate them and want to make them sad. But for the fat-soluble vitamins that modern diets tend to be deficient in. More information can be found here.
My little troupers will take their cod liver oil (or skate liver oil as they currently have) without too much moaning, as long as it is orange flavoured and they have some milk or kefir to chase it with. Bless their little hearts! But the butter oil is another matter, one that I am inclined to agree on. None of us like the taste and as it's more solid we find it much harder to take. So yesterday I made some small chocolates containing a little butter oil and they are now clamouring for more! Each chocolate contains about a sixth of a teaspoon the way I made them. I might be a little braver and add some more butter oil next time but as it's so expensive and we do eat plenty of grass fed butter, I'm happy with this dose! How much is in each of your chocolates will depend on how big you make them but if you count up at the end it isn't too hard to work out. I made mine in a silicon ice cube tray, but this isn't necessary. Just easier!



Nutty Chocolates (with sneaky butter oil)
80g dark chocolate (I used one with 75% cocoa solids)
3 heaped tsps nut butter
3 tsp butter oil
1 tsp butter
In a small saucepan, heat some water to the boil. Put the chocolate, nut butter and butter into a bowl that will fit over the pan without touching the water. Turn off the heat under the pan and put the bowl over the pan to melt the chocolate. When it's melted take it off the pan. Add the butter oil and stir to mix. If you are using a silicon ice cube tray you can now put the chocolate mixture into that and then chill to set. If not, put the bowl of chocolate mixture into the fridge for 2 hours. After that, use two teaspoons to take out some of the mixture and quickly roll into balls. I find it helps to wash your hands in cold water before doing this to chill them. You can then roll the balls in some cocoa powder or shredded coconut if you like. Chill again until they're solid. This made 18 chocolates when I did it.



Black Pepper chocolates (with sneaky butter oil)
80g dark chocolate
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 tbsp cream
Tiny pinch of salt
1 tsp butter
1 1/2 tsp butter oil

Crush the peppercorns slightly then add to the cream. Leave for 2 hours to allow the pepper flavour to infuse. If you like you can then strain out the corns, or if you are living with a total pepper freak like I am, you can leave them in. As for the previous recipe, melt the chocolate, butter and cream gently over a steaming pan. Then remove from the heat and stir through the butter oil. Form into cubes or balls as above. This recipe made 9 servings for me.

This recipe could be adapted to all kinds of flavours. You could infuse the cream with basil, along with the pepper, use mint, chili, orange zest... whatever flavour of chocolate takes your fancy. The scent of butter oil is still there while warm but when cooled I found it was nicely hidden.

Edit. My pepper fanatic partner thinks that the pepper chocolates could use even more pepper! So if you want them hot you may want more than a tsp.

Gluten free chocolate brownies

We were in need of some chocolate a few nights ago so I decided to improvise a chocolate brownie. And as luck would have it it came out really well! This isn't sugar free (still working on getting the texture right without sugar) but it is very tasty.

4 eggs
170g melted butter or coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup vanilla flavour whey protein powder
1/2 cup ground blanched almonds
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dried milk powder (because I ran out of sugar!)
1 tsp baking powder (gluten free)

Mix together the eggs, vanilla extract and sugar. Sift in the dry ingredients and add the melted butter. Stir only as much as it takes to just get everything mixed together (no more than 50 times) then pour into a greased and lined baking tin. Bake at 170oC until it's just set in the centre. Takes about 12 minutes in my hyperactive fan oven. Take it out of the oven and cool in the tin. Try to wait until it won't burn you before eating it...