By Alice | Published:
September 8, 2009
My sister sent me her gluten free banana bread recipe. It is a winner! I added the walnut element. Unlike some of the recent gluten-free recipes I have tried recently it is not sugar-free or vegan so it is not so as surprising that it is nice (if you add butter and sugar to most things they are nice, right? :) ). I think this is actually my favourite banana bread recipe of all time including when compared to non-GF recipes. This is the one I will be making from now on even if it is not intended for gluten-free people.
Gluten-Free Banana Bread
175g brown rice flour
50g cornflour
75g walnut pieces
100g caster sugar
2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
2 pinches salt
100g unsalted butter
3 mashed bananas
2 large eggs
1kg loaf tin greased
1. Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F
2. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one by one. Mix in the banana.
3. Sift the brown rice flour, the cornflour, the baking powder, and the salt. Mix into the banana mixture, then add the walnuts.
4. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour until a skewer comes out clean and the top is very golden.
5. Remove from tin and cool on a rack.
I think that the difference that makes it nicer is that the crumb is a bit denser.
By Alice | Published:
April 14, 2009
My contribution to the meal was the dessert of gluten free bownies and adzuki bean and coffee ice-cream.
Adzuki Bean and Coffee Ice-ceam
half cup milk
two tablespoons instant coffee
one cup cream
200g tin of sweet adzuki beans
Mix milk and coffee. Whip the cream. Mix it all together with the adzuki beans and pour into the ice-cream maker, or freeze right away if you don't have one.
I got the idea to make this from one of my dad's Japanese newspapers. I thought it worked well! Especially nice if you like adzuki bean (which I do so much!) but also the coffee element makes it palatable to those less keen on adzuki beans.
By Alice | Published:
April 1, 2009
When my sister was staying with me last I asked her for her popcorn recipe as the popcorn she makes is really good. Her secret seems to be that she uses a small amount of both sugar AND salt. She uses olive oil as the cooking oil also. I was trying to find out if popcorn was a healthy snack, opinions seem divided! I guess it is the same as with almost everything – that things should be consumed in moderation. My thoughts are that savory popcorn could be a good snack to have with drinks if I have gluten-free people over. I was looking about online and there seems to be quite a few interesting popcorn recipes like this one.
By Alice | Published:
March 11, 2009
More gluten free deserts! I made this gluten free brownie (using my father's kitchen) for a family celebration and it turned out well. I was a bit clumsy taking it out of the tin so it broke apart a little but no matter. The only unusual ingredient is the gluten free baking powder but I found it in the local wholefoods store (Uhuru Wholefoods). We had it hot from the oven with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce – really is there any other way to have a hot brownie? :)
By Alice | Published:
March 3, 2009
Our oven is still broken so I was looking for a cake I could make for my sister without baking and I came across this idea of a refrigerator cake. Normally these cakes contain biscuits but as my family have a few food allergies I created a gluten free version. When I assembled the ingredients I did wonder if it was going to be sickly but actually it was very sinfully nice! Cut the pieces quite small and it is like a grown-up gooey chocolate bar.
Gluten Free Refrigerator Cake
200g dark chocolate
150g butter
1 tbs golden syrup
2 bought meringues broken into pieces
2 handfuls mini-marshmallows
100g walnuts broken into pieces
100g pecans broken into pieces
small tub glacé cherries
cocoa powder for dusting
A cake tin lined with lightly oiled clingfilm.
Serves 10-14
Melt and combine the chocolate, butter, and golden syrup in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Remove from the heat and gently stir in the other ingredients. Pour into the cake tin and put into the fridge to set overnight. Take out the cake a few hours before serving so it is not rock hard, and dust with cocoa powder.
