The first surprise here is will the Gluten Free Chocolate cookies last until tomorrow, perhaps not. These yummy cookies will come straight from the kitchen with a soft runny centre if you eat them warm or, even better, a thick chocolate middle if you can wait long enough for them to cool and the children will leave them alone!
For an alternative if the chocolate is too much for all the family, try substituting milk or white chocolate in place of the plain chocolate or replace 25g (1oz) of the Gluten-Free Mix with 25g (1oz) cocoa to make double chocolate cookies!
The quoted measures below makes enough for 12 – 14 people, or one hungry child. It is not a hard recipe and from start to finish it should take you 15 minutes to prepare and then a cooking period of up to 15 minutes. Ample time to start again should anything go wrong.
The full ingredients for theis Gluten Free Chocolate Surprise are
- 250g (10oz) Gluten Free Cake Mix
- 12-14 squares plain chocolate
- 125g (5oz) caster sugar
- 1 medium egg yolk
- 125g (5oz) butter
To whip up this Gluten Free Chocolate culinary delight you should pre heat your oven to a temperature of 190ºC/375ºF/Gas Mark 5 and then follow the outline below
- Cream together the butter and the sugar and beat in the egg yolk ensuring that everything is well mixed.
- Once done carefully fold in the Gluten-Free Mix . Typically the mixture will be crumbly at this stage but that is no problem.
- Mix together to form a dough and knead thish for two to three of minutes until it is smooth on a surface lightly dusted with Mix.
- Gently Roll out the dough and cut out 12 circles with a cookie cutter and place these on a baking tray ready to go into the oven.
- Carefully insert a square of chocolate into the middle of each circular shape.
- Cut out another 12 rounds with the cookie cutter and use these to cover the chocolate, pressing the edges down lightly to seal it in.
- Bake all these in your pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes until the dough is golden.
- Allow the cookies to cool slightly before transferring to a cooling rac, remember they are full of liquid chocolate.
- Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve
Then stand back before you get bowled over in the rush and covered in Gluten Free Chocolate.
If you are one of the many people in the world who like a drink with their meal or even go out at night for a drink and then finding gluten-free beer is very important for those with coeliac condition. There is no room for doubt over the gluten content, too much beer has an effect on most people producing headaches and upset stomachs and celiacs do not want to compound this by ingesting large amounts of gluten.
Although there are 1 in 500 people who are gluten intolerant there are few beers commercially available which are gluten-free. Breweries are commercial companies, targeting large market segments and catering for what they perceive as a small percentage of the population is not in their marketing plans. Having said this there is a growing awareness of the need for gluten-free beer and in 2006 in the UK CAMERA, the campaign for real ale, held its first international gluten-free beer Festival.
Many beer aficionados claim that beer can only be made with specific grains and unfortunately all of these contain gluten. Perhaps their expertise and advice is best placed to one side as we live in the real world and if you want a beer then you want a beer and shouldn’t let some pompous attitude stand in your way. This attitude can also cause problems as certain beers are claimed to be gluten-free because they have been filtered several times. Whilst filtration will remove many of the components which contain gluten this is not a 100% purification process and tiny amounts of gluten will remain to which you could be sensitive. The only solution is to take a beer which is guaranteed to be 100% gluten free.
Some people have overcome the problem by brewing their own gluten free beer. An important part of this process is to find gluten-free grains which are produced in a form for home brewing, this means that they are malted. This can be a problem as many grains are sold in the bird seed form which contain chemicals, and you need to contain a pure form, and information on malting grain is not commonly available.
Several smaller breweries have started to produce gluten-free beers, Green’s Discovery, Ramapo Valley Brewery, Bard’s Tale Beer, Fine Ale Club New France Beers, O’Brien Brewing, Hambleton Ales and in Italy Bi-Aglut to name some examples. Hopefully this represents really the beginning of a much larger number of breweries understanding the commercial opportunity in catering for people who need to maintain a gluten free diet.
After you have been diagnosed with Coeliac condition you may wonder how you can eat gluten free and how much of a change to your normal habits this will be.
Gluten is a sticky protein that is found in a number of common grains such as wheat, oats, rye and barley and as such seems all pervasive appearing directly in many meals or indirectly by way of the sauce. Gluten appears in many food items and some places it occurs may surprise you.
Imagine trying to eat gluten free when you are not aware that if he coating on oven chips contains gluten! Beer is made from barley and hence is full of the substance and gluten free chicken or pork succumbs to the gluten invasion when coated in bread crumbs.
Notwithstanding the hidden nature of gluten it is possible to eat gluten free with just a small amount of care. The first thing you will need to do is to get into the habit of reading food labels. Many foods these days are labeled as “gluten-free” and this is a good start although you should note that the international standard for gluten-free products does not guarantee 100% abstinence of gluten. The standard is defined in the Codex Alimentarius and this defines a measure of less than and 200 ppm of gluten in the food product to be reviewed. Fortunately this is low enough to avoid creating problems for Celiacs unless they are hyper sensitive to gluten in which case they need to make special arrangements for their foodstuffs.
If we focus on what you can eat as gluten-free there are many alternative cereals and grains including rice, tapioca, sago, millet, maize, quinoa, buckwheat and sorghum. In addition the staples of the typical meal are gluten-free, that is to say milk, cheese, meat and common fruit and vegetables.
If you want to eat gluten-free cakes or bread then they will need to be made from a gluten-free flour such as corn, potato, rice, tapioca, maize, gram, sorghum, soya, chickpea and chestnut.
For a drink all fruit derivatives herbal and infusions will be gluten-free as is plain old tea and coffee with milk and sugar.
The list of foods to eat gluten-free is extensive and we could go on for many column inches although that will be subject to a separate article. From reading the list above you will come to realise that eating gluten-free is not such a variation from the normal and, with the exception of the substitution of some alternative grains and flours, these foodstuffs are those eaten by most people on the planet.
Scary food, blood red tomato soup with with witches fingers. Yes this is a Gluten Free Halloween treat for children and we will take a standard brand cream of tomato soup and decorate it to look like a spider web accompanied with witches fingers.
The Gluten Free Halloween recipe below will make 4 portions and from start to finish it should take you at most 30 minutes of cooking time, but do keep looking at the fingers to make sure that they do not burn. Before you start you should heat the oven up to 220°C , 425°F/Gas Mark 7
Our ingredients cover the soup and the fingers. For the soup you will need
- 150ml/ 1/4pt Carton single cream
- 2 Large cans cream of tomato soup
For the witches fingers you need to get
- 250g/ 9oz of suitable Bread Mix
- 1 x 5ml tsp Dried yeast
- 50g/ 2oz Ground rice
- 50g/ 2oz of grated mature Cheddar cheese
- 25g/ 1oz Pumpkin seeds for the witches hand warts
- 1 x 5ml tsp Mild paprika
- 175ml/ 6 fl oz Hand hot water
- 1 x 15ml tbsp Mild olive oil
- 25g/ 1oz pecan halves for the witches nails
First you need to prepare the gluten free whitches fingers.
- Combine the gluten free flour mix and ground rice in a medium size bowl. Also stir in the yeast, paprika, olive oil and half the cheese.
- Add the warm water to this mix and using a large fork stir the mix untilit has combined to a stiff batter.
- Spoon the mix into a squeezy tomato ketchup bottle with plastic lid or into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle to create a piping tool.
- Pipe the fresh mix out into finger lengths and sprinkle these with the remaining cheese. Push in pumpkin seed warts randomly over the fingers and position a pecan nail onto the end of each finger. Sprinkle all this with the remaining cheese.
- Cover the fingers with oiled cling film and leave to prove for about 40 minutes until slightly risen they are now ready for cooking.
- Remove the film and cook these gluten free fingers until golden.
Serving a Gluten Free Halloween meal is the important part to maintain the atmosphere, remember this is a haloween meal and should be scarey.
- Warm up the tinned soup and pour it into some haloween style bowls.
- Pierce the foil lid to make a smallpouring hole in the cream carton.
- Pour the cream into concentric rings on top of the soup to make a web pattern.
- Drag a knife from the centre of the ring out to the bowl edge at regular intervals to feather the rings to look like a spider web.
- Put a small gluten free biscuit at the center shaped like a spider
- Serve soup accompanied by the cooked witches’ fingers.
We hope that your Gluten Free Halloween meal went down well and no one got turned into a frog.
Gluten Free Cereal
Collins Dictionary defines “cereal” as – 1. Any edible grain, or 2. (breakfast) food. Definition number 1 assumes you don’t have coelicac condition; those who do would need to know whether it is a gluten free cereal or not.
The most common gluten free cereal is rice, a staple food in most of Asia and some parts of Africa. Rice is by nature a gluten free cereal, and such things like “Ricicles”, “Rice Krispies” and rice pudding are all dishes made with this gluten free cereal. Rice is eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Many Thai people start their day with a steaming bowl of rice soup! In Cameroon, a staple dish called “foo-foo” (dumpling) is made from ground rice and water.
In the Western World rice is an accompaniment to savoury dishes, or eaten as a starter or main course (risotto). Rice pudding is a popular dessert in many countries! Rice pudding is a gluten free cereal breakfast option in our family. I make a large batch of rice pudding, pour it into individual-sized dishes, and put them (cooled) in the fridge. In the morning, I heat up the dish in the microwave oven for 2 minutes, and serve with jam. I like it with brown sugar.
Another gluten free cereal is corn. Corn is a staple in many parts of North and South America and Italy (called polenta). In the Western World we have a gluten free cereal called corn flakes. Another type of gluten free cereal is quinoa (pronounced “keen-wa”). It is not actually a grain; but a seed. Eaten in the time of the Incas and was considered food fit for the Gods. It contains many vitamins and minerals and can be made into a tasty gluten free cereal. Just cook the quinoa as per the packet instructions, and add your favourite fruit and honey. A warm gluten free cereal for both young and old to enjoy!
For most coeliacs porridge (or oatmeal) is off limits. Many people enjoy porridge on cold, winter mornings! A gluten free cereal substitute for oats is millet flakes. Millet is a gluten free cereal, however it is much tougher than oats, so it’s best to soak the millet flakes in milk the night before and cook the porridge in the morning. Rice porridge is another example of a gluten free cereal alternative to porridge.
Whilst breakfast is a meal dominated by gluten-bearing items (wheat cereals, oatmeal porridge, bread, croissants), I hope that the examples and ideas for gluten free cereal outlined above have given you some idea of the options available. Some are either ready-made, some homemade; and they are suitable for both western palates (rice pudding!) and more exotic palates (rice soup!).
Gluten Free Grains
Gluten is a sticky protein found in many grain crops, wheat, oats, rye and barley being the main ones found in the western diet. As these are found in many pre-processed meals and restaurant offerings, either directly or indirectly by way of inclusion in sauces, they represent a problem to Celiacs and there is often a search for altenative gluten free grains.
Part of the problem appears to be that these grain crops have developed faster than man’s ability to evolve to digest these food products. A sizeable percentage of the population has some sensitivity to gluten resulting in mild and stomach upsets through to full gluten intolerance and coeliac disease.
There has long been a debate as to whether oats can be considered a gluten free grain. The debate is complicated by the means of production. To produce a gluten free grain crop gluten needs to be excluded all the way from the first sewing in the field through the harvesting and on to the manufacturing plant resulting in the final bag of flour. Often there is a greater risk of cross contamination of the crop in the field by air blown seeds from wheat crops. Once these crops have been harvested there is risk of cross contamination in the milling and bagging production line where the factory would either need to be dedicated to gluten free grains or to undergo a complete cleaning process before processing oats.
On a positive note there are many stable products which can be included as gluten-free grains in your daily diet and they include corn, rice,coconut flour, legumes, millet, soybean and tapioca.
With the arrival of genetically modified foods are there is always in the potential in the future for the development of a reliable gluten-free grain crop which had all the normal properties of wheat but excluded gluten. One potential concern here is that, by trying to do good, man actually creates another problem and introduces some new components into the DNA of these crops which causes other dietary problems.
With a little imagination it is possible to introduce gluten free grains into your normal daily diet and have a varied menu whilst treating your body kindly.
Gluten Free Cooking
Gluten free cooking is just one of the many dietary restrictions which Cook’s encounter these days. Food induced dietary issues are commonplace and at one family gathering there can seem to be several food intollerances to cater for. Gluten most commonly occurs in flour based products, such as breads and cakes, and also is used to bind other products in recipes and often appears in sauces or coatings to pre-purchased products.
People with gluten intollerance find that microscopic amounts of gluten can cause an upset to their system. This means that the Cook has to be very disciplined in the preparation of foods and avoid cross contamination of one food item by another. This is not an option, and should not be treated as a chore, gluten should be treated as toxic and as a poison to those with coeliac condition and they will rely on the chief to take great care in the preparation of their food.
At first you may perceive that gluten free cooking is quite restrictive and produces a meal which tastes like cardboard. This is far from the truth and with a little familiarity and practice you will find that gluten free cooking results in a healthy, nutritious meal which everyone in the family can enjoy.
Additionally, most restaurants these days have become aware of the requirements for gluten-free cooking and also financially aware of the benefits of catering for the needs of a large percentage of the community. Gluten free options are frequently quoted on menus and the restaurant chef in most cases is very happy to make minor adjustments to selected meals to ensure that they are gluten free.
With a little imagination and practice you will find that gluten free cooking starts to produce meals which are actually more nutritious than the normal dietary fare that you have being presenting to your family. This is because you are forced to reconsider the ingredients and how they are made rather than cooking on autopilot.
Gluten-free recipes abound on the Internet these days and hence there is no reason why gluten-free cooking should be a problem, treat it as an opportunity to reinvigorate your meal times and set the family off on a healthy gluten free diet.
Gluten Free Diets
We have 3 daughters (twins aged 6 and a 3-year-old), who have been diagnosed with the coeliac disease. All 3 are on strict gluten-free diets. The problem with gluten-free diets (and other food allergies and intolerance) is the social isolation element that goes with eating, food and social interactions.
Going to a restaurant with 3 small children on gluten-free diets is no small feat! Children?s menu?s always feature spaghetti (pasta contains flour), or hamburgers (contain rusk), or meatballs in tomato sauce (again contain flour or rusk for binding).
Why can?t restaurant menus change their children?s menus to feature foods for children?s gluten-free diets, such as chicken breasts, drumsticks or small steaks. Gravy and sauces could be adapted by using cornstarch. Pancakes and waffles can be made according to gluten-free recipe by using rice flour and buckwheat flour. When we eat in a restaurant with our children they end up (always) having omelet with chips; followed by ice cream (without sauce or biscuit/wafer!).
There are a number of arrangements in force at school to ensure compliance with the gluten-free diets of our children. As the girls are in 3 different classes, I keep track of over 60 birthdays to ensure the girls follow their gluten-free diets when the children are treated to birthday cake at school.
What will I do in a couple of years when they go on overnight trips, camping trips and other excursions with their classmates? I shall have to persevere and ensure the school, teachers and facilitators are provided with gluten-free foods, recipes and food lists. I?m sure that together we will find a way.
Already I notice a lot more awareness of the coeliac condition than a few years ago. However, there is still a lot of ignorance on the subject.
People unfamiliar with the gluten-free diet don?t realize how many products contain wheat, barley, oats and rye ? as well as other derivatives such as wheat starch, rusk, semolina, conscious, etc. Recently I met a lady who thought they could eliminate gluten from bread just by toasting the bread!
Luckily, coeliac patients on gluten-free diets can rely on organizations like the Coeliac Society who provide information, such as a gluten-free food list, support groups, gluten-free recipes and other useful information.
Gluten Free Cornbread Recipe
The Native Americans made cornbread long before the first Europeans settled in the Americas. The earliest cornbreads were called “pone”, from the Algonquin word “apan”, and were a simple mixture of cornmeal, salt, and water. Because the recipe calls for cornmeal instead of wheatflour, a gluten free cornbread recipe is, in some ways, a natural gluten-free food.
Corn is a staple crop in the United States and many parts of South America as well. Corn provides necessary calories for daily metabolism of the body and it is good for skin care, boosting the nervous system, digestion, and maintaining low cholesterol levels. Corn is rich in phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, zinc, copper, iron and selenium. It also contains Vitamin B (Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Niacin, Riboflavin, Folate) and has traces of Vitamin A and Vitamin E.
I?ve tried many a gluten-free cornbread recipe over the years and would like to share with you 3 variations of a gluten-free cornbread recipe for you to try.
The first gluten-free cornbread recipe is a quick, cheesy cornbread. It uses a combination of 150gr cornmeal (also called polenta), 125gr of chickpea (or gram) flour, ? teaspoon of salt, 2.5 teaspoon baking powder, 500 gr grated cheese, 50gr butter, 2 eggs and 300 ml milk. Bake in an oven at 160 degrees centigrade (or Gasmark 3) for 30-35 minutes.
The second gluten free cornbread recipe is made with 200 ml milk, 200 ml water, 350 gr brown rice flour, 50 gr buckwheat flour and 50 gr cornmeal, 1 tsp caster sugar, 1 tsp salt, 7 gr dried yeast, 40 gr margarine and 1 egg. Mix the ingredients together and leave to rest for 1 hour. Then, bake in 200 degree overn (Gas Mark 6) for 30 minutes.
The third gluten free cornbread recipe is made with 15ml sunflower oil, 1 onion (cooked) sliced, 175gr cornmeal, 75 gr rice flour, 25 gr soya flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon caster sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 115 gr grated cheese, 200 ml milk, 2 eggs, and 40 gr margarine. Bake in the oven on 190 degrees centigrade or Gas Mark 5 for 30 minutes.
Even if you have a normal diet you should try these gluten free cornbread recipes, you will find them delicious.
Gluten Free Baking
The first question is ?what is gluten? and ?What does it do for baking?. The answer is ?Everything? ? it?s what makes the bread, more so than the flour or any of the other ingredients.
Gluten free baking without thought can bring problems. Gluten is the sticky, elastic, protein element in wheat flour that reacts with the yeast or starter and gives the bread its airy, spongy consistency. The protein combines with water and forms thin strands whilst the dough is being kneaded. When the dough is left to rise, the yeast reacts with the tepid water and produces carbon dioxide ? these gas bubbles are then trapped by the protein strands and enables the dough to expand and rise. When the bread is baked, the gluten strands are solidified into place, much like the reaction of an egg when it is cooked. So, gluten is what holds the dough together when you come to knead and mould it into the shape you wish to give the finished product and you need think about this in your gluten free baking.
There are 2 kinds of wheat flour; weak and strong. Weak flour contains lower amounts of protein, hence it doesn?t rise so much. This flour is suitable for making cakes, muffins etc. Strong flour is more suitable for making breads as the protein content in these flours are higher and hence the dough can expand more. You can also control the production of protein in the dough. For example, fats (i.e. butter or oil) will shorten the protein strands and cause less expansion. This is why cake recipes call for a much higher percentage of butter or oil in the recipe. Likewise liquids (water, milk) aid the absorption and expansion of the protein strands. This is why piecrust recipes have limited amounts of liquid in them, whereas bread recipes call for more liquid.
Breads made with gluten free flours (i.e. rice, corn, soy buckwheat) do not hold together very well and could be tha Achilles heel of gluten free baking. They are dry and crumbly, don?t rise very well, don?t brown and are certainly not spongy or springy to the touch or taste. So, adjustments need to be made to gluten-free bread recipes in order to achieve the look, feel and taste of ?regular? bread. However, this does depend on the person eating it. For example, our daughter (a coeliac), who has been on a gluten-free diet since she was 15 months old, actually likes dry crumbly bread. She has never eaten any other bread and hence doesn?t miss the consistency of regular bread. However, if you are an adult when starting the gluten-free diet, then obviously you will want to adjust your gluten-free baking more to mirror what you previously enjoyed eating!
So, how can we trap those gas bubbles in the absence of the protein strands produced by gluten in gluten free baking? Whipped eggs whites, agar-agar, and xantham gum can create a matrix of trapped air in the dough which will mimic the behavior of gluten-containing dough and enable you to get back into the kitchen and enjoy the smell and taste of freshly baked goods ? gluten-free ones this time. You will need to experiment with your gluten free baking and try different ways and methods. Be prepared to fail a few times, until you find a solution that works for you. Don?t give up and Good Luck!