Category: Gluten-free

Recipe: chewy chocolate cookies (gf)

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These deliciously chewy chocolate biscuits happen to be gluten-free, and that’s why I decided to make them in the first place; for a friend who can’t have gluten, but as I suspected they were so lovely that I will keep making them for myself as well.

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Because they don’t contain gluten-free flour they’re not a regular cookie made into a gluten-free version. Instead the technique is completely different using eggs and corn flour to bind a mixture of mainly melted chocolate. Yes, they’re THAT chocolate-y!

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Gluten-free chocolate cookies with sea salt, makes 20-25

Translated from and adapted after Brinken Bakar’s recipe.

135 g caster sugar

40 g butter, softened

2 eggs

45 g corn flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

250 g dark chocolate 

120 g white chocolate, chopped

sea salt

Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan. Melt the dark chocolate in a Bain Marie and leave to cool slightly. Whip the butter with electric beaters fir approx 2 minutes, then add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs; first one, then whisk and then the other and whisk. Mix corn flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and add to the egg mixture. Add the melted chocolate. If the mixture feels too runny leave it to thicken for while. When the mixture is cool, add the white chocolate. Spoon out the mixture onto baking tray covered with parchment paper. Scatter with sea salt and bake in the oven for 8-9 minutes. Leave to cool. They are best stored in an airtight container in the fridge. 

Truffled mushroom crostini

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Twice in December I made these truffled mushroom crostinis for my friends. Above with chantarelles and chestnut mushrooms and below with only chestnut mushrooms as I was feeding lots of people and fresh chantarelles aren’t exactly cheap. What’s great about the recipe is that it can feed anyone. It’s vegan and works for people sensitive to dairy, and if you make glutenfree crostinis this works for coeliacs as well.

When using the chantarelle mushrooms I added a bit of cream for added creaminess, so feel free to do that if you like, but plenty of oil (or use butter) is enough moisture for me.

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Truffled mushroom crostini (vegan), makes quite a few

1 large baguette

mild olive oil

400 g mixed mushrooms

oil for frying

1 garlic clove, pressed

2 tbsp porcini mushroom and truffle paste (I used this one)

salt, black pepper

chopped parsley for serving

Slice the baguette, place the slices on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in 180C oven until golden brown and crisp, about 10 minutes. Leave to cool. 

Slice the mushrooms. Fry until golden in oil on medium heat (preferably in batches). Add the garlic and fry for another minute or so. Add the truffle paste, salt and pepper. Divide between the crostini and topped with chopped parsley. 

Chocolate truffle cake

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Before flying off to meet my fellow food bloggers I baked the monthly cakes for the office. And among them was this dense super chocolatey cake. It is flourless and baked in a bain marie which makes it light and dense in texture at the same time. It is a must for all chocoholics and best enjoyed with some lightly whipped cream.

I found the recipe on a Swedish food blog where the blogger writes in English, so do check it out; Anne’s food.

Chocolate Truffle Cake
From the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum via Anne’s Food.

450 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
225 g unsalted butter
6 large eggs 
40-50 g sugar
butter for the baking tray

Grease and line a round baking tin, around 22 cm in diameter. Wrap the tray with double layers of tin foil as it will be standing in a bain marie.

Preheat the oven to 220°C, and bring 2 litres of water to the boil.

Melt the chocolate and the butter together and stir to blend. Crack the eggs into a bowl that will fit onto a small saucepan, and add the sugar. Pour water into the small saucepan, and place on medium heat and top with the bowl. Beat the eggs with an electric whisk while heating until they are slightly warm to the touch. Remove from heat and beat very vigorously for at least five minutes – the egg mixture should become very pale and fluffy.

Mix the eggs and the chocolate mixture carefully, until you see no more streaks. Pour into the baking tin. Place the tin in a large baking tray and pour the hot water into the sheet so it reaches about half way up the sides of the cake tin. 

Bake for five minutes. Cover the tin with tin foil and bake for ten more minutes. 

Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for 45 minutes. Wrap in plastic and place in fridge for at least three hours or overnight, until the cake is very firm. 

Take it out of the fridge, and loosen the cake from the pan with the back of a knife. Remove the sides of the tin and invert the cake onto a plate, and gently remove the bottom of the pan and the parchment paper. Invert back onto the plate you want to serve it on. 


Almond meringue tart with custard

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The next cake for work have also featured on the blog before, but it was a while ago, so I think it is fair to let it into the limelight once again.

The recipe for this cake is from one of my mother’s many cookbooks and is courtesy of the chefs at Svaneholms Slott in Sweden once upon a time (it is an old book) but the nice thing is that this hotel is in an old castle just 15 minutes from where my parents live.

My colleague Michael loved this cake so much that he asked for the recipe straight away, and I do agree with him – it is a wonderful cake.

It works just as well to end a dinner party as to serve with tea or coffee on a Sunday aftrenoon. The texture is creamy and chewy at the same time and the flavours are really nice. Also it is very simple to make, but it might not look it.

The original recipe calls for flaked almonds to top but I, however think it looks nicer with some fresh raspberries.

Almond meringue tart with custard (gluten free), 8 portioner

150 g ground almonds

5 eggwhites

200 g icing sugar

Beat the eggwhites until stiff peaks. Fold in the icing sugar followed by the ground almonds. Pour into a buttered dish and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes in 175C.

Custard:

3 egg yolks

200 ml double cream

150 ml caster sugar

1,5 tbsp butter

Add the ingredients to a saucepan. Let it all melt while stirring and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Leave to coll and pour onto the meringue base. Leave to cool a little and decorate with raspberries or flaked almonds.

Glutenfree chocolate cake with dulche de leche and chocolate frosting

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On Saturday we were invited to Christopher’s school friend Ben for dinner to casually celebrate his birthday. Ben has coeliac disease and since I can sympathise with that (tried the diet for for three months because my doctor suspected I would become coeliac too, which I didn’t) I always try to bake something for him to take home if he is coming around for dinner. And this is the second year in a row I’ve made him a birthday cake.

Although glutenfree the cake is moist and lovely, and so delicious with the dulche de leche and chocolate frosting. The recipe for the frosting is courtesy of the Hummingbird Bakery, and fabulous. The cake was large, and we were eight people sharing it, although most people helped themselves to a second serving, but I think with a more modest crowd the cake would serve 10-12 people. There was one small piece left and I suspect Ben ate it for breakfast the next day.

Glutenfree chocolate cake with dulche de leche and chocolate frosting, serves 10-12

For two cakes :

600 ml caster sugar

500 ml glutenfree flour (I used one from Doves Farm, which is a mixture of rice, potato, tapioca, maize and buckwheat) 

6 tbsp cocoa

4 tsp vanilla sugar

4 tsp baking powder

200 g melted butter

4 eggs

300 ml boiling water

Dulche de leche:

1 jar sweetened concensed milk

Chocolate frosting:

300 g icing sugar

100 g softened butter

40 g cocoa

40 ml whole milk

Remove any labels from the condensed milk tin. Place in a pan and cover with boiling water. Let it boil for 2 1/2 hours, covered with water the whole time, just top up with some from the kettle.  Remove the tin and leave to cool. 

Mix the dry ingredients for the cake. Add eggs, butter and water. Incorporate. Pour into two buttered and floured tins (Ø ca 23 cm). Bake in a low oven, 175 C for 45 mins. Leave to cool.

Mix butter, cocao and icing suger in a Kitchen Aid or with an electric whisk. Add the milk spoonful by spoonful. When it is all incorporated, beat on high speed for 5 mins.

Spread the cooled dulche de leche onto one of the sponges. Spread out half (or a little less than half) of the frosting on top of the dulche de leche. Place the second sponge on top and spread the rest of the frosting on top. (Cover the sides as well if you’d like). Decorate with chocolate strands.

Almond meringue tarte

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I found this recipe in a cookbook from the 70s among my mother’s cookbooks, and the recipe is from a restaurant only 15 minutes drive from where my parents live. They mostly do weddings and other functions there now, but the 70s was it’s hay day.

This is a truly delicious dessert. It is subtle but lovely in it’s flavour and just the perfect ending to any meal. All it needs is a little bit of lightly whipped cream on the side.

In the original recipe there should be flaked almonds on top, an although I love almonds I don’t like the flakes. They usually go soft when in contact with a creamy sauce, so I thought it was best to leave them out, but do use them if you prefer.

Almond meringue tarte (gluten free), serves 8

150 g ground almonds

5 egg whites

200 g icing sugar

(100 ml roasted flaked almonds)

Beat the egg whites to a hard foam. Fold in the icing sugar and then incorporate the ground almonds. Pour into a buttered dish and bake in 175-200C until golden.

The sauce:

3 egg yolks

200 ml double cream

150 ml caster sugar

1,5 tbsp butter

Whisk together the ingredients in a heavy sauce pan. Let simmer for 5 minutes to thicken. Leave to cool a little. Pour over the meringue and sprinkle the almond flakes on top. Serve with some lightly whipped cream.

Hazelnut meringue cake

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At first I was going to make a Swedish version of Blackforest gateau, but of course I ended up improvising, so this is a slightly different version, although really nice. It is also gluten-free, which is great when friends have coeliac disease.

It is quite funny that the Swedish version of a Blackforest gateau has a hazelnut meringue base and lots of cream, but the English version is made with a chocolate sponge. I googled it in German (Schwarzwälder torte) and the result was a cake that looks like it is in between the English and Swedish. I guess it was interpreted differently in different parts of Europe…

Hazelnut meringue cake, serves 10

300 ml hazelnuts

400 ml icing sugar

3 egg whites

75 g dark chocolate

100 ml thick custard

500 ml whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla sugar

4 tbsp cocao

Grind the nuts and mix them with the icing sugar. Beat the egg whites really stiff, fold the nuts into the meringue. Try to incorporate these carefully. Smear the meringue onto parchment paper in two 20 cm rounds. Bake in 150C for 15-20 minutes. Take the baking trays out and use a sharp knife to loosen the bases from the paper. Leave them on there to cool. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water and brush it evenly onto the two meringues. Leave to dry.

Beat the cream with the vanilla sugar and divide into two bowls. Add the custard and cocoa in one and mix. Place one meringue base on a cake plate, spread half of the cocoa cream onto it and spread half of the cream on top of that. Add the other base and spread the remaining cocoa cream on top. Pipe the remaining cream into a pattern of your choice. Grate some chocolate over the cake.

Quinoa crunch

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This is a slightly healthier cookie as it doesn’t contain wheat, quinoa also has a low GI (glycemic index). I was inspired by this recipe to make these.

Quinoa crunch, about 20 squares

50 grams butter

50 ml golden syryp

1/2 tsp vanilla sugar

150 ml quinoa puffs

Melt the butter, add the syrup and sugar and let it dissolve. Mix with the quinoa and spread out on a baking paper with a spatula. Form to one big thin oval cookie, make sure there are no holes in it. Bake in 175 centigrade oven for 12 minutes, leave to cool. When cool, cut into squares or break it up. Serve in an airtight container.

These can be enjoyed as any other cookie, or as a healthier option when the sugar cravings set in. Also suitable for people with celiac disease.