Mia's Lactose Free Kitchen

Peanut Honeycomb Chocolate Pieces

2015-12-30T20:53:00.001+00:00

This is a bit of a re-post from last year, because I have decided to make a video on how to make these, as some might find the honeycomb part a bit difficult, by just following a written recipe. Though once you have make honeycomb a few times, it is one of the most easiest things to make.

Click link to watch the video. https://youtu.be/UGhr6pb819c

These little chocolate peanut honeycomb pieces are a massive hit every time I make them. Have even had people who are not normally fans of chocolate, ask for the recipe, now that is saying something! I think it is the magical combination of salty peanuts and the crunchy sweet caramely honeycomb in the chocolate truffle coating, that makes this a winner.

Honeycomb:

150g Sugar

150g Golden Syrup

3/4 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

Prepare a baking tray with baking paper (There is no baking involved, this is for the honeycomb to set on.)

Simply mix the sugar and syrup in a medium size pan and let it heat up to a boil on medium heat. Let it bubble away until the edges of the sugar start to get a darker colour about 3-4 minutes.

Now here is the tricky part, you take it off the heat, then quickly stir in the bicarbonate of soda, you don’t want to stir to much, but you also want it distributed all throughout the hot sugar. Then just scrape it out onto the baking tray, but DON’T try and spread it out, just leave it alone to set. Don’t worry if it looks really big, it will collapse a little.

Let it cool down completely before chopping it up.

Chocolate peanut honeycomb pieces:

200g of the honeycomb, chopped into small pieces, about the same size as the peanuts.

300g salted peanuts (normal size, not jumbo).

400g dark dairy free chocolate

100g golden syrup

50g butter (lactose free) OR coconut oil or butter, if you are making this vegan.

Line a square baking tin about 20x20 cm, with baking paper.

Mix the chopped honeycomb and peanuts in a bowl.

Melt the chocolate, syrup and butter in a small pan over low heat while stirring, until it is all melted together.

Then just pour the chocolate mixture over the peanuts and honeycomb and stir until it is all coated.

Pour it into the lined baking tin and using the back of the spoon, pat down the mixture as much as possible.

Place the baking tin in the fridge to set for a few hours or over night.

Once set, remove from tray onto a cutting board and using a large sharp knife, cut into bite size squares. Place the squares in a container and keep in the fridge until serving.

Mia

Leftover Duck Peking Style

2015-12-23T19:22:00.000+00:00

So in Denmark most people have duck or pork roast for Christmas dinner, in our house it is roasted duck. But what I look forward to just as much as the Christmas dinner, is the next day where my husband makes peking duck style with the leftover duck, including homemade sauce and pancakes.

This truly is a spectacular meal and is worth making even if it isn’t because you have leftover duck, it is worth making duck for.

1/2 duck shredded (heated)

1/2 a cucumber, with the centre removed and cut into long thin pieces.

4-5 spring onions, cut into long thin pieces.

Hoisin sauce:

4 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon maple syrup (or dark brown sugar)

2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

1 clove of garlic, finely grated.

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seed oil

1 teaspoon hot sauce or a pinch of chill flakes

Just whack it all in a blender and blend it all together. Put in the fridge and let it rest for about an hour.

Pancakes:

125g plain white spelt flour (or regular flour if that is what you have)

375ml lactose free milk

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seen oil

Whisk the oil into the flour, then slowly add the milk while whisking, to avoid lumps.

Heat up a small non-stick pan on medium heat.

add a tiny amount of regular oil on the pan for the first pancake and again if the pancakes start to stick.

Then just make all the pancakes like you would normal creep style pancakes. They are a bit thinner and a bit more fragile, so just be careful with the first flip.

Then all that need to be done is plate everything on and assemble by adding a little duck, a few cucumbers and spring onions, then drizzle on a bit of sauce, roll up and eat……. and then just repeat.

Note: The sauce is also good as an asian style salad dressing.

Enjoy

The Vegan Kind Christmas Selection Box.

2015-12-13T16:48:00.001+00:00

Now I am not a vegan, but since I am lactose intolerant and vegan chocolate essentially is dairy free chocolate, I immediately ordered one of these for my self to indulge in around christmas, when I saw Gemma from the blog www.hellogemma.com talk about The Vegan Kind’s Christmas Selection Box on Twitter.

I had been buying so many different christmas chocolates for my husband, friends and visitors, that I was literally considering taking the consequence and eating some as the temptations was just starting to become to great. I just wanted chocolate that was like the christmas chocolate I was buying for others. So this box made me so Happy!

Now I haven’t tasted them, except having a piece of the Vego mini bar, which was like a hazelnut/nutella/chocolate bar all wrapped into one, pure heaven! But I sort of wanted to get this post up as soon as possible, if you where looking for some dairy free chocolate for christmas.

The selection box is now out of stock at vegan kind, but I am sure you will be able to find some of these chocolates on other websites or some health food shops.

The box contained:

1 x Vego Mini Bar

1 x Ichoc Choco Cookie Bar

1 x Sarelle Bar

1 x Almighty Foods Mindful Mylk Bar

1 x Vivani Mini White Chocolate Nougat Crisp Bar

The box was £11 including shipping, so a really good deal I think and a great way to try new chocolates you might not have known was dairy free.

Watch Gemmas youtube video on the box Here, for a better review on the products, from someone who has actually tasted all the bars.

For more information on The Vegan Kind monthly subscription boxes, visit www.thevegankind.com

Hotel Chocolat Dark Advent Calendar

2015-12-03T14:41:00.001+00:00

This year I was determined to get me and my husband a great chocolate advent calendar. But since I am lactose intolerant and I don’t like a lot of the milk free “milk” chocolate once that are out there, I decided to go hunting for a great dark chocolate advent calendar.

I only seemed to be able to find two that was dark chocolate and dairy free this year.

First one is the Montezumas dark chocolate advent calendar that is vegan and 73% cocoa.

£9.99. www.montezumas.co.uk

and the other is Hotel Chocolat dark chocolate advent calendar that is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

£12.50 www.hotelchocolat.com

I ended up choosing the one from Hotel Chocolat as I was getting the Truffles for Two as a present and decided to get the dark for me and the milk version for my husband.

And this was definitely a great choice, as the chocolate is not overly bitter and the consistency is smooth and simply melts in your mouth.

My husband also loves his milk version, not to sugary and has a proper cocoa taste.

So if you haven’t got a chocolate advent calendar this year or are already thinking of which one to get of next year, this is definitely one to consider.

Super quick portion sized spelt pizzas

2015-07-06T17:39:00.001+01:00

These little super quick portion sized pizzas, came about after a looong day in London and having no energy start doing a big meal.

I was craving pizza, but since I can’t order pizza and making pizza dough takes a long time, I had an idea to combine some flat bread, we had made a few days earlier, with pizza topping and these little things was the end result.

They are sort of like a mix between a deep pan and thin crust pizza and because you bake the base on a pan first, you get a bit of a wood oven taste on the crust as well.

These are great for a quick meal, for a pizza party or to make with children.

You can even freeze leftover flat-breads for a lazy day. Just let them thaw in the time it takes heat up the oven.

The flat-bread base:

200g Spelt flour ( I use a mix of wholemeal and white)

200g plain lactose free yoghurt (I get mine from Whole foods)

2.5 teaspoon baking powder

Big pinch of salt.

Topping:

150ml Tomato passata

Salt

Dried chili flakes (optional)

Dried oregano (optional)

Grated lactose free cheese

And meat/vegetable topping of choice. I just added some chopped olives and a few fresh basil leaves at the end.

Preheat the oven to 200C

Mix tomato passata, salt, chili and oregano together. Set aside.

For the flat-bread, simply just mix all the ingredients together with a spoon. When incorporated, turn out on a flour dusted work surface and knead for a minute or two, just to bring it all together.

Divide the dough into four pieces. Either roll out the pieces with a rolling pin or just press and stretch it out thinly with your fingers on the work surface.

Heat up the pan to medium-high heat. Place the bread one at a time on the hot dry pan and flip over once it starts to brown, 1-2 minutes. Then just let the other side brown.

Transferre to a baking sheet.

Once all four flat-breads are done, simply spread out the tomato sauce and add the topping and grated cheese.

Bake in the oven until the cheese melts, about 10 minutes.

Super easy, super quick

Enjoy.

Brown Rice Risotto

2015-05-09T14:50:00.000+01:00

On windy and rainy days like we have just had a few of, I automatically start to crave comfort food. The only problem is that most comfort foods are not always the most healthiest of choices and often high in fat and carbohydrates and lacking vegetables. That is why I have tried to healthify some comfort food recipes, like my risotto recipe. It is bulged out with vegetables and made with brown rice.

Using brown risotto rice actually makes risotto making a lot easier. They do take a little bit longer to cook and there is the downside that you need to remember to soak the rice over night, but besides that, the rice pretty much cook them self, no need to add the stock a little at a time and the constant stirring like with a white rice risotto, which can be a bit tricky.

Serves 3-4 people

250g brown risotto rice ( I use )

750ml stock of choice

1 squash

300g mushrooms ( I used a mix of shiitake, button and 10g dried porcini soaked before use)

Oil for frying.

handful of grated Lactofree cheddar (optional)

salt to taste

Soak the risotto rice in water over night.

When ready to cook, drain and add the stock. Bring to a boil, then cover with lid and bring down the heat to a simmer. Stir about every 10 minutes.

Grate the squash and chop the mushrooms (I like to do a mixture of finely and roughly chopped, to give different textures.)

Add some oil to a pan and sauté the squash and mushrooms. You might need to sauté them in batches.

After the risotto have been cooked for 30 minutes, add the vegetables and let it cook for another 15-20 minutes. If to thick add a bit more water and if too thin, cook for a bit longer. risotto should be a bit runny but not watery in consistency.

Stir in the cheese and add salt if needed.

Enjoy,

Mia

Kransekake Bites.

2015-01-12T12:42:00.000+00:00

In Denmark kransekake (kransekage) is a must at new years. The tradition is that when the clock strikes twelve, we celebrate with champagne and kransekake.
But the danish recipe for kransekake normally involves marzipan as an ingredient, but danish marzipan is a lot less sweet and has more almond flavour, so using english marzipan don’t really give the same result unfortunately.
That is why I have come up with this recipe instead, which is super easy to make and the size makes them a great party treat or great to pack up as a host gift.

Ingredients:
200g ground almonds
2 egg whites
200g icing sugar
1 tsb almond extract (from bitter almond)
50g almond flakes
100g dark chocolate

Simply whisk the ground almonds, egg whites, and icing sugar together until well combined. Then whisk in the almond extract.
Scrape down the bowl and cover with cling film. Let it rest for one-two hours on a kitchen counter or overnight in the fridge.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper and preheat the oven to 200C.

Using a teaspoon, take scoops of dough, about the size of a small walnut and roll them into balls. Place on the baking sheet, with a bit of space between them, as they will expand a bit.
Gently press in the almond flakes on top, which also makes them a bit flatter, not to much though.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until the almond flakes start to brown and the cakes have gotten a slight golden colour on the sides.

Let them cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet, then transfer the baking paper and cakes unto a work surface or cooling rack and let them cool completely.
Melt the chocolate and dip the bottom of the cakes into it one at a time, then place it back on the baking paper for the chocolate to harden.

Enjoy and hope you had a lovely New Year.

Homemade Mulled Extract

2014-12-21T18:39:00.000+00:00

To me mulled wine or mulled cider is the perfect thing on a cold winters day. I often bring it with me in a thermos when we go for a winter walk, in Richmond park on weekends or make at home after a cold walk to warm up on.

But lets be honest, mulled wine or cider definitely taste best if it is made from scratch, but it is also a bit time consuming and if you just want to jump strait under a warm blanket with a mulled drink in hand to warm up, you just can’t be bothered with the time it takes to make it from scratch. But that is where homemade mulled extract comes in handy, as it only takes minutes to make, with the same great taste.

Not only is it essentially the same as making it from scratch, but you are not loosing as much of the alcohol (though you are watering it down a bit) as you just have to heat the mulled extract and wine or cider up very gently.

If you only making one glass or if one person want mulled wine and the other mulled cider, this also solves that, as this makes single serving very easy. Simply mix 1 part mulled extract with 3 part red wine, white wine, cider or apple juice (if you want to make an alcohol free version) and heat up gently.

This will also make a great present or host gift for someone, simply tie a tag on the bottle with a nice ribbon and write Christmas Mulled Extract on one side of the tag and instructions on the other. “ To make: add 1 part mulled extract to 3 part red wine, white wine, cider or apple juice. Gently heat up and enjoy”

Ingredients:

1 organic orange

5 star anise

2-4 cinnamon sticks (depending on how big they are)

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1 tablespoon whole cardamom

1 tablespoon whole allspice

6 tablespoons maple syrup or sugar

600ml water.

Wash and cut the orange into eight pieces and add to a medium size pan, along with the other ingredients and place a lid on top.

Bring to a simmer and let it simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

Take the pan of the heat and let it cool. once cooled, place in fridge for 2-12 hours, depending on how long you have.

Strain, pour into a bottle with a cap and store in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

Spiced Sweet Potato Breakfast Bread

2014-12-21T18:32:00.001+00:00

Back in October I did a post on 3 Pumpkin recipes in one go, where I made a spiced pumpkin bread, but since it isn’t really pumpkin season any more, I have changed up the recipe a little.

This bread has now become a stable in our freezer and I have it most mornings for breakfast, filling the house with a christmasy aroma when toasting. You sort of feel like you are eating cake for breakfast, even though this is nothing but healthy for you, a great start to a Christmas morning!

We actually had visitors stay for a week and they kept asking for that bread every morning, despite having a lot of breakfast options and even asked for the recipe, so I suppose it is a bit of a hit recipe.

This bread is dairy free, wheat free and high in fibre. Sweet potatoes are also high in vitamin A and Flaxseed is a good source of Omega 3. Plus, because the sweet potatoes are sweet in taste and because of the dates, there is no added sugars.

It is really really easy to make, the only thing that is a bit time consuming, is potentially the sweet potato pure. What I normally do is, when using the oven for dinner anyway, I just bake the sweet potatoes at the same time, pure them and place it in the fridge in an airtight container for baking the bread the next day.

Ingredients:

400ml Sweet potato pure (from about 750g of raw sweet potatoes)

150 plain tasting oil, like light olive oil.

2 eggs

150ml water

150ml orange or lemon juice

250g white spelt flour (click here to read more about why I use spelt flour)

150g wholemeal spelt flour

6 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds

150g oats

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground allspice

4 teaspoons cinnamon

100g dates pitted and roughly chopped

100g pecans or walnuts roughly chopped

Simply place the sweet potatoes in a 200C oven, with the skin on, but pierce a few times with a fork or knife and bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on size. Leave to cool, until they are not to hot to handle. Peal of the skin and blend to a pure.

Preheat oven to 175C and line a 2 litre size bread loaf tin with baking paper.

Simply whisk all the wet ingredients together (except the orange/lemon juice) and mix all the dry ingredients, plus the dates and nuts in another bowl. Then simply stir in the wet ingredients into the dry, using a big string spoon and stir until well combined.

Then just before poring into the bread tin, add the orange/lemon juice to the batter an fold it in. This activates the bicarbonate of soda, so you want to do this just before baking, so you don’t lose any air bobbles.

Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Let the bread cool in the tin, then slice and serve or freeze.

Note: When toasting a slice from the freezer (this obviously depends on what you use to toast with), but I normally toast for a few minutes, then leave it for about 5-10 minutes and then toast again for a few minutes. let it cool a little and then add your favourite spread.

Doing the Spelt thing!

2014-12-13T21:19:00.000+00:00

For the last 6 months or so, I have been doing the spelt thing. Meaning that I have switched all my wheat products for spelt products.

So why have I done that? Well I have known for over six years that I was lactose intolerant and since then my stomach has been a lot better and I don’t really suffer from daily stomach pains anymore. But I had notice that if I had pasta for dinner, that I would get heartburn later on and if I had pasta two days in a row or to much bread, my stomach would knot up and feel bloated.

So I remember talking to someone many many years ago, about spelt and thought I would give that ago to see if that would make a difference, as I am not super keen on gluten free substitutes.

Now spelt is a grain just like wheat and isn’t gluten free, but it is an older more unspoiled variety of grain, are higher in protein and some vitamins, and a lot of people find it easier to digest than wheat.

First off I won’t be going back to wheat, I love the changes I have felt and I personally love the taste of spelt so much more than wheat.

I do still eat wheat based products when out and about, which is fine because it is only once in a while, but when at home I now only use spelt.

For the easiness of switching, well there hasn’t really been any difference, because spelt is a grain, it is just like using wheat flour or cooking wheat pasta.

The only thing you might find is that dough kneading time is a bit different and pasta cooking time is a bit shorter, but other than that, no real difference.

I get my 100% pasta and pearled spelt from whole food shops

For flour I get mine at Waitrose (www.sharphampark.com) or Sainsburys (www.dovesfarm.co.uk)

And 100% spelt bread I get from www.breadshop.co.uk, which I slice up and freeze, then taking out slices and toasting when needed.

Have you tried Spelt before?

Mia

Three Pumpkin Recipes in One Go.

2014-11-01T10:35:00.000+00:00

So despite October and Halloween coming to an end, it is still autumn and it is still pumpkin season, actually you might be able to get a great deal on some edible pumpkins now that Halloween is over.

Here are my favourite recipes with pumping, healthy spiced pumpkin breakfast bread, pumpkin soup and roasted pumpkin seeds.

These three recipes are all really easy to make and with a bit of planning, you are pretty much able to make all three in the time it would take to make one recipe.

All the recipes start of with peeling the pumpkins, cutting them in half to remove seeds and pulp and then cutting into smaller pieces to roast. Simply add a bit of flavourless oil of choice and roast in a big roasting pan at 220C for about 30-40 minutes, until they start to brown at the edges.

First thing to make out of the roasted pumpkin (see recipe down below) is the healthy spiced pumpkin breakfast bread, that is full of healthy ingredients, but makes your whole house smell of autumn cake. I usually slice it, add some cut out baking paper between the slices and freeze it in an air tight container. Then just take out a slice or two in the morning and toast. It is a great start to a cold and dark morning as it will fill you house with amazing autumn aromas to start the day.

It isn’t a sweet cakey bread, it is actually on the savoury side, so best buttered or with some jam or nut butter.

Healthy Spiced Pumpkin Breakfast bread ingredients:

200ml pumpkin pure

75ml plain tasting oil, like light olive oil, rapeseed oil, vegetable oil or groundnut oil

2 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey.

1 egg

150ml orange juice

125g white spelt flour (I use www.sharphampark.com)

75g wholemeal spelt flour (I use www.sharphampark.com)

3 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds

75g of whole oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (1/4 if it is freshly grated)

1/2 teaspoon allspice

2 teaspoon cinnamon

50g of dates (or raisins)

50g pecan nuts

This soup actually came about because of leftover roasted pumpkin and the rest of the ingredients was what I had in the fridge at the time. It is very rich in flavour and a great autumn soup.

Because it varies how much roasted pumpkin you have left after the pumpkin bread, I have made this recipe into what is needed for 100g of roasted pumpkin, so if you have 500g of roasted pumpkin left, you just multiple the rest of the recipe times 5. So 500g roasted pumpkin, 50g onion, 2.5 clove of garlic, 1.25 inch of rosemary and so on. but having said that, if you have a bit more onion left over or don’t want so much garlic, just round up or down.

(see recipe down below)

Pumpkin Soup ingredients:

100g roasted pumpkin

10g onion

1/2 garlic clove

1/4 inch rosemary twick

150ml stock ( I used chicken )

1/2-1 teaspoon brandy (can be left out, though it gives a really good taste and there is no alcohol left).

salt to taste

oil for frying

Now if I was ever to make anything with pumpkin and not make roasted pumpkin seeds, I would have an upset husband, he is literally eats them up in 2 seconds after they have cooled. I am not a big fan my self, find them a bit to chewy, but if you do like them, they are a great source of Zink. (see recipe down below these ingredients).

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds ingredients:

Rinsed pumpkin seeds

500ml water

2 teaspoons salt

splash of olive oil.

So these recipes all start off with preparing the pumpkin like described earlier.

While the pumpkin is being roasted remove the pumpkin seed from the pumpkin flesh and rinse them in a bowl of cold water and make sure no flesh is left on them. Then transfer the seeds to a small sauce pan with the 500ml water and salt. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Drain, add a small splash of olive oil and spread out on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, ready to go in the oven when the pumpkin is done.

Next mix all the dry ingredients to the pumpkin bread in a large mixing bowl and all the wet ingredients in a small bowl, except the orange juice and also hold back the pecan nuts and dates.

Once the pumpkin is out of the oven, turn the oven down to 175C, then put in the pecan nut on a small roasting tray and roast for about 10 minutes (be careful not to burn).

Once the pecan nuts are out put in the pumpkin seeds and roast for about 15-20 minutes, when you hear one of two of them pop, they are ready. Let them cool and enjoy. One recipe done!

Wait until the pumpkin and pecans have cooled before finishing the pumpkin bread recipe. Then blend up about two big cups full off the pumpkin to a pure and chop the pecans and dates roughly.

Add 200ml of the pumpkin pure to the wet mixture and the dates and pecan nuts to the dry.

Then just mix in the wet mixture into the dry using a spoon and mix until combined. Last just stir in the orange juice to the batter (this will activate the soda) and transfer the batter into a small loaf tin lined with baking paper. Bake at 175C for about an hour. Cool and enjoy with your favourite spread. Second recipe done!

While the pumpkin bread is in the oven, weigh the left over roasted pumpkin (and pure if there is any left over) then calculate out what you need of the rest of the ingredients.

Cut up the onion and garlic into large pieces. Heat up a big pan with a bit of oil and soften the onion and garlic. Add the rosemary and brandy, letting the alcohol cook away. Then just add the pumpkin and stock and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, then blend and serve. Third recipe done!

Hope you enjoy these three recipes in the time of one and you will leave a comment down below if you make them.

Mia

Dairy free chocolate easter treats

2014-04-19T14:35:00.002+01:00

Ingredients:
200g dark dairy free chocolate of choice
25g coconut oil
2 tablespoons of sweet freedom or agave
pinch of salt
100g almonds
100g raisins

Lightly roast the almonds in the oven for about 5-8 minutes, until they get a more golden colour inside the almond when cutting it in half. Set aside to cool, then chop roughly.

Melt chocolate, coconut oil, sweet freedom or agave, and salt on a low heat while stirring. Once all melted and incorporated, turn the almonds and raisins into the chocolate mixture.

Spread into a small dish or baking pan lined with baking paper. Refrigerate for a few hours or over night, then cut into bite size pieces.

Keep refrigerated until serving.

Enjoy

A different take on a victoria sponge cake

2014-03-21T19:39:00.002+00:00

I came up with this recipe for mothers day, for any mother who might be struggling with some food intolerance's.
It is super easy to make and will make any mothers Mother's Day extra special I think.

Ingredients:
300g fine spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
200ml unsweetend apple sauce (click here on how to make yourself)
100ml flavourless oil (light olive oil, vegetable oil, groundnut oil)
150ml agave or sweet freedom
4 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla paste

Strawberry jam with no added sugar (I use St.Dalfour, click here for more info)

Fresh strawberries

125ml lactose free whipping cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla paste

Preheat oven to 175C. Line cake tins with baking paper.

Separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until white and fluffy, and holding their shape.
Sift all flour, baking powder and salt in a big string bowl.
Whisk together, egg yolks, apple sauce, agave or sweet freedom and vanilla paste together in a different bowl.
Then slowly pour into the flour mixture while string together, until everything is incorporated.
Slowly turn in the stiff egg whites 1/3 at a time, being careful not to beat out the air.
Divide into the two cake tins and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
Leave to cool on a cake rack. Cakes will deflate a level out while cooling, so don't be afraid if this happens, it is quite normal.

Once cakes have cooled and you are ready to serve, whisk whipping cream and vanilla paste until wanted thickness.
Then layer a layer of strawberry jam, cut strawberries and whipping cream on one cake layer and place the other cake layer on top.

p.s. Can be made completely dairy free by substituting the whip cream with vanilla coconut yoghurt (click here for more information) or skimming a can of coconut milk (click here to see how) and whisking in some vanilla paste and a bit of sweet freedom to taste.

Enjoy.

Dairy free small lemon drizzle cakes

2014-03-18T12:25:00.003+00:00

I made a big batch of apple sauce from some apples that wasn't as crisp as I had expected when buying them. So instead of letting them go to waist, I just peeled, cored and cut up into smaller pieces. Put in a pot with a bit of apple juice, just so they don't stick and burn at the bottom of the pan, covered with a lit and cook for 20-30 minutes or until they go mushy. Cool and then just blend until smooth. Store in the fridge for a couple of days or portion it up and freeze, then just take out a couple of hours before use.

So because I had this apple sauce in my freezer, I decided to make some small lemon drizzle cakes, to bring to a friends house.
Besides being a good way to use up apples, they are also processed sugar and dairy free, and super easy to make.

Makes 12

Ingredients:
250g plain flour (I used fine spelt flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
200ml apple sauce
150ml flavourless oil, like light olive oil, groundnut oil or vegetable oil
100ml agave or sweet freedom
2 eggs
zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon vanilla past
50ml of lemon juice

For lemon syrup:
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
5 tablespoons of agave or sweet freedom

Preheat oven to 175C
Line a cupcake tray with cupcake papers.

Mix flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a big bowl. Then whisk applesauce, oil, agave, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla past, until it is mixed well.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry slowly, while stirring it together, until it is all incorporated into a smooth batter. As a last step, when everything is ready and the oven it hot, is to stir in the lemon juice. This will activate the bicarbonate of soda in the batter and make it start to bubble, so immediately after, divide the batter in the cupcake cases and bake.
Bake for about 15-17 minutes or when turning golden on top.

While the cakes are baking, make the lemon syrup, by stirring together the lemon juice and agave in a small pan, then bring it to a boil over medium heat, letting it boil for about 3-5 minutes. Set aside to cool a bit.

When the cakes have been taken out of the oven and cooled for about 5 minutes, spoon on the syrup on top of the cake a little at a time, spreading it with the back of the spoon to cover the whole surface.

Then leave them to absorb the syrup and cool a bit more before eating.

Spelt pancakes (creps) for pancake day

2014-03-01T09:53:00.003+00:00

So pancake day is only a few days away, so I thought I would share with you my spelt pancake recipe. For anyone who doesn't know what spelt is, is a different grain than wheat, but in the same family. It is an older type of grain, that has a bit more of a nutty undertone and some people find it easier to digest than wheat flour.
These thin and delicious beauties are so yummy and not really that bad for you with the right filling.
For this pancake day, I have filled mine with sliced bananas and a little of my white sugar free chocolate syrup, click Here to see recipe.

Makes about 8-9 pancakes

Ingredients:
120g fine-ish spelt flour
2 eggs
300ml Lactofree milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
2 tablespoon of Lactofree butter, plus more for frying.

Whisk flour, eggs and a little of the milk until completely smooth and lump free. Then add the rest of the milk and cinnamon and whisk well.
In the pan over low heat, melt the butter, then slowly add to the pancake dough while mixing. With the leftover butter having greased you pan, put the heat up to medium heat. When the pan is hot enough, Add 2-3 tablespoons batter (depending on the size of the pan) and swirl to completely cover bottom of the pan. Cook until underside of pancake is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip pancake and cook for about a minute or two more on the other side.
When all the pancakes have cooked, fill with some sliced up bananas and a tiny bit of chocolate syrup.

Happy Pancake day

Danish Fastelavn buns (custard filled buns)

2014-02-25T12:13:00.003+00:00

Being Danish living in the UK, I am actually quite lucky that I get more holidays to celebrate as Denmark and the UK don't have all the same holidays, but I quite often forget. For instance in Denmark we have a day where we eat duck/goose, called Saint Mortens eve and a day where we eat a bun/roll called a Hvede, called big Hvede day.
Where as here in England there is pancake day, St. George day and Halloween.
The Danes have however started taking on Halloween, though it wasn't around when I was young. We do have another very old traditional holiday where kids dress up, called Fastelavn, normally celebrated around February. Going back to the origin of this holiday, it was to celebrate the beginning of the fast, that would then end with easter celebrations.

It is very much like the Halloween, in that kids dress up and go door to door singing a song saying, if they don't get buns, they will make trouble, where then people will give them money (not buns like in the old days).

But the buns are still a very big part of fastelavn, called fastelavns boller (fastelavns buns). Now I can't actually remember ever making these myself and we haven' t had any for the six years we have lived in England now, so thought it was about time that I started taking up this tradition again.

For the buns:
275g flour
75g Lactofree butter
25g fresh yeast (I get mine by asking the bakery department in my Sainsburys and they will sell me some of theirs)
100ml Lactofree whole milk
1 egg
pinch of salt
15g sugar

For the custard filling:
2 egg yokes
200ml Lactofree whole milk
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste

For frosting:
100g icing sugar
2 tablespoons pure cocoa powder
about 1 tablespoon of water

You want to make the custard filling first, you can even make it the day before if that works better for you, as you want the custard filling to have completely cooled and set before assembling (I was a bit short for time when I made them, so that is why mine is a bit runny on the pictures, as it hadn't cooled completely).

Whisk together egg yolks and sugar well, in a pan off the heat. Then add the milk, corn starch and vanilla. Whisk until it is all incorporated and the corn starch has completely dissolved. Then place the pan over low to medium heat and bring to a boil, while constantly whisking.
Transferre the custard to a bowl, cover and place in the fridge.
Tip is to cover with cling film, but press the cling film down on top of the custard, so no air is between the custard and the cling film. This way you the custard won't get a layer of skin on top.

For the buns, you want to heat up the milk just a little, just above room temperature. Then transferee to a bowl and crumble in the yeast, stir until completely dissolved.
Stir in butter, egg, salt and sugar. Then add the flour a 1/4 at the time, until everything is incorporated. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and kneed for about 5 minutes. Transfer back in a bowl and cover, letting the dough rise to double the size, about an hour.
Beat down the dough and roll out until 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick. Then cut into 10x10 cm (5x5 inch) squares.

To assemble, add a small tablespoon of custard in the middle of a square cut dough, tugging a bit at each corner to stretch, then fold over the custard, then repeat with opposite corner and then the 2 others. Make sure to squeeze together all holes, as you don't want the custard to escape. Turn over the bun and transfer to a baking tray covered with baking paper.
Let the buns rise again, about 30 minutes or until they have doubled in size.
Brush with a bit of water and then bake the buns at 200C for about 13-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Transfer to a cooling rack. When almost completely cooled, mix together icing sugar, cocoa powder and water, but adding the water a little at a time, you want a very thick consistency, where you can just about spread it. Then spread out a dollop of icing on each bun.
Alternatively, leave out the cocoa powder and just add more icing sugar for white icing.

Hope you enjoy and happy fastelavn

Oreo now dairy free in EU???

2014-02-08T14:11:00.001+00:00

Apparently so! I did a blog post almost 3 years ago, click Here to read, about how there is a difference between American Oreo's and European Oreo's, but it seems no more.

Back then I contacted Nestle EU to ask if they where going to make the EU Oreo's dairy free as well, but their answer was a bit fuzzy, but from what I could interpret they were going to start using the american recipe in EU at some point.

But now it seem they have, because if you look at the back of the Oreo packs now, you will no longer see whey from milk as an ingredients. After a bit of google investigation, it seems like this has been changed over a year ago, but very quietly. If it hadn't been for my husband thinking he would just do a little random check, I might never have found out, so Hurray for him ;-)
So now we can all have your Oreo's and dunk them too if you are lactose intolerant.

Are you happy that Oreo are now dairy free and was it one of things you where missing? leave me a comment down below.

Chicken Liver Pate

2014-01-26T13:19:00.001+00:00

This liver pate is so easy to make, taste amazing and will convert any non liver eating person.

It is great for canapés on cut out german rye bread, as a starter served with toasted brioche, or just as a great lunch, on some bread or in a sandwich.
My personal preference is on some good german rye bread topped with either, red onion chutney, sweet pickled beetroot or gherkins (or both and with rucola, like picture).

600g Organic chicken livers
1 tablespoon oil
1-2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
3 bay leaves
2 sprigs of sage
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
250g butter (lactofree if making a lactose free version like me)
1 tablespoon Brandy
a splash of water

Chop up the onions and place in a medium saucepan, over medium to high heat, with the oil. Sauté for a few minutes until they start becoming soft. Then add the chicken livers, garlic, bay leaves, sage and a splash of water, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover with a lid and let it cook for 7-9 minutes, stirring once in a while to make sure it doesn't burn.
Strain any water that might be left in the pot, and remove sage and bay leaves. Transfer to a blender and add the salt, pepper, butter and brandy. Blend well, until completely smooth in consistency.
Pour into a container or serving dish, cover and place in the fridge to set over night.

Enjoy.

My Pizza dinner

2012-09-26T09:54:00.000+01:00

News update: Basilico no longer offer the lactofree cheese as an option, unfortunately.

This was my dinner last night, I tried out one of the new pizzas from www.basilico.co.uk , that has put 2 of their pizzas on the menu with the option of ordering it with Lactofree chese.

I decided to try out the Margherita, because I am of the opinion, that if a restaurant can get the simple dishes right, they are an excellent restaurant, and I was defiantly not disappointed. This pizza literally took me back to my childhood, where we had an Italian pizza place nearby, and on special occasions we would get a pizza from there. I would always order the Margherita and the pizza I got from Basilico tasted just like the one I got when I was a young.

The base of the pizza was thin and crispy, the sauce tasted of ripe tomatoes and the cheese had melted perfectly and was not overpowering. I will defiantly be ordering more pizzas in the future.

Have you tried the new pizza? let me know what you thought in the comments below.

Hot Chocolate for autumn weather

2012-09-25T11:39:00.002+01:00

So haven’t been blogging for a long time, and the reason is I have been moving. We have moved in to an old house that needs a lot of updating, especially the kitchen needs to be replaced, so there might not be a lot of post in the near future as well.

At the moment we are so busy fixing up the house, that there isn’t a lot of time for us to cook anyway even if we had a new kitchen. So at the moment most of our meals are whatever is easy and quick, but I still try and eat healthy. So if you would like for me to share easy but healthy meals with you let me know in a comment below.
I don’t know if anyone else is starting to feel like autumn is creeping in on us, but I have defiantly felt like I needed to find the big sweaters for the evenings lately. And another thing that I have had a few times that would suggest autumn is near is hot chocolate. I simply use my chocolate syrup (click here for recipe), which is almost a steady thing I have in the fridge, and just add it to hot milk. So easy for when you need something warm and sweet, and then just drink on its own or top with some marshmallows or some lactofree whip cream that is my favorite and on the picture above.

If you try this recipe, please let me know in the comments what you think.

A better for you chocolate chip cookie

2012-07-31T21:24:00.000+01:00

I have found that snacks are a necessity to help you though an Olympic fever :-) And in the Olympic spirit of sports and eating healthy, these cookies are just the right snack for any event.
These lovely cookies taste just as good as any cookie, but with no egg, butter or white sugar, but packed with vitamins from the nuts and with slow release of energy, so a great snack after doing sports.....or watching some ;-)

I know I say “they are so easy to make” a lot, but these really are super easy to make, and great to make with kids, as they can help with almost the whole process, from measuring, stirring and shaping.
100g of any nuts you like, I used 50g walnuts and 50g hazelnuts on these, but you can also use almond, pecans for instance.
100g plain white flour, white spelt flour or for gluten free Doves farm gluten free plain white flour
50ml mild olive oil or sunflower oil
50ml agave or sweet freedom
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ fine salt
100g Dark dairy free chocolate buttons
25g choped nuts (optional, just gives a bit more crunch)

Preheat oven to 175°C

In a blender, blend together nuts, flour and salt, untill finly blended. Transferee to a bowl and break up any clumps between your hands.
whisk together the wet ingredients, and with a fork, stir them into the flour-nut mixture, until it all comes together as a sticky dough.
Stir in the chocolate buttons and chopped nuts.
take teaspoons of dough and roll into balls between your hands, place on a baking tray covered with baking paper, and press them a bit flatter to a cookie shape.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Let them stay on the baking tray for a few minutes, then transferee to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note: I have tried with both plain flour and with gluten free flour, and the only difference is that the gluten free become a bit more crispy :-)

What is your favorite Olympic watching snack?

Small chocolate cake-brownies. Gluten, Dairy, Egg and White Sugar free.

2012-07-23T20:18:00.002+01:00

You would never believe that these little cake like brownie are Egg, Gluten, Dairy and white sugar free if you didn’t know it, and none of your guest would know it either, they would simply think that they had just tasted one of the best chocolate cakes ever.
Even good for people who are keeping an eye on their cholesterol.

Good served a bit warm with a scoop of ice cream and some fresh berries for a lovely desert, but also equally as good for just eating on its own cold.

Makes 10-11

175g Doves farm gluten free plain white flour
50g pure unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
½ teaspoon Carbonate of soda
¼ Xantham gum
½ teaspoon salt
100ml Mild Olive Oil
100ml or 125g naturally sweetened apple sauce. See here for recipe.
150ml Agave syrup or Sweet freedom
1 tablespoon vanilla past or 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
100ml strong coffee
150g Dark dairy free chocolate buttons.

Preheat the oven to 175°C
fill the cupcake mould with papers or grease them with a bit of oil.

Whisk or sift together all the dry ingredients in a big bowl.
Mix all the wet ingredients in another bowl and stir it into the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon. Be careful not to over work the dough, as you just want to stir until it all comes together, and then stir in the chocolate buttons.
Fill the 10-11 cupcake moulds and bake for 14-16 minutes.

Note: you can easily make these the day before serving, and they will keep moist for several days because there is no eggs in them.

Naturally sweetened apple sauce

2012-07-23T20:12:00.001+01:00

The main reason for me putting this recipe on the blog is because it is good to use in Gluten free, Egg free, White sugar free and Dairy free baking, but this recipe is also delicious to use on you breakfast porridge or as a healthy desert with some roasted nut and maybe a bit of lactofree whip cream.

You can make this on the amount of apples you have, simply just ad up with how many grams of apples you have. 400g apples makes about 300g apple sauce.

Per 100g of peeled and cored apples use:
½ tablespoon agave syrup or sweet freedom (available in most supermarkets)
1/4 teaspoon lemon juiceSimply dice the apples into small pieces and place in a pot. Add the agave or sweet freedom and lemon juice and cook with a lid on medium heat for 20-30 minutes, depending on the apples.

When apples are cooked through, take the pan off the heat and let it cool down. Transferee to a blender and blend until smooth.

I normally do this every time I have some apples that have gone past eating fresh, and I put the apple sauce in small freezing bags or freezable containers, in 125g portions and freeze until wanted.

Eggs Benedict

2012-06-03T14:50:00.000+01:00

With Bacon

A long weekend is just not right without a bit of brunch for you to have enjoyed it to the fullest.

One of mine favourite dishes for brunch is defiantly eggs Benedict. Now it isn’t the easiest or healthiest of dishes, but if any weekend would be perfect for this dish, it would defiantly be the jubilee weekend.

With smoked salmon (think it has a different name when made with salmon, but not quite sure)

I know poach eggs are not the easiest, but the trick is fresh eggs, and once you get the hang of it, it is actually not that difficult.

Eggs Benedict

8 slices of thin crispy bacon or 4 slices of smoked salmon.
2 white muffins (English)
4 fresh eggs (if an egg sink in a bowl of cold water, it is fresh)

Hollandaise sauce

2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon warm water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼-½ teaspoon salt (or more to taste at the end)
125g Lactofree butter

But a pan of water on the heat to use for the poached eggs, and bring to a boil.
Melt butter on slow heat in microwave or in a small pan, until just melted.
In a heatproof bowl, that fits on top of the pan of boiling water like a bain marie, whisk egg yolks, salt, warm water and lemon juice well with an electric whisk.
Slowly, while whisking, ad the melted butter until all mixed well.
Using a hand whisk, transferee the bowl to the pan of simmering water, and keep whisking until you get the wanted consistency. Add more salt to taste.
Set aside, and heat up as before, just before serving.

Break the muffins in half and toast.

Cook bacon crispy.

Poached eggs:

Take the pan of the heat (if you have a thermometer, 80°C is the best temperature).
Crack the eggs one at a time onto a slotted spoon to drain any water from the egg, and then scoop into the hot water. Cook for about 4 minutes.
Remove with the slotted spoon and drain any excess water away.

Ensemble by placing 2 half of toasted muffins on each plate, layer with bacon or salmon.
Place a poach egg on each and drizzle on a spoon of hollandaise sauce on each.
And maybe sprinkle on some black pepper or cut chives.

Serve with some fresh orange juice and tea or coffee, and you have got yourself the perfect jubilee brunch.

Enjoy and hope you all have a lovely jubilee weekend.

Raspberry cream layered cake

2012-06-02T16:32:00.001+01:00

Only made half the recipe, as I was doing a small cake

This cake is made up of only 8 ingredients, and very easy to make.
It is made up of thin cake layers, layered together with a raspberry cream.
And is good to make for special occasions, as the layers are best baked a day or 2 before, and should be put together at least a few hours before served, so that only leaves decorating just before serving and makes it a lot less stressful.

Cake Layers:

3 large eggs
100g sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or paste
75g plain white flour

Preheat oven to 200ºC

Whisk eggs and sugar together until you gets to a thick and pale stage, and the whisk leaves shapes in the mixture, about 5-8 minutes with an electric whisk.

Whisk in the vanilla.
Sift in the flour a ¼ at a time, and turn it into the mixture carefully using a spatula, being careful not to take any of the air out of it.

Draw a circle on the back of the baking paper and turn it around. Scoop out the batter and spread ½ inch thick and out to the edges of the drawn circle, or about ½ inch (1cm) from the edge if you want it to fit into a mold like I did.

Bake the cake layers until they are golden brown then take them off the baking tray with paper to cool.
Once all layers are baked and cool, simply cut around the baking paper, and layer them up on top of each other with the baking paper still attached, and store in a container or wrapped in foil, until you need them for the cake.

Raspberry cream:

750ml Lactofree whipping cream
150g frozen raspberries
3-4 tablespoon of icing sugar

Let the raspberries thaw a bit, then blend them up to a fine paste.
Whip the whip cream until you get a firm whipping cream (hope that make sense, but you just don’t want a runny whip cream)
Take a side ½ of the whip cream for decorating the sides of the cake.
Whisk in the raspberry paste in the rest of the whip cream, and ad the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time to taste (depending on how sour the raspberries are).

Constructing the cake.

Fresh raspberries
The cake layers
Raspberry cream
And the rest of the whip cream.

You can construct it free style or in a mold like I have, just depend on what look you are going for.

Start with on cake layer, then spread ¼ of the raspberry cream on top of it, and just repeat on with 3 more layers.
Cover and store in the fridge until ready for serving.

Just before serving, piper the rest of the whip cream on the side of the cake, and decorate with fresh raspberries on top.

I hope you all have a wonderful jubilee weekend.