The World’s Best Buttermilk Gluten-Free Scones!

Following on from my best ever gluten-free scones, I found a way to better them. Add buttermilk! These are the lightest, fluffiest, most delicious scones you will ever taste. Well, you’ll have to excuse me blowing my own trumpet again but I think these are the World’s best gluten-free scones. They came out quite large, so they take about 5 minutes longer to cook than my other scones recipe. Try both recipes and let me know what you think 🙂

Ingredients

250g/ 8 oz gluten free self-raising flour

1 level tsp gluten free baking powder

1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum

50g/ 1 3/4 oz butter

50g/ 1 3/4 oz caster sugar

1 large egg

150ml/ 1/4 pint buttermilk

Literally ‘a handful’ of sultanas

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5 or 180° C
2. Sift the flour, Xanthan Gum and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar
3. Lightly beat together the egg and add to the mix. Then add the milk to the flour mixture and gently mix to give a smooth consistency. You can do this by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula
4. Sprinkle in your handful of sultanas and mix so they are evenly spread throughout the mixer
5. This mixture is impossible to roll out or cut, so use an ice-cream scoop to pop 8 even mounds on a lined baking sheet.
6. Bake the scones in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are a light golden colour. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and slide the scones on to a wire rack to cool slightly.
7. Serve scones warm from the oven with strawberry jam and clotted cream. They are perfectly crisp on the outside and wonderfully light on the inside. I defy you not to eat them all at once! But if you can’t, they freeze well too.

Happy baking everyone and I’d love to see pictures of your scones

Gluten-Free Bakewell Tart

There’s not much to say about this recipe, except that Bakewell Tart is an absolute classic and with good reason. If you think that the little cherry-topped tarts you get in the shop taste good, then you’re going to die and go to heaven when you taste this! I might have developed a small Bakewell Tart addiction this week. So much so, that I got worried when I realised we were down to the last few slices and I have a shop planned tomorrow to replenish the ingredients, so I can make another!!! My gosh it is good, even my OH said it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted! If you don’t like icing, then sprinkle the top with some flaked almonds instead. This is fantastic hot with custard if you don’t ice it.

For the sweet shortcrust pastry

• 225g/8oz gluten free plain flour plus extra for dusting
• 150g/5½oz unsalted butter, chilled
• 25g/1oz icing sugar
• 1 egg, beaten

For the filling

• 150g/5½oz unsalted butter, softened
• 150g/5½oz caster sugar
• 150g/5½oz ground almonds
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 150-170g/5 1/2- 6 oz raspberry jam

For the icing

• 300g/10½oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• few drops red food colouring

Method

1.  First, make your pastry. Sieve the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips or with a pastry blender, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Sieve in the icing sugar and stir it through. Add the beaten egg and 2-3 tablespoons of cold water, mixing to form soft dough.

2. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. I find this makes gluten-free pastry slightly easier to roll out.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface to the thickness of a pound coin. Or, if you are having problems (as I often do with gluten-free pastry) roll it out between 2 sheets of baking paper or clingfilm. I ended using 2 sheets of baking paper and transferring it into the tin like this. Not ideal, I know! Line a 23cm/9in fluted pie dish with the pastry.

4. If you haven’t already got baking paper on it, line the pastry case with non-stick baking paper and fill with ceramic baking beans or uncooked rice. Bake it blind for 15 minutes, then remove the beans and paper and cook for a further 5-10 minutes to dry out the base. I found that some of the pastry still stuck to the greaseproof paper, but it wasn’t major! Set aside to cool a little before adding the filling.

5. For the filling, spread the base of the pastry case with 4 tablespoons of raspberry jam.

6. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. I used my Kenwood stand mixer with the K-beater. Add the ground almonds, egg and almond extract and mix together. Spoon the mixture into the pastry case, on top of the raspberry jam and smooth the surface using a palette knife.

7. Reduce the oven temperature to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and bake for 35-45 minutes, until golden-brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin.

8. For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in the almond extract and about 3 tablespoons cold water to make a smooth, fairly thick icing. Place 2 tablespoons of the icing in a separate bowl and add a little pink food colouring gel to make a raspberry coloured icing. Spoon the pink icing into a small piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle.

9. When the tart has cooled completely, spoon the white icing on top and spread to form a smooth surface. Pipe parallel lines of pink icing over the white icing, then drag a cocktail stick through the lines (at a 90 degree angle to the lines) to create a feathered effect. Or, if like me you don’t own one – just drizzle it off the back of a spoon in thin lines and use a skewer to drag across it. Yes, mine might not be fit for Mary Berry but it still gave a nice effect!

Happy baking everyone!

Gluten-Free Sweet & Sour Sauce

Here is a recipe to save you a fortune over time, if like me you used to pay £1 a pop for one of those jars of sauce. This is a million times better, you know exactly what’s in it, it takes minutes to make and costs pennies. Don’t be scared by the amount of vinegar you need to add, it tastes fantastic! This recipe easily serves 4 people, or 2 if you like a generous amount of sauce.

Ingredients

[Note: I have used dsp to indicate dessertspoon in this recipe which is the standard sized spoon you’d use to eat your cereal with]

• 3 dsp sugar (white, granulated is fine)
• 1 dsp cornflour
• 1 dsp tamari sauce
• 4 dsp white vinegar
• 1 dsp tomato puree
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 pint water
• 2-3oz chopped pineapple
• 1 oz onion, very finely chopped
• handful chopped red pepper (optional)

Place all the ingredients, except the pineapple and pepper (if using) into a saucepan and cook until the sauce thickens up, stirring all the time. Not too hot, as you don’t want to burn it and once it has thickened, simmer it gently for about 10 minutes to soften the onion. Then add the pineapple and pepper to heat through for a few minutes.

You can use this sauce however you wish, pour it over your chosen cooked meat, Quorn works well too (you can simmer your fillets in the sauce for 15 minutes, once it’s cooked- stirring periodically) or you can make a veggie sweet and sour, if you wish.