Coconut Macaroons

Al loves all things coconut. It's just a flavour that he adores. I do too actually, I like the subtle sweetness of coconut and the creamy flavour and dense texture. I remember macaroons from when I was a kind. The crunchy outside and soft chewy centre. When we used to get them they were attached to rice paper - that weird edible but not really appetising paper stuff - and had a little drizzle of chocolate.

It's so simple to recreate a simple version of these (though of course you can cook them on rice paper if you wish and a drizzle of dark chocolate really isn't going to hurt them any. A simple combination of 4 ingredients means that these are easy to whip up for guests. They keep well and are great for lunchboxes.

These were the other gluten free and dairy free cookie I sent to Tam for the Cookie exchange and ... she liked them! Thanks goodness!

Ingredients
2 Egg Whites
150g Dessicated Coconut
150g Caster Sugar
1tsp Cornflour

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (if not non stick)
In a clean, grease free bowl, whisk the egg white until stiff.
Fold in the sugar, coconut and cornflour.
Shape the mixture into around 12 balls and place onto the baking sheets
Bake for around 10 minutes, or until golden and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Read more...

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

There is a bit of a back story that comes with these cookies and how they ended up being added to my recipe file and why I've made two batches in less than a week. I randomly stumbled across a blog a few weekends ago. This blog was Steph Chows. If I'm grabbed by the writing style and photography of a blog (and the recipes of course) then I tend to read pages and pages of things over a few days until I find something else to hold my attention.

Steph grabbed me and I spent several days reading a few months worth of entries. I noticed this entry and was intrigued by it. I've seen craft based exchanges for fabric, handmade greeting cards and even underwear but I'd not seen a food based one before. I thought about how interesting it would be to see how other people work with ingredients and flavours. Some of the jams sounded amazing and I couldn't get it out of my head.

With a bit more reading, I found this entry about a cookie exchange. I read through to see the rules and get a general feel for the whole thing when I notice that a UK blogger is looking for a partner. Well, I could hardly pass up this opportunity could I? I was a bit late to the party (the post was made in December and the deadline for sign ups was waaay past) but I emailed Steph to see if I could join in and exchange...
A few days later I received confirmation that I had been teamed up with the UK blogger - Everyone, meet Tam! - and we were allowed a little extra time to get our cookies out. After exchanging contact and allergy information (Tam can't have dairy or gluten) I set about finding a recipe to fit the bill.

And here it is! These cookies are amazing and ones that I am sure to make again and a again. They are simple to make, require few ingredients and nothing too exotic (I wasn't ready to jump into the field of Xanthan Gum and strangely named flours - but if there's a cake exchange in the future? Why knows!). These would be delicious with a little chocolate thrown in and I might try making them with crunchy peanut butter for a different texture.

This recipe is from the Gluten Free Girl and I've reprinted it here.

Ingredients
1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1 cup Sugar (plus extra for rolling)
1tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder
1 Egg

Method
Cream the peanut butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the baking powder and the egg and mix until smooth.
Roll the dough (it will be quite soft) into balls about the size of a walnut and roll the balls into the extra sugar.
Place the balls, well spaced, onto a baking tray and flatten slightly.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 10-12 minutes.
Allow to cool on the tray for at least 5 minutes before attempting to remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Enjoy!

Read more...

Flourless Chocolate and Pear Cake

Flourless chocolate cakes fascinate me. Soft peaked egg whites give the cake air and structure and the ground almonds create a delicious texture. In this recipe, pears are rested gently on top of the light cake and it is baked in the oven. The cake come out moist and delicious with a good chocolate flavour. The pears bake until soft but still hold their structure well.



I found this recipe on BBC Good Food. We've got a glut of pears at the moment since we harvested them from our pear tree and even though this only uses a couple; every little helps!



Ingredients
85g butter , plus 1 tbsp extra for tin
85g golden caster sugar , plus extra for tin
85g dark chocolate , broken into pieces
1 tbsp Sailor Jerry rum
3 eggs, separated
85g ground almonds
4 pears, peeled, halved and cored (I only used 3 as that's all that would fit)
icing sugar, for dusting

Method
Cut a circle of baking parchment to fit the base of a 25cm loose-bottomed tin. Melt 1 tbsp butter and brush the inside of the tin, then line the base with the parchment and brush again with more butter. Spoon in 2 tbsp caster sugar, swirl it around to coat the base and sides, then tip out any excess.

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of hot water, remove from the heat, stir in the brandy and leave to cool. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a large bowl until pale and thick; fold into the chocolate with the nuts.

In a separate bowl, with a clean whisk, beat the whites until they reach a soft peak (try not to whisk them too stiffly or you'll have trouble folding them in). Stir a spoonful of the whites into the chocolate mix, then carefully fold in the rest of them in 2 additions. Spoon into the prepared tin. Level, then arrange the pears over the mixture, cut-side down.

Bake for 30-40 mins until the pears are soft and the cake is cooked all the way through. Leave to cool in the tin slightly before releasing it, then place on a rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and serve

Read more...