Gluten Free Treats: Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Cookies

One of the star treats at our Coeliac Awareness Event were Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Cookies. We made them using Barkat All Purpose Mix Flour and they went down a storm.

These cookies took only 20 mins to make and they tasted even better than the gluten equivalent.

They are best served warm as the chocolate is all gooey and delicious!

Serves about 15

Ingredients:

225g butter

200g caster sugar

200g light muscovado sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

240g crunchy peanut butter

340g  Barkat all-purpose gluten free flour

2 1/2 tsp Barkat bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

75g dark chocolate, chopped

Method:

• ·      Preheat oven 170 c/gas 3.
• ·      Put butter and sugar in electric mixer/handheld whisk and cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. Turn the mixer down to slow speed and beat in the vanilla extract and peanut butter.
• ·      Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well until smooth dough is formed. Stir in chocolate until evenly dispersed.
• ·      Arrange about 5 equally sized dough balls on each prepared greaseproof paper lined baking tray. Make sure cookies are spaced apart to allow for spreading while baking- they grow very big!
• ·      Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and quite flat.
• ·      Leave to cool slightly on trays before turning onto wire rack to cool.

Celebrating Coeliac Awareness Week at Gluten Free Foods

Last week we held a Coeliac awareness event at Gluten Free Foods Head Office. We filled the office with gluten free treats- and we were so happy to see Coeliacs smiling at the huge range of gluten free yummy foods on offer.

Using Barkat all-purpose flour we made a huge range of sweet treats from Blueberry Muffins to Crunchy Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Cookies (recipe to come later this week).

We also showed how easy it is to make a gluten free pastry for delicious pies. Alan from the team served up his famous gluten free Apple Pie and a savoury Caramelised Onion and Goats Cheese Tart.

One of the most popular treats was our range of sandwiches made using Barkat gluten free Country Loaf. The bread is seriously delicious and tastes like it has just come out of the oven. It takes just 6 minutes to prepare- we love to make tuna mayo and cucumber sandwiches and egg mayo with tomatoes. Delicious!

To finish off our feast we served up lots of our Barkat favourites: wafers, teacakes, pretzels and digestives.

What did you do to celebrate Coeliac Awareness Week?

Simply Stir Fry

Easy gluten free dinners are sometimes hard to find. That's why we love Canton Chef- their delicious Stir Fry sauces are full of flavour and are the perfect accompaniment to a vegetable/chicken stir fry.

If you need to use up left over veg in the fridge or if you just want a quick dinner for the kids- use this recipe as a template and then add your own additions depending on what's in the fridge!

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 onion chopped
1 red chilli chopped
1 cm piece of ginger grated
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 brocolli chopped and cooked al dente
1 red pepper
A handful of mushrooms
1 courgette chopped
buckwheat noodles/jasmine rice
A big glug of tamari
A packet of Canton Chef sauce (whichever takes your fancy)

Method:
1. Heat a stir-fry pan and then add the oil
2. Once the oil is hot add the ginger, garlic, and chilli
3. Once the ingredients have softened, add the rest of the veg
4. Meanwhile cook the noodles/rice and then add them to the stir fry pan
5. Add a big glug of tamari, stir and season.
6. Add the Canton Chef sauce and stir

See just 6 steps and you've got a delicious dinner ready for the family! (If you'd like to add chicken, add it to the pan after you've sauteed the onions and garlic).

Enjoy your simple stir fry!

Gluten Free Spring Cooking- part 2

We are loving experimenting with the flavours of spring! Seeing as May is almost upon us, we thought we would end April with a couple more recipes that get us into the spirit of spring.

Rhubarb Spice Cake

We love the vibrant taste of rhubarb and this deliciously moist rhubarb spice cake, is a perfect sweet treat for spring. We use Barkat flour and baking powder to make this gorgeous recipe gluten free.

Ingredients:

• 5oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

• 300g Barkat flour

• 2 tsp mixed spice

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 100g dark muscovado sugar

• 250g golden syrup

• 1 tsp Barkat baking powder

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 300g rhubarb, cut into short lengths

• icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and put the kettle on. 
• Butter and line a deep 20cm square cake tin. 
• Sift the flour and spices into a bowl. 
• Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy in the food processor, then beat in the golden syrup. 
• Dissolve the baking powder in 200ml boiling water, then gradually pour through the spout of the processor. Pulse in the flour, then add the eggs, mixing briefly. 
• Remove the bowl from the processor, then gently stir in the rhubarb.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50-60 mins, until the cake feels firm to the touch and springs back when pressed. Cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. 
• Dust with icing sugar.

Serve with a big spoon of warm custard. What a perfect evening treat! 

Spiced lamb patties with a salad and hummus wrap 

Another favourite recipe uses lamb, red mint and - these lamb patties have a lovely middle eastern flavour to them. We love to serve these in BFree wraps with hummus!

Ingredients:

For the patties

• 50 g Barkat flour
• 500 g minced lamb
• 4 teaspoons dried mint (or to taste)
• 4 teaspoons dried oregano (or to taste)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 egg
• zest of 1 lemon
• olive oil for frying

for the wraps

• approx. 8 BFree wraps
• 1 little gem lettuce (chopped)
• 1 bunch fresh mint (chopped)
• 1 red onion (halved and thinly sliced)
• 300 grams hummus
• 300 grams greek yoghurt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 lemons

METHOD

1. Put the flour and minced lamb in a mixing bowl. Add the beaten egg, dried mint and oregano, mince in the garlic and the lemon zest. Stir everything thoroughly and then form into small walnut-sized patties, then flatten them slightly between your hands and arrange them on a clingfilmed baking sheet or plate and let them stand for 20 minutes in the fridge to firm up. If you want to, you can cover them with clingfilm, too, and leave them in the fridge for up to 6 hours before frying them. You will get about 30 patties from the mixture.
2. Fry the patties in a little olive oil until cooked through, and a beautiful golden brown on both sides. These are little, so it shouldn't take too long: about 4 minutes a side. Do not crowd the pan as you cook.
3. To make up your wrap, spread a couple of spoons of hummus onto the wrap and one tablespoon of greek yoghurt and a pinch of cumin. Then add a salad of shredded lettuce, mint and red onion rings. Top with about four lamb patties and then squeeze in some lemon. Then wrap up and enjoy!

LET US KNOW WHEN YOU PUT THESE SPRING RECIPES TO THE TEST!