Dairy Free creme "eggs"

A few weeks back, everyone was talking about creme eggs, and how the chocolate wasn't as good any more. In the past there has been much speculation about the diminishing size of the eggs too - so all in all, not good news for Cadbury. It got to a point where This Morning did a bit about it, and Paul Young showed the presenters how to make their own eggs.

This piqued my interest, as I had not considered making an egg before. The girls said that they would love to try a creme egg, so it was time to get the big bag of chocolate out and try for myself.

Ingredients

Vegan chocolate
Fondant icing sugar
Vanilla essence
Water

Silicon moulds are great for making chocolates, but as all I had were individual heart shaped moulds we had to have hearts and not eggs.

The chocolate I used was from Plamil. I've been using their chocolate for years now and you can buy the darkness of chocolate that you prefer by cocoa percentage (45%, 53%, 60% or 72%). For this I used the 53% cocoa, which is still quite dark. If you want to make them more like milk chocolate, you can use the 45% or the Moo free chocolate bars, which are both great.

So, I melted about 200g of chocolate slowly over a pan of gently simmering water, then turned the heat off, but left the chocolate so it would not set again. I put a few tablespoons of the fondant icing sugar into a bowl and added a little water and flavoured it with vanilla. It is a bit of trial and error to get the quantities right so add small amounts at a time until you get that thick, gooey icing that you know from creme eggs.

Next, take your silicon moulds and fill them nearly to the top with the melted chocolate. I put mine onto a plate, then popped them in the fridge for about 5 minutes. After that time, you need to take them out and tip the chocolate out. A thick layer will have started to set around the edges, and the rest will pour back into your melting bowl. Put them back in the fridge to set the chocolate.

Finally, add the fondant centre to the top of the chocolate shell and seal the top by totally covering it with the leftover melted chocolate. Put them back into the fridge and leave to set. When they are ready to be eaten, the silicon mould can be peeled off, but keep them in the fridge until you want to eat them. I haven't mastered how to temper chocolate yet, so they will be quite melty as you eat them!

Gluten-free and dairy-free peach cobbler

I wanted to bake a pudding last night, but there were no eggs left. I very nearly gave up on the idea, but then I remembered a peach cobbler recipe I made a while ago. It is incredibly easy to make, so I thought I'd try a gluten-free version.

Ingredients

1 cup self-raising gluten free flour blend
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup sweetened soya milk
1 tin of peach slices
4oz soya margarine

Method

Put a baking dish into the oven at 190c with the margarine in it.
While that is warming, mix the flour, sugar and milk together.
Take the baking dish out and make sure the margarine has melted and spread across the baking dish. Pour the batter slowly on top and do not mix.
Drain the peaches and place these all over the top of the batter.
Bake for about 50 minutes at 190c

Serve warm with ice cream.

Unfortunately, there was still a some partly cooked batter in the middle of the pudding. It was ok to eat, but I wasn't happy with it. The crunchy top was great, though, and Charlotte wants to make it again, so I need to sort out my quantities. I think a little less milk may be the answer.

Dairy-free and gluten-free cupcakes

Hooray! I did it, I made cupcakes that are passable as regular ones, but with no wheat or dairy hiding inside. It was dead simple, thanks to my new favourite brand of flour.

I made my 4:4:4:2 sponge mix with vanilla extract, but added 2 tsp soya milk as the flour needs a little extra moisture to stop the cakes being too dry.

The children had them after their dinner and have declared them "the best cupcakes ever" which may be down to the fact that they were ecstatically happy at being allowed cakes for pudding. They do go a bit over-the-top when they are given a treat, but it made for one very happy mummy!

Gluten-free flour experiment

Wheat doesn't seem to do me much good, so I am cutting back on the amount I eat. Less toast, sandwiches and pasta are pretty easy to do, but cake and biscuits is another matter altogether. I discovered Doves organic gluten-free flour blend the other day, and decided to try it out. The way I see it, if you can hardly tell the difference, why bother with wheat in the first place? I am going to be a harsh critic though, as I don't see the point in eating a cake if it isn't delicious!

All that was left of the banana bread after one sitting.

So, first of all I made a batch of dairy-free and wheat-free pancakes, using my pancake recipe but with the new flour and a little extra soya milk. The girls told me they were better than the normal ones, although I thought they were a little more chewy than normal. The flour passed it's first test.

Next, I made my banana bread using the flour. Again, I added a little soya milk to soften the batter up, as the flour absorbs more moisture than normal flour. The cake cooked in the same amount of time as normal, and tasted exactly the same. The only difference was a slightly powdery texture on the crust, but I didn't mind that at all. Test 2 - pass.

I also made some yorkshire pudding batter using the flour, and made myself some wheat-free courgette fritters like my mum used to make for my lunch yesterday. Literally, slices of courgette about 1/2cm thick dipped in the batter and fried. They were exactly as I remembered them, so must have been just right. Test 3 - passed with distinction!

More tests to go, but at this rate I might just give up on wheat flour all together!