Kiama gluten free report

we are home from our holiday in Kiama (unfortunately!) I'm glad to say that Kiama redeemed itself as i hated it last time i went there for a winter holiday as a pre-teen LOL

I'm so glad i did my gluten free research before we went, it really does make it easier to have a list of places to try!

so where did we go and how was it?

Hanoi on Manning
10 Manning Street
http://www.hanoionmanning.com.au/

we got takaway from Hanoi on Manning one night and it was very yum! even their spring rolls were gluten free (made with rice paper) so i'm guessing they have a coeliac in the family. would definitely recommend them - especially their beef salad.

Domino's Pizza
40 Terralong Street

we also grabbed a couple of pizzas for the kids one night. dominos is dominos, not world class but did the job without making her sick ;)

Cafe Parkview
82 Terralong Street


we went to cafe parkview ummmm 3 times i think LOL rora decided it was her fave and kept insisting we return. we had mixed service and food from so-so to great. i would recommend it though, mainly because our experience at short black was worse lol

Short Black Coffee cafe
88 Terralong St

we had brunch on our final day here and regretted it. the coffee was pretty good, the food was OK-ish, though i watched the chef toasting the gluten bread on the same grillplate used to cook all the bacon, fried eggs, tomatoes etc. i assume the gluten free bread was toasted on it also though that didn't occur to me til after we'd left so we spent the whole trip home waiting to see if rora would be sick or not :( luckily she'd selected poached eggs so they were safe :)
our meals took 40 minutes to arrive (we were STARVING by this time) and as we sat right across from the coffee machine and owner, we had an hour of listening to her berate her young staff. it seemed they were new and needed some guidance but a full hour of it was quite offputting.

other places we tried which were not on the list included:

Harbourview Thai Restaurant 
48 Terralong Street Kiama NSW 2533‎
https://plus.google.com/100200849563187798217/about?gl=au&hl=en

we had takeaway from here one night (we don't usually buy so much food when we camp but we had food storage issues lol). it was nice though not as nice as we get from our faves in canberra.

My Chocolate Shoppe
Shop 13, 106 Terralong Street, Kiama
http://www.mychocolateshoppe.com.au/

we didn't actually eat here but we did buy handmade chocolates for my mum (to say thank you for looking after our menagerie) and they were all gluten free :)
they do have a full gluten free menu which i have just found and am now wishing we'd gone there to try it!

Photo of Cafe Parkview, by Emelia (8)

Chocolate Balls (yummo!) (GF, TMX)

Based on this recipe...

150g almonds

place in thermomix and grind on speed 8 for 10 seconds

add the remaining ingredients and chop / mix on speed 6 for 30 seconds:

120g pitted dates
1 tspn vanilla
good sprinkle salt
25g cocoa *
35g shredded coconut
15 coconut oil

roll into balls - or you can flatten into a tray, refridgerate and cut into pieces.

* I've tried grinding cacao nibs and using them but they had very little taste - i'd suggest using more if you want to try them.

Amanda's Brownies (GF, TMX)

Emelia and I just made these brownies for vacation care next week.  Based on Amanda's Fudgey Brownies
(my recipe is doubled, converted to GF and less sugar though i suspect i could lower the sugar further next time...)

280g gluten free plain flour (or 90g brown rice flour, 90g maize / corn flour and 100g tapioca starch)
10g salt
300g brown sugar
300g castor sugar (or low GI raw sugar)
95g cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
420g rice bran oil
8 eggs
110g cold water

1. Heat oven to 140’c. Grease and line 1-2 slice pans (depending on size).

2. Place everything in thermomix and mix on speed 7 for about 20 seconds.

3. Scrape down sides and mix for another 20 seconds speed 7

4. Pour mix into pans and bake for around 30 minutes

5. Cool in pan then cut into squares.

Berry & white chocolate muffins (GF)

the weekend before I made these as i had some yoghurt in the fridge which the kids had rejected for school recesses.  the kids loved them though G & I found them wayyyyy too sweet. i think the sugar in the flavoured yoghurt AND the chocolate was probably too much with the 1/2 cup of added sugar.

they were very quick and easy to make though so i'll definitely make them again when we have yoghurt. i used frozen mixed berries though i think any kind would be good.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Muffins

OMG i think i will have to buy some PB and try these - like a reeses muffin!!!
a recipe i found in 2003 on the 'friendly freezer' yahoo group

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tspn butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar (this sounds like a lot - it's an american recipe so probably safe to cut back)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup SR flour
1/2 cup milk
6 oz (170g) chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350'F (180'c)
mix PB and butter until well blended. mix in sugar, eggs, vanilla
add flour, milk and choc chips, mix until just combined.
spoon into 12 lined muffin cups
bake 20-25 mins or until muffins spring back when lightly touched in centre

updated the next day:
made these, gluten and dairy free - they are very yum and rora and i both love them! they are not like a reeses but good anyway. i used brown sugar and forgot to reduce the amount, but you definitely could.

Chocolate Cheesecake Slice (GF, TMX)

Happy birthday MUM!!

made this today for mum's birthday :) original recipe here

unfortunately even though the skewer came out clean and the slice looked clean, only the outside pieces were cooked and the middle 6-8 pieces were definitely not. in fact when i removed all the pieces around them to put in a container to take to mum's the top half slid off the bottom half of some of the pieces lol the picture above shows the slice on the rack upside down - it's so sloppy in the middle i can't even turn it over!!!

at least what i gave mum was cooked fine :)

so, i doubled the recipe and put it in a quite large tray, but it still came out quite thick, probably 4cm thick. I think next time i would double the cream cheese part (as it was quite thin) and cook 150% of the chocolate part. I'll put the quantities in the recipe for 100%, 150% and 200% ;D

this slice was perfect for gluten free baking, you'd never know it was!

MARBLED CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE SLICE
185g (280g, 370g) butter, cubed
25g (40g, 50g) cocoa
220g (330g, 440g) sugar
2 (3, 4) eggs
160g (240g, 320g) plain gluten free flour
250g (380g, 500g) cream cheese, softened
75g (110g, 150g) sugar, extra
5g (10g, 15g) vanilla
1 (1, 2) egg, extra

Melt butter with cocoa, 90'c, speed 2 for 3 or so minutes

add sugar and turn onto speed 3, add eggs through lid one by one

Add flour, and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4-5. scrape down sides of bowl and mix for another 10 seconds speed 4-5

Pour mixture into lined lamington tin.

Clean bowl with water (20 seconds speed 8) and empty out.

Add cream cheese, vanilla and extra sugar and extra egg. Mix speed 3 til the cream cheese is no longer a solid lump and then turn up to speed 4 and mix for around 20-30 secs

Pour over chocolate mixture, swirl through with knife for marbled effect.

Bake in 180C oven 40 (or so) mins, cool in tin, cut when cold

---- Sent from my 3 mobile

Creamy Chocolate & Strawberry Iceblocks

Just found this in mum's New Idea magazine and Ryan wants to make them...

Creamy chocolate:
1 cup thick vanilla custard
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup chocolate topping

Creamy strawberry:
250g punnet strawberries, stems removed
2/3 thick vanilla custard
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup Strawberry topping

mix each set of ingredients, whisking well in a food processor
pour into moulds and freeze until set.



posted by Karen at http://brazen20au.blogspot.com

Wicked Chocolate Dip!

Wicked Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients
200 gram bar of Toblerone **
125ml cream
Honey (optional)
Liqueur of your choice (optional)

Things to dip with
Such as….
Banana
Strawberries
Pineapple
Any type of fruit that goes well with chocolate!
Musk sticks
Liquorice sticks
Marshmallows
Wafer biscuits

Method
1. Break chocolate into pieces and add cream in 1 litre microwave jug.
2. Cook uncovered for 2 minutes.
3. Stir with the Tupperchef spatula until well combined and smooth.
4. Add honey & liqueur to taste.

Serving suggestions

Pour chocolate fondue into the centre receptacle of the Alfresco serving centre and arrange your choice of dipping items in the compartments around the edge
Or
Pour mixture into 600ml illusions bowl. Place 600ml bowl in 2.4ltr platter and arrange your choice of dipping items around it!

Notes
• Condensation or water from anywhere will ruin your chocolate, so never put the lid on your 1 litre microwave jug while cooking chocolate as well as making sure everything is well dried!
• ** You can use other types of chocolate if you prefer such as dark or white or other flavours, just make sure you choose a good quality brand, not cooking chocolate.
• The fondue can be flavoured with any liquor you like
• Be creative with your dipping items
• If you can bear to wait, this is even nicer once it’s slightly cooled and thicker!

Got Stale Cake? (GF, TMX)

Last Wednesday I made a double batch of gluten free chocolate patty cakes (cupcakes) being one of the few things my whole family will eat (bar me ;))

quite a few got eaten but there were still a LOT left. we took them to a friend's on thursday morning where a handful more got eaten and then I didn't get home til 7pm that night, and they sat in the back of the car for hours before getting home. Gluten free cakes don't stay fresh at the best of times so i knew no one would want these after all that.

They sat in their container waiting to be thrown out. waiting. waiting. and waiting. Eventually today i decided that surely there must be something i could do with them instead of just tossing them (and bakerella's cake pops hadn't excited me all that much when we made them last). so after a bit of googling this is what i made. it was a huge hit :D

Stale Cake 'Stuff'

stale gluten free chocolate cakes - 1 whole cake or around 15 patty cakes
600g milk
40g white rice flour
60g brown sugar
2 eggs
20g butterscotch liqueur (plus extra for soaking if you are making an adult dessert)
strawberry sauce (optional *)

place the cakes in the thermomix, and chop on speed 5 until nicely crumbled, place in a bowl. if using extra liqueur add it now and mix well

place the rest of the ingredients (except strawberry sauce) into thermomix and cook 7 minutes 90' speed 4

place a layer of cake crumbs (around 6mm) on the bottom of a round glass dish (approx 20cm across). top with a gently poured layer of custard.
repeat crumbs, top with strawberry sauce if using, then repeat custard.
repeat crumbs and custard, then top with a final thinner layer of crumbs.

you could also top with grated chocolate or sifted cocoa

leave it to sit for around half an hour (or refridgerate if you want to have it cold) and serve.

* i didn't use the sauce as 2 of my family wouldn't have eaten it then, but i think it would go wonderfully.

Cherry Slice

Another of mum's old recipes...

1/2 packet Morning Coffee Biscuits
1 tin condensed milk
1/2 lb coconut
pink / red food colouring
4oz copha
3oz red glace cherries
4oz cooking chocolate

place biscuits to line a lamington type tin
melt 3oz of copha and add to this chopped cherries, condensed milk, coconut & colouring. spread over biscuits
melt other 1oz copha with chocolate, pour and spread
freezes well, in summertime keep in fridge or freezer

Chocolate Chip n Cashew Cookies (GF, TMX)

based on a recipe from the Thermomix Everyday book - which has a terrible error in my copy, do NOT use the bicarb in them! - these aren't as good as my fave cookies of all times, but are much quicker and easier ;) the times and speeds below are out of the everyday cookbook as well and I remember they weren't right but I didn't write down the correct ones - will do that next time and update!

100g raw cashews
250g softened butter *
150g raw sugar
10g vanilla essence
2 eggs
300g gluten free plain flour **
pinch salt
200g chocolate chips (or block chocolate in chunks - use tmx turbo)

preheat oven to 190'c

place nuts in tmx bowl, chop on speed 4 until lightly chopped (maybe 3-5 seconds?)

add butter and melt for 30 seconds at 50'c on speed 3 (* my butter was straight from the fridge so I melted it for around 80 seconds)

add sugar and vanilla and mix for 20 seconds on speed 3

add eggs and beat on speed 3 gradually adding dry ingredients for up to 30 seconds.

add choc bits and mix for 10 seconds on reverse + speed soft (i think i had to use speed 3 or so to mix here)

drop teaspoonfuls onto trays and bake 10-12 mins

** i make my own using the recipe in the Gluten Free Wheat Free cookbook

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake (TMX)

based on the Apple Tea Cake recipe this is SO quick and easy and the kids loved it!


Butter (60g)
Milk (200g)
Egg (1)
Vanilla Essence (half teaspoon)
Gluten free plain flour * (190g)
gluten free baking powder * 2 tspns
Raw Sugar (100g)
Pinch Salt
1 tablespoon Cocoa

Preheat oven to moderate and grease your cake tin (I made patty cakes, the traditional sort ;))

Melt butter in tmx bowl for 2 mins, 90 degrees, speed 1.

Add milk, vanilla essence and egg. Mix for 5 seconds on speed 7.

Add flour, baking powder, cocoa, sugar and salt. Mix for 10 seconds, speed 5.

Tip half batter into tin and bake for 30-35 minutes. (patty cakes took about 15 mins)

* I make my own using the recipes in the Everyday cookbook and the Gluten free wheat free cookbook.

Mandarin Success this time!

well the clementine cake might have been a disaster but this Macadamia and Mandarin Fudge sure wasn't!!! and soooo easy too... my guests loved it!

based on Chelsea's recipe here, i subbed my clementine for the limes, and added some orange essence.

150g toasted macadamia nuts
zest of one large clementine mandarin, scrubbed well
395g can condensed milk
500g white chocolate
1/2 - 1 tspn orange essence


Line a 18cm square tin with a piece of baking paper (so that the paper comes up the sides).
Place nuts in bowl and chop using turbo. set aside
Place the zest in the bowl and grate finely (10 seconds, speed 8 ). Set aside.
Place the chocolate in the bowl and grate (5 seconds, speed 8 ).
Add condensed milk to the chocolate and melt/combine (approx. 5-7 minutes, 50 degrees, speed 1). Check often and stop when fully melted. I found i had to stir with a spatula as it was a bit thick for the thermomix to stir evenly.
Add zest, essence and chopped nuts and combine (approx. 30 seconds, speed 1).
Tip into tray and refrigerate until set. Cut into squares and keep in fridge.

Crazy for Custard! (GF, TMX)

my kids (and dh) love custard! here's how we make it gluten free...

each recipe makes enough for the kids and dh to have custard for dessert with none left over, or this morning the strawberry filled 9 Tupperware snack cups, i'd assume the vanilla or chocolate would fill 8. I'm not sure about freezing it but am going to try and see how it goes. adjust the sugar to your taste.

this recipe makes quite a thick custard so if you'd rather a thin pouring custard you could either reduce the flour or increase the milk. please note that you need more flour (60g i think) if you are using regular wheat flour instead of gluten free.


if you are making it to keep you should pour it into your container/s then cover carefully with clingwrap so that the clingwrap covers the top of the custard, or today i just put the lids on while it was still quite warm. This stops the custard getting a skin on it.

Vanilla Custard
500g milk
40g sugar of any kind
40g gluten free flour (i use the TMX blend)
2 eggs
1 tspn (or a splash) of vanilla essence

cook for 7 minutes on 90'c speed 4



Chocolate Custard
500g milk
40g sugar of any kind
30g gluten free flour (i use the TMX blend)
1 slightly heaped tspn cocoa
2 eggs
1 tspn (or a splash) of vanilla essence

cook for 7 minutes on 90'c speed 4



Strawberry Custard
500g milk
40g sugar of any kind
40g gluten free flour (i use the TMX blend)
2 eggs
1 tspn (or a splash) of vanilla essence
5-10 strawberries, washed and hulled

cook for 7 minutes on 90'c speed 4


i'm sure you could do a yummy banana custard too, but emelia is the only one of my lot to like bananas.

if i have spare egg yolks i will throw them in the custard and reduce the flour a bit, but the one time i made it without any flour it curdled so i always include at least a little flour to keep the consistency right.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake recipes

I posted on eb and asked for some chocolate cake recipes as my kids love it (but I don't). here are the ones that were shared. so far I've only made Kerry's (it came out a little dry for me, probably my silly oven, but the kids love it anyway). going to try another today for a playdate this afternoon...

Kerry's GF Chocolate Cake

125g butter (i use dairy free)
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 teaspoon of vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups SR GF flour (white wings i use)
1/3 cup of milk (soy milk)
1 tablespoon of cocoa

Mix butter , sugar and vanilla beat in one egg at a time
Add flour and milk alternately beat until smooth. Bake in 180 oven for about 30 mins or until springy

I have also changed it taken out the cocoa and added cinnamon and apple and it makes the yummiest apple cinnamon cake sprinkle a bit of cinnamon sugar on top before you bake it.

Sarita's Chocolate Cake
Gluten free, soy free, egg free, dairy free. The cornflour can be replaced with arrowroot or potato flour.

Makes one 24 cm cake

Preheat the oven to 190 C

Line a tin with baking paper.

½ cup boiling water (125 ml)
35 gm cocoa or 35 grams of carob powder
90 grams butter, nuttelex or margarine
220 grams sugar
6 tbps of apple sauce
80 grams ground almonds
80 grams rice flour
40 grams brown rice flour
40 grams maize cornflour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp guar gum or xanthan gum

Add the carob or cocoa to the boiling water. Leave to cool.

Beat the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the apple sauce. The mixture will look curdled but that won’t affect the cake’s taste or texture.

Sift the flours, baking powder and gum together.

Add the cooled water and carob/cocoa mixture and beat. Add almonds.
Beat in the flours.

Pour into tin. Bake for 40 minutes. Cool in tin.

Lime & Coconut Cookies (GF,TMX)

it's Thermomix competition time again! as usual i forgot to get any recipes into the comp *rolling eyes*

however i have just made the first recipe for the comp - the Lime & Coconut Cookies. If the dough is anything to go by these are fantastic!!! *drool*

here is my GF version of the recipe, thanks to Natalee for entering it :)


Lime and Coconut Cookies
Ingredients
Zest and juice 2 limes
170g raw sugar
120g cold butter
120g gluten free plain flour
60g gluten free SR flour
100g quinoa flakes
45g shredded coconut
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
80-100g white chocolate

Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Place zest into TM bowl and mill for 15 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down sides of bowl and repeat if necessary.
Add sugar and mill for 15-20 seconds on speed 8 - each time you hear the sugar get quiet scrape down and start again.
Add butter and blend for 10 seconds on speed 6.
Add remaining ingredients except for chocolate and mix a further 10 seconds on Reverse + speed 4.
Place heaped teaspoons of mix onto lined baking trays, flatten slightly and cook for 12-15 minutes until golden around edges.
Remove from oven and cool completely.
To prepare chocolate, place into clean dry TM bowl and mill for 5 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down and melt for 2½ minutes at 50ºC on speed 1. Scrape into Ziploc plastic bag, snip corner off to drizzle over lined up cookies.

Choc Pix (GF, TMX)

Ok, Emelia and I have just made a double batch... will report later as to how these turned out with the changes * ;) this is a great recipe to make with kids because it's so easy.

Choc Pix (Gluten free, Thermomix version)

210g raw sugar
230g butter at room temp
20g cocoa
150g dessicated coconut
290g Gluten Free SR flour (i used Edwards??)
10g guar gum
2 eggs
1 tspn vanilla

mill sugar on speed 6 for around 20 seconds to make it finer. cream butter & sugar on speed 5 for around 5 seconds, scrape down sides and repeat.

add flour, guar gum, coconut & cocoa. Mix on reverse speed 5 until mostly mixed (20 secs?) add egg & vanilla through lid and mix well - perhaps another 20 seconds on speed 5?

bake 325'F (165'C) for around 8 minutes.

best thing with this recipe is that i don't like them LOL


* they are a bit too dry and crumbly so will play with the recipe again soon to see if i can improve it.

Choc Pix

an old recipe (i just found a recipe folder i started years ago) taht i think i got from a friend, or maybe i copied it from a recipe mum got from a friend.

if there's one bad thing the internet has done for recipes it's that we no long handwrite copies of recipes for each other. i really treasure mum's handwritten recipes and the fact that when i see the writing i know who wrote them straight away.

Choc Pix

4oz margarine
1 tab cocoa
1 egg
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup SR flour
1/2 tspn vanilla

cream marg & sugar. sift & add flour & cocoa. mix well and add egg & vanilla. add coconut.
bake 325'F (165'C)

Just to make Damian jealous...

hehhehe


it was Geoff's birthday today so I decided to make him this cheesecake (and yes, that is the infamous cauliflower tagine i've been waiting for!) unfortunately violet crumbles and crunchie bars aren't gluten free (not many lollies are, surprisingly) so i had to use shaved chocolate as the decoration - next time i would use a combo of dark and white shaved.

Chocolate Cheesecake - gluten free version
as always please check ingredients to ensure brands are still gluten free

Ingredients
270g chocolate gluten free biscuits (or we used a mix of freedom chocolate ones and arnotts rice cookies)
55g butter
125g block milk chocolate (we used Cadbury
60g caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste or essence
750g cream cheese
5 eggs
160g sour cream
2 tbsp Dutch process cocoa mixed with a little warm water
small block of white and small block of dark chocolate
gluten free heart sprinkles

Method
Place biscuits and 40g butter into TM bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 7.
Press into large spring form pan and bake in 160°C oven for 10 minutes. Set aside.
In clean TM bowl chop chocolate with remaining 15g butter for 5 seconds on speed 4. Melt for 4 minutes at 37°C on speed soft.
Add sugar, essence and cream cheese and beat for 30 seconds on speed 8.
Add remaining ingredients and blend for 1 minute on speed 9.
Wrap a double layer of foil around the outside of the springform pan.
Pour cheesecake mix into spring form pan and place in a water bath in 160°C oven.
Cook for 1 hour or until set in centre.
Cool.
cover with peelings of chocolate and sprinkles sprinkled over lol



to be honest i wasn't that excited by this cheesecake, but i am not a chocolate cheesecake lover anyway! i think the honeycomb would have made it more interesting, or some baileys or other liqueur and / or berries would have made it more interesting.

it was not my day for cooking though, as i burnt the crust a little by having to go to the shop after putting it in the oven (mind you, the trip meant having to put the kids in our little car, without them all being properly restrained like they are in the big car, but g had taken that to put petrol in - usually we never need to go out when we're home alone with the kids on a weekend!!) i had only bought 250g of cream cheese and needed 3 times that!

i have made cheesecake 2-3 times in my life and have to admit i am no cheesecake chef :(

2 GF recipes from Skye...

thanks so much for thinking of us skye, these sound delish!

G.F peppermint slice
*125gm soft butter
*105gm gf icing sugar
*1 egg
*half tsp each peppermint and vanilla extract
*1cup g.f rice flour
*1cup g.f cornflour
*35g cocoa

Preheat oven to 180`c,cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy,add
egg,and essence,beat well
Sift flours and cocoa,fold in dry ingredients until mixture is combined.roll into balls and bake for 10mins



Sweet maple treats gluten, nut and egg free
*125g soft butter
*1tsp vanilla extract
*1/3 cup maple syrup
*270g g.f rice flour
*70g g.f cornflour

Preheat oven to 180`c,cream butter,vanilla and maple syrup until light and fluffy,sift flours,fold in dry ingredients until just combined. Roll into balls and cook for 10mins or golden brown