Hello Dear Reader,
I thought it would be easy enough to buy gluten free mince pies and Christmas cake. My local supermarkets didn't sell either at all so I looked online. One well known gluten free supplier offered a cake for just under £10 that gave 'six generous slices'! Since when were six slices generous? I also found gluten free mince pies for sale at four for £2.25. I can understand why....gluten free pastry isn't easy to make. On my first attempt, I added Xanthum gum and they puffed up and were rubbery. This time, I didn't add any and used butter in the pastry and cooked them as suggested and they were hard and crunchy and certainly not buttery and crumbly in the way I wanted them to be. I will try again. My minced pies were made from
200g gluten free flour - 34p
100g of butter - 39p
200g of mincemeat (half a jar) - 50p
Add water until the mixture combines.
Total £1.23 for twelve gluten free mince pies.
Roll out, add mincemeat and top with pastry. I cooked them for 25 minutes, which is too long. They don't brown like ordinary pastry does and I suppose I shouldn't expect it to.
Here's my recipe for my Jack Daniel's Gluten Free Christmas cake.
150g of Dove's Farm Gluten free flour - 26p
500g bag of dried mixed fruit - 95p
2 tablespoons of Jack Daniels - £1
200g of glace cherries - 1.30
125g of salted butter - 50p
125g of soft brown sugar - 31p
rind of 1 lemon - 30p
rind of 1 orange - 30p
3 FR eggs - 50p
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Pour into a lined cake tin. Bake at 150 for two hours. Leave to completely cool in the tin until tomorrow.
Total cost - £5.42 and will easily cut into 16 really generous slices!
I was quite happy to forsake aforementioned seasonal treats but I'm actually glad I've succumbed to some nibbles to see us through until the new year.
Over to you Dear Reader, does anyone else find the cost of gluten free food prohibitively expensive? Does anyone else struggle with pastry?
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxx