Christmas was made for baking! I love baking all year round but I find at Christmas it feels a little more fun and I also find I have more people to feed my bakes to!

I wanted to make these Delicious Alchemy ginger breads quite a while ago, but as my oven decided against it, we have only just made them this weekend! My best friend, Rosie, came over on Saturday and with prosecco and Christmas films in hand we decided to have a festive day!

This recipe is super simple like all DA's mixes and only takes a few minutes to mix together! After mixing, we rolled out the dough. Using some festive mini cutters we cut out a variety of shapes and popped them in the oven, just until they were golden. We managed to make about 30 mini cookies, which would be great for a buffet or share around an office!

Once out of the oven and cooled we decided to ice the cookies,at which point we realised icing biscuits is not our forte! But we had a few successful ones! We managed to salvage some candy canes and mittens from our awful icing!

Flavour wise, these gingerbreads are lovely with spicy and warm notes. There is a hit of sweetness from the golden syrup and I found that these biscuits have a good snap but aren't too hard.  This simple baking mix results in very successful biscuits and Rosie, who is not gluten free, really enjoyed them too!

This pack retails on the Delicious Alchemy website for £2.00 so is a very inexpensive way of catering this Christmas. ASDA sell pre-made gingerbread men, which comparatively are more expensive and not half as fun to make!

I'd love to know what you like baking at Christmas! I am hoping to make the stuffing from DA over the coming week!

Hannah x

Ham is a classic boxing day staple. If you are looking to mix it up this year but still want to serve pork and the typical roasted or boiled ham is becoming a bore, why not try pulled pork instead?

This super simple recipe doesn't even need much attention, so perfect for when you want to be socialising with friends and family, rather than standing over a stove all afternoon!

For the pulled pork recipe you will need:

• Boneless Pork shoulder, as this is the best for pulled pork as it's easy to shred
• Sweet Mandarin BBQ sauce, any will do but this one is gluten and nut free! 
• Warburtons Newburn Bakehouse seeded sandwich thins (to make into sandwiches)

For this recipe the only tool you need is a slow cooker so minimal mess too! 

Put the pork shoulder, if you don't have a boneless one, remove the bones first, and place in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours

Once cooked, remove the pork and shred, ensuring you remove all fat. 

Drain the slow cooker of any liquids, place the pulled pork back in, mix in plenty of the BBQ marinade and put back on low for another hour. 

Once the timer goes off, that is it! Simple no fuss food! Perfect for parties if you bought £5 worth of  meat, it could easily serve up to 8 people. 

To serve I love pulled pork with the Warburton's sandwich thins which are free from dairy and gluten so this whole meal is suitable for those with gluten and dairy allergies as the Sweet Mandarin Marinade is also free from these allergens! 

Cook up some chips, make a salad and bring out all the left over party food from christmas day and enjoy! 

Hannah x   

*Some products in this post were sent to me to try, all recipe ideas and opinions are my own

The colder months have well and truly hit us and so I have been after more warming, filling comfort food. When I received the Warburton's Artisan Cob with Orange and Sultanas, I just knew that this was calling to be used in a recipe!

With half of the loaf I am going to make a bread a butter pudding, but as my oven decided to break down and I am currently waiting for a new part, I have had to get creative with a slow cooker, microwave and cooking torch!

Apple crumble is one of my favourite warming puddings and I am always looking for ways to add a little twist to traditional dishes. So when I saw that this bread is more sweet than savoury, I wondered if making the loaf into breadcrumbs would make a more sweet topping for a crumble rather than the more typical use of breadcrumbs in savoury foods, so I gave it a go!

So here is what I did!

You will need:

• Two cooking apples
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon 
• Warburtons Newburn Bakehouse Artisan Cob with Orange and Sultanas

Method:

This recipe would more than likely work better in a oven but as I only had a slow cooker at the time this is what I did!

Chop the apples into squares, I like mine rather small but this is personal preference. 

Put the apple in a small pyrex dish and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon through the apples to sweeten. I do this unmeasured and when it looks enough I stop, but I would say I put about half a cup of sugar and half a teaspoon of cinnamon per two apples. 

Cut a slice from the centre of the loaf about an inch thick and with a blender or food processor blitz this into breadcrumbs. 

Mix the breadcrumbs with about half a cup of sugar. I tried this recipe without adding butter to this mix to see if a dairy free version is possible, and it worked well as the sugar binds the topping slightly but you could always add butter or a dairy free spread and combine this to create a breadcrumb consistency if you wanted a richer flavour and a more bonded crumble.

I then put this is the slow cooker for 2 hours, if you were using an oven I would give the crumble about 30-40 minutes. 

If cooked in the slow cooker the top will not have crisped as you would typically expect from an oven cooked crumble. To create this crispiness, sprinkle some extra brown sugar on the top and heat with a cooking torch.

Enjoy with custard or cream, this winter warmer will surely put a smile on the families faces! 

Hannah x   

*This product was sent to me to try, all recipe ideas and opinions are my own 

Now it's the first of December I think I can officially get Christmassy! Last week I was preempting the festivities by baking some chocolate cakes and adding some snowflake sprinkles!

Simple Mills are one of my favourite baking mixes when I want a quick bake. With all natural ingredients and being free from gluten, dairy and soy, these mixes are great for most dietary requirements.

Simple Mills mixes can be found on Make it Gluten Free Ltd's website and this particular pack retails at £5.20 and claims to make 12 muffins, although mine made 15, which after eggs and flavourings makes these about 50p a muffin. Which I think isn't too unreasonable!

To make these muffins all you need is eggs, oil and vanilla flavouring. Mix these together and then slowly incorporate the dry mix. Then bake until risen, which takes 20-30 minutes and that's all there is to it! The whole process only takes about 40 minutes.

In terms of frosting, I used a butter and cream cheese mix, of course these can be swapped for dairy free alternatives to create the same affect. In a bowl put 300g icing sugar, 50g butter, 125g cream cheese and 1/2-3/4 cup cocoa powder, depending on how chocolatey you would like it. You can also add some vanilla, but as there is quite a bit in the cake mix, I decided not to. Then just mix until it's a smooth icing. Spread or pipe onto the cakes. In the move I had misplaced my piping bags so I had to spread the icing this time! Then add sprinkles! Done!

I would say that these muffins do need a frosting to prevent them tasting too dry as the cupcake itself is quite dark in flavour. The icing gives it the lift it needs and if I had any I think they would have looked great with some edible glitter to finish them! Everything is better with a bit of glitter!

If you have baked this mix in any of the other ways suggested on the pack, I would love to know what you thought!

Hannah x

*This product was gifted to me to try, all opinions are my own

Cooking from scratch isn't something I have had much time for previously, but I am trying to make more of an effort to find time for it now I have my own kitchen. As it is getting a bit nippy in the air and I live with a guy who could eat for Britain, I have learnt fast that things need to be filling! So for my first attempt at cooking a hearty meal from scratch, I chose a beef pie, with a little help from Silly Yak on the pastry front!

The pie I made was actually a combination of recipes and a bit of winging it as I wanted to cook the pie filling in the slow cooker whilst I was at work!

So here is what I did!

Ingredients
400g Beef, diced
One onion
Beef stock cube
Parsley
Thyme
Salt and pepper
Silly Yak Pastry
Instant gravy
Veg of your choice

Very simply I sealed the beef in a frying pan and popped this in the slow cooker. I then added the onions to the pan and softened them, they were then popped in the slow cooker too.

Next I added half a teaspoon of parsley and thyme to the pot and salt and pepper to season.

Then make 1/2 pint of stock with one stock cube, I used Knorr stock cubes, but any gluten free stock cube would work!

This was then poured into the slow cooker pot and allowed to cool. Place in the fridge overnight.

The next day put the slow cooker on low for 4 hours to cook the pie filling, this makes the beef super tender!

Decant the mix into a pie dish, I recommend not adding all the stock as it would be quite watery and the beef has marinated in this mix for hours.

Roll out the Silly Yak pastry and place this on the top of the mix, if you remembered to buy eggs (unlike me), this is a good point to glaze with an egg wash, and cook for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden.

Make the instant gravy using a one parts of the left over stock and two parts water, I used the water from the veg I was boiling to make it even more tasty!

Serve with veg and mash! I only have veg with a pie but James likes mash too!

Hannah x

Whilst in Rye, James and I took a look in their Deli as it seemed bursting with some really interesting and unique food! As you would expect from a deli there were plenty of quiches, pies, cheeses and meats but also a wide range of cupboard foods, from crackers to boozy chocolates, there was something for everyone!

They had a huge range of different gluten free bits too, brands that I find it hard to get hold of or even some I had never heard of! The staff were also exceptionally helpful, they tried to help find products that may have been of interest to me and locate certain items they knew they had, it was a very refreshing shopping experience!

I could have bought so much but as we are moving soon I thought it would be best just to get a couple of bits and pop back there, maybe in the winter, I love shopping in small towns in the cold weather!

So here is what I chose;

RW Garcia Organic Veggie Tortilla Chips - £3.95
We love nacho nights and most Mexican food, so when I saw these and the blue tortilla chips, I knew I had to try one! In the end I decided on the veggie ones as the blue ones are meant to taste like normal tortillas, whereas these are spinach and garlic, beetroot and onion and carrot, tomato and sesame flavours. They sound really unique and tasty with some Mexican dips and fajitas!

Farmhouse Biscuits - Traditionally made English biscuits with chocolate chips - £3.95
Let's be honest, the packaging drew me to this product, particularly for Christmas! The whole styling spoke to me and I hope they taste as good as they look! I have had quite a few chocolate chip biscuits but these look crisp and buttery, so I'm hoping for great things!

If you are ever in Rye I would seriously suggest you pop in the Rye Deli and take a look around, I will certainly be going back for some of their fresh produce too!

Hannah x

It was surprisingly sunny on Sunday, so James and I headed over to Rye as we fancied browsing a seaside town. Of course no matter where we are, we are looking for free from goodies and all things kitchen related! Being full of independent shops I love Rye, as a small business owner myself I love supporting others running their unique and interesting business ventures!

If you know me in person you would know that the whole 50's era is something I am in love with so when I found the vintage kitchen shop, Jane Wicks Kitchenalia, I couldn't resist having a look! I honestly wanted to buy one of everything but I was reserved and chose an up-cycled tray which was painted pink for £14. I am so in love with it! The pastel pink suits the style of our flat and our wedding so it can be used in both! I thought it would be lovely to pop confetti bags or pre made sweetie favours on our pick and mix table!

The vintage shop next door had old school 1/3 pint milk bottles for £3. My dad had told me for years how he used to get milk at school in these small 1/3 pint bottle and were one of his found memories of being a child, so I couldn't resist as I saw a new prop potential! I was tempted to buy more but I was just wasn't too sure where I would put them all! But nevertheless I love it all the same!

I would love to know if you know any seaside towns or small towns like Rye, I love anything like this so I would love to know more places to go!

Hannah x

The Brownie Bar were at the Cake and Bake show this year. My brother came back with a mass of brownies to hand out to the family and for a change I was able to be included, as they make gluten free versions and he got hold of one for me!

Being wrapped individually to avoid cross contamination, this free from brownie looked amazing on first appearance before even trying it. The white and milk chips peaking out of the sides of a gooey looking centre. The top was a typical crispy crunchy brownie, but it was the layer underneath that really made it stand out from the crowd, slightly dense but super soft and gooey, this brownie certainly has a luxurious texture to it. Having an occasional large chocolate chunk to add an extra bit of creaminess. They are simply to die for!

Being very rich in flavour, with a quite dark brownie base which is then lifted by the milk and white chips laced through the bake, makes a truly perfect flavour. Let's face it we have all had a lot of brownies, as they seem to be the free from option for most coffee shops, but I was left so impressed with these!

Looking online they seem to not only do gluten free but also gluten and dairy free options! The flavours all sound so tasty too! The Triple chocolate was fab but the salted caramel, nutella and raspberry ones also sound delicious!

If you are interested in looking at their range you can find it here! Also the boxes are pick and mix which means you can try one of each flavour! I assume they will be individually wrapped like mine were so you could even order some for the gluten eaters without fear of them touching!

Hannah x

On Sunday my brother headed over to the Excel centre to take part in the Magic card game show. As he was leaving he saw the cake and bake show was on too, so he popped in and picked me up a few gluten free goodies!

He knows I love Delicious Alchemy a great deal and I had bored his ears off at work that week about their new gingerbread mix! So as they had their normal three for £5 deal he picked me up a pack of the gingerbread mix, the stuffing mix and another brownie mix as I had used my last one for a coffee corner at a craft fair I organised earlier last week.

He also got me a pack of the christmas cake mix as I missed out on this one last year. However this was not in the deal, but was still only £4 and the bag is huge! As I will hopefully be in our new home for Christmas I can't wait to bake this and have friends round to watch the Christmas specials of Vicar of Dibley and Gavin and Stacey whilst tucking into cake and mulled wine!

Of course when I bake these I will let you know the outcome, I am intending to make the fudge with the brownie mix for Christmas too, so we will see how that goes!

Hannah x

On Tuesday James and I had a day off so we thought we would do some baking. As we didn't have much time we thought the Simple Mills mix from Make it Gluten Free Ltd would be perfect. I love these natural mixes with ingredients that are easy to understand, so you know exactly what is in the cookies.

This really simple packet mix only requires 15 minutes, and that includes the baking! Just a couple of ingredients later, you have perfect cookies!

To make these cookies, we added 2 tablespoons of milk, 4 tablespoons of oil and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to a bowl. Mix these together and then slowly add the dry mix. We then put tablespoon sized balls on a baking tray and flattened them, pop them in the oven for 10 minutes and that's it! Perfect chewy centre and crispy outer choc chip cookies.

The amount of chips in each cookie was unbelievable, they were packed! I trialed them on the whole family and everyone enjoyed them which is always a good sign! Like all the Simple Mills mixes I have tried, the main component in this mix was almond flour, I have yet to have a dry or crumbly bake when using an almond flour, so I do have a lot of confidence in these mixes turning out as they should first time! I was not let down by this mix either, the texture was so true to what I could remember. On the website it states you could make 20ish cookies, as the box is American and has an american recipe it said makes 12. I made 10 in the end as I wanted quite large cookies, as these are one thing hard to find in the shops gluten free.

If you are looking for a large cookie, like the ones I look longingly at in a bakery, I would strongly suggest giving this mix a go. Being quick and pretty mess free it isn't too time consuming and means it's an easy evening bake, possibly even quicker than popping to the shops for treats!

Retailing at £5.20 you can find these mixes from Make it Gluten Free Ltd either on their website or at one of the many shows they attend, I believe they are in the Excel Centre this weekend if you are looking to try some products!

Hannah x

Aldi were on fire with their gluten free week! Such a wide range of choices, even if there was only a small selection in general! One thing that really jumped out at me were the mini muffins by Scott's. Lets face it I have had a fair few gluten free muffins in my time, but never a mini one. If you're anything like me, mini versions of anything are irresistible, so I had to give them a go!

A pack of six cost £1.29, which is only 22p each! Compared to some brands where you can pay up to £3 for two large ones! Even eating two only makes this 44p per serving! So at 126 calories per muffin, that's exactly what I ate for breakfast the last few days.

The muffins themselves were beautifully textured with a nice bounce and moistness to them. I could have eaten the whole pack, they were so great! Flavour wise these muffins do not have a powederiness or bicarbonate aftertaste, like a few muffins I have had before. I did feel that the blueberries were a little lacking in a couple of the muffins, but even distribution of a fruit in a cake batter can be tricky at the best of times, without adding the blueberries to each case afterwards that is!

The other thing I enjoyed about these were that they actually say gluten free on the case! How much easier does that make catering at parties. Nobody fears eating the wrong food or avoid the buffet table, thinking that there is nothing for them to eat.

Unfortunately I cannot find these stocked elsewhere so I think these will just have to be a one off treat!

Hannah x

Gluten free special buy week in Aldi? Yes please! An Aldi store opened last week which is a two minute walk from my office, so the timing couldn't be more perfect. James and I headed there Monday evening to see what bargains we could find!

I was hoping the 99p pasta would be in stock, and considering it was only on sale since Sunday I thought I'd have a good chance, but when I got there, there were only three bags of very crushed spaghetti left! Although I missed out on quite a bit there were plenty more goodies!

So here is what I bought!

Crispbread - 69p
I actually got three of these as I find these great for snacks and lunches. As I tend to pay around £2 a pack I couldn't pass up buying up to this value anyway!

Nestle Go  Free Honey Flakes 500g - £1.99
These were not 'super cheap' for this product but I typically see these at £2.20 a box else where, if I am not ordering from Ocado, as they tend to have them on offer. But I have yet to find this variety in stock so I thought I would pick them up!

Scott's blueberry muffins x6 - £1.29
I have never heard of Scott's before, but when I saw mini muffins I knew they would be the perfect breakfast treat. I was torn on the chocolate or blueberry as I thought 12 muffins would be a lot to get through before they expire! I opted for blueberry in the end and I have already eaten a couple and they are delicious!

Snappea chips - 99p
I buy these all the time at M&S for quite a bit more than this so I thought I would give this brand a go, at 91 calories, they are great with some humous and veggies at lunch.

Lee's Snowballs - 99p
These always remind me of Christmas buffets at my Gran's when I was around 6! I had a deep love for these and they would be pilled high on the table just for me. The instant flashback gave me the urge to impulse purchase. These can also be found at other supermarkets for about £1 but when I saw them, I couldn't resist! At only 65 calories they will be great as a evening sweet treat.

Chocolate cookies - £1.29 per box
Not only does the packaging remind me of the Tesco finest cookies but the flavours available were very similar too. The Tesco version retail at £1.80 so if these are just as good, I've just saved 50p a box! I am intrigued to compare these and see which ones I prefer!

I honestly can't believe the whole gluten free section of my shop only came to £9.91, I was very impressed, considering I have months worth of snacks now! We also got a ton of veg, and some food for the week as well as a bed set and a white picture frame ladder (see here), which is so cute and perfect for our wedding and home and the whole lot only came to £40! Considering that homewares only came to £20 too!

My first trip to Aldi where I was purchasing for myself I feel was a huge success! I have not tended to shop there personally before as I felt there wouldn't be much for me as I tend to buy party food for the youth club I help run when we have our parties. But there is so much available, not just in their special buys, I even found this allergen sheet on their website on their own products that are gluten free!

Have you ever tried Aldi, what did you think?

Hannah x

Weekends away are never complete without good food. Bicester is one of our favourite places for a get away and when there is so much good food around, it makes being there even more enjoyable!

Breakfasts are one of my favourite meals, so when I found out that the Farmshop in Bicester Village caters well to allergies at our last visit, I knew that we would have breakfast here every morning of our trip!

Part of the Soho House family, the Farmshop focuses on British food and the quality of this is always second to none. The staff always make visiting a pleasure too, their chatty friendliness makes the environment very inviting and cosy. We have always found that the staff are more than happy to check and amend anything on the menu without feeling you're being awkward, which is very reassuring when dealing with an allergy issue.

Friday morning I decided on their veggie full english, I knew I loved this as I had it twice on our last visit. Consisting of the world's tastiest poached eggs (seriously you have to try these!) this meal has so many veggies, such as spinach, squash, mushroom and tomato. On the side is some gluten free bread and a lovely slice of rich butter. Perfect fuel for a day of shopping!

I forgot to photo Saturday's breakfast but as we were planning a larger lunch we went for their toast and jam option. The marmalade that was served alongside more of the wonderful butter and strawberry jam was thick cut and truly the best marmalade I have had. We then followed this with the most colourful fruit platter! From blueberries to kiwi, this salad was jammed packed of perfectly ripe fruits.

Sunday was our last morning so I opted for avocado toast with poached eggs, this came with basil and chilli flakes as well as a slice of lemon to season. I think this may have been my favourite breakfast of the weekend as the flavours just combined so well together with a bit of sea salt on the top.

I also had a decaf latte and a fresh orange juice with each of these meals. The juice is freshly squeezed with bits, being so light and refreshing, it makes a change from what you find in a carton! James also swears by their flat whites, so if you are a coffee lover, he would recommend that!

We did eat dinner here one evening, but again I forgot to take pictures! If you are ever in the village I would recommend trying their menu any time of the day as all their food is outstanding quality and  you'll certainly not be disappointed.

Hannah x

I've been digging through the freezer again! This time I found my pack of Schar shortcrust pastry. As James and I were heading to a dinner party, we thought what would be a better gift to bring!

This super simple two minute bake is really easy to do with children, or even just if you have some spare time and you'd like to make a sweet treat! We made both raspberry and apricot tarts and the whole process only took half an hour!

Here's how we did it!

You will need

• 1 Block of Schar pastry (they come in packs of two but one block make 12-13 tarts) 
• 1 Jar of seedless raspberry jam
• 1 Jar of apricot jam
• Gluten free flour for rolling the pastry

Method

1. Flour the surfaces and rolling pin and roll your pastry until it is about 75mm thick.
2. Cut the pastry into circles and press this into a shallow bun tin, you tend to find the cheaper the tin, the more shallow it is, mine was only 99p!
3. Pour some rice or baking beads into the pastry to blind bake. You can use anything dried that will weigh the base of the pastry down. 
4. On gas mark 5, bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. 
5. Remove the rice and then fill these tart cases with the jam of your choice
6. Put in the oven for another 10 minutes, partway through this time take then out and smooth the melted jam if needed. 
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool 

It's that simple! Quick and easy recipe for a lazy Sunday! Being a firm family favourite, you know they won't be around for long! 

Hannah x 

Does anyone else go through phases of frivolous purging of their life? I know I do and the freezer is one thing I always feel I need to work my way through before buying more. I dug out a Genius puff pastry that had snuck away over the christmas period, so before it went to waste I thought I would make some cheese straws... with a twist!

Cheese and Bacon Straws

You will need

• One pack of smokey streaky bacon
• One pack of puff pastry
• 200g mature cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper
• One egg to glaze

The first step is to roll out the puff pastry until all of your bacon will fit on, mine was about 5mm thick. 

Then grate the cheese and mix the salt and pepper into it, this just means that the seasoning is more even. 

With an even coating put all of the cheese on top of the pastry, then lay the bacon in strips. 

Cut the pastry between each slice of bacon and then twist these and place on a baking tray, don't worry if some cheese falls out!

Put in the fridge for a few minutes whilst heating the oven to the pastry guidelines. 

Once removed from the fridge, glaze with a beaten egg and then place the fallen cheese on top of the egg. 

Cook for 20-25 minutes. 

Allow to cool and enjoy! 

This super simple recipe takes 10 minutes to prepare and would be perfect at any party buffet table or even just a couple for lunch! If you wanted these to be smaller, cut the bacon strips in half or quarters and you can create bite size ones! 

Hannah x 

The world of social media had a complete melt down when Mcvitie's announced the release of their gluten free hobnobs. In all fairness I was one of these people too! Found in Tesco and Waitrose, the biscuit making giant has pleased the gluten free masses by widening their range to us!

Retailing at around the £2.20 mark for around 8 biscuits, these are still quite on the pricey side for mass produced gluten free products. Nevertheless I picked up a box of both the plain and the chocolate as I couldn't not try them!

Out of the box, my initial thoughts were 'wow they are practically full size' my biggest pet peeve with free from biscuits is that they always look tiny, super tiny sometimes and they don't look very generous on a plate when catering and offering around tea and biscuits. These are a good size and will not leave guests (or you) thinking where's the rest! They are all baked consistently and the overall look of them is very consistent, as you would hope to expect from a brand. None were broken and the packaging is very sturdy so although the high price, I can be assured I can serve biscuits and not crumbs!

Texturally from what I can recall, these biscuits are right on point. They aren't too crumbly but they are just the right amount for a good dunkable absorbent biscuit. The chocolate ones have a nice thick coating of chocolate and in general these biscuits are very generous portions. Taste wise I think they are perfectly comparable to the mainstream equivalent and that there is not much difference, other than the lack of gluten!

The plain hobnobs are around 65 calories and although they do not contain egg, soya or milk, they may contain these ingredients, so just be wary if you have more than just a gluten allergy. Whereas the milk chocolate ones are 85 calories and DO contain soya and milk and may contain eggs. Both options are suitable for veggies though!

I love how more and more big brands are on board for transitioning some of their products to gluten free and I hope we see more soon! I just wish the price was a little more pocket friendly, but this is a constant struggle for us free fromers!

Hannah x