Gluten Free Sweet / Teatime Scones

This is a sweet twist on the new cheese scones recipe we posted last week and perfect for a picnic or cream tea, just add some fresh cream and jam!

Preparation time -  5 minutes
Cooking time - ~15 minutes (less for a fan assisted oven)
Makes / Serves - 6 average sized scones
Child friendly - 3/5
Difficulty rating - 1/5

Ingredients:

200 g gluten-free plain flour alternative
25 g caster sugar
40 g butter (or good quality spreadable)
100 g natural yoghurt
50 ml milk (plus extra for brushing)
1 tablespoon gluten-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 230 C / 450 F / Gas Mark 8 and prepare a baking tray by lightly greasing or lining with baking paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, caster sugar, baking powder and xanthan gum, mix well.
3. Add the butter and rub into the dry ingredients with your fingers until it has a consistency similar to breadcrumbs.
4. Add the milk and yoghurt, then use a spoon to blend everything together into a dough.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed gently until it reaches a consistency that can easily be rolled out.
6. Roll out the dough to a thickness of around 2-3cm and cut out the scones with a 5 cm round cutter (or similar), re-rolling the left over dough and cutting out more until you run out of dough.
7. Arrange the scones on your baking tray, leaving as much space between them as possible, and brush them with a little milk.
8. Put the baking tray near the top of the oven and bake for around 15 minutes or until risen evenly browned.
9. Leave on the tray to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Tips:

1. If you do not have a suitable cutter just improvise with an upturned ramekin, small glass, or something similar!
2. This recipe can be easily adapted to make traditional fruit scones by adding either 80-100 g of halved or quartered glacé cherries or 50-60 g of sultanas.

Abigails Gluten Free Cheese Scones

We came up with this recipe just a few months ago when Abigail needed an alternative recipe for her cooking class at school, we were amazed at just how well they came out and only had to make a couple of minor tweaks to the recipe!

Preparation time -  5 minutes
Cooking time - ~15 minutes (less for a fan assisted oven)
Makes / Serves - 6 average sized scones
Child friendly - 3/5
Difficulty rating - 1/5

Ingredients:

200 g gluten-free plain flour alternative
40 g butter (or good quality spreadable)
100 g natural yoghurt
40 g mature cheddar cheese
50 ml milk (plus extra for brushing)
1 tablespoon gluten-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 230 C / 450 F / Gas Mark 8 and prepare a baking tray by lightly greasing or lining with baking paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt, mix well.
3. Add the butter and rub into the dry ingredients with your fingers until it has a consistency similar to breadcrumbs.
4. Add the cheese, milk and yoghurt, then use a spoon to blend everything together into a dough.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed gently until it reaches a consistency that can easily be rolled out.
6. Roll out the dough to a thickness of around 2-3cm and cut out the scones with a 5 cm round cutter (or similar), re-rolling the left over dough and cutting out more until you run out of dough.
7. Arrange the scones on your baking tray, leaving as much space between them as possible, and brush them with a little milk.
8. Put the baking tray near the top of the oven and bake for around 15 minutes or until risen evenly browned.
9. Leave on the tray to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Tips:

1. If you do not have a suitable cutter just improvise, for the scones pictured Abigail actually used a small glass ramekin!
2. You could easily adjust this recipe to your taste, for example you could use a different cheese, add 3 teaspoons of dried onion, 1 teaspoon of dried herbs, a combination of these or something completely different, be creative!

Gluten Free Scotch Eggs

This was one of our most popular recipes from the old site and although it can be quite a messy one is actually very easy, you might need to make them a couple of times to get the amount or bread / rolls right though as this does depend on brand etc (I recommend our 'Bread For Gluten Free Breadcrumbs' recipe for rolls of an ideal crumbing consistency). The end results beat any supermarket bought scotch egg by a long way, a great addition to any packed lunch or picnic.

Preparation time - ~30 minutes
Cooking time - ~5 minutes
Makes / Serves - 6
Child friendly - 3/5
Difficulty rating - 1/5

Ingredients:

6 eggs (hard boiled)
2 eggs (beaten)
200-250 g fine gluten-free breadcrumbs (depends on brand)
500 g gluten-free sausage meat
70 g gluten-free plain flour alternative
vegetable or sunflower oil for frying

Method:

1. Shell the boiled eggs and put to one side.
2. Divide the sausage meat into six roughly even portions.
3. Put the flour in a small bowl and roll each egg in it individually, again placing them to one side as you go.
4. Wrap a sausage meat portion around each egg as evenly as you can, forming a ball shape.
5. One at a time dip the sausage encased eggs into the beaten eggs and then immediately roll it in the breadcrumbs, ensuring an even coverage.
6. Heat the oil to 180 C / 350 F and cook each egg for around 5 minutes or until you are happy that the sausage meat is cooked and the breadcrumbs are browned. 
7. Roll on a paper towel to remove excess oil, serve warm or allow to cool and chill for later, they should keep fine in the fridge for a few days.

Tips:

1. For a healthier alternative you could bake them in a pre-heated oven for 25 minutes at 190 C / 375 F /  Gas Mark 5, turning halfway through to ensure even browning. Although most people would agree they taste better fried!
2. If your intending to eat them warm (straight after cooking) you can use eggs that are slightly less well boiled and have a softer, even slightly runny, yolk for a more traditional taste.
3. If you want to try something a little different add some chilli, onion, garlic, herbs,  black pepper or a combination such as garlic and tarragon to the sausage meat  at step 2 and mix in thoroughly , be creative!