Scrumptious Gluten Free Biscuits...

...well they're a kind of a cross between a cake, a biscuit and a cookie! Whatever, they are lovely, and wonderful if you have a sweet tooth like me, but need to be gluten free (like me!).

Ingredients:

225g Cooking Margarine (eg. Stork)
110g Caster Sugar
Vanilla Essence to taste
250g Doves Farm* Gluten & Wheat Free Plain Flour
50g Ground Almonds**
Seedless Raspberry Jam

*I use this brand of gluten free flour in all my baking, only because it is easy to get hold of and, although more expensive than regular flour, does not cost and arm and a leg... you are welcome to try with your own preferred brand - results may vary!!

**The addition of ground almonds helps to keep the cooked biscuits soft - without them they tend to be a bit brittle or dry (a common result for gluten free flour) if you don't want to use any almonds then use 275g of flour.

Preheat your oven to a moderate temperature... I set mine at 160 Centigrade as it is a fan assisted oven and is prone to being "hot" but if you are not sure about your own, try 170 degrees first time and adjust from there.

OK, let's get baking...

Cream the margarine with a wooden spoon until soft and gooey (technical term), add the sugar and cream again.

Add the vanilla essence (only if you like, it's not essential).

Weigh in half the flour. Note: most recipes say to sift flour when baking - I don't bother... bit of a faff, and I don't think this flour needs it anyway as it is very "slippery" (another technical term!).

Mix with wooden spoon until smooth, weigh in the rest of the flour, and mix again until you have a "dough".
(The mixture should be pretty stiff, this helps to keep the biscuits shape during cooking, and prevent spreading.)

Now for the fun bit...

You can simply mould the dough into biscuit shapes with your fingers (they do not tend to rise or spread, so make them the size you want to eat them!); but this is what I like to do...

I fit a large spiky nozzle into a piping bag, and spoon the mixture into this.

I then pipe out my biscuits as swirls - starting in the middle, working out and then up to create a "well".

(You will need strong hands for the piping bit, the stiff mixture is easy to shape, but less easy to squeeze!)

Then comes the jammie bit. I use seedless raspberry - purely because I hate seeds in my jam, and my local supermarket do their own cheap brand - you use whatever you like best! Just splodge a good amount into the centre well of each biscuit (approx 1/2 a rounded teaspoon per biscuit).

Bake your biscuits for approximately 16 mintues, or until they just begin to go slightly golden on the edges... again, exact timing will depend on your oven.

Transfer to a cooling rack as soon as they are cool enough to handle.

Et voila!

My jam has splurged a bit in these ones - it was the runny bit at the end of the jar, but I'm sure yours will look a lot neater!

Variations:

If you like coconut - try only 25g of almonds, but add in 50g of dessicated coconut, keeping the quantity of flour the same.

Instead of vanilla you could use cinnamon or ginger to flavour your biscuits... you may want to hold off on the jam though!

If you feel like spoiling your dog - make a couple with peanut butter instead of jam... he will "woof" them down!

Folksy Friday - Taking the Biscuit...

This week, my Folksy Friday selection is a simply a homage to the humble biscuit...
Afterall, how often does this simple confection receive the glory it deserves for all the enjoyment, comfort, nourishment and dunking good fun it brings us?

Only these are biscuits with a difference!

Sorry, but not a single one is edible! Instead, they are adorable, quirky, fun, clever, handmade and totally and utterly absolutely calorie free!  (Almost better than the real things!)

Pour yourself a cuppa, and sit down with this lovely guilt-free plate of biscuits...

(click on the label under each item for more details about the piece and the seller...)

Jammie Dodger Resin Cufflinks

by PennyDog Jewellery

Tea & Cookie Charm Necklace

by Mozzypop

Jammie Dodger Cushion

by design by vickle

Biscuit & Robin

by Sophie Green

Thank You Screenprinted Biscuit Card

by Floois

Jaffa Cake Ring

by Citrus Couture Jewellery

Tunnocks Teacake Kitten

by Nikki Made

Classic Biscuit Magnets

by Sweet Deception

"Biscuit"

by Poly Beads

Ring Biscuit Felt Pin Badge

by Lupin Handmade

Mmmm, they are all rather tasty, aren't they?

Christmas leftovers take on a life of their own...

Christmas? Christmas?!  The festive season seems to be such a dim and distant memory already... for most people... Not here at Chez Lime, where we are still battling with leftover Christmas goodies.  As usual we bought in far too much - I blame all that snow for making us believe we had to stock pile!  We are making good progress though - we are down to the last few chocolates, only the toffees are left in the Quality Street tin and I put the last of the Pringles out of their misery yesterday.  Mind you, we still have nuts.  Nuts.  That great traditional Christmas nibble we all buy, but rarely eat...

But have you heard about my mini gingerbread men?

Well, I set about a baking frenzy on Christmas Eve, and after the Oatie Biscuits and the Chocolate Brownies, I unearthed the mini gingerbread men cutters that I had bought just because they were so cute, and sought out a recipe on the internet... It said it makes "about 20" - that's regular sized ones, so I didn't think to adjust the quantities... Mistake!

140 (yes, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY) little men later I gave up... Yes, I did waste a little of the dough, but come on, enough is enough!

So we ate as many of them as we could, but I think they may have been breeding!  The little blighters are getting everywhere...

This one was discovered having a nice hot bubble bath....

This one is wondering where he is going to keep his pocket money...

I caught these two naughty boys at the Christmas brandy!

And this very brave little chap has challenged the last mince pie...

...who has crumbled under the pressure!!

Anyway, for now they have been rounded up and are safely contained - poor things are exhausted after their adventures - but I'm sure they will be up to more tricks soon!

If you would like to make an army of mini gingerbread men, or even just a few regular sized ones, this is the recipe I used:

(sorry, I can't acknowledge, I didn't keep the link!)

350g Plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

100g soft margarine

175g soft brown sugar

1 egg

4 tbsp golden syrup

Rub the margarine into the flour, bicarb and spices, add the sugar, then the egg and syrup and need together to make a dough.  Roll out and cut as desired.  Bake at 190 for 10 to 15 minutes depending on the size of your biscuit...

I used gluten free self raising flour instead of the regular plain flour and bicarb, and this seemed to work OK - and you could use treacle instead of syrup and/or dark brown sugar if you want a richer taste.  Alternatively if you don't like ginger, swap the spices of good old vanilla essence.

Have fun!