Banana Cake - Sugar-Free and Gluten-Free

More and more people these days are decreasing their sugar intake or cutting it out entirely. I have found  that my own palette has changed over the years and I prefer more savoury foods but every now and then I do crave a sweet little something with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

This banana cake fits the bill as it is not too sweet to the taste and is sugar-free while it also ticks the wheat-free and gluten-free boxes too.

Also great for the children's lunch boxes !

Ingredients: 

125 grams of Buckwheat flour (Buckwheat is not wheat flour is comes from rhubarb) 

2 tsp of gluten free baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

75 grams sultanas

50 grams butter ( melted) 

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

3 ripe bananas

Magic Ingredient: 1/2 tsp Agave Nectar or Syrup 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 C or fan 160 degrees. 

Grease and line a medium sized loaf tin with baking paper. 

Weigh the buckwheat flour

add the Baking powder,

the cinnamon,

and sultanas into a bowl and mix.

Then weigh the butter and melt. Put into another bowl.

Mash the bananas in a separate bowl.

 

Into the melted butter add the mashed bananas, 

 add the Magic Ingredient Agave Nectar 

the Vanilla Essence

the Egg

and the milk.

Mix with a balloon whisk or fork.

Pour the "wet" banana mixture into the "dry" mixture

and combine thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin 

and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

 Then turn out.


Serve sliced.

This is a lovely moist cake that also freezes well so if you don't think you will finish it all then slice and place greaseproof paper between the slices and freeze in a zip lock bag .

Digestive Biscuits - Savoury, Wheat-Free Deliciousness

Not far from our home in Wiltshire, located in picturesque countryside, is our favourite pub - The Beckford Arms. On one of our early visits, at the end of our meal, we enjoyed a cheese platter which had THE most delicious digestive oaty biscuits to accompany the cheese. 

I coyly asked our waiter if the chef would be willing to part with his recipe for these delightful morsels and he came back to our table brandishing a tiny scrap of paper on which was scrawled (in pencil) the ingredients for his recipe. I laughed as I read it, as the chef had given me the recipe that he made for the restaurant - in industrial size quantities - eg a kilogram of flour and a kilogram of oats. He said this would make 50 biscuits! More like 150 I think! 

So I adapted the quantities for a less gargantuan batch size, changed the flour to make it wheat-free, and added my own magic ingredient. So really it now only very loosely resembles the original recipe which I am sharing with you today. However, these digestives still  retain the flavour and are very more-ish and yummy. And, dare I say it, much nicer than the bought ones. 

I like eating them as a savoury biscuit with a cuppa but they come into their own when served with a creamy Camembert, Brie or Blue cheese. 

Ingredients: 

250 grms Wholemeal Buckwheat flour 

250 grms Pinhead or Medium Oatmeal

 

2 tspns of gluten free baking powder 

5 grms of salt

60 grms of soft brown sugar - Magic Ingredient 

                  (I know that this sounds like an odd ingredient for a savoury biscuit, but it works!) 

250 grms butter 

How to make your biscuits: 

Measure your oatmeal, buckwheat flour, brown sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl.

Mix thoroughly

Melt the butter and then make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter. 

Mix together until you have a combined soft dough

Divide the dough into two even pieces and put each piece of dough onto some cling film and shape into a roll by hand, using the cling film to keep it all together and neat.

                                      

Wrap the cling film around the roll of dough to make a sausage-like  parcel of each piece and place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Heat your oven to 180 - 190 degrees C.

Once the oven is heated, take a roll of dough from the fridge and with a good sharp knife cut even rounds of dough. The biscuits don't have to be perfectly round - they look more rustic with a bit of unevenness.

Place the rounds on a parchment lined baking sheet, leaving room for them to spread slightly when cooking.

You can see the oatmeal in the mix here pre-baking.

Bake for about 15-20 mins in the oven - I check them every 5 minutes in my temperamental Aga ! 

When golden brown remove and allow to rest for 5 minutes on the baking tray before cooling on a wire rack. 

Store in an airtight container. 

You can cook both rolls of dough from your batch if you are entertaining  - the recipe will make about 50 biscuits depending on how fat your dough sausage is to begin with. 

I tend to cook one half of the mix and pop the other half still in the cling film, inside a zip lock bag in my freezer. 

That way I can easily produce fresh biscuits when guests turn up or when the mood takes me. 

Happy Cooking 

Sunshine Hummous

I have always loved my spices and endeavour to use them whenever possible in all sorts of dishes, no matter the style of cuisine.

Turmeric is one of my favourites – not just for the taste it gives to a dish but also because of its amazing healing properties and benefits to the metabolism.

Research has found turmeric to be a natural antiseptic, antibacterial agent and has been proven to prevent many of our modern diseases caused by poor diet. Turmeric is said to be able to heal or prevent Alzheimer’s, various cancers, and depression; and also can aid with digestion, skin conditions, detoxification of the liver and is a natural pain killer.

I try to use turmeric as often as possible in my cooking to get these fabulous, healing benefits.

Just its colour alone, a sunny and vibrant yellow, is enough to brighten your day.  In fact, in Colour Therapy, yellow is THE colour symbolising everyday happiness!

So the following recipe is my take on the traditional Middle Eastern Hummus  - featuring the Magic Ingredient - Turmeric.

You will need : 

1 small to medium red onion

3 fat cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of Turmeric 

1 desertspoon of coconut oil 

1 x 400 grm tin of chickpeas (I use organic)

Juice of one lemon

2 tablespoons of Tahini (sesame seed paste) 

About 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil 

Salt and pepper

Dusting of paprika for garnish 

What to do to enjoy your healthy dip: 

Firstly chop finely chop your onion and crush the garlic cloves. 

Melt the coconut oil in a small frypan. 

Add the onion, garlic and the Magic Ingredient Turmeric and gently sauté until they are soft and gooey. 

Meanwhile, thoroughly wash (until the water runs clear) and drain your chickpeas in a colander. 

Put the chickpeas into your whizz and pulse them until are all broken up and resemble fine breadcrumbs. 

Add the onion, garlic and turmeric mix to the chickpeas. Whizz again. 

Add the tahini 

and lemon juice 

and little by little add the olive oil 

until you get a nice creamy consistency to your mix. 

Season to taste with salt the pepper. 

You may want to fiddle around and add more lemon or more olive oil  to suit your personal taste. This is not an exact science. 

Pour mixture into a bowl and garnish with a dusting of paprika. (I just love that contrast of the red on top of the yellow) 

Voilà ! 

Your own bowl of sunshine to enjoy with crudités, crackers or any way you choose. 

 Ruthie x