Gluten free Yorkshire puddings

Your Yorkshire puddings will look like this

I've just cooked this batch of Yorkshire puddings to freeze for when we have our family gathering - not on Christmas Day this year. Although once my Christmas lunch guests know about them I may need them for the Christmas Day meal as well.

Since one daughter has been gluten free for a long time and another has recently found it helps her deal with some health problems, we will be eating GF. It's much more sociable. So it's gluten free stuffing/pate etc. Another daughter is now a vegetarian, so a nut loaf will also be served.

Anyway, Yorkshire puddings are the holy grail for those who like them, and I'm feeling lucky. I've found a recipe with three ingredients: cornflour, eggs and milk. You can add seasoning, however since the puds are really a receptacle for gravy, do you need to?

No electric whisk btw, save the splatters and use a large hand whisk. Let's go.

YORKSHIRE PUDDING RECIPE

Set oven to hot, 220 c

generously oil a 12 hole muffin tin or similar, including the top and edges of each hole

put the oiled muffin tin into the oven to get to sizzling point

Ingredients

200g cornflour
6 eggs
300 ml milk or nut milk/soya milk

salt and white pepper to taste

Method

• put cornflour in largish bowl adding salt and white pepper if you like
• whisk cornflour gently
• add the eggs and beat until smooth 
• slowly add the milk beating all the time
• when batter is silky like cream transfer it to a jug
• get the hot oiled muffin tin out of the oven and pour the batter into each hole - you should have enough to get nearly to the top of each one
• put the filled tin back into the hot oven and leave the puds for at least 20 minutes - it'll take 20-25 minutes for them to cook through. Checking on them by opening the oven door will ruin the rise, so don't open that door

Easy orange almond cake - gluten free

Delicious and highly scented, this cake is gluten free and very easy to make.

made with almond meal, the almonds are ground with the skins on

I first cooked this wonderful cake using Claudia Roden's recipe, and I was joining a large group since lots of people include it in their repertoire, for good reason. It is delicious and gluten free. I love the intense orange flavour, the fact that it keeps well, and that it is a very easy cake to make. Also the whole house smells of oranges when I make it. If you have only got clementines or lemons, go with it, all citrus fruit works.

The only fat in the cake comes from the almonds. I have used shop bought ground almonds, I've ground my own both with and without skins. It's called almond meal if you include the skins, and almond flour if you don't, apparently. The difference between home ground and shop bought is in taste, which is all that matters really. You don't get more almond flavour, the almond seems to hold the citrus flavour better. The consistency may not be as smooth, but I prefer that. I can't see the difference between including the skins or not, apart from peeling almonds is no fun at all, and of course the colour is slightly darker.  

Some people include orange flower water, but I like the flavour as it is, bold and gutsy.

This cake also looks great on a plate, the outside cooks to a beautiful tan brown and the inside remains golden orange. It is chic.

If you haven’t got oranges you can substitute them with lemons, tangerines or any other orange citrus fruit. I haven’t tried lime or grapefruit, yet.

If you want to go old school you can use a sieve instead of a blender to pulp the cooked oranges.

Ingredients

• 2 large oranges
• 6 free-range eggs
• 250g/9oz ground almonds
• 250g/9oz caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder

Preparation method

• Wash the oranges thoroughly.
• Put the washed oranges into a large saucepan of water and bring them to the boil.
• Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for two hours – making sure that the water doesn’t boil away.
• Preheat the oven to 175C/325F/Gas 3.
• Butter and flour a 23cm/9in cake tin – keep it gluten free and use some ground almonds.
• Leave the oranges to cool, before slicing in quarters. Remove the pips.
• Pulp the oranges in a food processor – make sure it is smooth.
• Beat the eggs in a large bowl and gradually stir in all the remaining ingredients, including the puréed oranges. Mix well. The batter will be a beautiful orange colour.
• Pour the mixture into the cake tin and cook for about an hour, until the cake is a lovely tan colour and has risen.
• Transfer to a wire cooling rack, keeping the cake in the tin. It is likely to break if you take it out too soon.
• When the cake has cooled, carefully remove from the tin.
• Serve as you like – I usually cut into slices. It is lovely with creme fraiche.