Chocolate Cracklies

This week my little friend E is having a birthday




It's going to be huge, with Super Heroes, games, a Jumping Castle, and lots of friends- the only trouble is that some of his friends are InTolerant like me.

Not that this is a bad thing of course, but his Mummy has come to me and asked me to help her out with a few ideas that will make party food not just fun and yummy, but safe too. He also needs a treat for school.

Our schools are trying to create a safe environment for kids with allergies and InTolerances by banning peanuts and other nuts, and often not allowing special treats in the classroom that might contain dairy, eggs or gluten. That's great, but the good old birthday cupcakes are nearly a thing of the past. So many Mummies just don't know what else to offer. In E's class cupcakes have been replaced with birthday fruit- not as exciting when the kiddies have a mandatory fruit break anyway, with plain flat gf pancakes- no topping, not even jam, and veggie sticks- not always popular with the 4yr old crowd. I wanted to create something that fun, excitingly delicious for the littlies and still resembled a birthday cupcake. Yummo right?

I thought back to typical kids parties when I was little.....
Cake, jelly (jello), chips, lollies, red and green cordial, little cocktail franks, chocolate crackles- That's it! Chocolate Crackles! Just one little change and I'm good to go

Now as my regular Dear Readers might know, my blog is about food that is normally easy to source. I don't use patented flour blends, or fancy-pantsy stuff that you can only get at just one shop in the whole city, I want to make it easy for everyone. If you live with InTolerances you source out specialty items anyway, but when I blog I mostly use ingredients that can be found at the two biggies Coles and Woolies, to make my recipes easy and non-threatening for those just starting out or those like my friend who want to make a special treat for someone with InTolerances like me.

A quick look at the supermarket shelves produced a great basic start to any kiddies party:
chips, salsa, chipolatas, lollies and chocolate - all definitely gluten, dairy, egg and nut free, and delicious too. I would also include jelly cups, lovely fresh fruits and other naturally friendly foods- I don't worry about it being too healthy overall as Party food is 'Sometimes' food, not to be eaten all the time but enjoyed as a special treat- like a Party!
I grabbed Plain Smiths Chips, Old El Paso salsa, Woolworths Select Party mix, Coles brand Pork Chipolatas, and Sweet William chocolate- the only item I got in the specialty 'Health' area ,but there are actually so many choices hiding on the shelves, if you just have the time to look.





Now for the main event, the Chocolate Cracklies

Every ingredient readily available. The only 'special' ingredient was the Rice Puffs that were in the health food aisle, normal Rice Bubbles contain barley malt as an ingredient and aren't gluten free

When shopping, check the ingredient list on the back or side of the product. Every ingredient must be listed, and Australian products also have allergen listings as well.
I got items that had no allergen issues with gluten, dairy, eggs or nuts and avoided any that said 'may contain traces of....' The only product that I didn't like so much was the cocoa that stated it was 'packed on equipment that also processes products containing milk' but the web site states that the product itself contained no dairy products.


Chocolate Cracklies

(I thought I'd better change the name as these ones are gluten free unlike the original crackles)
All the ingredients are conveniently listed on the back of the Copha packet

1 block Copha (solid hydrogenated coconut oil)
4 cups Rice Puffs
1 cup Pure Icing Sugar
3 tab Cocoa
1 cup dessicated Coconut






Melt the Copha

Mix all the other ingredients in a large bowl

Add in the Copha, and mix until it's all thoroughly coated

Scoop the mix into paper patty pans/ cupcake papers and chill in the fridge until nice and set

Now for a pretty little touch of Birthday Bling I added some sprinkles. These ones were all allergy friendly as well and found in the baking section

See, so pretty!

Easy Peasy Party Food

I quickly poached the chipolatas, just for ease but you quickly fry them instead, and otherwise just ripped open a few packets for a great choice of Party Fun

Happy Birthday E!

So Dear Readers, what is your favourite Party Food, and has it really changed much from when you turned 4?

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Sublime Honey Sorbet

Have you heard of Capilano Honey?


Capilano Honey is the market leader of honey in Australia, packing premium quality honey produced by Australian beekeepers. They are a fantastic Australian company that have been having a bit of a tough time lately.

Last week there was a fire in one of the sheds at their main site in Brisbane, and earlier last month Capilano co-founder, Tim Smith sadly passed away.

Tim and his brother Bert began the business around Brisbane back in 1953, and the business name Capilano comes from the Capilano district in Canada where Tim met his wife Jill when he was stationed there in WW2  and later proposed to her on the Capilano Bridge- how romantic!

Happily there is still some great stuff going on at Capilano, where they have recently launched their first Australian Certified Organic Honey.
Capilano's normal premium blend is pure natural honey from Australian hives, but consumer and professional demand for Organic goods has led to the Australian Organic Certification for this delicious product.


When I first heard about this honey, I thought about my parents farm on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, which is also certified organic. Knowing  how tricky that is to maintain, I wondered,  how on earth do you track thousands of bees each and every day to know where they fly off to?
Well, apparently all hives must be organic, and only exposed to natural environments including the exclusion of all pesticides for pest management and crops, within 5km of surrounding land. The native flora the honey is extracted from, right down to the diet of the bees themselves needs to be certified organic as well. You must be pretty dedicated to take on that job!

I was lucky enough to be sent a lovely bottle of delcious organic honey to play with, and wanted to come up with a recipe that would show off it's flavour as well as using it's great health benefits to shake off my lingering Winter flu/lurgy.

I didn't want to actually 'cook' with the honey as heating it can destroy some of it's health giving properties, which are quite antibacterial, and Capilano purposly doesn't pasteurise the honey either as it just isn't necesary with such a great natural product.


Through my flu-ridden fog, somehow I came up with Honey Sorbet.

Perfect! It would show off all the fantastic qualities of the honey, only used 3 ingredients, was delicious, easy, and nice and soothing to swallow. Win Win for me!

200 ml Capilano Organic Honey
50 ml-ish Liquid Glucose
500 ml Water

Honey is just perfect for sweetness and flavour, you need extra for a frozen dessert. The glucose is to keep the ice crystals nice and small. You also need as much air incorporated into the mix as possible for a lovely smooth end result

For a few tips on making great sorbet, check out this earlier post :
http://intolerantchef.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/seasonal-cheer.html





Put the glucose and water into a saucepan and heat until just boiling, stirring now and then to melt the glucose

Let it cool, but while still fairly warm, stir in the honey, and keep mixing until it's totally dissolved

Pour into a shallow container and chill throughly

Churn the lovely liquid mixture in an icecream machine- I used my Kenwood IceCream Bowl Attatchment-  or pull your bowl out of the freezer and whisk from time to time as it's setting to avoid large ice crystals forming and to keep it fluffy and light

Look how gorgeous this is!

Serve your sublime Honey Sorbet as a lovely light dessert- secure in the knowlege that it's fat free, delicious, organic, and good for you. Guilt free eating at it's best!

So Dear Readers, are you more inclined to buy a product if it's certified Organic?






Disclosure: Honey was gifted by the lovely people at Capilano. Thanks guys!


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Pretty Little Pear Cakes

Do you ever just by an ingredient because it's cute?



That's how I was suckered into these little cuties at the markets this week.
I couldn't resist the perfect little corella pears that were so dainty and tiny- perfect little miniatures

See how much smaller they are next to a regular sized one?

I just couldn't bear to cut them up, I had to find a recipe that would make the most of their cute factor as well as their yumminess factor. I figured that as they were already a perfect individual serving size, I would take that theme a bit further and serve them as an individual cake dessert. Can you combine cute and elegant? I think I just about managed it :)

Pear and Almond Cakes

3 Eggs
1 cup Almond Meal
1 cup gluten free Flour
125gm Butter/ dairy free alternative
1/2 cup Pear Juice
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Castor Sugar





First things first, prepare the pears
The best way to remove the core is with a melon baller. Try not to dig in too deeply, as you don't want to take out very much flesh, just the seedy bits. You coud certainly leave them in if you want, it will just be a bit crunchy!

I always find the easiest way to keep a nice smooth line for presentation is to peel the pears downwards. This way I can get the peeler all the way down the stalk as well in a nice single stroke which leaves it looking nice and tidy

Place the pears into acidulated water (add some lemon juice to the water bowl) as soon as they're peeled as they go brown really quickly

Now if these were large pears and you were leaving them whole, they would probably need to be poached before using. But as these are teensy tiny, I don't want them to get too soft and go mushy

Beat together the butter, sugar and eggs until nice and fluffy

Add in the flour, almond meal and juice

Just beat until nicely combined

I used Texas muffin tins for these, they have a 1 cup capacity and a nice shallow dish that wouldn't swallow up the whole pear
Use about 1/2 cup of mix, then snuggle the pear in gently. Be careful not to push the pear all the way down to the bottom of the tin as the cakes need a nice firm base to bake under the pear so the cake will come out nicely and hold together
Sprinkle with flaked almonds to make the cakies look pretty and to add a nice crunch

Bake for about 25 minutes at 170*C. You want the cakes to firm up nicely but not overcook the pears on top. They will go browner than the inside bits, but still taste nice- I promise!

These are a lovely moist cake with a very delicate flavour. They are very nice on their own, but I also served them in a puddle of custard for extra bling, but if you really wanted to go for broke a toffee sauce would be sublime.





Aren't these Pretty Little Pear Cakes? I think so, I hope you do too!

So Dear Readers, do you ever buy ingredients just because they're cute, and do you think it's possible to combine elegant and cute at the same time?










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Gorgeous Gnocchi

I've been working in the garden lately


Although it's still early Spring, and we're not safe from frosts yet, I've got potato shoots sticking above the soil promising big things things come later in the year.
Actually I've had to cover my potato pots with chicken wire as my naughty doggie likes to snuffle his snout through the dirt, digging up potato flavoured balls to play with. He doesn't consider this a waste of epicurian delights, after all they're just potatoes- right? But fresh potatoes are so lovely, it wasn't until I grew my own that I realised potatoes are really as crunchy and juicy as apples!

Potatoes are really native to South America not Canberra, and weren't introduced to Europe until about the 16th century, where the Italians added them to the little dumplings previously made with semolina, bread crumbs or even ricotta, and a new classic was born. They can be boiled or boiled then fried, are delicious carriers for sauce and  they stick to your ribs in true Nonna food fashion.
Yummo!

500gr Potatoes (floury types are best, but this is what I had to hand)
1 cup gluten free Flour
2 Egg Yolks
big pinch of Salt



First things first, cook your potatoes, the idea is to keep the potatoes as dry as possible as that will keep the gnocchi as light as possible. You can bake them in the oven but that will take a while, or you can cheat just a little like I did, and microwave them instead. Shhhh.... just don't tell all the Nonna's out there, will you?
Stab the potatoes with a fork to pierce the skin and to avoid the potato exploding in the microwave

Cook them until nice and very soft

Scoop the potatoes out of their skins while still nice and warm

Have you seen one of these before? Its a Potato Ricer and it's kind of like a huge big garlic press, but for potatoes. It smushes the spuddies out of the little holes making little rice-like grains or strands. If you don't have one, you can just mash them up instead

So strangely satisfying....

Let the potato cool a bit for a while, just enough so that the egg yolks won't cook when mixed in





Add in the flour, yolks and salt then knead briefly until it forms a soft, slightly sticky dough

 Don't pound away at it or it will turn into tough little nuggets, try and use a gentle touch to create light, fluffy little pillows instead

Divide the dough into quarters, then roll into a finger-thickness sausage and cut into little pieces about 1 1/2cm long

Roll each little bitty down the back of a fork, pressing slightly to leave stripy little indents around their girth. These grooves will trap sauce in them later on, ensuring each bite has a lovely sauce to dumpling ratio instead of just starchy solids

Keep going until all done

Pop the gnocchi into a pan of salted boiling water, and then wait until they float to the surface

As soon as they float, scoop them out and drain before tossing through the sauce of your choosing

Today I choose cheese-less Pesto!

1 cup or 1 bunch Basil
1/2 cup toasted Pinenuts
1 or 2 cloves of Garlic
Nice Olive Oil, about 1/2 cup or as much as needed
big pinch of Salt

Blend all the ingredients together, adding more oil if needed to make a loose sauce. I left mine a little chunky for a bit of yummy texture

Carefully stir the sauce through the gnocchi until they are all nicely coated and stuck in all those groovy grooves

Pile up high in your bowl, and dig in!
Scatter with Parmesan cheese if your InTolerances will let you, but these are delicious just as-is. Soft and billowy little pillows of potato - Yummo

So my Dear Readers,  do you enjoy basil, and do you have much going on in your garden at the moment?

Polyanthus not potatoes, but protection guaranteed!