Cheese Puff Biscuits and Champagne

The festive spirit being fully upon us now,  we decided to have a drinks party on Sunday night. In truly adventurous spirit, 20 friends managed to get here through the snow and ice. Some walked and some drove. They all deserved a cracking good welcome and so we popped lots of champagne corks and The Pink Lovely dressed as a plum pudding fairy with full wings and petticoats, floated around the sitting room handing round warm cheese puff biscuits, mini mince-pies and cocktail sausages.
My Cheating Cheese biscuits
You will need to buy either 2 packets of mail-order gluten-free puff pastry (email me for information) or  ready to roll fresh or frozen puff pastry
A dusting of gluten free plain flour or wheat flour
1 block of extra strong local cheddar cheese or Arla lactofree semi-hard cheese
Caraway seeds
1 or 2 beaten eggs

I taught The Pink Lovely to roll our pastry by cutting the blocks into quarters and rolling out each part with a dusting of flour. She happily cut out loads and loads of rounds and stars.  We placed them on the non-stick baking sheets and brushed them lightly with beaten egg. Plonked a fingernail sized piece of cheese in the centre of each pastry shape. Sprinkled with the seeds and then baked them until puffy and golden. Leave them to cool a little before transferring to a  wire rack.  Reheat the Cheese Puff biscuits and serve warm with lots of mulled wine or fizz!

Shortbread and Ice cream

Comfort food for me is not the eating of it but the baking of it!  So this past week, I have baked rather more than I would normally! 4inches of snow outside, many daring and exciting walks with the dogs, the toboggan and the Pink Lovely lead to the need for kitchen warmth and comfort!  Personally, I am not a great fan of tobogganing as it inevitably leads me directly towards a mole hill, followed swiftly by the interior of a hedge! I do however enjoy pushing the Pink Lovely down the hill and watching her hair-razing decent and her funny navigation techniques!  We stomp back through the snow in the knowledge that the oven is on and ready for more action, but the marginally less dangerous kind!

The Pink Lovely hates shortbread so I am told. Bother, shortbread for tea today. Brainwave, I hide the title of the recipe and we think that we are making Christmas Biscuits that she can eat warm. The Pink Lovely then proceeds to make them, that his how easy the recipe is!

Shortbread recipe can be gluten, wheat or dairy free 

115g butter or dairy-free sunflower spread

55g caster sugar

good pinch fine sea salt

130g plain gluten-free flour mix or organic wheat flour

40g ground rice

Demerara sugar to finish

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas 2

In a good sized bowl, beat the butter and salt with the caster sugar until soft, light and smooth.  Sift the flour and ground rice over it and mix with a blunt knife to a smooth dough.  Bring the dough into a ball with your clean hands (not guaranteed with the Pink Lovely!) and gently push and press it into a flatter shape.

Place the dough onto a non-stick baking tray and press into about 8inch or 20cm circle or square. Score with

a sharp knife into about 12 portions. Sprinkle lightly with Demerara sugar and chill the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes and then bake in the centre of the oven for about 45 minutes or until golden and cooked through.  Leave to cool on the tray and then cut through the scored lines into neat slices or squares.  Eat warm or cold.

Triumphant, The Pink Lovely eats 6 pieces of shortbread and loved them!  We then bashed the rest up with a rolling pin, which is fun at the best of times and particularly fun with a 7yr old! and we swiftly folded the little shortbread bits into a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Lined a baby loaf tin with cling film and spooned the iced mixture in, smoothed it over and bingo - pudding for lunch!  Freeze until needed and then cut into slices and serve with warm chocolate sauce drizzled over the top. Glorious!