Gluten Free Archives - Sugar et al

Easy Pistachio Cake

1|06|2024

This Easy Pistachio Cake is the most amazing thing I baked recently. With a hint of rosewater and a beautiful crumb, owing to the addition of nutty pistachios and almonds, this cake is a keeper. What makes it even more special is that there is no flour or butter in the cake. Just a handful of ingredients and a simple process to put together a treat as lovely as this one.

I have used a mix of pistachio and almond meal as I didn’t have enough pistachios at home. But you are free to be as creative as you like. You could make it with just the pistachios or sub any nut of your choice. Initially I wanted to decorate the cake with a ricotta frosting. Upon baking I felt that this Easy Pistachio cake was pure joy and needed nothing else. A dusting of icing sugar and some fresh raspberries to serve, that’s it!

If you love the combination of pistachio and rose, you will love my Rosewater Semolina Cake

Easy Pistachio Cake
Makes a 7 inch round cake

4 eggs, yolks and whites separated
3/4 cup granulated/castor sugar
1 tbsp rosewater (or use vanilla essence)
1 cup raw, shelled, pistachios, ground to a coarse meal
1/2 cup almond meal
icing sugar, to dust
fresh raspberries, to serve

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Grease the base and sides of a 7 inch round pan and line the base with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, place the egg yolks, sugar and rosewater together and whisk until combined. Add in the pistachio meal and almond meal and mix well. Mixture will be quite thick.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks. Fold in the egg yolk mixture, a little at a time, trying not to deflate the egg whites until the entire mixture has been combined.

Pour into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through (do not overcook or it will turn out dry) a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake, comes out clean.
Remove from the oven, leave aside for 10 minutes. Run a blunt knife around the edges to loosen the cake. Gently turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled to room temperature, dust with icing sugar.

Orange Amaretti Cookies

27|02|2019

Orange Amaretti cookies that are not only extremely easy to make but are flourless and without any butter/oil. The addition of citrus takes it to a whole new level.

It can’t get easier than this! True, this recipe is such a keeper. Do you like commercial breaks? I love them because I’m always trying to finish stuff around the house in between breaks. I would say, you could prep a bath of these cookies during a break like that. So quick and easy! Unless the blades of your hand mixer are in the dish washer because you whipped up some cream before that. Well, that’s me! I’m sure you are more organised than that.

These cookies are crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle. And I haven’t even come to the best part. There is NO flour, NO butter involved. Just a handful of ingredients and your house smells like an Italian bakery. I added orange zest to it as I was craving something citrus. You could totally leave that out and add vanilla essence perhaps.
If you don’t have almond meal where you live, you could grind the almonds at home.
If you’d like to try the classic amaretti cookies, you can try this recipe.

Orange Amaretti Cookies
Yields 20-22 cookies

2 egg whites
2 and 1/4 cups almond meal/ground almonds
1 cup castor sugar
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest
icing sugar, for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C (150 degrees C for fan forced ovens. Line a large baling sheet with baking paper. Place the icing sugar in a shallow plate.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold in the almond meal, castor sugar and orange zest until well combined. Take a tablespoon of the dough and roll into a ball. Roll the ball in the icing sugar to coat. Flatten slightly and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cookies start to turn golden. Remove from oven. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Store in an air-tight container.

Pumpkin Creme Caramel

2|11|2018

Pumpkin Creme Caramel is the perfect sweet-spicy dessert that is so easy to make. Gluten free, creamy and delicious.

You did it guys! You truly, deeply inspired me to create a dessert with pumpkin, right in the middle of a beautiful Aussie Spring-Summer. I mean, we have mangoes and peaches and blueberries to choose from. No-one is looking at pumpkin (or not). Well, someone is! My feed on Instagram and Pinterest has nothing else but beautifully curated pumpkin soups and pumpkin pies. I just ended up feeling inspired, even though there is no hope of canned of pumpkin puree here. So I made a large batch and stocked up my freezer for the base of a few pumpkin treats starting with this Pumpkin Creme Caramel. And well, we all have to agree, pumpkin is delicious.

Since, the scene is very different on our side as compared to the Fall vibes in the Northern hemisphere, my pictures would look very different and I’m totally fine with that. I didn’t want to go out there and create a Autumn-ish ambience in my photos when the truth is that great food can be enjoyed in any season, in any part of the world. Especially since this Pumpkin Creme Caramel is gluten-free and is really easy to make.

I love the texture of a Creme Caramel. It’s light but creamy and silky and can make such neat slices. To add some crunch, I topped them with cinnamon roasted walnuts that very easy to make as well. The most challenging thing about this dessert for me is the wait time to eat it. If you are planning to make it for a special occasion or event, I would recommend that you make it a day in advance.
Do you ever crave non-seasonal food? What non-seasonal food are you craving today?

Pumpkin Creme Caramel
Makes a 8 inch round dessert serving 6-8

1/2 cup castor sugar
2 tbsp water
4 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree (home-made or store bought)
1/2 tsp powdered nutmeg
1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
1 can condensed milk (395 g)
1 can half and half (use the same can to mix equal parts of milk and pouring/single cream)

Cinnamon roasted Walnuts
1 egg white
1/4 castor sugar
2 cups walnut halves
a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (140 degrees C for fan forced ovens). Lightly grease an 8 inch round cake pan.

Make the caramel : Place castor sugar in a medium saucepan with 2 tablespoons water. Stir over low heat, without boiling, until sugar has dissolved. Increase heat slightly and bring to the boil. Cook, without stirring, for about 7 mins, or until mixture is a deep golden-caramel colour. Use a wet pastry brush to brush away any crystals from the side of the saucepan. Quickly pour the caramel into the prepared cake pan. (Be careful as this mixture is really hot). Stand the cake pan in a baking dish.

Place the eggs, pumpkin puree, spices, condensed milk and half and half together in a mixing bowl. Using a blender or in a food processor blend everything together till you have a smooth consistency. Pour into the round pan over the caramel. Add boiling water to the baking dish so it comes halfway up the sides of the creme caramel. Carefully place the baking dish with the cake pan into the preheated oven.

Bake for an hour to an hour and 10 minutes or until the mixture seems set but is slightly wobbly in the centre. Remove from oven and the cake pan from the baking dish. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled to room temperature, place in the fridge to set (approx 4 hours, preferably overnight). When ready to serve, turn the Creme Caramel onto a serving plate (a lot of liquid will also pour out which is delicious). Top with cinnamon roasted walnuts. Enjoy!

To make the Cinnamon roasted walnuts : Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Beat egg whites lightly. Add walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Toss to coat evenly.
Pour on to the prepared baking tray and spread in a single layer. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until caramelized and golden.

Skinny Blueberry Cheesecake

14|01|2018

Is it too late to wish you a very Happy New Year? I hope not because I’m still very much in holiday mode and I feel the year has just taken off. I’ve only just started making resolutions and setting goals for the year. Do you make resolutions? Speaking of resolutions, the one thing I think most of us have at the top of our minds, (myself included) is health and fitness. While we will continue to have naughty treats in this space, I’d also like to play around with a few healthy substitutes to regular ingredients this year. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to enjoy some luscious desserts without having to worry about calories?

The core ingredient of this cheesecake is cottage cheese which is not as popular in desserts as it’s cousin, ricotta cheese despite being creamy, highly nutritious and low in fat. It is a low calorie source of protein and calcium that is pretty versatile whether you use it in sweet or savory recipes. I chose a gluten free almond crust for this cheesecake to make it available to a wider audience. The filling is light and delicious but naturally does not have a lot of flavour on it’s own. You have the option of having it as is or topping it with fresh fruits, grated chocolate or a compote like the one I’ve used here. Blueberries are at their seasonal best right now, so I couldn’t think of a better topping.

Skinny Blueberry Cheesecake
Makes an 8 inch round cheesecake

For the crust
11/4 cups almond meal
2 tbsp brown sugar
75 g unsalted mutter, melted

For the filling
500 g cottage cheese (preferably smooth)
1 cup Greek Yoghurt
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
1/4 cup castor sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (can use vanilla extract)

For the blueberry compote
150 g blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Place almond meal and sugar in a medium bowl. Add in the melted butter. Using your fingers, press into the base of an 8 inch Springform pan that has been placed on a baking tray (for ease of movement in and out of the oven). Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Reduce the oven temperature to 160 degrees C while you make the filling.

In a food processor or using a blender, blend the cottage cheese and yogurt together until smooth. Add the eggs and sugar and blend again. lastly add the cornflour and vanilla paste and mix together until smooth and blended. Pour the filling into the pan over the crust. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until cheesecake is almost set (the centre is very slightly jiggly). Remove from oven, let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight (or at least for 6 hours).

When ready to serve, top with blueberry compote and fresh blueberries.

To make the blueberry compote, place blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook stirring for 8 minutes or until syrupy and thickened slightly. Remove from heat, cool and refrigerate until needed.