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Ridiculously Delicious Pancake Day Inspiration and Ideas
baking · celebrations · gluten free · Just for fun · Seasonal

Ridiculously Delicious Pancake Day Inspiration and Ideas

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So the 16th February is, of course, Pancake Day. And let’s face it, what with lockdown and coronavirus, we’ve not got much to look forward to this year. Which means (in my mind) that Pancake Day should now be treated as a major holiday and celebrated as such. To that end, I’m bringing together some of my personal favourite recipes and ideas for incredible pancakes – including sweet and savory recipes, gluten free pancakes, and some slightly outlandish ideas as well… By the time I’m finished, I might just have to turn it into Pancake Week!

Pancake Day Inspiration and Ideas

Big Fat Pancakes

Ah, big fat pancakes. You know the ones. The kind of fluffy pancakes you find stacked up like the Empire State Building and smothered in syrup, on a plate that’s much too small, in a cheap American diner…. Om nom nom. Here’s a recipe for big fat pancakes from BBC Good Food – the normal flour can be directly substituted for gluten-free flour. And see below for ideas on how to make them a bit more exciting…

Savoury Pancakes

These kind of American pancakes really work well with additions to the batter. If you’re a fan of the Hawaiian pizza, I highly recommend scattering shredded ham and small pieces of pineapple into the pan along with the wet batter. They will cook into the pancake and, served with a little melted cheese on top, create a delicious (if slightly unorthodox) Hawaiian pancake treat! Unless you are my husband, in which case you will think it is the pancake of the devil. Fair enough.

If you are of my husband’s mindset, with regards to the combination of ham, pineapple and cheese, then there are of course big fat savoury pancake alternatives. Another great choice is to keep the shredded ham in the batter (but drop the pineapple!… not into the batter…) and then top your pancakes with smoked cheese and chives.

Sweet Pancakes

The obvious choice is, of course, to drop blueberries in your pancake batter and serve with syrup or, if you’re feeling especially extravagant, blueberry yoghurt and maple syrup. I think pretty much any fruit + yoghurt combination works – I’m not the biggest ever fan of blueberries but I love these pancakes with raspberries and yoghurt (in fact you can see that exact combo in one of the pictures on this page!). Ice cream is a more than acceptable yoghurt substitute if you don’t care about pretending that your breakfast is remotely healthy.

Another amazing big fat pancake is a cinammon swirl pancake. These are perfect breakfast pancakes! Basically it’s a normal American pancake but with an addition of sweet cinammon butter, swirled into the batter. I make them at home on a semi-regular basis and they are super delicious, but fair warning: I have never managed to get them looking particularly attractive (hence the absence of photos). To this day, I have no idea how the folks over at BBC Good Food managed to get theirs looking so perfect. But who cares? They don’t last long enough to photograph anyway.

I also weirdly love the combo of banana, bacon and maple syrup for the ultimate sweet and savoury twist.

Skinny Flat Pancakes

Let’s be clear. By ‘skinny’ pancakes, I mean pancakes that are physically slender, not ones that are in any way healthy to eat. That is not in the spirit of Pancake Day. The best thing about skinny flat pancakes, a.k.a. classic French crepes (basic recipe here, straight swap the flour for gluten free flour if needed), is that you can eat a lot more of them before you’re full! As we all know, on Pancake Day one should maximise the quantity, as well as the quality, of pancakes consumed…

Savoury Crepes

Crepes work super well with savoury flavours. My favourite is to spread the crepe with cream cheese, sprinkle with cracked black pepper, smoked salmon, a squeeze of lemon and a generous scattering of chopped chives. It’s sort of like a smoked salmon blini, but much much bigger!

Sweet Crepes

Having started with a savoury crepe (or two, or three) obviously you need to move on to dessert. When I was a kid, my mum always served up crepes spread with strawberry jam, and/or a sprinkle of lemon juice and sugar. Sometimes the classics are the best!

But these days I often dish up a range of sweet fillings, so people can pick and choose their favourites and maybe have a few different combinations. Strawberries and banana are the perfect versatile fruits to have available to fill your crepes, along with Nutella (other chocolate spreads are available…) or caramel sauce.

Fun and Fruity Pancakes

Speaking of fruit, my husband was the one to first introduce me to banana pancakes. Before he came along, I thought ‘banana pancakes’ were the same as ‘banana and pancakes’ – I clearly didn’t pay enough attention to Jack Johnson in my youth. Boy, was I missing out! Proper banana pancakes are now a staple in our house, and Little Man loves them too.

Making banana pancakes can be as simple as two ingredients – banana and egg – making them naturally gluten free, although I prefer recipes that include baking powder for a little extra lightness. My go-to recipe is here, but I usually add a tablespoon of gluten-free flour – because I find the addition of flour makes the pancakes much easier to flip! Banana-only pancakes can be very runny, and you end up with rather unattractive melty blobs (although to be fair, they are absolutely delicious melty blobs). I recommend serving them hot from the pan with either maple syrup or golden syrup – both are delicious.

I’ve heard a rumour that you can make other types of fruit pancake, but honestly why would you bother?

Boozy Pancakes

The classic boozy pancake is, naturally, the Crepe Suzette. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a delicious recipe, but also requires a certain amount of confidence and fancy chef-y skills like making caramel and then setting it on fire. The BBC conveniently have an easy version recipe which they call Cointreau Pancakes (other orange-flavoured liqueurs are available).

I have been religiously Googling alternative alcoholic pancake recipes for Pancake Day 2021 inspiration, because as we all know, lockdowns are vastly improved by the addition of booze. The ones that have caught my eye the most are these caramelised banana and rum pancakes (drool!), these Bailey’s red velvet pancakes with whipped cream (I love the idea of red velvet pancakes!), these pina colada pancakes (my favourite cocktail) and these strawberry lime margarita pancakes which just sound straight-up amazing. Will I get the chance to try all these recipes before Pancake Day? Clearly, no – so if you try one, let me know what you think in the comments!

More Pancake Day Inspiration

Do you have any 2021 Pancake Day inspiration of your own? Let me know your favourite recipes in the comments! Or check out my other recipes and gluten-free baking ideas here – or if you’re not much of a baker, why not try a ready-made pancake kit instead?

Gluten Free Low FODMAP Pineapple Raspberry Crumble Recipe
baking · gluten free · low FODMAP

Gluten Free Low FODMAP Pineapple Raspberry Crumble Recipe

The Sickly Mama3 Comments
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I love a yummy crumble when the weather is cold. But this autumn, my husband started on the low FODMAP diet to try to work out if he has any food intolerances other than gluten intolerance, which we know about. And on the low FODMAP diet, you’re not allowed to eat apple. So what the hell do you put in a delicious winter crumble? Well… Why not turn it into a summery sunshine crumble instead, with this delicious recipe for gluten-free, low FODMAP pineapple raspberry crumble!

Gluten Free Low FODMAP Pineapple Raspberry Crumble Recipe

The ingredients…

To make your gluten free, low FODMAP pineapple raspberry crumble, you’ll need the following ingredients. This is a store cupboard crumble recipe, so it’s made with ingredients you can keep in the cupboard or freezer – but you can of course use fresh fruit if you’re feeling fancy!

For the filling:

  • 1 tin pineapple rings
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
  • 50g caster sugar
  • (1 tbsp spiced rum – this is optional as rum is high FODMAP due to the sugar content! However you may choose to risk it for a biscuit, as a single tablespoon of rum spread over 6 – 8 portions of crumble is a very small amount per serving)

For the crumble topping:

  • 250g Gluten free plain flour
  • 150g Butter
  • 125g Sugar (golden caster is perfect)
  • 50g Oats
  • 50g Dessicated coconut
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Pineapple Raspberry Crumble: The Method

1. First, make the crumble topping. Put the butter, sugar, and flour into a bowl and rub the ingredients together with your fingertips until you have a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs. Sir the oats, cinnamon and desiccated coconut through the mixture.

2. Drain the pineapple rings, putting the juice from the tin into a saucepan. Chop the pineapple rings into bite-sized pieces, and line the bottom of a 15cm x 30cm casserole dish with the chunks.

3. Stud the casserole dish with frozen raspberries (no need to defrost) – see picture above. Put the leftover raspberries into the saucepan with the pineapple juice.

4. Add the sugar to the saucepan and stir over a gentle heat. For an extra bit of flavour, add the spiced rum at this point. Bring to a simmer and keep stirring over a low heat until it reaches the consistency of double cream.

5. Pour the cooked-down raspberry pineapple mix over the fruit in the bottom of your casserole dish. Don’t worry, you’re not expecting it to cover the bottom of the dish – the fruit will release more liquid when you bake it.

6. When you’re ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

7. Cover the fruit with crumble topping, and bake for around 40 minutes or until the crumble is nicely browned. Serve immediately.

Tips and Tricks for your Pineapple Raspberry Crumble

If you fancy a more grown-up sort of pineapple and raspberry crumble, you can of course increase the rum content! Or, if you do need your crumble to be low FODMAP, you can add spiced yodka instead – vodka is low FODMAP (unlike rum, sadly) so you can have as much as you like! Here’s a recipe to make your own spiced vodka at home.

If you need to be strictly low FODMAP, be careful what you serve your crumble with, as both custard and ice cream are sadly high FODMAP. You can get lactose free custard – we’ve tried some oat custard, which was pretty tasty – or lactose free ice cream.

More gluten free recipes…

Looking for more tasty gluten free recipes? Why not try these gluten free chocolate cappuccino brownies?

Malted Chocolate Ice Cream With Sweet Cocoa Collagen Recipe
gluten free · reviews

Malted Chocolate Ice Cream With Sweet Cocoa Collagen Recipe

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I was kindly gifted this sweet cocoa collagen by Wellness Lab Ltd. You can use their collagen powder in drinks, smoothies and baked goods, so they asked if I could come up with a new ice cream recipe using it. And after a little experimenting, I’ve created this recipe for delicious malted chocolate ice cream with sweet cocoa collagen!

It’s high in protein, and comparatively low in sugar – with about 1/3rd of the sugar content you’d usually get in an ice cream, if you leave out the Malteasers. (But why would you leave out the Malteasers? They’re delicious!)

What the hell is collagen and why would I want it in my ice cream?

Collagen is a protein that is found throughout your entire body, in connective tissue like cartilage, bone, skin, ligaments and tendons. Your body naturally produces collagen, but as you age your body produces less of it. It’s been suggested that taking collagen supplements can help improve skin elasticity, and reduce joint aim and wrinkles, by helping your body to produce this important protein. Although it’s still early days in terms of the science, there are some indications that collagen supplementation may help with joint health in osteoarthritis.

Collagen supplements are really popular right now – not only because of their possible health benefits, but also because they’re high in protein and can easily be added to other foodstuffs.

What does collagen taste like?

I had never tried collagen supplements before, so I was interested to see what the flavour was like! In the sweet cocoa collagen powder, the collagen seems to give it a slightly malty flavour, which is what inspired this recipe. If you enjoy Horlicks or other malted chocolate drinks, you’d probably really like the powder just as a hot drink (you can just add hot water and stir!). I’m personally not such a fan of malty hot drinks, I prefer the flavour in baked goods and puddings… And especially in ice cream!

Where can I get hold of powdered collagen to try?

If you’d like to try the Wellness Lab powdered collagen (which comes in sweet cocoa, vanilla, or unflavoured varieties) click here and use code SICKLYMAMA for 10% off (Full disclosure: if you do make a purchase I will receive a small commission!).

Malted Chocolate Ice Cream With Sweet Cocoa Collagen Recipe

The Ingredients:

For this recipe, first you’ll need to gather the following ingredients:

– 300ml whole milk

– 300ml double cream

– 6 egg yolks

– 100g milk chocolate

– 5tsp of sweet cocoa collagen from Wellness Labs (use code SICKLYMAMA for 10% off!)

– 1tsp vanilla essence

– 2 handfuls Malteasers (optional, but delicious)

The Equipment:

Ideally, for this malted chocolate ice cream recipe you’ll need an ice cream maker. If you don’t have one though, don’t worry – I’ll explain how to make the recipe without one as well.

Here’s the list of equipment you’ll ideally want to gather, in addition to your ingredients:

  • Ice cream maker
  • Saucepan
  • Mixing bowl
  • Heatproof bowl
  • Mug
  • Wooden spoon
  • Spatula
  • Balloon whisk
  • Teaspoon
  • Container to freeze your finished collagen ice cream in (an old ice cream tub is perfect!)

Malted Chocolate Ice Cream With Sweet Cocoa Collagen: The Method

As with all ice cream recipes, there are two stages to this: first you make your custard base, then you turn it into ice cream. You can do both stages in one day if you have the time, or split them out over two days. Each stage itself doesn’t take that long – but leaving the custard to cool and the ice cream to churn is what takes the time!

Stage 1: Make Your Custard

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk your egg yolks with the vanilla essence. In a saucepan, gently heat the cream and milk together until just boiling. Keep back three tablespoons of milk for later.

2. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Slowly pour the hot milk and cream over the egg yolks, while whisking the yolks constantly.

3. Once combined, return the mix to the saucepan and heat over a low heat, stirring constantly, until the mix is the consistency of thin custard.

4. Remove from the heat and cool. You can do this quickly by placing the custard in a bowl over a larger bowl of ice water, or leave to cool more slowly. Ideally, you want your custard chilled by the time it goes in the ice cream maker – so make sure it gets some time in the fridge. You can even leave it overnight in the fridge if you want.

Stage Two: Make Your Ice Cream

5. Set up your ice cream maker to churn, and add the custard.

6. Meanwhile, set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Add three tablespoons of milk. Wait until the milk is warm, then add the chocolate, broken into pieces. Stir until the chocolate is totally melted into the milk. Remove from the saucepan and set aside to cool.

7. Take your sweet cocoa collagen and place it in the mug. Add 2 – 4 tablespoons of hot water, stirring to mix until you have a chocolatey sauce. Set aside to cool.

8. Once the ice cream has churned for 25 – 30 minutes and has thickened to the texture of soft serve/Mr Whippy ice cream, add the cooled chocolate and the cooled cocoa collagen mix. Allow to churn for a further 5 – 10 minutes.

9. Meanwhile, crush your Malteasers and place them in your ice cream container. Add the finished ice cream into your container and stir until the Malteasers are well mixed in.

10. Freeze your malted chocolate collagen ice cream for at least 2 hours, and serve when you’re ready.

Your collagen recipes:

Have you tried cooking or making ice cream with collagen? Share your recipes in the comments!

Christmas Round-Up: Fun Ideas For Christmas
baking · celebrations · Seasonal

Christmas Round-Up: Fun Ideas For Christmas

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It’s that happy season where everyone is posting about Christmas, Christmas, Christmas… In my house, the Christmas season doesn’t start properly until the 7th December, as my husband’s birthday is the 6th December and clearly takes precedence over the other festive season! But that doesn’t mean the preparations haven’t started, so I thought I’d share my Christmas round-up post, including ideas for festive baking, food and drink, gift ideas and family activities…

Christmas Round Up: Fun Ideas For Christmas 2020

Festive Food & Drink

Christmas is, of course, the season of food – and for those of us who love baking, it’s an opportunity to get into the kitchen and get creative! I’m planning on trying out this festive white chocolate rocky road traybake (complete with candy canes!) and this sticky gingerbread recipe. I’m not sure if I’ll get the time but I’m hoping to manage this impressive looking chocolate twist Christmas tree! Of course, in our house gluten free baking is pretty important, so I was also excited to find this recipe for gluten free mince pies. Let’s be honest… It’s not Christmas without mince pies!

Baking with kids at Christmas

If you have young children, the festive season is a lovely opportunity to get them involved in baking (and eating, of course!). These easy no bake sweet treats are just the right kind of safe and fun recipes to make with your kids at Christmas. Slightly older will love this Mars Bar fudge recipe for slow cookers, which is also a lovely, simple recipe that they can get involved in creating.

Christmas drinks and cocktails

Cranberries are one of those ingredients that I really associate with Christmas, but other than cranberry sauce with your Christmas dinner, it’s hard to come up with much to do with them… I’m planning on using cranberry juice and orange juice to make some tasty morning mocktails over the festive season – just what you want to wake up to!

On the alcoholic side of things, earlier this year I made some delicious hawthorn gin which should be ready for Christmas – I can’t wait to enjoy it in some prosecco in a festive hawthorn fizz. You can find my recipe for hawthorn gin here. I’ve also tried making some Christmas pudding vodka – so I’m pretty excited to see how that turns out! Or if you can’t decide between booze and dessert, why not whip up a delicious zabaglione – then you don’t have to choose…

Christmas Gift Guides

Buying presents can be so tricky, and especially this year when lockdown and the Covid tiers system means it’s not easy to get out to the shops and just browse.

If you’re buying gifts for kids, there are some great ideas in this Christmas gift guide for children, or why not consider a magazine subscription so they get a new gift every month?

In our house, we’re very much aware that food intolerances and dietary requirements can make Christmas gifting challenging – so I love this guide to buying gifts for vegans!

Moving away from food and drink gifts, this guide has some lovely homeware gift ideas, to or this weird and wonderful gift guide gives some quirky and different ideas for gifts your loved ones won’t be expecting. If you’re looking for super-specific gifts, I even found this gift guide for fans of the TV show Friends (I actually re-watched the entirety of Friends over maternity leave so it’s kind of perfect…)

If you’re buying gifts for a tea lover in your life, I have a guide coming soon on the blog – keep your eyes peeled!

Fun Christmas Activities

Christmas is definitely time for relaxing in front of the television… But it’s nice to use your time off over Christmas to do some other fun activities – and as we’re all going to be staying indoors this Christmas, I’m trying to plan some fun activities in advance.

Christmas Crafts & More

I’ve always vaguely wanted to try making my own decorative Christmas wreath for our house, so I was excited to find this guide to making your own natural foliage wreath – hoping to get the chance to give it a go this year!

I’m also planning to use the time to do some home improvements; we’ve got some old furniture that we’re hoping to paint and upcycle, and we want to put up a mural in Little Man’s room.

Your Ideas For Christmas

What will you be getting up to for Christmas this year? Let me know your ideas for Christmas and the festive season!

Sweet Potato Nachos – Autumnal Gluten Free Treat
gluten free

Sweet Potato Nachos – Autumnal Gluten Free Treat

The Sickly Mama5 Comments
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I love nachos. So does my husband. But we don’t have them often, because a) they’re super unhealthy and b) a lot of tortilla chip varieties are not gluten free. I came up with this variation, which is much healthier but I think also hits a lot of the same buttons in terms of flavour. I call them ‘sweet potato nachos’ for that reason – but really you could also call them loaded sweet potato fries. This recipe is super easy and can be made quickly if you have a microwave – about 20 – 25 minutes, or 55 minutes if you’re baking the sweet potato in the oven. They’d also be great made in an air fryer.

As well as being gluten free, this recipe can easily be made low FODMAP (mainly by keeping an eye on portion sizes) so I’ve also provided instructions for anyone following a low FODMAP diet – and I’ve given some notes on making vegan nachos at the end of this recipe as well.

Sweet Potato Nachos Recipe

Ingredients list:

To make your gluten free sweet potato nachos, you will need:

  • Sweet potatoes (40g serving per person if you are following a low FODMAP diet)
  • Mozzarella cheese
  • Cream cheese (for low FODMAP ensure you’re not having more than 40g cheese overall when you add together the mozzarella and cream cheese)
  • Spring onion (for low FODMAP, only use the green part)
  • Vegetable oil or garlic infused oil if you have it!
  • Salt
  • Cayenne pepper

Method for making sweet potato nachos:

1. Peel your sweet potatoes. If you have a microwave, pop them in on a high heat for 5 minutes, turn them over, and heat for a further five minutes. You’ll know they’re done when a fork easily goes through the potato flesh. If you don’t have a microwave, ignore this and go straight to the second step!

2. Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees C. Cut up your sweet potatoes into chips and place on a baking tray. Add a couple of tablespoons of oil and a generous sprinkle of the salt and cayenne pepper. Toss the sweet potato chips through the oil and seasonings, then pop in the oven. If you pre-cooked your chips in the microwave, bake for about ten minutes, turning halfway through. If you didn’t pre-cook, bake the chips for about 40 minutes, turning halfway through.

3. When the sweet potato chips are ready, group them together in a pile on the baking tray. Dollop over the cream cheese and sprinkle with finely chopped spring onion. Then, top with mozzarella.

4. Stick the tray under a hot grill until the cheese on your sweet potato chips has browned nicely. And serve!

Ideas for your sweet potato nachos

These nachos are an ideal snack, or make a larger quantity for lunch. Just like traditional nachos, they work well for parties or social events – and it’s also a really kid-friendly recipe, and a sneaky way to get your kids eating some vegetables. If you’re trying to be a healthy mummy (or daddy), don’t go overboard on the cheese (or just don’t eat them every day!).

You can play around with the toppings for your sweet potato nachos as well. Tomato salsa would be a tasty addition (but not if you’re looking for a low FODMAP treat, thanks to the onion content), as would black beans or avocado/guacamole (again not good ingredients for low FODMAP diets though!).

Vegan Sweet Potato Nachos

Obviously this recipe is already vegetarian, but if you follow a vegan diet, it’s also pretty easy to turn this dish into vegan sweet potato nachos. Plenty of stores sell vegan cheese substitutes, so you can swap out the mozzarella and cream cheese for a vegan alternative. Or, you can even make your own – check out this recipe for homemade vegan parmesan or homemade vegan feta cheese substitute, both of which would be delicious sprinkled over the top of your sweet potato fries.

More recipes…

If you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, why not head to my recipe page? Or check out this super lazy noodle soup recipe, this great vegetable lasagne recipe or this recipe for a fab leftover chicken curry!

Gluten Free Chocolate Cappuccino Brownies Recipe
baking · gluten free

Gluten Free Chocolate Cappuccino Brownies Recipe

The Sickly Mama3 Comments
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I love making brownies, and much though I love a simple chocolate brownie, I like experimenting with different flavours! As my husband is a total coffee nut, he suggested a marbled chocolate brownie/coffee blondie combination, and I think this recipe is a total winner! Plus, you’d never know it’s gluten free. The only point of debate is whether to call them “chocolate cappuccino brownies” or “mochaccino brownies”… Thoughts?

Gluten-free Chocolate Cappuccino Brownies Recipe

The ingredients for your gluten free brownies:

For this recipe, you will need:

  • 75g dark chocolate
  • 75g butter
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 75g gluten free plain flour
  • 1tsp vanilla essence
  • 3 eggs
  • 1tsp instant coffee
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 1/4tsp xantham gum (optional)

How to make gluten free mochaccino brownies:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line the base of a 20cm X 20cm tin.

2. Melt the chocolate (I microwave it for 20 second bursts until melted, or you can melt in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water).

3. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy, then beat in the eggs. Add the flour, xantham gum, baking powder and vanilla essence and mix until smooth.

4. Split the mix between two bowls. Mix in the melted chocolate to one bowl, and the coffee to the other.

5. Dollop the two mixtures into the tin and swirl together slightly. Don’t mix too much though, or you won’t get the contrasting flavours of the two mixes!

6. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. 30 minutes will get you a more cakey texture, 25 minutes a more fudgey texture. Let the mix cool in the tin.

Tips and tricks for your gluten free chocolate cappuccino brownies:

This recipe will make 12 – 16 gluten free chocolate cappuccino brownies, depending on how you cut it, and it takes about 20 minutes to prepare, plus cooking time.

If you’re not bothered about being gluten free, substitute the gluten free flour for normal flour and leave out the xantham gum.

You want your coffee brownie mix to taste strongly of coffee in order for the finished product to have a good coffee flavour, so I recommend tasting the batter. If the uncooked mix doesn’t have a good hit of coffee flavour to it, add more instant coffee powder until it does!

More gluten-free baking recipes:

If you enjoyed these gluten-free mochaccino brownies, you might be interested in trying some of my other gluten-free baking recipes – check out these deliciously chocolatey gluten-free rocky roads, or this recipe for the best gluten-free oatmeal raisin cookies.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Recipe
baking · food · gluten free · recipes

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

The Sickly Mama3 Comments
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It’s autumn! The leaves are brown, the sky is grey, and going outside is starting to feel like a chore rather than a treat. But for me, one of the ways we’re compensated for the chilly weather and the shortening days is the delicious flavours of seasonal autumn cooking. And by that, I mean pumpkin! I absolutely love pumpkin as an ingredient in both sweet and savoury dishes, and I think these gluten free pumpkin muffins are a perfect autumn treat.

They’re made with tinned pumpkin puree, which isn’t always easy to find in the UK – although large supermarkets will often stock it in their international foods section. If you can’t find a tin of pumpkin puree, you can substitute it with homemade puree from a roasted pumpkin or squash – instructions here.

Okay, enough talk. On to the actual recipe!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins Recipe

Ingredients for pumpkin muffins:

You will need the following ingredients for your gluten free pumpkin muffins:

  • 250g gluten free flour
  • 225g sugar (I split this between caster sugar, demerara sugar, and dark muscovado sugar – a mix with some darker sugar is ideal for a bit of extra flavour)
  • 2 eggs
  • 120g butter (salted)
  • 50g oats
  • 1/2 tsp xantham gum
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 can of pumpkin puree
  • 2 tsps cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method for gluten free pumpkin muffins

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C and line a muffin tin with cake cases.

2. Melt the butter. You can do this in the microwave in 10 second blasts, stirring in between, until fully melted.

3. Add all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and mix until thoroughly combined. Don’t worry if it’s a little bit lumpy though!

4. Spoon the mix into the cake cases.

5. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. You’ll know the muffins are fully cooked when a skewer or fork inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

6. Put the muffins on a cooling tray to cool. Or eat them straightaway – they’re delicious still warm from the oven!

Tips and pointers for your spiced pumpkin muffins:

These bad boys will keep in a tin for 3 – 4 days, although they’re yummiest fresh from the oven! You can also freeze your gluten free pumpkin muffins for up to three months – here are some pointers on freezing muffins. So you can make them now and enjoy them later!

This recipe is gluten free, however if you’re not in need of gluten free muffins, you can make them with regular flour and leave out the xantham gum. They’re just as yummy when they contain gluten, but do be careful not to over-mix the batter, as it will leave you with tough, chewy little cakes. Over-mixing is not such a problem with gluten-free baking, which is one of the few benefits of cooking for the gluten intolerant!

You can also very much get creative with the spices you use in these gluten free pumpkin muffins. I love a pumpkin spice blend that’s heavy on the cinnamon and ginger and light on the clove (by which I mean has NO CLOVES in it, because they’re disgusting). But a traditional American pumpkin spice mix has a good dose of nutmeg and clove in it, so you may wish to go for maximum authenticity there!

More gluten free treats…

Looking for more gluten free recipes? Why not try this amazing gluten free Rocky Road recipe – no baking required! Or check out these orange and vanilla protein bites or these hot cocoa bombs!

How To Make Hawthorn Berry Gin – Foraging Recipe
cocktails · food · food storage · recipes

How To Make Hawthorn Berry Gin – Foraging Recipe

The Sickly Mama4 Comments
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Basically, foraging is like shopping – except everything is free, so it’s better. As I’m on maternity leave, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to pick haw berries this year, so I wanted to share some of the recipes I’m trying out. I’ve heard that hawthorn berry gin has a taste a bit like sherry, so of course that was first on the list to try. Whether you live in the town or the countryside, chances are you’ll have a hawthorn bush nearby, as they’re one of the most common types of plant used for hedges in the UK.

This is a great way to transform a bottle of cheap £10 supermarket vodka into a bottle of fancy hawthorn berry gin you’d pay at least £25 for. Because yes – gin is basically just vodka that’s been flavoured either during or after the distillation process. So hawthorn vodka is hawthorn gin! Who knew?

Fair warning: this is my first time making hawthorn gin, so it’s not exactly a tried and tested recipe just yet! I’ve tried to read through a number of different hawthorn recipes and select the “average” set of instructions to follow…

Hawthorn Gin: The Recipe

1. First, pick your hawthorn berries

It’s the perfect time of year for picking hawthorn berries (also known as haw berries) in the UK! They’re also a great thing to forage, because unlike blackberries or even damsons, they’re not that popular, so it’s unlikely that other people will get there before you and pinch all the ripe berries.

The hawthorn berries are ripe when they’re a lovely bright red, from late August through to October depending on where you live. If you’re not confident identifying hawthorn, you can find a guide here. It’s not likely that you’d mix it up with another plant, so it’s a pretty safe bet for a new forager! Remember not to pick all the berries you find – they’re important food for wildlife too.

Some people say you should wait for the first frost to pick hawthorn berries, but it’s not really necessary for making gin. If you want, you can freeze the berries and defrost before using them in this recipe, to achieve the same effect.

You should also note that although hawthorn berries are edible, the seeds are mildly poisonous, which is why most hawthorn berry recipes involve cooking and then straining the berries to remove the pips.

2. Prepare your hawthorn berries

Sort through the haw berries to remove any that are discoloured, and give them a wash.

Ideally at this point you want to top and tail each haw berry, cutting off the stems and the little brown bit at the bottom. You don’t have to, but apparently if you remove these parts, it reduces the amount of sediment that you have to strain out later. Some recipes leave the berries whole – others cut out the stone in the middle (but that seemed like too much effort to me) – this seems like the most popular approach though.

3. Bottle it

Pack the haw berries into a sterilised bottle or preserving jar, adding sugar between the layers as you go. I find a lot of homemade gin too sweet, so I’ve not been over-generous with my sugar, but some recipes recommend vast quantities of the stuff. It’s basically just there for flavour, so you can add it to taste.

Leave a space at the top of the jar so you can give it a good shake. Then fill the jar or bottle with cheap supermarket gin or vodka.

4. Wait for hawthorn gin/hawthorn vodka

And now… We wait! Leave the hawthorn berry gin for about a month, giving it a shake every few days, and watch the colour change. Then, strain your gin. You can do this the traditional way through a muslin, or through filter paper.

Next, let it mature for 2 – 3 months before drinking. It will keep for about a year after that, so make sure you label the bottle.

Now, I’m updating this post one year later (has it really been a year?) to confirm that even though this was my first attempt at hawthorn berry gin, it was definitely a success. It tastes like a very fragrant, floral sherry – it works well on its own or added to prosecco if you’re feeling fancy (or perhaps lemonade, if you’re not). So what are you waiting for? Get out there and pick some haw berries!

More autumn foraging recipes

If you’re looking for more great foraging recipes for autumn in the UK, check out my recipe for damson gin or vodka (also works for sloe gin or bullace gin, depending on what wild plums you have available!) or my recipe for elderberry cordial – a perfect treat to soothe those wintery coughs and colds.

Your hawthorn berry recipes

I’ve really enjoyed making this hawthorn berry gin recipe and I’d love to know how else I can use up all these delicious haw berries! Do you have any great hawthorn berry recipes? Let me know in the comments!

Gluten Free Rocky Road Recipe – No Baking Required!
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Gluten Free Rocky Road Recipe – No Baking Required!

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Gluten free rocky road is one of my absolute favourite recipes! I don’t make it that often – because (as my husband says) it’s about as addictive as crack, but much more fattening. In fact, I made a batch of gluten free rocky road specifically so I could take pictures for this blog post, and we had already eaten three quarters of it before I had a chance to take photos of the finished product. That speaks for itself!

Gluten Free Rocky Roads – Overview

It’s a super easy recipe. This is a gluten free tray bake, but there’s no baking required! Instead of cooking the traybake, you just need refrigeration – so it’s a great one to make with kids.

It only takes about 10 minutes to prepare from start to finish, and will make about 12 – 16 rocky road bars, depending on how big you cut them!

Gluten Free Rocky Road Ingredients

You will need…

  • 200g butter
  • 6 tbsps golden syrup
  • 200g dark chocolate (you can use milk, but the end product will be VERY sweet)

Then for the filling, you can be super flexible, based on what’s in your store cupboard! You basically want about 350g of dried filling, which needs to be chopped or crushed into small pieces. For the bake in these pictures, I used:

  • 125g Crunchie bars (other chocolate-coated honeycomb is available)
  • 125g gluten-free Viennese biscuits
  • Handful of gluten-free pretzels
  • 3 handfuls of mini marshmallows
  • 2 handfuls of gluten-free cornflakes

Gluten-free Rocky Road – The Recipe

1. First, line a 22cm square baking tin with tinfoil.

2. Take your Crunchie bars or other honeycomb, biscuits and pretzels, put them in a resealable freezer bag, and bash them with a rolling pin until they’re in smallish chunks. Keep back a few pretzels and marshmallows for decoration! Then add the crushed fillings to a mixing bowl along with your marshmallows and cornflakes.

3. Next, put the butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan on a low heat. Heat them together until the butter is melted into the syrup. Mix them regularly and don’t let the mix come to a boil!

4. Remove the saucepan from the heat. It should be warm but not boiling hot! Add the chocolate and stir it in, until it’s melted into a smooth syrupy sauce.

5. Pour the chocolate mixture over your dry ingredients and stir gently until the dry ingredients are all totally coated.

6. Pour the mixture into the baking tray and pat down until the surface is roughly level. Press marshmallows and pretzels into the surface for decoration.

7. Leave the tin out until it’s no longer warm to the touch, then pop into the fridge to finish setting your rocky road mix.

8. Refrigerate for a couple of hours at least. Then you can turn the rocky road out onto a plate, peel off the foil, and slice! Voila, your gluten-free rocky road is ready to serve!

Tips and Hints

The key thing about this is that you’ll want to store it in the fridge. This gluten free rocky road melts in your mouth… But also it melts in your hands, and all over your kitchen! It can be kept out at room temperature for a bit e.g. a party buffet, but I wouldn’t be taking it to a summer picnic.

If you do need it to last longer out of the fridge – or if you want to cut neat non-crumbly slices – the best way to do this is with a pure chocolate coating. Melt some more dark chocolate down and pour half over the bottom of the tin and leave it to set for five minutes before adding the main mix. Then once you’ve smoothed over the main mix in the tin, pour the rest of the chocolate over the top. It just makes it easier to handle.

More gluten free baking recipes

If you enjoyed this recipe and you’re looking for more gluten free cake or cookies recipes, why not check out my gluten free brownies recipe, or this gluten free cookies recipe?

Lazy Mama’s Quick Noodle Soup Recipe
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Lazy Mama’s Quick Noodle Soup Recipe

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I made this quick noodle soup for lunch the other day and thought I should share the recipe. It’s so great if you don’t have much time but you want something homemade, nourishing and pretty healthy! It’s vaguely Japanese-inspired, while being 100% inauthentic, and the ingredients are pretty flexible.

This is a generous single helping for one, and it takes about 5 minutes to cook (yes, it really is that quick!)

Lazy Mama’s Quick Noodle Soup

Ingredients List

If you tend to eat stir fries and cook Asian food, you’ll probably have most of the ingredients in your store cupboard, like we do. However the whole point of this soup is that it’s quick and easy, so I’ve also given some substitutions you can use instead, if you don’t have the right ingredients.

You will need…

  • Sesame oil (you can use regular vegetable oil, but sesame oil tastes best)
  • Soy sauce
  • Teriyaki sauce (if you don’t have this, you can replace it with a dash of extra soy sauce and a spoon of honey)
  • Mirin or rice wine (optional – you can leave this out entirely or use sherry instead)
  • Miso soup made up from a packet or paste, OR bouillon powder OR in a pinch, a vegetable stock cube!
  • 2 spring onions (or a small handful of finely chopped white onion)
  • Vegetables of your choice! I love chestnut mushrooms in this – but pak choi, cabbage, spinach etc. all work great, as would pumpkin or squash. Or you can have it plain with just noodles and soup!
  • One pack of wok- ready noodles. I think udon noodles is best, but it depends what type of noodle you prefer!

How To Make Your Quick Noodle Soup

First, fry your spring onions and mushrooms in sesame oil, in a small saucepan.

Make up about 400ml of miso soup or vegetable stock. When the onions are soft and the mushrooms cooked, add the stock.

Add about a tablespoon of teriyaki sauce, the same of mirin, and a generous dash of soy sauce. Bring to a simmer.

Add the noodles and cook until done, as per the pack instructions – usually a couple of minutes.

And you’re done! It really is that easy. This is my go-to dish when Martin is out, as he’s usually head chef in our household except where baking is concerned.

More easy recipes

Looking for more easy to cook, quick recipes? Why not check out my recipes page! Or for more inspiration for easy vegetarian recipes, take a peek at this yummy tomato soup recipe or this couscous salad – or if you’re a pescatarian, perhaps even this honey soy salmon salad… Yum…