Recipe | Gluten Free Cupcakes

During the Christmas season oftentimes I opt to bake presents for friends. Recently one of my friends has been diagnosed as gluten intolerant so I have been on the hunt for a great gluten-free cupcake recipe. I decided on adapting a tried and tested vanilla sponge recipe to make it gluten-free friendly. These definitely aren't the healthiest options, but it is Christmas after all. 

A Trip to Gewürzhaus

My family loves gourmet food. Like, really loves. It's something nurtured by my mother, unknowingly enjoyed by my father, and something my brother and I have never lived without. Whilst Christmas shopping, my mother and I came across this amazing spice shop in The Block Arcade (which is an amazing place to visit if you're ever in Melbourne) called Gewürzhaus. We bought a few gifts for different people, and for my brother, Liam. When he came down for the holidays and received his gift he insisted we return to the shop so he could absorb some more spice goodness. Aaaand, just recently, he requested some more. 

So, today my parents and I trekked into the city to get my far away brother some delicious spices from this magnificent store. Well described on their website: “think of the lolly shop of your childhood dreams, substitute herbs and spices and you’re at Gewürzhaus”. Like I said before, my family gets around the gourmet food circle and this store really is unique - at least in Australia. We bought my brother a delicious array of herbs and spices including a Guacamole blend which smells like Mexican powder form. 

They also stock a rather large range of cute, kitch and incredibly useful kitchenware. If I had any money or a place to put things, I could exit this store with an awfully large armful of goodies. For lovers of cooking fine foods, Gewürzhaus is an unexpected heaven in the middle of the city. Unfortunately, they're only in Melbourne (in three different locations) but they do ship all over Australia and the world. 

According to their website they also run cooking classes to educate people on the beautiful complexity of herbs and spices. Now that would be one nice smelling cooking class.

Erin xx

Citrus Twist Melting Moments

All of my grandparents have (and had) a particular love for Melting Moments. However, I have never attempted making these delicate little biscuits so I thought I would give it a go. I find a lot of the store bought versions rather plain and thought I'd put a little twist on these with some orange. I used orange because it was guaranteed to work but I think next time I'll use lime. If you try this recipe with lime, let me know how it goes.

Makes about 20

Ingredients

250g butter, cubed

1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla essence 

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1/3 cup cornflour

Cream filling

60g butter (at room temperature)

1 tsp vanilla essence 

1 orange rind, finely grated (you can substitute your favourite citrus fruit - if its a small piece of fruit, use 2)

2/3 cup icing sugar (sifted)

To prepare, preheat your oven to 160°C and line a baking tray with non-stick paper.

Using an electric beater, beat your butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl until pale and creamy. The mixture should have drastically changed consistency since you started beating. Sift the flour and cornflour together into the creamy mixture and beat on the slowest speed until a soft dough forms.

Lightly flour your hands and a clean, dry workspace. Work the dough for no more than a minute just to insure the right consistency that the beaters cannot achieve. Use a teaspoon to roll identical sized balls (consistency in this part is essential) of the dough and place them on the prepared baking tray - placing each one about 5cm apart. Make an even amount as you will need to pair them together. Use a fork (lightly dusted in flour) to press into each piece of dough - flattening each to about 3cm in diameter and 1cm thick. 

Bake in your preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Oven temperatures vary though so keeping an eye on them and taking them out before they start to turn golden is the easiest way to do it.  

To make the filling, beat (with electric beaters again) the butter, vanilla essence and citrus rind in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the sifted icing sugar and beat until combined - think of what you would expect when biting into a biscuit and mix to that consistency. 

Once your biscuit halves have cooled, you are ready to assemble. Spread the flat side of one biscuit with your preferred quantity of icing. I used a butter knife and you can see how much filling I used in the pictures on this post (about 0.5cm). Join each biscuit half to another without icing on it as you go. You may end up with left over icing but that all depends on how much you use. 

And thats all folks. These go down a treat with a cup of tea or coffee when you have people over (or if you have grandparents with a sweet tooth). They also make a really easy gift idea. 

So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Erin xx