Recipe of the Week

Now that I'm back home and back in our routine it's time for a return to Recipe of the Week. I still haven't decided what day of the week is best for it. I was thinking Wednesdays to brighten up the midweek but then thought maybe Friday would be better and now here it is on a Thursday! Suggestions are always welcome.

I'm also going to try and always have it as a wheat & dairy free recipe as there are so many 'normal' recipes around anyway.

Now, before I go ahead and show you this week's recipe, I need to share with you David's first pudding. Although he is our most 'energetic' boy, he loves to help out in the kitchen and often helps me baking by turning on the mixer or spooning out the flour or other wee jobs. This pudding, though, was all his own work. He cored the apples, filled them with a mix of raisins, sugar and cinamon, topped them with a bit of butter and all I did was pop them in the oven. Here he is, justifiably proud of them,

So, onto the Recipe of the Week.

Mum's Never-Fail Gingerbread

You can make this gingerbread in a 2lb loaf tin, 2 smaller loaf tins or in a deepish traybake sized tin.

The mixture is quite wet and runny once you add the water but it makes a lovely moist cake. I like the fact that there is not too much treacle in it either, I don't like cakes that are too dark and heavy.

I usually keep the gingerbread plain and serve it either plain or with butter. My mum likes to put icing and coconut on top, as in the picture, which is equally yummy - the only reason I don't do this is that Calum doesn't like coconut and he is the main reason for my wheat/dairy-free cooking!

4oz dairy-free margarine

1 cup  caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbsp syrup

1 tbsp treacle

2 cups Dove's Farm Wheat-Free flour

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 cup of hot water

(I use the cup from my breadmaker for the cup measurements but have also used an tea-cup as in the photo above.)

-Beat the margarine and sugar together until light and creamy.

-Beat in the eggs.

-Add the syrup and treacle and mix well until combined.

-Add the flour and spices and fold into the mixture.

-Mix the bicarb with the hot water and add to the mixture, mixing until everything is combined. Don't worry about how thin it looks!

-Pour into a 2lb loaf tin and bake at 180C for 1 hour, although check after about 45 minutes. Obviously if you use shallower tins then cook for less time.

-Check that it is cooked right through by sticking a skewer in the middle. It should come out clean.

Gingerbread will last well in an airtight tin and is, in fact, even tastier after a day or so. To use up gingerbread that is going a bit stale, heat it up and smother with custard for a yummy pudding.

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