Christmas Recipes - Chocolate Reindeer Cake {Gluten & Dairy Free}

 

 

Now before I start properly, yes I do realise that this is another chocolate recipe, but (a) it's Christmas, and if you can't indulge at Christmas then when can you? And (b) chocolatey treats are few and far between when you are on an allergy restricted diet!

A lot of children dont like the richness of traditional Christmas Cake and pudding so this is a fun alternative for them. You can make this by using ordinary self raising flour, margarine and milk without altering any quantities if you don't need to cater for allergies.

 

The cake is basically my Old fashioned chocolate cake recipe, which I shared in my very first ever post here, but instead of cooking it in round sandwich tins, cook it in a long rectangular tray-bake tin. It will need slightly longer to cook, although not too much longer.

In a bowl mix:

6oz wheat free self raising flour (I've found Doves Farm to be the best)

2 0z cocoa

In a pan mix:

4oz dairy free margarine

4 oz sugar

4 desert spoons golden syrup

and heat gently until melted.

In a jug measure:

1/4 pint soya or rice or oat milk

and beat in 2 eggs.

~Now add the egg/milk mix to the melted margarine mix and then add all of this to the flour mix.

~Whisk with a balloon whisk until the flour is all mixed in.

~Pour into your greased and lined tin.

~Bake for around 20 mins at 180c.

Make butter icing made by beating together:

4 oz dairy free margarine

10oz icing sugar

2 oz cocoa powder.

You will also need:

2 cinnamon sticks (the antlers)

a pinch of dried cranberries, or a glacier cherry (the nose)

2 dairy-free white chocolate buttons, or a couple of blobs of white icing (the eyes)

Once the cake has cooled it is time to start cutting the shapes. These measurements are very rough. I don't measure them!

Place the cake with the longest sides across the top and bottom. Using a sharp knife cut off a chunk, from top to bottom, of about a quarter for the head, leave 2/4 for the body and cut the final quarter into four slices (across the way) for the legs.

I hope that makes sense!

If you think your cake is thick enough to do so without it crumbling, slice each section through the middle so that you can sandwich them together with some of the chocolate butter icing. If your cake isn't thick enough it won't need this extra layer of icing anyway as it will be covered in the stuff!

Now arrange your pieces on a large plate, or foil covered tray if you don't have a plate large enough, and cover the whole cake with the rest of the chocolate buttercream.

Add the antlers, nose and eyes, using a dot of buttercream on the buttons to make the pupils.

I know he looks too cute to eat but once you have a taste of the chocolate cake you will feel better about it!

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Christmas Recipes - Chocolate Yule Log {Gluten Free & Dairy Free}

 

I've made a chocolate log to have as one of our puddings on Christmas Day every year since I was in 2nd or 3rd year at high school. We learned how to make one in home economics that year and then I made another for Christmas Day. After that it just became the tradition that I would make a chocolate log each Christmas. It wouldn't seem like Christmas dinner without one now!

 

This recipe isn't the one I used way back as a 14 year old (I'm not even going to try and work out how long ago that was!) but is the recipe we use to make one of Calum's favourite cakes - Jam Roly Poly - adapted to make it chocolatey. The step by step photos in this post were taken whilst making the jam version so just imagine that they are chocolate coloured!

 

If you want to make this with 'normal' ingredients it will work fine, just use plain flour rather than self raising. The reason I use self raising in my gluten free version is simply because I prefer the texture it gives over the gluten free plain flour. The plain flour gives a much drier texture, making this too hard to roll.

With wheat flour though you won't have to worry about this, and making it with self raising flour will make too fat a cake, again trickier to roll.

You will need:

4 eggs

4oz sugar

4oz Doves Farm Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

1oz cocoa powder

Some extra sugar for sprinkling

Dairy free chocolate buttercream for filling (or cream if you aren't dairy free)

~Using the whisk attachment on your free standing mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together well until they look really light and creamy.

~While this is mixing you can prepare your Swiss roll tray. Grease it lightly and line with baking parchment/grease proof paper.

~When your eggs and sugar are ready gently fold in the flour and vanilla. Try not to mix it too much or you will flatten the lovely air bubbles you have just beaten in.

~Bake at 200C for about 12-15 minutes only. It is important not to overbake. If you do the cake will be too dry and rolling it won't be so successful!

~The cake is ready when it is lightly golden.

~While the cake is baking, prepare a sheet of baking parchment/grease proof paper slightly larger than the baking tray. Sprinkle it all over with your extra sugar.

~When you take the cake out of the oven, carefully but quickly tip it upside down onto the prepared parchment and sugar. Peel off the baking parchment that was on your cake in the oven.

~Now cover with a clean, damp tea towel and leave to cool down.

~When your cake has cooled, spread your chosen filling all over the cake. Then, starting at one of the short sides, roll up the cake. You can use the baking parchment to help you push and roll.

Because gluten free cakes tend to be a bit more crumbly I don't try to spread any chocolate buttercream over the log like I used to when baking with wheat flour. If you are using wheat flour then do go ahead and cover the log in icing and finish off the decoration with fork markings to make it look like a proper piece of wood!

 

I think the little cracks in the cake make it look quite wood-like anyway, and we just finish our decor off with a good sprinkling of icing sugar snow. And, as you can see in the top photo, last year Calum (11) made a cute little Robin out of sugar paste as a final flourish!

 

 

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Christmas Recipes - Stained Glass Biscuits/Christmas Biscuits

 

I first posted this recipe two years ago but there is no harm in repeating it again as it is, I think, a lovely wee tradition. We also use this recipe, minus the stained glass part, to make up simple Christmas biscuits. We don't bother with any fancy decorating on them, just a sprinkling of icing sugar, as you will see from the photo at the bottom of the post.

 

The recipe I use is adapted from a Nigella Christmas biscuit recipe.

 

To make wheat & dairy free Christmas biscuits you will need:

10oz Doves Farm Wheat Free Self Raising Flour

2tsp mixed spice

1tsp ground cinnamon

3 oz dairy free margarine

3 oz light brown sugar

2tbsp runny honey

1-2 beaten eggs

~Put the flour and spice in a food processor and blitz until mixed.

~Add the butter, then blitz, then add the sugar and blitz again.

~Now add the honey, blitz it in, and slowly add the eggs.. You probably won't need all of the eggs, but you might, so go slowly here, stopping the blitzing when everything comes together as a dough.

~Now roll out your biscuit dough on a floured surface and cut out your shapes then place on greased baking trays.

~Once on the trays cut out a shape in the centre and place a boiled sweet in this centre.

~If your sweet is too big for the hole in the biscuit, just crush it up a little with a pestle and mortar and fill the hole with chunks of sweetie instead.

~You will also need to make little holes at the top of each shape you plan to hang on the tree. Use a skewer or cocktail stick for this.

~Bake at 180C for around 15-20 minutes, after which your biscuits will be golden and the sweets will have melted and filled up the middle.

~Leave to cool on the trays as the stained glass centre will be hot, hot, hot!

~Once cooled you can thread them and hang them up. If you find that the hole has closed up a little in cooking, thread a needle and sew the string through it. Works perfectly!

They look so pretty hanging on the tree with the fairy lights shining behind them.

 

 

And the non-stained glass version.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Christmas Recipes - Easy Peppermint Bark

It appears to be December already.

 

I mean, the calendars and Advent Calendars are all telling me that it is, but what I want to know is, what happened to November?! I mean, where did it go to so fast? Did anyone else find it flying by or was it just that we were so busy loving on our new little man?

 

Anyway, December is indeed here, and boys both big and small are getting excited for all the festive fun that it brings with it.

 

I've always thought that the run up to the big day of Christmas is just as exciting as the day itself and am so pleased to see the boys thinking the same way. As I was baking some mince pies the other night James told me that Christmas was his favourite time of year, not because of the presents, but because of all the traditions we have. And not fancy traditions either but simple ones. Like mince pies, making decorations, our Jesse tree devotions, getting together with friends and family, and some more Christmas baking!

 

So, since I think Christmas baking is such a comforting, homely tradition I thought I would celebrate the first week of Advent by sharing some of our favourite recipes each day this week.

 

Today's recipe is a super easy one to start with. Even someone who never bakes could rustle this one up no problem. I have now delegated this one to James (13) and he has been making at least two batches of it a week since the beginning of November. The reason for him having to make so much is that it is just so simply delicious! Once you have one slice, well, you can't just have one slice! I should also say that I had never heard of Peppermint Bark until I saw this recipe on PaisleyJade's blog a few years ago so it is really her to thank. Or for your waistline to blame!

 

 

You will need:

400g milk chocolate

400g white chocolate

1-2tsp peppermint essence/flavouring

2 candy canes, crushed.

 

~ Melt the milk chocolate, spread evenly in a tray bake tin then leave to set.

~ Melt the white chocolate and then add the peppermint essence. How much you need really depends on the brand, some are more minty than others so it's probably best to add 1 tsp then check the taste before deciding if you need to add more or not.

~Spread the white chocolate over the milk chocolate and then sprinkle with the crushed candy canes.

~ Once it is all set cut into squares. If you cut smallish squares you can tell yourself that you can eat more slices since they are only small.

 

Now wasn't that easy?!

 

You could also make this up with Dairy free versions of the chocolate but we haven't been able to get hold of Dairy free white chocolate for a while now.

 

Oh, and before I finish up. Little Fraser is 6 weeks old today. He has been smiling for a wee while now but whenever I tried to capture it with the camera he would stop! I finally did today though, so here he is...

 

 

Just had to share that too :)

 

 

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Weekend Busyness

We are kind of getting into a routine here now.

 

Fraser is 5 weeks old today and growing so fast!

 

He still looks for a feed every 2 hours or so which is probably why! Still, it gives me an excuse to indulge in a few extra calories each day, and I am so enjoying being able to eat chocolate again after 9 months of hardly being able to look at it.

 

And feeding a hungry baby meant that it only took two weeks after he was born before my skinny jeans fitted again.

 

 

Moving on from the smallest boy to the biggest boy though.

 

James attended his first Army Cadet camp this weekend. He was only away for two nights and came home absolutely exhausted but he loved it. He also passed his first test to earn his first ranking and so was really pleased.

 

 

He wasn't the only boy who was busy though. Calum & David went on their first Aunty Anna hillwalk. My husband's sister is an avid hillwalker, usually spending most Saturdays up a hill somewhere. She is also a great photographer. Just look at the photo she took of the two boys at the summit of the hill!

 

I'm sure it could be used as an advert for the Scottish Tourist Board. Who wouldn't want to come to Scotland after seeing that view?!

 

 

Oh look, another photo of Fraser :)

 

 

Since it was just me and the youngest two boys at home on Saturday (daddy was at a conference), Alasdair was a little bit lost without his big buddies and so once Fraser went for a wee snooze we made some Christmas biscuits together.

 

 

We didn't just make Christmas shapes though. We made one big biscuit especially for Alasdair - Mickey Mouse, who he enjoyed for supper on Saturday evening!

 

 

 

Oh OK, one more photo of Fraser. To make up for the two weeks without a blogpost :)

 

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Remembrance Sunday

Each year the boys who are old enough usually take part in the Remembrance Sunday parade with their Boys' Brigade company.

 

This year our loyalties were tied as James was to take part in a different parade now that he has also joined the Army Cadets.

 

Originally we had thought that we would all go to watch James' parade, as it is the main one in the town, but the Boys' Brigade leader offered to give Calum and David a lift home from their parade as she was keen for as many as possible to attend their one, leaving us free to watch James in his first Army parade.

 

I didn't get a great photo of them all before we left, as we were rushing out of the door when I remembered to take one. Once we got home they were out of their uniforms before I had the chance to get another one!

 

 

 

James' parade took place at the town's Civic Centre. When we arrived, the combined school's pipe band were playing and James was one of the cadets handing out poppies and programmes and looking after the veterans. He is one of the cadets on the far left of this photo.

 

 

 

The rest of the cadets were in the parade along with more veterans as well as the air cadets.

 

 

It was a beautiful bright morning but also the coldest, frostiest morning of the autumn so far as well. We were well wrapped up, which was just as well as we were standing in the cold for an hour and a half! My toes were a little numb by the time all the poppy wreaths below were laid down!

 

 

 

As for Fraser, well, he was snug as a bug in his little snow suit, hat and a couple of blankets and managed to sleep through the whole thing - bagpipes and brass band and everything!

 

 

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Three favourite snaps of a week

There hasn't been much to blog about in the last week, other than lots of photos of sweet little Fraser!

 

My days (and nights) consist mostly of feeding, feeding and a bit more feeding! Fraser still feeds every two hours or less but he seems to be thriving on it. The health visitor was amazed when she weighed him last week and discovered he had put on a pound in less than a week. I guess my superpower just now is making milk!

 

Out of all the photos taken in the last week, these are three of my favourites.

 

I finally got round to getting a photo of all five boys together, and it didn't take too many shots to get a good one either.

 

 

 

 

 

Fraser has been really alert from his very first days. We love to watch his little eyes take in the world around him.

 

 

 

 

And what is more precious than enjoying all those newborn cuddles?

 

 

 

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Make it Monday - Granny Square Baby Snuggy Toy

No, I haven't been crafting away with a newborn in the house!

 

I started working on this wee toy a week past Friday, as I approached the end of my 39th week of pregnancy. I had seen a similar toy on Pinterest, but with a froggy head, and had thought about making that at first. When I went to buy the wool I couldn't find any greens that were soft enough but I did find this lovely soft self patterning tweedy wool. I bought that instead and decided to try for a bear head instead of a frog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't follow a pattern but the toy is just a basic granny square with a stuffed circle shape sewn in the middle.

 

I made up the square to the size I was happy with and then worked up a head shape that was in proportion. Then all it needed was some little ears.

 

 

 

 

Once the ears were on James suggested that maybe it didn't need eyes, nose and mouth sewn on. This was on the Saturday evening. I decided to leave the facial features until Monday as something else needed done at the time.

I didn't expect that the little man would be making his appearance on the Monday! Still, I'm glad that I got it mostly finished before he arrived. The features can be added later, if at all!

 

And here's one more photo of the man himself, being photobombed by his next oldest brother!

 

 

Thanks for all the messages of congratulations. He has settled in quite nicely and I'm taking things nice and easy still. Being a typical boy he likes to spend most of his time feeding. The longest he has gone between feeds so far is about 2 1/2 hours so I am still pretty tired, but these early days are so precious and so fast that I don't mind all those chances to snuggle him one bit. I try and remind myself that at 4am anyway, especially when I have only been asleep since 2.30am!

 

Oh, and the Henry VIII comment, for those who asked, was one I shared on the housefulofboys Facebook page when I shared the link to the post. The midwife at the hospital said to me that if I had been Henry VIII's wife my head would have been quite safe!

 

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Introducing......

I honestly didn't expect to be writing this post until at least the end of the week but I'm glad to be able to do so sooner rather than later!

 

On Monday morning at 3.37am, only a few hours after his due date, Fraser Donald Murray was born weighing 8lb 1oz.

 

On Sunday afternoon the boys and dad were heading out for our usual Sunday afternoon walk to the woods and I really couldn't be bothered as I was so tired, but I had it in the back of my mind that the night David was born was after a long walk so it wouldn't do any harm to waddle along with them, just in case it should help get things started!

 

As I put Calum's light out on Sunday night the last thing he said was, 'I really hope the baby comes tonight'. I replied that the closest any of them had come to their due dates was David who was 3 days late so not to get his hopes up.

 

Everything was just normal as we went to bed about midnight.

 

2 hours later I woke up with what I thought could have been a contraction. I'd been having Braxton Hicks for months, as in all previous pregnancies, and some of these had been pretty uncomfortable, even to the point of disturbing me in the night, so I thought it was possibly just yet another of these. Still, because I knew we were to try and get to the hospital quite quickly then I ought to stay awake and just check if another came. Which it did about 5 minutes later. I still didn't think it was too painful though and didn't want to wake up my hubs in case it was a false alarm. Two more contractions later and I concluded that, yes, ok they probably were more painful than the usual ones and decided to get our plan into action.

 

We phoned my sister in law to come over to look after the boys and headed to the hospital.

 

By the time we got to the hospital I think the contractions were already only about 2-3 minutes apart and things just kind of escalated quickly from then on. It wasn't too long until our newest little man was in my arms. It's funny how four of the five boys were born within half an hour of 4am. Only our oldest was born late morning.

 

 

We were left in peace to get some rest for a couple of hours before the midwife came back to do the weigh in. Daddy and baby both had a nice wee snooze but I couldn't sleep.

 

8lb 1oz is the lightest of any of our boys - three were 8lb 5oz & Calum was 8lb 12oz - but he is also the least overdue and managed to beat them all in length. The other 4 were all 21 inches exactly but Fraser measured in at 21 1/2!

 

Once all the necessary checks were done we were both allowed to leave for home before midday. The maternity ward is so busy that if you and baby are both healthy and it's not your first baby, they really try and encourage you to go home if you can and we have been able to do this with each of the boys, except, like I said, our first. The midwife said that a house with four boys would probably be more restful than the ward!

 

It was lovely to come home to a house tidied up by my sister in law as well as a lovely pan of soup she had made us. I'd only had toast to eat in the hospital so was pretty hungry!

 

I think that's all the necessary details so I'll leave you with a few more photos of our newest little bundle. The other boys are absolutely delighted with him and always desperate for cuddles. Alasdair has been very good with him but not quite brave enough to hold him yet. He will help me wind him though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, so that was quite a few shots, but he's just so adorable. Worth all 9 months of that morning sickness!

 

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39 weeks.

 

Well, the end is almost in sight!

 

It's funny how when you reach this stage of pregnancy, in one sense you feel as if it has gone past quite quickly, but then in another sense when you look back to the beginning it seems so long ago! Those early days of day long sickness seem so far off, but alas the days of morning sickness have never left. I kind of expected that though since it's been the same every other pregnancy.

 

Still, as with in all my other pregnancies, I've not had any other complaints at all so I take that as my payback for all the sickness! My blood pressure has always remained textbook level, iron levels are always fine, no problems with glucose, no swelling of hands or feet, or any other aches and pains that go along with pregnancy.

 

Despite saying this I am looking forward to getting up in the morning one day soon and not feeling nauseous!

 

I've been trying to take it easy the last couple of weeks. I don't think the third trimester tiredness really hit me until about 37 weeks, so again I can't complain.

 

Our hospital has a policy that for baby no 5, or more, you have to meet with the consultant at around 37 weeks so that they can double check that baby is lying the right way round. A quick scan a few weeks ago confirmed what my midwife has been saying for months, that baby is indeed the right way round.

 

Because my previous deliveries have been quite fast - no 4 was 45 minutes from start to finish - I was also asked to go back this week and meet with the consultant again. There had been mention of going in at around term to be induced so as to reduce the risk of giving birth in the supermarket, or some other horror story, but I politely declined. I'm a great believer that if mum and baby are both healthy then you shouldn't interfere. Especially given that all my other deliveries began naturally. I had discussed this with my own midwife the week before and she agreed that there was no need for induction.

 

The consultant accepted my decision and said he just had to make me aware the option was there. This delivery could be faster he said. But it might not be, was my response, and he agreed. He double checked how far away we live from the hospital - 10 minutes maximum - and that we had child care arrangements in place - several! Another check of baby confirmed, yet again, that they are lying head down, in fact the consultant was surprised that the head was quite so far down.

 

I'm not naturally a very assertive person and so I was rather pleased with myself for standing my ground. As I left the room the midwife followed me and patted me on the back saying, "well done you for sticking to your guns." That made me feel pretty good.

 

I finally packed my hospital bag last night, which is perhaps the latest I have ever left it! We also spent yesterday washing baby clothes that have been stored up in the loft and they are now neatly folded away. The boys were amazed when the saw how small the first size baby-gros are. Then I held one up in front of me and told them how squashed the baby must be by now!

 

Now we just face the waiting game.

 

I'm just hoping that this little one is not quite as comfortable to stay put as their older brothers were!

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