Chocolate and pecan traybake (gluten and dairy free)

This is a simple to make and deliciously chocolatey traybake, that's probably thanks to the 200g of dark chocolate in here! We enjoyed this so much that we finished it within days of it being made, saying that it does keep well. If you can eat dairy and gluten feel free to use butter and regular plain wheat flour.

 Definitely one to add to the collection, I can see this being made again with different flavouring and nuts for variety,

Chocolate and pecan traybake

200g dark chocolate
100g DF spread (I used pure)
85g golden caster sugar
4 eggs, separated, the whites into a greasefree bowl
85g ground almonds
75g GF plain flour (I used Dove farm)
1/8 tsp xantham gum
Pecans for decoration, anything from 50-100g

Preheat the oven to 160C/180C FAN/gas 4 and line a 25cm square cake tin or brownie/traybake tin with baking parchment. 

Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water and heat gently, stirring every now and then until the chocolate and butter has melted. When cool, but still melted, stir in half the sugar and the egg yolks.

Whisk the whites to firm peaks, add the remaining sugar, then whisk again until glossy. Stir a spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mix along with the ground almonds, flour and xantham gum then fold through the rest. Transfer to the tin and top with lightly broken pecans. 

Bake for 25 minutes, cool in the tin for 10 mins, then lift onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Bake along with bake off- Pistachio salambos

Arghh what a crazy crazy couple of weeks. I have been away with work, not even managed to watch last weeks bake off let alone try and bake along with it. I think I will have to cut my losses (nothing from sweet dough week and nothing from whatever was last week) and bake along with whatever the theme is tomorrow, and I do not even know what that may be.

These little pistachio delights I made for the week the contestants made petit fours. If my memory serves me right in the trailer for the bake off I am yet to watch I  am sure the contestants were making some sort of choux based delight for the technical challenge so these  do kind of fit!

They are a mini choux bun, filled with orange blossom cream, dipped in caramel and chopped pistachios. They are truly delicious.

Pistachio salambos

makes 12 mini

1 egg, beaten
25g butter
33g plain flour
15g pistachios, finely chopped
60g caster sugar
75ml  double cream
few drops of orange blossom water

Fold a sheet of greaseproof paper in half, open out, and sift the flour onto it.

Put the butter and 60ml water into a pan and heat gently until the butter has melted. Quickly bring to the boil and add the flour all in one go. Take the pan from the heat and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon, as you beat it will turn into a smooth dough. 

Put the pan back over a low heat, and beat gently for a minute more until the  dough comes away fro the sides of the pan to make a smooth glossy ball. 

Tip the dough into a mixing bowl and leave until barely warm. 

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN.

Using and electric whisk gradually add the egg, beating well after each addition. The dough needs to be shiny and stiff, it should just fall from a spoon if lightly shaken. You may not need all the egg, do not make the dough too loose or it will spread out not puff up in the oven.

Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a narrow plain nozzle and pipe 12 small mounds equal in size, onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, spacing them well apart. Bake for 20 minutes.

Open the oven door to release steam, turn the temperature down to 180C/160C FAN and bake for a further 5 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.

Make a small whole in the side of each choux ball to let out the steam and return to the oven for a final five minutes. Transfer the choux buns to a wire rack to cool.

Make the caramel by dissolving the sugar in one tablespoon of water. increase the heat and gently bubble until the caramel turns a deep golden. Dip the top of the choux buns into the caramel followed by the pistachios.(If the caramel begins to set before you have dipped all the buns gently warm over a low heat) Set aside to set.

Whip the cream and a few drops of orange blossom extract together until stiff enough to hold a peak. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a narrow nozzle and pipe through the steam hole. 

These need to be eaten as soon as possible once they are filled. I filled a couple to eat straight away and kept the others unfilled , with the cream in the fridge, and ate over the past couple of days. They were their absolute best the day they were made but perfectly yummy the following days.

Dairy free, gluten free 'Candy bars'

Uh oh. Stomach pains are never good, so off the the doctor I went. Everything super bad ruled out. Current thinking is IBS triggered by excess dairy or maybe even a mild lactose intolerence.

I was not impressed. I appreciate many people live with this but it would mean a HUGE change in my baking habits. Then a glimmer of hope, I only have to give lactose up for two weeks to see if my symptoms completely disappear. After that I should be allowed a small amount (phew chocolate stays!), I reckon I can still bake the way I always did with maybe a few tweaks along the way.

However that does not help me for the coming weeks, no butter, milk, yoghurt, cream, sour cream, creme fraiche, caramel, chocolate, cheese etc.

I do have cake recipes that are oil based instead of dairy so that is a good option for cake. Its a little tricky should I want any sort of luscious creamy frosting. I reckon I could make a brownie that contained no butter too. What about biscuits? I am not a fan of margarine and have never made a biscuit with oil, research and experimentation required I think.

I actually decided I wanted some sort of nutty chocolate fix and stumbled across these 'Candy Bars' from Gwyneth Paltrow's book 'Its all good'. In a quick aside this book has received some stick, and while I do not think elimination diets and detoxes are necessary, and if I ignore some of the waffle about food we are 'all' allergic to, it actually has fantastic recipes, that are healthy, packed full of goodness and more importantly all the ones I have tried are packed full of flavour and super delicious.

Sorry for the waffle, back to the 'Candy Bars', they are not a candy bar in the traditional sense, these are no snickers, but they do taste fantastic. Nuts, maple syrup, sticky dates, and intense dark chocolate are a winning combination in my book!

Candy Bars (Gwyneth Paltrow, its all good)

200g plain cashews
240g dates, weighed without stones, roughly chopped
50g desiccated coconut
170g almond butter (If you cannot find almond butter this could work with peanut butter too)
125ml maple syrup
100g dark chocolate (I used green & blacks)

Line a small traybake tin with baking paper.

Put the cashews in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the dates, coconut, almond butter and maple syrup. Pulse until the mixture is combined and forms a ball of sticky dough. 

Transfer this dough to your prepared tin, press into all the corners and level with your hands. Slightly damp hands will stop the mixture sticking to you.

Put in the fridge for 5-6 hours to set. Once set gently melt the chocolate, pour on top, and gently spread out with a spatula to cover the whole surface. Put back into the fridge for and hour before cutting into bars and devouring. 

update: perhaps cut them before the chocolate has completely set otherwise it cracks

Keep in the fridge, they will keep for up to two weeks.

I think these taste really really good, they have texture, are just sweet enough and the dark chocolate gives a sophisticated edge.

Gwyneth says that they can also be stored in the freezer. I like them this way best but Mark likes them from the fridge. The chocolate from the freezer and the chew from the bar reminds me a little bit of a choc ice!

Nigella breakfast bars

So that is it. Lent has begun and so has my abstinence from chocolate. I would not call myself a complete and utter chocoholic, yes I love it and yes, if I am honest I have it most days, however I do not have it multiple times a day and occasionally turn it down (!) so therefore do not feel a complete addict...

The lovely Mark has decided to abstain too which makes both out lives easier, I do not have to watch him chomping it and he does not get biffed on the nose for wafting it in front of me one too many times.

A mini problem arises as I realise that he takes his breakfast to work everyday. His favourite cereal bar. His favourite chocolate cereal bar.

With this thought in my mind I began to think more about the commercial cereal bar. Most of which are full of sugar and not much goodness, and do not keep a man, or woman for that matter, full till lunch time.

I had heard a few people rave about the Nigella breakfast bars so decided to see if I these would be a more nutritious, more filling and chocolate free breakfast.

They are full of good things, oats, plain nuts, mixed plain seeds, dried fruit, a little unsweetened dessicated coconut and condensed milk. These seemed to me a much better thing to eat for breakfast regardless of whether or not they contained chocolate.


The exact recipe can be found here. The beauty of this recipe is that it is adaptable to suit your own tastes. I made a few tweaks myself. Firstly I used light condensed milk, it tastes the same and gives the same baked result. I also altered the amount of nuts and seeds slightly, purely based on the size of the bag the shop sold. Mark also requested prunes instead of apricots.

I had a couple of these myself as snacks before dance classes when tea was going to be late. They really kept me going, are very filling and most importantly delicious.

In the coming weeks these bars will be tweaked a number of ways for new exciting breakfasts and snacks. I have an idea involving apples, raisins and hazelnuts, if they turn out well I will be posting that recipe here very soon.