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Christmas Mulled Gin & Tonic with Apple

December 19, 2018 By Jane Saunders Leave a Comment

This apple-based Mulled Gin & Tonic is easy to pull together and makes a wonderful Christmassy hot drink to serve to a crowd. Non-drinkers can enjoy the mulled apple juice just as it is.

Are you ready for Christmas? The age-old question that rears it’s head from 1st December onwards, making us all groan inwardly. Honestly, who can seriously announce in reply that yes, they are well and truly organised and ready for the festivities to commence? Not me. I have very few hours left to do serious business as my family breaks up for Christmas in just a few hours time. By default, that means I also need to be ready too. Or at least convincingly pretend that I am. Shhhh…

One thing I am ready for is the stash of treats that have been accumulating in my home recently. As far as the food goes, this includes the Christmas pudding and cake, the mince pies that are safely nestled in my freezer ready to bake. And best of all, …

Gluten Free Mince Pies

December 14, 2018 By Jane Saunders 4 Comments

Crisp and crunchy pastry encases festive mincemeat in these Gluten Free Mince Pies. Go for a full pastry lid, dainty stars or a mixture.

Around this time last year, somebody close to me was forced to switch to a gluten-free diet for health reasons. I think that Christmas has to be the worst possible time of year to have to adopt a new diet under such circumstances. There are so many treats flying around to get tempted by. It’s like rubbing salt into a wound to have to keep turning things down because they no longer agree with your body.

I did my best to cater for the new dietary requirements and managed to pull a gluten-free Christmas Pudding, gingerbread cake, Christmas cake, mince pies and sausage rolls out of the bag. Albeit with variable degrees of success. The pudding and cakes went down very well, but the sausage rolls were not so good. I didn’t serve them in the end because the pastry was so tough it could have been used to break a window or two.

When it comes to mince pies, I have a recipe for the pastry that I always use. I’ve been using it for well over a decade. So last year I adapted that recipe. The results were satisfactory, but I felt I could definitely do better. One year on and I’ve got the recipe perfected.

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