Meat & Vegetable jerky

The original idea for jerky that has vegetables in it as well came from www.pantrypractitioner.com.au/news.php (look down the newsfeed and click the link to download a pdf). We've just started making it regularly again and have made a few minor adjustments, so here they are.

Firstly, she uses an Excalibur dehydrator, which comes with nice flat square trays which are easy to line with baking paper. We have a different type of dehydrator, an Ezi Dry, which is round with a central hole. You can buy solid inserts that you can line the trays with. If you need to use baking paper, it will be trickier to cut for this style of dehydrator. (The reason we bought this one instead of an Excalibur is that it isn't as big, and doesn't take up as much bench space.)

Because of the different shape, we shape the mix into small, individual, flattened patties, instead of one piece rolled out and marked into squares.

Lastly, based on a recipe from Heidi Jean on the GFCFNN discussion forum I used to frequent, I'm suggesting milk kefir as an alternative to ACV for the marinade.

This makes a large amount of jerky, so feel free to reduce the quantity.

• About 2kg minced meat (we usually use premium beef, but higher fat mince is fine, or try lamb, pork or whatever you like)
• About 1 cup apple cider vinegar or milk kefir
• 1 Tbs celtic sea or himalayan salt (or more to your taste)
• Herbs, spices or garlic of your choice
• Up to 600gm of minced or grated vegetables, such as onion, carrots, pumpkin, beetroot, zucchini, broccoli - I find 300-400gm enough, and usually use 100gm onion and 200gm or so mixed other veges.

Mix together everything except the veges in  a large bowl. Get your hands in there and squeeze everything together really well so that the acid from the ACV or kefir will "cook" the meat as it marinates and destroy any pathogens. Then add your veges and mix well again. Cover with a large plate and marinate overnight in the fridge.

Next day, set your dehydrator to HIGH or about 68C. Form little patties and flatten them to no more than 1 com thick.

You can see in the picture that they are on a solid insert at this stage.

Dehydrate for about 3-4 hours. By that stage, they should be firm enough to take them off the solid insert and place them (the other way up) on the mesh tray, to allow better air flow and drying.

After a total of 6-8 hours, they will be dry on the outside, but still moist on the inside. If you will be keeping them in the fridge and eating them within a few days, you can stop there. 

But if you want to keep them longer, you need to keep them going until they are crisp and dry all the way through, up to 24 hours.

These make a perfect Paleo, GAPS or low carb snack that is a bit better balanced than pure meat. 

If you want some extra fat, use them as crackers and spread some butter on top! A slice of tomato or cucumber on top of that would be good too.

Fruit Jelly and Fruit Mousse

Another gelatin recipe we've been having quite a bit lately is real fruit jelly. To get a consistency more like commercial jelly, you can use fruit juice, but we've been using the whole fruit.

• 2 cups blueberries
• 1 cup black currants
• 1 1/2 cups room temp water
• 3 Tbs gelatin
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• small amount of natural sweetener of your choice

If your berries are frozen, get them out a couple of hours beforehand to defrost. 

Put the water in a medium sized pan and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. While it softens, zizz everything else together in a blender or food processor.

Gently heat the water and gelatin until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Add about half to the blender and zizz. Then add the rest and zizz well.

Pour into 4 or 5 dishes and put in the fridge to set. You can put it all in one bowl, but it;s then very tempting to just have another mouthful and another and so on!

Mousse

To convert the recipe to a mousse, replace the water with 1 cup raw milk or cream and 1/2 cup yoghurt or yoghurt cream. Sprinkle the gelatin on the milk or cream and add the yoghurt to the blender separately.

You can make all sorts of different flavours of mousse or jelly just by changing the fruit around. Strawberry & banana is also nice.

The version in the photo is Berry Mousse with another layer on top of Yoghurt mixed with fermented cream and raspberries. And a little gelatin in that layer too.

Gummy Stars

This is a Mommypotamus recipe, which I found  posted on the Auckland Mums: Super Nutrition for Babies and Beyond facebook page.

I'm in the mode of thinking of Xmas recipes at the moment, and these would be a great recipe for GAPS kids who are ok on honey.

• 1/3 cup lemon (or lime) juice (about 3 large lemons)
• 3 Tbs gelatin
• 3 Tbs honey
• Mummypotamus added some natural food colouring, but I didn't and they still came out a nice colour.

Put the lemon juice in a small pan and sprinkle the gelatin on top. When it's softened add the honey, and stir all together over a low heat till the gelatin is dissolved.

The first time, I just poured it into a glass dish, put in the fridge till set, then cut it up into squares. The second time I used some chocolate moulds. They went into the freezer for a while, then into the fridge. I used the pointy end of a sharp knife to prise a corner out, and then peeled each one out. This amount made about 24 gummies.

Now go and visit Mummypotamus and see all her other great recipes, including her guide to the Ultimate GAPS Xmas recipes. 

She also has a fabulous looking book full of DIY organic beauty recipes. Just what every GAPS household needs.

Spinach Roulade

A spinach roulade is a classic dish that can be varied by using different fillings. The mozzarella and tomato version, which is good either hot or cold, comes from Rose Elliot’s Vegetarian Kitchen. A couple of other variations have been included. The red with green looks very festive and this would make a nice Xmas entrée, side dish or to cater for a vegetarian family member.

Note that the recipe as it stands isn't suitable for GAPS as these cheeses are not GAPS friendly. You may be able to tolerate them later in the diet, or you could substitute harder cheeses. 

The Roulade:

• 450g (1 lb) fresh spinach or 175g (6oz) frozen
• 15g (1/3 oz) butter
• 4 eggs, separated
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• grated nutmeg
• 4 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese           

Set the oven to 200°C/400°F. Line a 23 x 33 cm/9 x 13” Swiss roll tin with baking paper, extended a bit up the sides.

If you're using fresh spinach, wash well in sinkfuls of cold water, then put it into a large saucepan & cook over a high heat for 7-10 minutes, or until it is very tender. Keep pushing it down into the pan with a fish slice as it cooks. Or, cook frozen spinach in a tiny amount of boiling water, just enough to prevent it from sticking to the pan; it takes the same length of time.

Drain the spinach into a colander and press it very well to extract as much water as possible. Put it into a food processor, along with the butter, egg yolks and the seasonings, and whizz it all at top speed to make a smooth, creamy-looking puree. Whisk the egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks, then gently add the spinach mixture and carefully fold into the egg whites, incorporating as well as you can without stirring too hard. Tip into the tin, level the top gently and sprinkle it with 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the top is springy. While the roulade is baking, prepare a piece of baking paper to turn it out on to, by sprinkling it with the rest of the Parmesan. 

The Filling:

• 2 x 150g/5 oz Mozzarella cheese, packed in water (OR 100g feta, OR 250g ricotta)
• 4 medium tomatoes (OR a red capsicum)
• 3 - 4 sprigs of fresh basil (OR small bunch fresh parsley)

Drain the Mozzarella & slice thinly (or crumble the feta); cut the tomatoes into thin rounds (or capsicum into chunks) & chop the basil (or parsley).

Putting it together

Take the roulade out of the oven and turn it out on to the baking paper. Peel the paper off the roulade, and add the filling:

• Cover with a layer of Mozzarella slices (or other cheeses) 
• Then a layer of tomato rounds (or capsicum)
• And finally chopped herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Roll up the roulade, starting at one of the long ends. Serve immediately, or put on a plate, cover with foil & put it into the oven, at 160°C/325°F, for 15 minutes or so. 

Marinated fish in coconut cream

Usually I serve this in a bowl. But at the moment, my thoughts are on Xmas and I can just see a platter full of kebabs, with the white of the fish alternating with red and green veges. If Xmas Day is hot (but with it having dropped to 12C in Wellington today, who can be sure it will be?), fish kebabs would be a light and refreshing alternative to a roast. They could even be tossed on the BBQ for a minute on each side. Here's my regular recipe, plus thoughts on kebabs.

• ½ cup lemon juice (3-5 lemons approx)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 500g (1/2 lb) firm white fish (see note below for good types of fish)
• approx 100ml (1/2 cup) coconut cream
• slice of red onion, chopped up finely
• about ¼ telegraph cucumber, chopped up small
• handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• mesclun or other lettucy type greens

Start preparation 24 hours before you want to serve. Mix the lemon juice and the salt together in a medium sized bowl. Cut the fish into chunks that are roughly 2 cm (just under 1 inch) a side, and mix together well. Press the fish down, so that the juice covers it. If the lemon juice doesn’t cover the fish, add a little extra. Marinate in the fridge for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

Drain the fish well, put into a clean bowl and stir in the coconut cream. I don’t measure it; I just slosh in enough so that the fish has a nice coating. Chop up the salad veges and stir them in. 

The amounts given are approximate and will depend on your taste and how you are going to serve it. If you are serving it as a main meal, you’ll want to add more vegetables than if it’s an entrée. You can vary the vegetables as well, eg by using spring onions or capsicum.

Kebabs

Leave the fish to sit in the coconut cream for an hour or two. Then thread onto skewers, alternating pieces of fish with your choice of raw salad vegetables – e.g. cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, capsicum, radish or baby turnips. Cold, cooked roast vegetables such as pumpkin could also be interesting.

Xmas kebabs

For the red veges: cherry tomatoes, capsicum or red onion

For the green: cucumber (or zucchini if going on the barbie), celery, green capsicum

What fish should I use?

Good fish to use: terakihi, kawahai (with the brown meat cut off), cod, mullet, halibut, skipjack or albacore tuna

Fish to avoid: Gurnard, bluefin or yellowfin tuna

If in doubt, ask the fish seller for a recommendation 

Beetroot dip

I love baby beetroot, and we got some picked fresh from my sister's garden last week. I turned them into a beetroot dip which we served with fish for dinner.

• Baby beetroot (5 of them made a dip that served 2 of us for 2 dinners)
• Cultured cream, homemade yoghurt or yoghurt "cheese" (ie after dripping out the whey). For a dairy free option, homemade mayo would probably work fine.
• A little himalayan or celtic sea salt

You can add extra flavourings, though I didn't this time. Some possibilities (choose one only!):

• Horseradish cream is a classic addition (check for non-GAPS ingredients)
• I've used PureWasabi by Coppersfolly as a horseradish substitute before
• Lemon juice, ground cumin, ground coriander seed, crushed garlic
• Or just the lemon juice and cumin

Trim the beetroot, leaving about a 1cm of stalk and tail. Wash well, but leave the skins on. Put into a pan and cover with cold water and a little sea salt. Simmer till they can be pierced with a skewer, approx 45-60 minutes, depending on size. Drain off the water and cover them with cold water, till they're cold enough to handle. Slice off the two ends, and you'll be able to slip the skins right off.

Put into food processor with a couple of tablespoons of the sour cream or yoghurt, and zizz. Add more sour cream till it comes to a good consistency, and seasonings to taste. (Sorry, I didn't measure anything). I didn't even take a photo, the one above is pinched from another site. But it's there so you can get a rough idea of what the colour and consistency will look like.

This would  make a lovely Xmas dinner starter, with a bowl of guacamole and maybe a third bowl of chicken liver pate. Make some biscotti from starch free bread, or cut up some vege sticks or chunks to go with it.

Cranberry Sauce

Turns roast turkey, chicken or duck into a Christmas treat.


This is an easy sauce, made from the recipe on the frozen cranberry bag, but using natural sweeteners instead of sugar.

• 1 cup frozen cranberries
• 1 tart apple, peeled and grated
•  Juice of one orange
•   Zest of half the orange
• a bit under 1 cup rapadura, shakkar or muscavado sugar

Simmer berries, juice, zest and sugar together till sugar melts and glazes the berries, and berries are hot. Add grated apple. Simmer lightly for 5 minutes. Put into blender and pulse blend until berries are broken up but still chunky. Serve at once. Or make ahead of time, store in the fridge or freezer till needed, and reheat. It's also good cold.


Use the leftover turkey and leftover sauce to make a yummy meatloaf.

GAPS friendly version

Replace the sugar with 1/2 cup honey. After pulsing, taste and add more honey if needed.

White Christmas slice

We recently discovered dried strawberries. Not the sugar coated, preservative laden things you might have seen in the supermarket, but ones where strawberries are the only ingredients. I found them in Hardy's Health food shop. They're so sweet, it's hard to believe there's no added sugar. Anyway, I got thinking about how they would be a good substitute for glaced cherries in some Christmas recipes, and had a hazy memory of something called White Chrismas.

When I googled it, it turned out to be a rice bubble slice with glace cherries, Kremelta, and dessicated coconut and of course lots of icing sugar. So today I've been playing with versions of creamed coconut slice, and here's what we've got so far.

Version 1 used creamed coconut, coconut oil, vanilla essence, dried strawberries and sultanas. I didn't add extra sweetener. It tasted ok, but nothing special, just an everyday slice. For version 2, I used cocoa butter instead of the coconut oil. I added some mixed spice, and replaced some of the strawberries with dried pawpaw (cos I didn't have enough strawberries). It was much more Christmassy.

If you wanted extra sweetness, you could add a little honey. If you wanted some rice bubble like crunch, you could add some chopped nuts.

So here's the final recipe - well, as final as these things get. I'll probably tweak it again next time I make it. But we've got a lot of slice to eat before the next trial!

• 250ml (1/2 jar) creamed coconut
• 50g coconut oil -OR- cocoa (cacao) butter
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1-2 tsp honey (optional)

• 50g dried strawberries (or other red dried fruit of your choice)
• 50g apricots, pawpaw or pineapple
• 50g sultanas or raisins
• 50g almonds, cashews or macadamias (optional)

First, get your jar of creamed coconut softening in a bowl of hot water. (If you've got a jar already prepared, you won't need to do this). Next, line a plastic container that's about 15x20cm, or 12x25, or similar, with baking paper. Prepare your fruit: stir through the raisins and sultanas and remove any stalks; chop the rest into small pieces with kitchen scissors or a sharp knife. (note: choose fruits that are free of sweeteners and sulphites)

If you're using nuts, chop them up. (Best nuts for flavour, texture and digestibility are ones that have been made into "crispy" nuts, but raw or roasted unsalted will also do).

When the creamed coconut is soft enough to get out of the jar, scrape it all into a food processor and zizz till smooth. You might need to jab any big bits with a knife to break them up a bit more, and zizz again. When it's smooth, pour half back into the jar for another batch later on, or for adding to soups or stews.

If you're using cocoa butter, grate that and add. Or just spoon in the right amount of coconut oil. Add the other flavourings and zizz till it's all mixed together and smooth. Add the chopped fruit and nuts and pulse just enough to mix them in, but not mush them.

Pour into the container and mix around a bit to make sure the fruit and nuts are evenly dsitributed. Refrigerate for an hour or so, till hard. Lift the baking paper and contents onto a chopping board, and use a large knife to cut into small pieces, 1-1.5 cm wide. Gather up the corners of the paper, and you'll be able to stuff the whole lot back into the container, put the lid on and back into the fridge.

If you want to make them look pretty, spoon the mixture into mini muffin patty pans that have been stuffed into mini muffin trays. Or use foil thingies that are designed for truffles.

Mayonnaise

I was talking to somebody about homemade mayo the other day, and that reminded me what a good GAPS dressing it is, and a great way to incorporate your olive oil. 

Mix together in food processor till well blended :

• 1 whole egg, at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 ½ Tbs lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp Dijon style mustard or 1/4 tsp dry mustard powder

With the motor running, add one drop at a time:

• ¾-1 cup extra virgin olive oil (preferably from NZ)

Once about a 1/3 of the oil has been added, you’ll be able to add the rest in a small stream. If it starts to get very thick before you add all the oil, you don’t need to use it all. 

It will keep in the fridge for about two weeks.

Variations:

Garlic mayonnaise:

Add 1-2 cloves crushed garlic instead of the mustard

Curry mayonnaise:

Add 1 Tbs curry powder. Use this to make a chicken salad with cold diced chicken, organic green grapes, fresh bean sprouts and crispy cashews. Or add your favourite salad vegetables, and try out different crispy nuts, such as walnuts or slivered almonds.

Chocolate Spread

I'm very excited that the stock of our new product - creamed coconut - has arrived today! One of the first things I did was whip up a nutella type chocolate spread for people to sample, but free of dairy, sugar and even nuts!

• 250gm (1/2 a 500ml jar) of creamed coconut
• 125gm coconut oil 
• 2 Tablespoons raw cocoa powder (it doesn't have to be raw, but raw tastes better)
• 2 Tablespoons honey (or your favourite sweetener)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Zizz it all together in a food processor till smooth and pour into a jar. Eat as you would any chocolate spread, or just off the spoon.

How to whip raw cream

Whipping pasteurised cream is easy, but raw cream doesn’t work the same way. It doesn’t thicken for ages, then it turns straight to butter. Nobody is exactly sure why this happens. I’ve heard theories like “pasteurised cream has carrageen in it” – but in NZ it doesn’t, or “your cream isn’t fatty enough” – but this doesn’t explain it either.

Traditional ways of thickening cream are culturing, or making clotted cream by heating raw cream, then leaving to sit. There do seem to be some ways of whipping raw cream, but it does take some preparation.

1.      Skim well – Pour your cream into a wide mouthed bowl or container, and leave for 24 hours or so. You will then be able to skim full cream off the top and be sure you don’t have remaining milk in it.

2.      Age it – Older cream whips better than fresh cream, so the skimming stage will allow that to happen. But there is a fine line here, if you leave it too long, it will sour, and that may not be suitable for your needs.

3.      Chill it well – It may also help to chill your bowl and beaters. Cream turns to butter faster when warm.

4.      Beat it fast – Use the fastest speed on your beaters. (But be careful starting up, so you don’t spray cream all over the kitchen. A bigger than usual bowl helps too.)

5.      Additives last – If you want to add flavourings (eg vanilla essence) or sweeteners (eg stevia, maple syrup) add them AFTER the cream has thickened enough.

I can’t guarantee this will always work, but will increase your chances.

Jelly Trifle

I always think of my grandmother at Christmas, usually when I'm wrapping my presents. When I was at high school, every year I would go down to her house a couple of days before Xmas and sit at her kitchen table doing her wrapping for her. She would go round the house collecting up all the gifts she'd been putting away all year and tell me who each one was for. Things were more leisurely then, and we had a relaxed evening, with time to get every parcel just right.

I'm thinking of her early this year and remembering her trifle. Her speciality dishes included her apple pie, jam tarts and my favourite, trifle. It had to be made with jelly, not sherry. (When I was first introduced to trifle made with sherry, it was most disappointing.) It was spread with jam, layered with fruit salad, and then the jelly was poured over it. When it was set, it was topped with a thick layer of thick custard made from Edmonds custard powder. Then another thick layer of whipped cream, and sliced strawberries on top. Or sometimes grated chocolate. It was luscious. And mum, my sister and I kept up the tradition at family gatherings, always making it just the same.

I don't think I've had trifle since I went gluten free, so about 12 years, though I've been known to have a spoonful of custard and cream off the top.  But this year I've been thinking about how to make a GAPS friendly trifle. So far I don't have a firm recipe, just some musings - but I might try out a mini one this weekend.

So I'll start with something sponge like, probably made with coconut flour, as I think almond flour will be a bit heavy for this recipe. Maybe just a batch of blueberry muffins using the recipe in Bruce Fife's book. Or maybe this Triple Berry Coconut Cake. When cooled, they'll be cut into rough chunks.

Then I'll put half in one layer in my dish, then some berries, and another layer of each.

Next I'll take some red organic fruit juice - eg grape, apple & blackcurrant - dilute it a little, and use gelatine to make a jelly. I'll pour this over the top, press it all down firmly and leave it in the fridge to set.

The next day, I'll make a custard with real eggs, and either raw milk or coconut milk, sweetened with a little honey. It might not be as thick as Edmonds, but fingers crossed it will thicken up in the fridge.

Lastly, a layer of raw cream, whipped well, and more sliced berries.

I'll let you know how it  goes. In the meantime, I'd better do another post on how to whip raw cream, because you sometimes need to make some extra preparations.

Chicken Liver Pate

Christmas is at my brothers house this year, and I got a phone call from him the other day, with my instructions on what food to bring. I'm to take pate, fruit and christmas cake - 3 things that can be made GAPS and SCD friendly. I've been making this pate recipe for years now. It used to have bacon in it as well, so people who are not GAPsters can add a handful of bacon rashers. But unless you can find sugar free bacon, for GAPS leave it out.

• 50gm (2oz) butter or duck fat
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• approx 225gm (1/2 lb) brown mushrooms (a bit more or less is fine)
• 1 bayleaf
• approx 450gm (1 lb) chicken livers (a bit more or less is fine)
• a little sea salt
• 15ml (1 Tbs) brandy, sherry or port (optional, leave out if doing GAPS)
• ½ cup (125 ml) cream, plain or cultured – or – 50 gm (2 oz) softened butter or duck fat

Sauté onion, garlic, mushrooms and bayleaf in butter in a large frypan. Turn up the heat & add chicken livers and sea salt. Cook quickly for 5-10 mins till just cooked. Take off the heat, take out the bayleaf & let cool. Put into food processor, along with the brandy, and cream or butter. Blend till smooth. This will do about 3 bowlfuls. To keep for a few days – pour a layer of melted butter carefully over the top of the pate. This could take ½ a lb of butter. Make sure it completely covers the pate, and seals it in the bowl. Store in the fridge, and chip the butter off just before serving.

Serving suggestions:

• This is quite a soft pate, which can be served with toast or crackers, or serve as a dip, with corn chips, toasted pita breads and raw vege sticks
• Makes a very satisfying quick breakfast with vege sticks. Freeze in 1-cup containers and take out the night before.

GAPS friendly Boiled Christmas Cake

Over the years I've made various different Xmas cakes recipes, but it all got a lot easier a couple of years ago. I watched Nigella's Christmas and was inspired to find her recipe for a boiled Xmas cake which looked so easy.

Have a read of her original recipe here (I'm sure we can all relate to her description of the busyness of Xmas!), and then come back for the GAPS version.

The first year, I made a few slight tweaks:

• Gluten free - ground almonds, rice flour, arrowroot PLUS pectin, xantham or guar gum
• Unrefined sugar (eg rapadura, shakkar or muscavado) instead of brown sugar
• "Ruby Red" cooking wine instead of rum - just because that's what I happened to have lurking in the back of the fridge
• and no chestnut puree because I couldn't find any

It was a fantastic cake. And I didn't have to make it months ahead. You can make it and eat it on the same day, and it's still delicious.

The second year we were starch and sugar free, so a few more tweaks:

• Coconut flour instead of rice flour and arrowroot
• I could have used honey or stevia, but decided to try it with no sugar

and it was still great. By now, it was still Nigella's recipe in spirit, but she probably wouldn't have recognised it! To see the recipe at this stage, see where I posted it on her website.

2009 and we're 100% GAPS, so a couple more tweaks:

• No pectin or gum
• No baking soda

This is the version I'm sharing with you today. (See egg free and nut free notes at the end).

• 900g dried fruit
• 170g butter, ghee or coconut oil
• Zest of one orange and one lemon
• Juice of one orange
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup extra fruit juice, or extra water (I just used water)
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 3 large or 4 small eggs
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup coconut flour

First, prepare your fruit. This is the lengthy part of the process, so have some favourite music playing, or something else to listen to. Or get the whole family helping, which will make it much quicker. I like to make up my own mixture from raisins, sultanas, dates, prunes, figs, apricots or whatever is to hand - this year I even added some goji berries as I didn't have enough other stuff. If you are salicylate sensitive, choose mango, papaya, apple and pear.

I'm rather particular about not having raisins stalks in there, so I always give my raisins, sultanas and currants a good stir first, turning them over and looking for stalks, turning them over and looking for stalks, and so on. That probably takes 5 minutes. Then chop everything else up and mix together. I use kitchen scissors which is much easier than using a knife.

Put the next 7 ingredients into a large pan, and melt them all together. Stir the fruit in, bring to a simmer, and simmer for about 10 minutes. All the liquid will have been absorbed, though you may have a bit of the oil that doesn't soak in. Leave to cool for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk up your eggs and put them to one side. And mix together the two flours and set them aside. Then prepare your tins.

The full recipe fills an 8” x 8” (20cm x 20cm) square tin. Line tin with a double layer of brown paper, which comes to about double the height of the tin. Then line with a double layer of baking paper. Or you can make a selection of different sizes. 1/3 of the mixture will fill a mini loaf tin or you can make star shaped cakes (as per the photo), muffin sized or bite sized mini muffins. With the stars and muffins, you'll probably only be able to line the bottom.

When the mixture is about room temperature, stir through the beaten eggs and mix well. Then stir through the flours. It should be thick and hard to stir. If it's too runny, add some extra flour. Fill your tin, smooth the top, and bake at 150C or 300F for 1.75 to 2 hours. Use the usual skewer test to see if it's done, or listen - if it's still sizzling, it's not quite ready. Towards the end, you may need to cover the top loosely with extra brown paper or tin foil to stop it browning too much.

If you use smaller tins, approx cooking times are:

• 1/2 mix in a loaf tin - 1.5 to 1.75 hours
• 1/3 mix in a small loaf tin - 1 hour
• star - 45 to 60 minutes
• muffin - 40 to 50 minutes
• mini muffin - 30 to 35 minutes

Troubleshooting - if it doesn't cook properly - it doesn't matter!! Ground almonds and coconut flour are perfectly safe to eat raw, so call it Xmas pudding and serve with some whipped cream or custard (coconut custard for dairy free).

Let it cool at room temperature. Then take it out of the tin, wrap in baking or greaseproof paper, then a tea towel and refrigerate. It can be a bit crumbly, so it;s best to store it in the fridge, cut it cold, and then let it get to room temp before eating it. If you can wait that long!

I've also tried it without egg, as I need to cater for an EGG FREE person this Xmas. My first trial, I just missed the eggs out. I made a 1/3 quantity and baked in a small loaf tin. I pressed the mixture down well as I put it in the pan. I let it cool completely, and then refrigerated it. I made it with coconut oil, which I think was what held it together well once it was cold. It sliced easily when cut straight from the fridge and didn't fall apart. Though a large size cake might not hold up as well. You could also try replacing the eggs with 1 Tbs gelatine dissolved in 6 Tbs to replace each 1-2 eggs.

If you need to be NUT FREE, replace the ground almonds with half that amount of coconut flour. Then just keep adding coconut flour 1 Tbs at a time till you get the right consistency. I haven't tried it, but it should work fine with the version that includes eggs. I'm not sure that just coconut flour would work as well egg free, so with that combination I would definitely try the gelatine. If anyone tries it nut free, please report back.