Heyyy!
Its that time of year again! The leaves are turning golden,
people are beginning to debate whether it is acceptable to pull out a knitted
cardigan yet and Newcastle is bursting with freshers desperately seeking out
Primark’s last duvet. This can only mean one thing… GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF IS
BACK ON THE TELLY!!!!! :D
As you can tell I am a massive Bake Off fan, I mean who
isn’t?! When the BBC thought up a programme revolving around cake, bunting, Mary
Berry’s many facial expressions, Paul Hollywood’s sarcasm, and cast Mel and Sue
as presenters they must have known they were on to a winner. Someone in the
Beeb definitely got a promotion that day. So far this year we’ve seen some
spectacular lion shaped bread, cried over the injustice of Ian winning star
baker three times in a row (I mean come on, Nadia made cream soda cheesecake!)
and discovered Paul’s secret love of bananas and custard. We’ve all chosen our
favourites by now, (I’m Team Tamal but I also want Nadia to win??!), and yet again we’ve realised that we still
haven’t got around to trying out a single Bake Off recipe ourselves.
But why am I fangirling over the show on this blog may ask?
Is it that I am simply looking for more support for our favourite trainee
anaesthetist? Well its because this year Bake Off took itself to a whole new
level…they had a free from week!!
No joke, when they announced it on the week before I
actually screamed! I was so so excited :D I was thrilled that they had included
this as a speciality week not only to show the struggles that can occur when
making food without a certain ingredient but also to show that it is possible
to make free from food that looks and tastes spectacular. I am crazy about
dairy free icecream (on a side note Tesco have made dairy free cornettos!! I
amost cried :D )
so I cant wait to try out the dairy free arctic roll recipes.
As I’ve had my allergy since I was a baby my family and I
have had many years to experiment with recipes, and it seems you can make
pretty much anything without milk as long as you find a suitable alternative. Baking
is sometimes the only option when looking for free from treats and so it’s a
useful skill that I think everyone with an allergy should test out. Also as a
student baking is a great way to make new friends. You’re new flatmates might
think in freshers week that all they want to do is drink vodka and steal
traffic cones but trust me, by the following week a slab of cake will be very
much appreciated!
From a student’s point of view baking is also much cheaper
than buying free from products which are often pretty expensive. For my
birthday last year I had a pudding party where me and my friends just ate loads
of cake, flapjack, marshmallow crispies, crumble and other baked food. As I can’t
eat out in restaurants I thought it would be a fun (and cheap ;) ) alternative :D
If you’ve never baked before then you are missing out, it's
honestly so much fun! I know that many people are scared to try it out but once
you get started you’ll find it pretty addictive. I have seen many a good friend
fall prey to procrasti-baking during exam time. Here is a recipe that I could
not survive without both at home and at Uni. Its easy and very cheap to make,
also its pretty hard to go wrong even if you’re like me and working with an
oven which has all the temperatures rubbed off!
My recipe is pretty simple but if you want to try something
a bit more Show-Stopperish check out this recipe for Dairy free caramel apple
cake: http://ecstaticallyem.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/gbbo-week-5-caramel-apple-cake-dairy by my friend Emily. I can’t wait to try this one out because this girl knows
her cake :D
I hope you enjoy having a crack at baking and remember:
you’re not in the Bake Off tent, Mary and Paul can’t hurt you and your flapjack
here.
Love from The Allergy Student xxx
Dairy Free Flapjack Recipe
· 6oz/ 170g dairy free margarine (I use Vita-Lite, but whatever floats your
boat)
· 6oz / 170g caster sugar
· 2tbsp golden syrup
· 8oz/ 227g porridge oats
Extras
If
you’re feeling fancy you could add dried fruit, seeds, nuts or cinnamon to the
mix. I like it just as it is :)
1. Preheat the oven to 160c. Line a deep
rectangular tray with baking paper.
2. Place the margarine in a pan, heat
gently, stirring with a wooden spoon until it has all melted. Stir in the
sugar.
3. Add the syrup, stir and then remove
from the heat.
4. Stir in the oats a handful at a time.
5. Pour the mixture into the lined tin
and smooth it out (wet a metal spoon and use the back of it to spread the
mixture out)
6. Place in the oven on 160c, for 25
mins.
7. Remove from oven, use a knife to mark
it out into whatever size pieces you want. Allow to cool and then eat it
all!!!!!!!
Every time I make this it turns out a
bit different depending how long its left in the oven, whether I’ve put it on a
rack to cool or how much I’ve eaten whilst making it! But it always seems to
taste good :D
