Mince Starts

Sous Chef J always likes the look of jam tarts when we're out in the supermarket.  However, we rarely buy them (even when offered in a gluten free range like Waitrose have) but we do try to make 'something' at Christmas time.  This year we thought a sort-of-mince-pie would be a fun undertaking.  Topped with a marzipan star instead of a pastry lid and, thus, the Mince Start was invented!

So, being the convenience cooks that we are, we delved into the depths of the freezer and recovered a long forgotten slab of pre-made, shop bought, gluten free pastry.  This is from G Free and, once defrosted, we were impressed with its pasrty-ness.  Having risked making our own gluten free pastry in the past, which was very crumbly, we tend to steer clear of pastry-requiring recipes.

With defrosted pastry, a jar of mincemeat, some marzipan and a 12 cup bun tray at the ready we set to work.  Sous Chef J used an old butter wrapper to grease the baking tray and I started to roll out the pastry.  Using a little cornflour, it was an easy task to get the pastry rolled to an even thickness (or thin-ness as J calls it).  Then, rounds, slightly larger than the baking tray holes, were cut from the pastry and these were placed into the tray.  Next Sous Chef J dolloped heaped teaspoons of mincemeat into the cases whilst I cut out small stars from thinly rolled marzipan.


One star was placed atop each mincemeat tart before the tray was baked in a 170ºC oven for about 20 minutes.

Having been cooked, the tarts were cooled in their tray for a few minutes before being placed on a cooling rack.

We then added a dusting of icing sugar and the Mince Start was ready to be taste tested...

Merry Chocolat!

We were delighted to be able to review some chocolates from Hotel Chocolat.  It was a real surprise to take a look at their website and see how well they cater for those following a Gluten Free regime.  If you select Genre from the top menu bar, a drop down appears that lists Gluten & Wheat Free as an option.  Having selected this option,  Sous Chef J was amazed that he actually had a choice of things from which to select a product to review.  Having studied the website at length, he finally decided on the Christmas Table Cracker.  I chose the Alternative Mince Pies as thought they sounded a little unusual.

When the parcel was delivered, this is what we found within.  Sous Chef J commented that it was a shame his cracker was bent - and noted that if the cracker had been made about 2cm shorter at each end it would have fitted inside the box it was sent in!  However, after a little remodelling, the cracker was returned to its unbent shape...

...and tasting began.

Here's what the cracker and mince pies looked like close up.

Sous Chef J was pleased to find his cracker contained a snap, a crown (in posh gold paper), a joke (standard cracker fare) and three individually wrapped chocolates.  He loved the fact that the wrappers detail what sort of chocolate is within. Sous Chef J declared the chocolate to be "fab-u-lous" and added that it was "crunchy".

This is the milk chocolate bauble.

The mince pies were quite a bit smaller than we'd been expecting but, after tasting, the reason became apparent.  Looking at the back of the packaging it explains they are made by filling a chocolate case with pralines and caramel.


We cut one in half to see what they looked like...





...they were as delicious to eat as they look.  Perfect for an after meal treat with a coffee. Definitely my sort of mince pie!

Having been tempted by these lovely items, we called into a Hotel Chocolat shop when we were in London. We were impressed with the clear labelling throughout - not just relating to gluten but many other allergens/ingredients too.  Previously we wouldn't have considered seeing if there were gluten free goodies on sale in store.  Now we know there are treats aplenty, we will be buying for special occasions. 

Thank you to Beth @JamandCream PR and Hotel Chocolat for choosing us and sending us the chocolates to try.