One week on, two weeks in.

We are doing very well, Al has had clearance to try eating egg and this merely resulted in a flare up of eczema but not an allergy.  And she enjoyed her scrambled eggs.

Here is the recipe for chocolate chip cookies which were well-received.  Great on first two days... dried out after that - still nice then but different.

Chocolate Chip Cookies  GF ( 'GF' - like Crayola gel pens -' FX'!)

1 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs 2 tsp vanilla

1 cup potato starch

1/2 cup white rice flour

1/2 cup choc chips

Beat sugar, b. powder and butter till creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla. Add pototato and rice flour.  Add chips.

Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight (this helps limit the spreading in the oven....) Place in tsp- fulls (really that little) on a silicon lined sheet 3" apart (really that much) .

Bake at 375 F for 8 mins (really that little).

The biscuit batter spreads a lot but the chips just drop the bottom... so choc in middle biscuit around the outside.  Yum.

Next a wonderful mix for v. short short-crust pastry (sweet), which you can use in butter tartlets as below.... this recipe won hands down in a blind tasting against the Lakeview butter tartlets.  Go girl go!!!

Sweet short-crust pastry - Makes one 7" pie case

3/4 cup white rice flour

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp Xanthan gum

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter cut up

2tbsp water

Use an electric mixer (bladed one works best) rub fat into dry ingredients.  Then ad water in two goes.  Makes a light, v. short dough that you can only roll between silicon paper.  I didn't do it that way but pressed it into the silicon lined 7" pie dish, with my hand.  Use as described in your own recipes, bake blind or not...

(To bake blind = pre-cooking the empty shell: Bake 10 - 12 mins at 350F )

Butter Tartlets

(a recipe my mother in law gave to me and her aunt gave to her.... and the recipe must be pretty old.... I was interested to come to Canada and discover that these little tartlets are a staple here! they must have come over from Yorkshire with the first settlers!)

1oz butter

4oz brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1egg

4 ox sultanas or raisins

Melt the butter, add the sugar and heat through... add vanilla.  Add one egg and mix quickly to prevent forming scrambled egg in the batter.  Add dried fruit.

Spoon mixture into the uncooked, individual small pie cases (as you would for Xmas fruited mince pies) or if using GF short-crust rice pastry as above, spoon into the 7" pastry case.

Cook 400 for 20 mins approx.  less if making individual small tarts.... 15mins approx.