Cheese Thins

- 170 grams quality hard cheese, finely grated (Substitute cheddar cheese)
- 55 grams (4 tablespoons) butter, diced and softened

- 100 grams (about 3/4 cup)  Gluten free flour
- 1/4 teaspoon celtic sea salt, plus more for sprinkling

- 1/4 teaspoon ground chili pepper/chilli flakes
- a dash whole milk or cream, as needed (see below)

 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt, and chilli flakes. Using a dough blender or bench/bowl scraper, mix these ingredients together until they form a dough. If the mixture seems too dry and crumbly to come together into a ball -- this will depend on the cheese you used -- add a dash of milk or cream until it does.

 
The mixing can also be done in a blender, food processor or stand mixer.

Shape the dough into a log or whatever sliceable shape strikes your fancy, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm enough to be easily sliced, about an hour, and up to a day. (You can speed things up by placing the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes instead.) (I made small balls & pressed them flat with a fork.)

 
Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

 
Remove the dough from the fridge, slice it thinly -- about 2 mm or 1/12 inch -- and arrange the slices on the prepared sheet (they will expand a little, so give them just a bit of elbow room). You will need to work in batches; return the dough to the fridge between batches.

Sprinkle lightly with salt and chili pepper and bake for 10 to 14 minutes, depending on your oven and the thickness of your slices, until golden. Let the cheese thins rest on the baking sheet for a minute before transferring them to a cooling rack. Taste when cool, and adjust the baking time accordingly for subsequent batches.




These cookies are a great basic cookie for anyone who cannot have any wheat or other grains and who must limit sugar intake. They are not very sweet, but we find them sweet enough when you are able to appreciate the subtle flavour of the white chocolate mixed with the nuts and the spices.

You will Need:

200gr Ground Almonds
100gr Ground Walnuts
1 cup Arrowroot Powder
1/2 cup Poppy Seeds
1/2 cup Butter
1 Bar Melted White Chocolate
3 Eggs
2 tsp Cinnamon ground
3 tsp Christmas Blend of Spices-Nutmeg, Cloves, Anise,

Instructions:

I am a bit intuitive and experimental when I bake - using gluten free ingredients means you need to adjust the quantities generally as you go along in order to get the right consistency of the dough, so don't be afraid to add a bit here and there until you get the right consistency.

Melt the white chocolate and the butter until it is a nice runny liquid.
Mix the ground walnuts, Almonds, spices and Poppy seeds together in a large bowl.
Add the egg and white chocoloate and butter and mix together, if the mixture seems very runny add more nuts and arrowroot. If too dry, add another egg.

Keep adding Arrowroot powder and ground nuts until the consistency is of the kind you can gently press onto a floured (with arrowroot powder) board. Use various cookie cutter shapes to make christmas cookies. Keep the dough about 5mm thick, no thicker than 1cm in order to ensure proper cooking of the cookies.

Bake in the oven for 10-15m at about 160 degrees until lightly brown and the cookies are drying out so that the insides are not still moist. This will ensure better storage life of the cookies in a container. 

Enjoy!