Our Blogger fave: London Bakes

It’s crazy how many hours can be spent just flicking through food blogs, don’t ya think?At HelloFresh, we all have our favourites and oh how sure we are that you will love them too! So, now I’m going to share one of my absolute favourites; Kathryn of London Bakes. Her inventiveness is inspiring – for me she is queen of gluten-free baking! In the UK, we are truly spoilt – chesnut, rice, corn, buckwheat flour are all delicious alternatives which have their own subtle, intriguiing and delightful flavours. Not convinced yet? Let me share some of her recipes… Pretty sure I will have to virtually slap your hands away as you try and have a bite! And she has even created a strawberry, dark chocolate and polenta muffins recipe just for you! So get your bake on:

Gluten free strawberry chocolate muffins: recipe below

Now, some interesting facts about Kathryn? Well, she thinks that bananas are “the worst food in the world” and she is fairly impartial to a bit of Miley Cyrus while she’s baking.  I asked Kathyrn some questions about blogging, baking and random life trivia and here’s what I found out:

What is your favourite British dish and why?

I think it’s very hard to beat a good apple crumble. My grandmother often used to make one for dessert after Sunday lunch and I still make it in the same way that she did (just flour, butter and sugar; nothing fancy!).

What’s your earliest memory of food?

We took a family holiday to Sicily when I was 2 ½ and even now I can still remember how much ice cream I ate that week.

Kathyrn’s Lemon and Pistachio Eclairs

If you were a fruit or veg, which one would you be and why?

Maybe an aubergine? Although I have zero idea why and given that my fiancé hates aubergines, it’s probably not the best vegetable to be!

What made you start London bakes? Were you always into food and baking? If so, how did you get into it?

I stumbled into the world of food blogs while searching for a recipe online and I got hooked. After a while I thought ‘I could do that too!’ and decided to start London Bakes. I didn’t do much cooking or baking when I was younger but once I started working in an office, I realised that a ready supply of cakes and cookies was guaranteed to buy you popularity.

Whoaaaa, gluten-free Blackberry meringues?

Are you gluten intolerant or do you just like cooking gluten free? If so, why?

I’m not but a couple of family members have coeliac disease. A couple of years ago, I stated taking gluten free baking a little more seriously and found that there was a whole world of alternative flours and ingredients out there which are far more interesting and delicious than regular wheat flour.

Which recipe from our menu next week do you like the look of most?

The roast chicken with herbed pancetta and herbed lentils sounds totally up my street.

Fish or Chips?

Chips! Or, even better, sweet potato fries.

Strawberry, dark chocolate and polenta muffins (gluten free, makes 6)

Ingredients:

• 60g rice flour
• 35g polenta
• 20g ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 75g demerara sugar
• 60ml buttermilk
• 60ml extra virgin olive oil
• 75g strawberries, roughly chopped
• 50g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F and line a muffin tin with paper cases.
2. In a large bowl, lightly whisk together the rice flour, polenta, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. In another bowl, beat together the egg, vanilla, sugar, buttermilk and olive oil.
3. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and gently fold a couple of times. Add most of the strawberries and dark chocolate (reserving a few to scatter on top) and fold again until the streaks of flour just disappear.
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin cases, add the remaining strawberries and chocolate bake for 20 – 25 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes or so before removing.

Enjoy baking and thanks to Kathyrn for this beautiful recipe!

Keep your eyes peeled for our next blogger fave!