Recipes: Gluten Free Festivities

Almond and pecan biscuits (pictured above) 

Gluten-free biscuits with gram flour and ground almonds

Gluten Free and vegetarian

• Preparation time: 5 minutes
• Cooking time: 15 minutes
• Total time: 20 minutes

Makes: 12

Ingredients
150g essential Waitrose unsalted dairy butter, softened
100g Waitrose golden caster sugar
100g gram flour
100g pack Waitrose ground almonds
60g pecans, roughly chopped
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground ginger

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Line two baking trays with parchment. Cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the rest of the ingredients. Divide into 12 balls, place on the baking trays and flatten slightly.
2. Bake for 15 minutes, or until starting to look golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Celeriac soup with toasted hazelnuts & truffle oil

This creamy, velvety soup with crunchy sweet hazelnuts makes a lovely starter – you can easily double the quantity to serve more people


• Preparation time: 15 minutes
• Cooking time: 25 minutes
• Total time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
Knob of butter
3 echalion shallots, finely diced
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 celeriac, peeled and diced
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp lemon thyme leaves
1 litre vegetable stock
100g blanched hazelnuts, toasted (see Cook's Tip)
2 tbsp crème fraîche
½ lemon
Truffle oil, for drizzling

Method
1. Heat the oil and butter in a medium saucepan. Cook the shallots and celery for 3-4 minutes until beginning to soften. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
2. Add the celeriac, potato, bay leaf and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Pour over the stock, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the vegetables are very tender.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and take out the bay leaf. Add about three quarters of the hazelnuts, then chop the remaining nuts and set aside. Blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth, stir in the crème fraîche and blend again.
4. Add a squeeze of lemon then ladle into bowls. Serve scattered with the reserved hazelnuts and drizzled with the truffle oil.

Cook's tip
To toast hazelnuts, preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Spread the nuts over a baking tray and place in the oven for about 5 minutes until golden.

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Maple panna cotta with buttered rum figs

You can get ahead by making the panna cottas up to three days before you need them, then just roast the figs a couple of hours before serving.


• Preparation time: 15 minutes + chilling
• Cooking time: 30 minutes + steeping
• Total time: 45 minutes + chilling and steeping

Serves: 8

Ingredients
Sunflower oil, for greasing
500ml single cream
300ml whole milk
200ml amber (no 2) maple syrup
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out, pod halved
6 sheets fine leaf gelatine
200ml tub half-fat crème fraîche
110ml dark rum or apple juice
12 figs, halved
1 tsp Waitrose Signature Spice (ground)
15g slightly salted butter

Method
1. Lightly brush the insides of 8 pudding moulds (150-175ml) with oil and set aside. Place the cream, milk, 130ml of the maple syrup, half the vanilla seeds and half the split vanilla pod in a saucepan and warm through. Remove from the heat before the mixture boils and set aside for 20 minutes.
2. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes to soften. Return the cream mixture to the heat, again removing the pan just before the mixture boils (or the cream may curdle). Immediately squeeze the excess water out of the gelatine and whisk it into the hot cream, followed by the crème fraîche and 20ml of the rum or juice. Pour into the moulds, cover with clingfilm and leave to cool then chill for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days before serving.
3. Prepare the figs up to 2 hours ahead of serving. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Put the figs in an ovenproof dish, cut sides up. Combine the remaining vanilla seeds with the remaining 70ml maple syrup and 90ml rum and spoon over the figs. Tuck the half vanilla pod in, dust with the Signature Spice and dot with the butter. Cover the dish with foil and roast for about 20 minutes, then remove the foil and cook for 5 minutes more until the figs are soft but still hold their shape. Set aside to cool slightly.
4. Top each pannacotta pot with some of the figs and their cooking liquor.

For more gluten-free Christmas tips and recipes visit: www.waitrose.com/home/christmaswithwaitrose/christmas-gluten-free.html