Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:48a.m.
It always seemed rather unsociable that when one of my best friends, who is gluten free, dropped by for a coffee I put out 2 plates of cookies, one for her, one for me.
I have tried quite a few gluten free cookies in the past and none of them were to my taste. But not being one to give up I occasionally ate another. Last week I was lucky to find a new range of gluten free cookies by Sugar Plum which are yummy.
Keeping some of these in my pantry won’t be a problem as cookies have a reasonably long shelf life, and these come in re sealable packets. So now, we’ll be able to share.
There are Chocolate Chippies, Anzac cookies and Afghans. My favourite, the crisp Chocolate Chippies studded with plenty of chocolate chunks, my friend’s, the more chewy Anzacs. The Afghans were a little on the sweet side for my taste buds but you may well disagree.
They all have a nice home baked flavour which is due to the fact that Sugar Plum uses natural ingredients such as butter, sugar and eggs as well as gluten free flours (many of which are organic)
Sugar Plum Patisserie operates from a large commercial kitchen on the North Shore. It is run by a team of 2, manager Phil Moller and chef Anne McNamara. It is called after Anne’s nana who passed away shortly before the company was formed 3 years ago. She often took Anne to the ballet, and they both loved the Nutcracker Suite, one of whose characters is the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Sovereign of Sweets.
Phil’s ex partner was gluten free and he felt sorry that there was so much she could not eat that she felt socially excluded. He wanted to make gluten free food that could be put on the table for everyone to share and enjoy and did not taste gluten free.
Anne has worked hard to achieve this. Her background is in product development.
“Producing an excellent gluten free product is no easy task” she admitted. “It’s one of trial and error. There is bound to be 10 failures before I am happy. Not only does taste come into it, but also the texture and appearance of the food. So it’s a complex exercise. But I love the challenge.”
In her baking she uses xantham gum and different flour combinations. Her advice to gluten free home bakers:
“If you are starting out with gluten free baking at home start with pre mixed flours. This is likely to give a better result.
And follow the recipe step by step, don’t try to take shortcuts. It’s a different process from other kinds of baking. For instance creaming the butter and sugar is very important.
And when baking your cake, a ring tin or 2 smaller tins are better than one large as the gluten free flours can’t support their own weight as they rise.
Don’t get xantham gum on your hands. It’s very sticky like chewing gum. And always add the xantham gum to the dry ingredients. It must be whisked into the flour blend and then sieved before the liquid is added.”
If you would rather buy she suggests that you look carefully at the ingredients on the packet.
“If it has only one flour e.g. rice flour it is likely to be very crumbly, so look for products which use more than one kind of flour. It’s the same with home baking, if you use just one flour or don’t get the balance right your product can turn out like bricks! One which does give some really nice results is almond flour.”
Something else to keep in mind when you are buying gluten free products is whether it is made in a bakery that has wheat flour on the premises. Anne’s advice:
“Look carefully at the packet before buying. It should say whether it contains traces of wheat. If so these foods will have been baked in a bakery where both wheat based and gluten free products are made. Such products are fine for people who have a low to moderate intolerance to gluten (as many do) but for people who are highly sensitive such as celiacs, such products are unsuitable.”
At Sugar Plum only gluten free products are made, so there is no wheat flour on the premises, making their products completely safe for every level of gluten intolerance.
Anne also talked about how gluten free bakers use ancient flours such as amaranth and quinoa which have more nutritional qualities than ordinary flour. So eating gluten free can be a healthy choice!
Anne has a goal to write a gluten free cookbook one day. I hope she does. She is developing some great recipes!
If you would like to know more about Sugar Plum Patisserie and their full range of products go to: http://www.sugarplum.org.nz