Jam Drops - made by Cameron

Today we are busy trying to keep food up to my coeliac, type one diabetic husband who is busy laying down cement floors for our two bathrooms and laundry which are yet to be tiled. (Fun holiday project - not!) It's his third day and he's nearly done - but burning through his sugars really fast. I'm a bit over cooking today as I have experimented with summer fruit pie, different breads and some peach scones in the last few days, so I sent Cameron (11) off to the kitchen to make Jam Drops. We have a tried and tested recipe that we use from the Sally Wise cookbook, "From My Kitchen to Yours", which is full of gluten-free recipes that she devised to help feed her coeliac daughter. Sally is well known for her preserving and slow-cooker cookbooks. Cameron managed to make a really nice batch with not too much help from me, apart from the cleaning up of course....I think that there was more coconut spread over the floor and benches than there was on the Jam Drops!

I came across Sally's book when I was trying to find a recipe for gluten free pasta. She has a blog which you can find at http://www.sallywise.com.au/category/blog/ and there are a whole bunch of recipes there. I've yet to try making her pasta recipe, but am determined to give it a go when things settle down on the renovation front. I was able to find her recipe book in an ABC Store and have been successful with pretty much everything I've tried. (Love the upside down pear cake!). One problem with the Jam Drops - they're all gone!

Bread.....

I have a fabulous mother-in-law who is a coeliac and regularly makes our bread for us - shop bought bread is just far too expensive. Every now and then I do make my own loaf - usually variations on the Coeliac Society's white and brown rice bread with additional flours depending on what I have in the cupboard. The loaf I made today turned out really well, so I thought I should share the recipe with you. The trick is to mix all of the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients and mix in your mixer using the dough hook. I always line my loaf tin with baking paper to prevent sticking before turning the mixture into it. I proved the bread in the oven for 40 minutes with the oven at 35 degrees, then baked it for 40 minutes with the oven at 200. It looks pretty good and everyone said it tasted great. Here's the mix I used, I hope it works for you.

1 cup of white rice flour
1 cup of brown rice flour
1/3 cup each of corn flour, soy flour, polenta and chick pea flour - but you can also use potato, tapioca and arrowroot - sometimes we find the soy flavour a bit too much depending on the batch of flour so you might like to exchange that or the chick pea flour if you're not fond of the taste
3 tsp xanthan gum
3 tbsp sugar (I find the bread sweet - but I've tried reducing the amount of sugar and it falls apart)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk powder
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 tbsp LSA mix (linseed,sunflower, almonds) - for fibre
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3 large eggs
1 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups water