Little Hanoi, Sheffield

Yesterday I agree to act as taxi service for A, as he wanted to visit a few electronic stores around Sheffield in his quest to find a new stereo system. I understand that you can only research so much online, and it’s better to see things in ‘the flesh’ and press a few buttons before making a decision. I was more than happy to accompany him on his research mission, particularly as he promised to buy me lunch as a thank you.

As we ended up in the London Road area of Sheffield, we decided to try a fairly new Vietnamese café called Little Hanoi. I’ve heard good things about this place both from co-workers and reviews online. I love anything with noodles and a bit of spice and had been longing to visit them and try the food for several weeks. When eating out, I much prefer places that make food I probably couldn’t recreate so successfully at home. Pizza and pasta places (gluten free) are fine, but I often end up thinking I could have produced the same, if not better, myself at home for half the price. So I was delighted when A agreed to give Little Hanoi a go. Plus anything that can be eaten with chopsticks is always a bonus.

Once inside and perusing the menu I was delighted to see that they had some really authentic sounding dishes and I liked how each dish had its own description, rather than being a generic noodle dish that you added your own topping to. As I’m coeliac, I spend a few minutes quizzing the waitress about the ingredients that went into the dish I was interested in – Pho xao – stir fried flat noodles. She didn’t really understand ‘coeliac’ or ‘no gluten’ but once I conveyed ‘no flour, no wheat, no soy sauce’ she understood and confirmed that the flat noodle dish was made with rice noodles made with only rice, no wheat. She also informed the chef I wanted the dish made with no soy sauce and confirmed this again on bringing the cooked dish to the table. (I don’t actually know if the dish originally contained soy sauce, but as this style of cuisine often uses it as a seasoning, I thought it best to ask for it not to be used, just to be on the safe side).

As we waited for our order we were provided with complimentary rice crackers. I thought at first they might be prawn crackers, but A assured me they were just plain rice. This was a nice gesture and they were lovely to munch on while we chatted and took in the surroundings.

When our food arrived I was presented with an absolute mountain of Pho xao dau rau (Stir fried flat noodles with vegetables and tofu). (The photo doesn’t do it justice, but that plate was about 10-11inches square!) I love flat rice noodles. The fat ribbons of soft and slightly chewy rice always end up sticking together when I try and cook them, but here they were perfectly cooked and coated in the sauce. The veggies included bok choi, Chinese mushrooms, carrot, pepper, bean sprouts and Chinese cabbage. They were still a little crisp and crunchy which is just how I like them. Large chunks of fried tofu were mixed in amongst the noodles which I was pleased to find wasn’t greasy and lovely and soft and creamy inside. I hate it when you take a bite and all you taste is a mouthful of oil, not the case here. The dish was topped off with lightly fried shallots which were crisp and sweet.

A chose Bo xao dau dua (stir fried beef with green beans). As his dish didn’t come with rice or noodles he chose a side order of chicken fried rice. He said the beef was very good and not chewy. After only about three mouthfuls he said we would have to come back again, so I think it’s safe to say he enjoyed his meal as much as I did.

I only managed about two-thirds of my dish and A didn’t finish all his rice and they were more than happy to package it up for us to take home. The food was very reasonably priced, especially considering the portion sizes, quality and freshness of the food. Two of us with drinks, complimentary rice crackers, two main courses and a side order of chicken rice came to less than £20.

The only thing I feel let the place down was that the food was served on very cold plates. In my opinion hot food should always be served on hot plates, but these were decidedly chilled. However, as I never got to the bottom of my dish this didn’t really matter, but it’s still a pet hate of mine. That small detail aside it was a delicious meal and I’m sure we’ll go back.

I’m pleased to say I couldn’t taste anything untoward/gluten-containing in the dish and it’s now the following morning and I’ve had no stomach issues so I’m confidant they were able to make it gluten free for me – hurrah!

Little Hanoi

Address: 216-218 London Rd, Sheffield S2 4LW

Phone: 01142 583836

Office Christmas Meal at Silversmiths in Sheffield

Last Friday was our office Christmas meal. After work I dashed home for a super fast change and then met up with the rest of the team at Silversmiths in Sheffield. I have heard lots of good thing about this restaurant so was really looking forward to trying the food. It’s a modern yet quite small restaurant, which gave it a cozy and intimate feel.

We got to see the Christmas menu ahead of time so that we could place our orders. Being vegetarian often means I am lucky to get a single option on most set menus, so being both coeliac and vegetarian I thought was going to be a challenge. I was delighted to discover that Silversmiths can cater for both! I even got two choices from the mains menu – that were both vegetarian and gluten free without any adaption – I’ve NEVER had that choice before.

The food sounded amazing and not a boring mushroom risotto in sight! Here is what I had to eat on the night.

Starter: Cumin-Spiced Parsnip Soup topped with carrot crisps and “Sheffield honey” glazed toasted seeds. This was fabulous! Silky smooth, slightly sweet and delicately spiced. I loved the thin shreds of roasted carrot chips on top. They were packed with flavour and went deliciously chewy after sitting on the soup for a while. The perfect starter on a cold winter evening.

Main: Kings Cake: An Old English casserole of thyme, sage crisps, sautéed winter mushrooms, gold leaf infused oil. This was not quite what I expected. When I heard ‘casserole’ it makes me think more of a stew but this was a thick creamy mixture of beans, sweetcorn and mushrooms. Topped with crunchy sage leaves and onions. It was very tasty and I liked the different tastes and textures from the earthy mushrooms to the crisp sweetcorn. It was served with sprouts, carrots and roasted parsnips for the table.

Dessert: Mulled wine poached pear with candied orange ice cream. I didn't fancy the ice cream as I’m not a fan of candied fruits. I asked ahead of time if I could swop it for the chocolate cream that came with a Christmas Yule log. When it arrived it looked like a scoop of dark chocolate ice cream, but when I stuck my spoon in it turned out to be a giant golf ball sized scoop of chocolate ganache! It was like eating a huge truffle. Delicious dark chocolate, but so rich I couldn’t quite eat it all.

It was a fantastic meal. All the food was delicious and I didn’t see anyone with anything left on their plates at the end of the evening. I loved how the food was more unique and exciting than the usual Christmas or group meal offerings. It’s food for food lovers. Click here to see their full Christmas menu. It will probably disappear after Christmas though.

I was very impressed and would definitely go back. Another point I saw on their website, is that 100% of their food suppliers are Yorkshire based and 60% are Sheffield based. They also change their menus regularly to accommodate what’s in season and available locally. Extra brownie points, and it goes to show it can be done, and be done well!

Note: The restaurant did not know I am a food blogger, nor that I intended to write a review of my meal. I simply went to my office Christmas meal and enjoyed the food so much I thought I’d share it with you.

Silversmiths Restaurant

111 Arundel Street
Sheffield
S1 2NT

Pizza Hut Suitable for Coelicas? – Yes!

It has been many a year since I have eaten at Pizza Hut. It’s hardly the first place you’d think of when planning a gluten free meal out. However, on reading the latest Coeliac UK newsletter I was very excited to learn that Pizza Hut have just introduced a new gluten free pizza. They have worked closely with Coeliac UK to ensure there is no cross contamination and even changed some of their topping suppliers so that all their toppings are gluten free too.

Hearing that something is gluten free instantly makes me want to try it out and so I asked a friend to come with me and do a bit of gluten free research. We ordered our pizzas and the server knew all about the new gluten free base which put me at my ease. When our pizzas arrived I was thrilled to find that all the gluten free pizzas come on square pizza bases – yes square! How cool is that? Not only do they look funky and stylish, but eliminates any doubt that the pizzas had got mixed up with the regular ones. Great idea!

So how did it taste? Very good actually, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe slightly denser than a regular pizza base, but it wasn’t crumbly, dry, gummy or as hard as a house brick. The base had quite a nice flavour and was thinner than most gluten free pizzas bases I’ve had, which often are so thick you have to spend several minutes sawing through them. There were plenty of toppings and the pizza itself was of a very generous size. It’s lovely to know there is somewhere regular on the high street that I could find a meal, should the need arise, or if I’m out somewhere new. I’m sure my friends will be pleased at the prospect of going out for dinner without having to feel guilty at eating pizza in front of me. Have you tried Pizza Huts square gluten free pizza? What did you think?

I’ve heard Domino’s, Prezzo and Ask are also launching gluten free pizzas – more taste testing trips required I think!

Note: Pizza Hut did not pay or ask me to write anything about them. I was just very excited to discover their new pizza and wanted to share the experience.

Atkins & Potts – Foods for Food Lovers: A Review

I was recently contacted by gourmet food company, Atkins and Potts, to see if I’d like to review any of their new pasta sauces. I wrote back saying thank you for the offer, but that I was more of a sweet and baking blog, so I would pass this time. They then offered to send me a little selected of their other products, more in keeping with my blog. I had a quick look at their website and was delighted to find that all their products are vegetarian and gluten free, with many being vegan too! This was such a lovely surprise, and I was excited by the variety of products they made and so eagerly accepted.

A few days later I received the following exciting products: Chili Chocolate Spread, Basil Jam, Cranberry Relish and Pomegranate Syrup.

Chilli Chocolate Spread

Unscrewing the lid I instantly smelt the aroma of rich dark chocolate. Dipping a spoon in, I found the consistency to be more like a giant ganache truffle than the gooey sticky spread I was expecting. It was very thick and smooth. The first taste is of rich dark chocolate, not overly sweet, which being a dark chocolate lover I really enjoyed. A few seconds later a slight warmth began to develop at the back of my throat which built up into quite a spicy kick. This took me a little by surprise but was wonderfully addictive. The thick texture made it quite hard to spread on softer foods like bread or cake, but delicious spread over toast, where it slowly melts into a glossy pool, giving off wafts of dark chocolate aroma. I image it would be wonderful melted over ice cream too. Very indulgent, but defiantly one for the grown ups.

Purple Basil Jam

This idea really intrigued me and I wondered what to expect. It sounded wonderfully exotic. I was imaging a smooth sticky jam, sort of like a mint jelly only made with basil. However, on opening I found it to be quite chunky, containing little squares of onion set it a sweet and sticky syrup. To me this made it more of a sweet pickle or relish than a jam, but naming aside, it was delicious. It reminded me of onion marmalade. Very sweet, with a slight twang. The basil was flecked throughout the jam in thin shreds which added an intriguing flavour. It was delicious with some cheese, although I would have liked the basil flavour to be more pronounced.

Spicy Cranberry Relish

Again I wasn’t sure what to expect and imagined a sort of cranberry jam/sauce. It turned out to be far more superior than that. There were whole, lightly crushed cranberries mixed with a few other bits and pieces to make a chunky relish. It was not that sweet, with the whole pieces of cranberry giving it a wonderful mix of sweet, sharp and tangy flavours. There was also a slight kick of vinegar lingering in the background. It’s probably intended to be eaten with roasted meats, but I found it delicious with both a sharp cheddar cheese and peanut butter (not all together!) I loved the freshness of the cranberries and again how it wasn’t that sweet. This would be perfect for Christmas.

Pomegranate Syrup

I was excited by this. I love pomegranates and think they are a very underused fruit. This sweet glossy syrup had a fabulous pomegranate aftertaste. It somehow managed to keep that tart, slightly astringent and mysterious flavour of pomegranate while still being sweet and sticky. I’ve been drizzling it over my porridge this week and it makes a lovely change to honey or sugar. I’m longing to make a cheesecake and drizzle it over that with some berries or figs. Really unique.

Thank you to Atkins and Potts for the samples. I was genuinely impressed with the quality of all the products I tried. Nothing was overly sweet, which allowed the ingredients natural flavours, or tartness to shine through. I loved how I could really see the main ingredients, like the whole cranberries and the shreds of basil in the products. Do have a look at their website, everything they make is a little unique and different to the usual run of the mill products. It’s great to see a company being to create with flavours and ingredient combinations. When was the last time you saw quince syrup or wasabi mayonnaise stocked in your local supermarket? 

Goody Good Stuff – A Very Sweet Review

Growing up everyone has their favourite treats. For some people its crisps, others chocolate bars or weird flavoured bubble gum, but for me it was sweets. I wasn’t a fan of boiled sweets, but I loved penny chews, flying saucers, milk bottles and millions from the pick n mix selection. Over the years my tastes changed and now my treat of choice would be a slice of cake or some rich dark chocolate. This is probably a good thing, as when I became vegetarian and now coeliac, this puts nearly all sweets in the forbidden bin…or so I thought!

When the lovely people at Goody Good Stuff offered to send me some of their new range of suitable-for-everyone sweets, my childhood nostalgia took over and I eagerly accepted. The entire sweet range is vegetarian, fat, gelatin, dairy and nut free. They are also made with no artificial colours, use natural flavours and are Halal & Kosher certified. Wow!

I was sent 6 of their 8 varieties to try and in the interest to giving them a fair review I teamed up with C, one of my coeliac friends, for a sweet taste test. We took out jobs very seriously and made score sheets and everything! Each of the sweets was awarded marks of out 10 for Aroma, Appearance, Texture and Flavour. I’ve then added together our scores and took the average to create an overall score out of 40 for each one. It was a lot of fun, although I was on a complete sugar high by the end of it!

Interesting enough, our top and bottom choices were the same, but the middle ones shifted about a bit. Here is the summary:

Cheery Cherries

I couldn’t help but smile when I saw these, they used to be one of my favourites growing up. The aroma of cherry hits you the minute you open the bag, it’s a sort of fake cherry smell but so reminiscent of my childhood. The texture of them is bouncy and chewy, yet surprisingly soft. Not as hard as Haribo sweets, probably due to their lack of gelatine. They had a lovely cherry flavour and we both agreed we would happily eat these again. Joint score 66/80

Cola Breeze

Again the aroma was very strong and smelt just like you’d opened a can of coke. These scored highly on texture and appearance and I loved the sugar coating, it was ever so slightly sharp and fizzy and really enhanced the cola bottle experience. Sadly I’ve never liked cola bottles, but I could tell they were a very good representation so tried to be fair with my marks; C adored them – hence their high score of 65/80

Strawberry Cream

These were fun little sweets. A mix of white ‘cream’ and red ‘strawberry’ blobs. They were springy and chewy and the perfect size to pop 2 or 3 in your mouth at the same time. I liked how the white and red blobs tasted different too, rather than just being a different colour, so worked well eaten together. I would have liked the strawberry ones to have been a little bigger though, possibly also strawberry shaped like in one of the other packets. Scored 60½/80

Summer Peaches

Another sweet I remember fondly. Again, the aroma was strong when opening the bag and it smelt quite fresh, rather than chemical. I loved the two tone, blushing red and orange hue to the sweets, just like a real peach. The texture was wonderfully soft and also juicy, not chewy. The fine coating of sugar was just right too, not too thick, so that it didn’t actually crunch when you bit into it. I loved these but C wasn’t so keen on the flavour (like me with cola bottles) so it scored 52½/80

Tropical Fruit

This was a mix of shaped, coloured and flavoured gummy sweets. Unfortunately, this meant that the smell of them together in the bag was a bit overpowering and confused, due to all the different flavours fighting for attention. However, the sweets themselves were very nice and we were both impressed with the attention to detail on the shapes of the sweets. They were slightly firmer in texture than the cherries but still soft enough to chew easily. The flavours were a bit off though. The pineapple tasted very tropical, but the strawberry one I had tasted more like orange and the banana was a very fake banana milkshake flavoured banana. Good, but we both felt they could have been better. 50/80

Sour Fruit Salad

This was our least favourite. To start with the majority of the bag was green and yellow sweets, with only one red, orange and pink sweet in the bunch (there’s more sweets than shown in photo). I thought at first they were all the same shape, but they are in fact different, only subtly so. The sugar coating doesn’t help, but we felt they could have been more distinctively shaped, more like the tropical fruit mix. They were also called ‘sour’ but neither of us got any kind of sour flavour from the sweets nor the sugar coating. On the plus side we loved the gooey soft texture of the sweets, but felt overall these were a bit hit and miss. 43/80

All in all both C and I were impressed with the variety and quality of the sweets, and we would definitely buy our top four again. They are a great choice for people with certain dietary requirements, or vegetarians alike. I’m sure they would be a hit at a children’s birthday party. You can find a list of their stockists on their website.

Goody Good Stuff also told me that the sweets are suitable for baking with as they can withstand temperatures up to 250C. Naturally I wanted to try this out and used some of the Strawberry Cream sweets to create a cupcake. Their small size and flavour seemed to make them the ideal choice. I mixed some of the red strawberry sweets into a vanilla sponge base and used the cream sweets on top as decoration. Whipped cream seemed appropriate to use as the topping and I flavoured it with a few spoonfuls of strawberry jam and a hint of pink to tie it all together.

The sweets held up well in baking and kept both their colour and flavour. However, I had to store my cupcakes in the fridge as I’d used fresh cream for the topping, which did cause the sweets to go a bit hard and chewy, but otherwise they worked well. I bet they would be great in a cookie or slice or some kind.

Red, White & Blue Crisps!

With the Queens Jubilee only a matter of days away the country seems in full patriotic swing. Posters and food packaging is being adored with the English flag and people are organising street parties up and down the country. I myself intend to try and bake something along the red, white and blue theme, ideas are being formed…

On a recent shopping excursion I spotted some new patriotic crisps from Tyrrells. They have gone one step further by making not only their packaging, red, white and blue, but also the crisps inside!!

Fear not – they have not dyed their crisps – but used naturally red, white and blue varieties of English potatoes in order to create some iconic and eye catching crisps! How cool is that!!

The English varieties used are Highland Burgundy Red, White Lady Claire and Salad Blue. There are also a few beetroot crisps snuck in for extra an extra red boost. I’m sure the queen would highly approve!

I found the crisps to be quite thickly cut which gave them a wonderful crunch and meant you could actually taste the difference between the different potato varieties. The beetroot ones were also deliciously sweet.

They are only lightly flavoured with sea salt, so are bound to suit everyone’s tastes. I’m going to buy another bag for the family gathering next weekend, I can imagine them looking great on the table amongst all the other food. Found in Waitrose, but also from Selfridges, Harvey Nichols or Fortnum & Masons if you happen to be in London.

Apple & Cinnamon Buns – Cookbook Review

No Meat, No Dairy, No Gluten, Just Flavour…and Goodness. This is the title of the cookery book by Wendy Horne that I was recently sent to review. Being both vegetarian and coeliac it captured my attention as it is quite rare to find a vegetarian friendly gluten free cookbook. A number of coeliacs I know also can’t tolerate dairy, so the fact this book encompassed all three was great. It is probably worth a mention thought that it’s vegetarian friendly, but not vegan friendly, as even though no dairy products are used, the recipes do contain eggs.

My first impression of the book was a little sceptical. The pictures on the front looked a bit dull and dated and inside the recipes are simply set out with no photos or pictures. However, I know it’s rather clichéd but as the saying goes ‘you should never judge a book by its cover’ as while flicking through the book I kept coming across delicious sounding dishes and have ended up with lots of tags stuck out the top for recipes I want to try. It was lovely having the pick of the entire book without the need to - ignore the chicken or work out a suitable flour substitute as I usually have to.

The recipes are split into soups, salads, main courses, terrines, potatoes, puddings & cakes and odds & ends such as chutneys. While trying to decide which recipe to make first it was a toss up between some little lentil pies or these apple & cinnamon buns. The buns won out in the end! The recipe intrigued me as:

1)      it was made entirely in a food processor

2)      it contained raw blitzed apple puree in the batter, not cooked like most recipes call and…

3)      it was apple and cinnamon – how could I resist!?

I followed the recipe to the letter, even using the requested dairy free Pure spread as I fortunately had some in the fridge after recently making a dairy free cake for a friend. The little buns contain apple in two forms. A large amount is blitzed into the cake batter and then some more finely chopped chunks are stirred in at the end. The recipe just stated ‘apple’ rather than specifying cooking or eating apples and so I decided to use a Bramley cooking apple in the blitzed up batter and a sweeter red eating apple for the little chunks. This worked well and resulted in a tart fresh tasting apple flavour to the cake while any little chunks bitten into were sweet and pleasant. I left the skin on the chunks of apple too, as the little red flecks looked pretty when you took a bite.

The cakes were incredibly light and moist and scattered with tiny air pockets throughout. The cinnamon flavour was quite pronounced which I adored and was the perfect pairing for the apple.

All the fresh pureed apple meant by the following morning the buns had come away from their cases and had developed a sticky top surface, becoming even more moist and tender, just like a good ginger cake. I had one slightly warmed with custard for pudding and it was gorgeous.

I’m sure the recipe would work well with other fruit too, maybe a firm pear and ginger combo, or fresh cranberry and orange zest…? No one would ever guess they were gluten and dairy free! I can’t wait to bake something else from the book, I think those little lentil pies are next on the list.

Apple & Cinnamon Buns

Recipe from No Meat, No Dairy, No Gluten, Just Flavour and Goodness by Wendy Horne

Ingredients

110g Pure dairy free spread

110g golden caster sugar

¼ tsp xanthan gum

175g gluten free plain flour (I used Doves Farm Plain)

2 eggs

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp cinnamon

50g ground almonds

175g apple, peeled and chopped (I used Bramley)

50g apple, peeled and finely diced (I used unpeeled red eating apple)

Method

Heat the oven to 160C and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.

In a food processor, whiz the pure dairy free spread and sugar together until smooth.

Add half the flour and mix briefly. Add the eggs, blitz again and then add the rest of the flour, cinnamon and the xanthan gum.

Add the large amount of chopped apple and blitz until mostly broken down and only little flecks remain.

Add the almonds, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and blitz to incorporate.

Add the diced apple and pulse once to combine, you don’t want to break the apple up though.

Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases, about 1½ tbsp of mix in each.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes (mine took 24 minutes)

Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack until cold.

Makes 12

Montezuma’s Monkey Bars – Review

Montezuma’s is a family owned British chocolate company. They have recently launched 5 new ‘Monkey Bars’ to celebrate the best of British and the upcoming Royal Jubilee and Olympics. These Monkey Bars are not your typical bars of chocolate.

To start with, their packaging is decorated with iconic images of Britain/London, such as London taxis, The Houses of Parliament, Welsh Dragon and The London Eye. Montezuma’s has also had a bit of fun with the names, using the eccentric English Cockney rhyming slang to give each of the 5 bars its own unique name! Adam & Eve (Believe), Airs & Graces (Races), Daisy Roots (Boots), Nanny Goat (Boat) and Shake & Shiver (River). Hehe.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I recently opened the door to be presented with a package from Montezuma’s, containing two of their new Monkey Bars to try! I had no idea they were coming and so it was a lovely surprise. What was even more of a surprise was the whopping size of the bars. These are not your average 100g bars of chocolate – oh no. Each bar weights half a kilo – 500g of thick chocolate and it’s larger than an iPad – I couldn’t ‘adam and eve my apple pies’ (believe my eyes)!

The bar is formed into squares just like a regular bar of chocolate, only each square is incredibly thick and weighs an impressive 33g! That’s about a third of a standard bar in each square! Yikes!

Just look at the size difference! I was sent Nanny Goat (milk chocolate with salted peanuts and butterscotch) and Shake & Shiver (Dark chocolate with peppermint and cocoa nibs).

My chocolate preference is always for dark chocolate and so I loved Shake & Shiver. The dark chocolate was of a good quality, rich and slightly bitter thanks to the little nibs of coco bean scattered throughout. The peppermint flavour was apparent, but not overpowering or unnatural tasting. I also liked how the slight crunch came from the cocoa nibs rather than lumps of sugar. So many companies seem to put sugar crystals into mint chocolate and I can’t stand crunching down on a raw lump of sugar, so bonus points to Montezuma’s. The perfect bar to bring out after dinner when you want something ‘minty’

The Nanny Goat bar unfortunately contained ‘wheat syrup’ which after a discussion with the Montezuma’s team I was advised not to eat, which was a shame, but the rest of my family were more than happy to taste (devour) the bar on my behalf. I am told the chocolate was ‘creamy with a good flavour’ and found it had a much higher cocoa content than most standard milk chocolates. The tasters also thought ‘the mix of salty nuts and sweet butterscotch really went well together’

Thank you Montezuma’s for making me smile with unexpected chocolate goodies. The bars would certainly be ‘Robin Hood’ (good) at friend and family gatherings. You could try eating a whole bar yourself, but you’d probably want to do a few runs up the ‘apple and pears’ (stairs) afterwards!

Click to see more examples of Cockney rhyming slang words

Taste Test: Gluten Free Cinnamon Sugar Shortbread with Truvia

I was recently sent a new sugar replacement to try, called Truvia by Silver Spoon. I’ve seen it popping up here and there on blogs and in articles recently, but not tried it myself so I was intrigued. Normally I would not even consider using a sweetener in my foods. My previous experiences of them have been a horrible chemical taste and to be honest I’d much sooner use natural sugar in my baking.

So why did I agree to try Truvia? Well it claims to be made using a naturally sweet tasting extract from the Stevia leaf, so much more ‘natural’ than other chemical based sweeteners. It is sweeter tasting than regular sugar, meaning you only have to use 1/3 of a teaspoon of Truvia to every 1 teaspoon of regular sugar. I decided to give the sweetener a trial by using it to bake a batch of shortbread. I wanted something quite plain and simple, to see if I could detect the sweeteners presence.

On opening the pot, my first impression was that it looks just like regular sugar. I gave the pot a sniff and it smelt faintly sweet and quite vanillary. It reminded me of vanilla ice cream, quite appealing really.

I dipped my finger in the pot and picked up just a few grains and tasted them in their natural state. It was strange. It felt like they melted on my tongue and initially felt cold, followed by an intense sweetness. It was rather surprising, but not an unpleasant experience. Sadly the aftertaste was a bit strange and seemed to linger on my tongue much longer than normal sugar and was slightly tacky.

I decided to hold off my judgement until I’d baked with it as and so made my shortbread, using only a third of the quantity of Truvia as I would to normal sugar, and then sprinkled a little Truvia and cinnamon on top. On eating the shortbread, the initial taste was quite bland and savoury tasting. I found I had to chew a few times before the taste of sweetness came through and then it tasted like a good normal shortbread. However, the aftertaste was a bit chemically (although there are no nasty chemicals in it) which wasn’t so good. However, I think this may because the Truvia sprinkled on top of the dough wasn’t baked into the shortbread and so had a much stronger taste. When I scraped the topping off and just ate the shortbread base the aftertaste was much more subtle.

I have come to the conclusion that the sweetener would be fine when baked and incorporated completely into a dish that also contained lots of other stronger flavours, to help mask the weird aftertaste, but is not really ideal to use as a sprinkle as then its too raw and doesn’t quite work.

Would I buy the sweetener on a regular basis? Sadly not, I like the taste of natural sugar and believe if you want to cut down on your sugar intake then either reduce the amount in the recipe, eat less of it, or use agave nectar. However, that’s not to say I can’t see Truvia being useful to people who need to avoid sugary products for health reasons – such as diabetes. To be able to have a sweet flavour without any of the rise in blood glucose levels would be a great benefit, and to give it some credit, it is based on plant extracts rather than purely chemicals, unlike some other sweeteners on the market.

I’m not going to share the gluten free shortbread recipe with you, as although it had a lovely crumbly buttery texture, it was actually too short and crumbly. I couldn’t pick a piece up without it breaking and it is now destined to be a crumb topping for yoghurt or some stewed fruit. I plan to do a bit of tweaking to make it sturdier and when I’ve got a better recipe, I’ll be sure to share it!

Tastes & Tales of LA – BabyCakes NYC

BabyCakes NYC is an all natural, allergy aware bakery based in New York. In recent months I have read many rave reviews of them on blogs and always longed to sample some of their baked treats myself. So imagine my delight when I discovered that they have also opened two outlets in Los Angeles – just in time for my visit – hurrah!

BabyCakes NYC – Location 1: North Larchmont Blvd, Hollywood

We caught the bus to Larchmont Blvd which was only a short ride away from where I was staying. It was a lovely location, lots of lovely nice shops and cafes lining the street both sides, smaller roads and pretty houses with flowers trailing over the walls. We found BabyCakes, which was a tiny cute little shop with a few chairs and tables dotted outside.

They had a range of cupcakes, loaf cake slices, cookies and doughnuts on offer. There were no labels saying which items were GF and so I asked an assistant and was delighted to be told everything was Vegan, GF, Kosher and made with agave nectar rather than cane sugar. I couldn’t believe it – everything gluten free! I was so happy that I actually did a little happy jumpy bouncy thing right there in the shop, which made the assistant laugh. They used to do some things that weren’t gluten free, but have recently decided to make everything gluten free so there is no risk of contamination – yippee!

I didn't fancy the cupcakes, which I am sure were delicious, but looked a little craggy to me, plus I can make those easily myself. I wanted something new and exciting! I went for a doughnut instead - wow a doughnut! I've not had one of those in 2 years - I was so excited. I also chose a thin mint cookie and J went for a vanilla cupcake and a chocolate chip cookie sandwich (two choc chip cookies stuck together with a bit of vanilla frosting). We collected our purchases and scuttled off outside to eat them in the sunshine.

Thin Mint Cookie $1.50

A soft flat chocolate cookie, covered in a tick layer of mint chocolate. It’s an American cookie I have often heard mentioned on blogs so I was delighted to get the chance to try one. It had a very strong aroma of peppermint. It was of a generous size with a nice smooth and glossy chocolate glaze, coating the top and sides of the cookie. The cookie part was very soft, with a slight crunch to the outer edges, but quite brownie like in texture. It was ever so slightly grainy, probably made with some rice flour, although this was only detectable because I was looking for it. It had a very strong chocolate mint flavour, almost a little too strong, but just on the right side of good. The coating of minty chocolate glaze was so thick in the centre it was almost as thick as the cookie itself! Very tasty, but a little too strong on the mintiness for me.

Coffee Crunch Doughnut $3.95

Wow doughnuts!! DOUGHNUTS!! They all had the same plain base and then were topped with different flavours. There was a choice of sugar dusted, cinnamon sugar, chocolate glaze, blueberry glaze, caramel or coffee crunch. I went for the coffee crunch which seemed the most exciting and a bit different.
These were baked doughnuts, rather than fried, giving them a very light and soft cake like textured doughnut. Not doughy or chewy like a normal doughnut, but closer textured and softer than a regular cake too. It tasted AMAZING! The base had a faint flavour of lemon which was very pleasant, even against the coffee. Doused in coffee glaze which was sweet and not too bitter, it had then been drizzled with melted chocolate and topped with tiny chocolate chips. Absolutely gorgeous flavour and texture. I was surprised how well the lemony cake went so well with the chocolate and coffee, it really seemed to enhance the flavours. Just wonderful. Divine even.

I suspect the cakey part was made with oil and agave syrup, sweet, soft and tender and very moorish! It wasn't in the least bit dry, crumbly, heavy or grainy. I've been racking my mind of the kind of flour they could have used and have decided it may have a bit of gram flour in there as it was so soft and tender. I remember making a cake with this flour one before and it being this soft, although mine had a bit of beany taste to it so they've done well to disguise it if so. The BEST bought GF treat I've ever eaten!! I only ate half at the time and had another bite of it the following morning, after my more sensible breakfast of course, but I couldn't resist another taste. Is this wrong...don't answer that! Hey, I was on holiday!! So so good!

Choc Chip Sandwich Cookie $2.95

J gave me a little corner of her cookie to taste. Two bendy but soft vanilla cookies, with a few chocolate chips scattered throughout, sandwiched together with a smooth vanilla icing. Very good cookie texture, not at all grainy and I was impressed they had managed to get it to be bendy and chewy, rather and crisp and brittle. The vanilla frosting middle was sweet and smooth. Very good cookie, but personally I would have preferred it without the frosting, but J loved it.

Cupcakes $4.50
I didn't try any of these, but J said her vanilla cupcake was nice.

BabyCakes NYC - Location 2: East 6th Street, Downtown LA

I planned on exploring Little Tokyo in downtown LA. After getting off at East 1st street I went strolling along taking in the sites. I intended to stay on 1st street the whole time, but me and my fabulous sense of direction got me lost and before I knew it I realised I was on 4th street – opps! After walking for ages in the wrong direction I remembered that on 6th street was meant to be the second store of BabyCakes NYC, so of course I couldn't resist the chance to sample more of their baked goodies, so I hunted it out. Maybe my feet got me lost on purpose? I got there just as the doors opened and walked into the smell of freshly baked treats. Being early meant I got the pick of the bunch. I nearly went for another doughnut, they had coconut topped ones this time, but in the end went for a pumpkin chocolate chip loaf cake slice. Pumpkin is something I always associate with America, as we have nothing pumpkin in the UK, especially in the baked goods category. I'm always drooling over pumpkin cakes on blogs and it looked so moist and freshly baked I couldn't resist it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf Slice $3.95

When it was handed to me it still felt ever so slightly warm - this really was freshly baked! I couldn't resist tearing off a corner right there in the shop. This cake was more like a wedge than a slice. It’s about the width of 2 regular slices and I happily scoffed the lot (and wished there was more!)

It was absolutely studded with tiny dark chocolate chips, almost more chocolate chips than cake. They had stayed soft and made each bite wonderfully creamy, sweet and slightly bitter all at once. The cake was a lovely deep golden colour and smelt wonderful. It was incredibly moist and soft and yet still had a slightly firmer chewy outer top edge but with a soft and springy centre. The cake tasted divine! There was a faint lingering of spices and then a sweet natural sweetness from the pumpkin. It didn't taste sugar sweet, but naturally sweet. I've never had a pumpkin cake before it’s gorgeous and went so well with the chocolate chips. I have no idea how they get their baked goods so light and moist without any dense, heaviness, dryness or graininess from the flour, especially as there are no eggs or butter used! I'd love to know their secret. I've going to have to do some research. I don't think its ground almonds either, as there is no grain texture at all! FABULOUS!

If you’re gluten free, vegan or none of these things, BabyCakes NYC is well worth a visit!