Gluten Free Desserts - Some Ideas

People seem to think that gluten free living means no desserts, or no nice desserts, anyway. But it really doesn't have to be that way...

When it comes to gluten free desserts, you're best to stay away from the "Free From" shelves. Well, to be honest, apart from pasta, I would give those a miss anyway. Most of the products are pretty tasteless at best, and very pricey indeed.

But so far as desserts go, really, there's not much need for flour, anyway. Hopefully, you will have eaten enough bulk in the main course, and the sweet course is just a kind of codicil - more of a taste sensation than anything.

So, what can you eat for afters that isn't full of gluten? Here are a few suggestions.

First off, there's nothing much nicer in the summer time than a fresh fruit salad, and it's very easy to do. You just get a bunch of fruit, cut it up and add some juice or syrup. The trick is to leave fruit that browns in the air until last. So, by all means include banana and apple chunks, but put them in after you've made the liquid which holds it all together. And to be on the safe side, put some lemon or orange juice in as well (the acid stops the reaction from occurring).

Cut the fruit into pieces all about the same size. If you're including grapes or cherries (which you will probably cut in half to take out the stones or pips), then aim for that sort of size. Obviously, raspberries and blackberries are left whole, but strawberries can be cut in half or even into quarters, if they are too big. Chinese gooseberries/kiwi fruit should be skinned before you slice them up. The easiest way to do this is by cutting the stalk end off, then scoring all the way round, and dropping them into a bowl of very hot (even boiling) water for a few seconds, then into another bowl of cold water. After this, the skin should peel off quite easily.

For the liquid, you can either make a sugar syrup (just dissolve some sugar in a little hot water and make up with cold), or better is grape or apple juice. I have a friend who uses fizzy lemonade, but this has never appealed to me. You could also include a tin of mandarin oranges, and add the juice from that. Serve the fruit salad on its own or with a dollop of cream or other topping, or some gluten free ice cream and there's your dessert.

If you've got a bit more time to prepare, you could make a fruit jelly (jello). This may sound like kids' stuff = and it's certainly likely to go down well with children - but it's surprising how nice it is, and of course, there's no gluten in jelly.

You can use fresh or canned fruit. I generally use canned, and use the liquid from the can as part of the liquid when making up the jelly. Just put your jello mix or cubes into a measuring jug, add the least amount of boiling water to dissolve it, mix well, and when all the mixture has dissolved, pour in the juice from the can. You can add water to make it up to just under the right amount if you don't have enough juice. There will be a little bit of juice still clinging to the fruit, so don't overdo the water!

Put the fruit into the jelly mold or bowl and pour over the jelly, then cover and put into the fridge to set. This goes great with cream or evaporated milk, gluten free ice cream or your choice of topping.

For a most exotic dessert, which you will most likely want to keep for special occasions, you can make a pavlova. This is just a huge nest of meringue filled with fruit and cream, and is very yummy. You make the meringue the day before, so it has time to cool, then fill it just before serving. You can also buy frozen pavlovas (remember to check the label). The name pavlova (which is coming up as a spelling mistake, even though it's correct) comes from the name of the ballerina, Anna Pavlova, for whom the dessert was originally created. I don't know how often she ate it though, as ballerinas have to watch their weight, and this dessert definitely ain't for weight watchers!

Another idea, which is a bit old fashioned, but really nice, is a home made rice pudding. You need a big casserole dish, 1½ pints of breakfast milk (or full cream milk), 4 ounces of pudding (round grain) rice, 2-4 tablespoonfuls of sugar (according to your taste), and a pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon. If you're using nutmeg, be careful not to overdo it, or the whole pudding will go bitter, and be completely inedible. Less is more with nutmeg, as they say. If you don't have creamy milk, then you add 2 or 3 little bits of butter.

Optionally, you can add a handful of raisins, but personally, I like my rice pudding plain.

Just put all the ingredients into the casserole dish and put it into the oven either in the center, or if you're cooking something else at the same time, near the bottom will do. Turn the oven on to about 300°F (150°C, gas mark 2). After half an hour, give it a stir, and again 30 minutes later. Cook for a further hour, and check to see if the rice is nice and soft - carefully lift the beautiful brown skin so as not to spoil it, and spoon out a little bit, let it cool down and taste to see if it's done. If not, give it another 15-30 minutes.

As you can see, it takes a long time to cook a decent rice pudding. But it's well worth the wait even though the fragrance of rice pudding being cooked is almost unbearably tempting. You can make it before you cook the main course and just put it in for 15 minutes to warm up again while you eat, if you like. If you find that there is too little milk in the pudding, pour a bit more in before reheating or add some milk or cream when serving (this also helps to cool it down a bit, which is useful if you're serving it to children). Of course, you can also eat it cold, but if you're going to do that, you may as well buy a can.

You don't get that delectable skin in a can, though (I'm not sure how nice it would be cold, anyway).

Children often like to put a spoonful of jam (jelly) in the middle of their bowl of rice pudding (after they've savored their portion of skin) and stir it in before they eat it. It makes a nice swirly pattern that kids really enjoy.

I hope these ideas have been helpful, and remember - when it comes to gluten free desserts, forget about the "free from" shelf.