Christmas treats!

Through my work as a magazine journalist, and now through this blog too, I'm lucky enough to be sent lots of new foodie products for testing every month - and at Christmas, they come thick and fast! The very first festive product to arrive this year was a wonderful Tipsy Tiramisu Panettone from Arden & Amici (pictured above). I've tried their panettones before and liked them -  they have a gorgeous rich taste but a light texture - and this one is extra-delicious with coffee and chocolate through the dough and in the topping. It's sold by Tesco and costs £10. Highly recommended.

In the same parcel was Arden & Aminci's new gluten-free panettone and, as luck would have it, it was delivered on a morning when my friend Janette, who is coeliac, was coming round for coffee. She's a big panettone fan but it's been off the menu for her since she discovered that she had to avoid gluten a few years ago. It was lovely to be able to serve her some that was gluten-free, especially as it was absolutely delicious - not just passable as a gluten-free option, but one of the nicest panettone I've ever tried. It comes in a two (or one greedy!) 100g portion size and is available in some Waitrose stores. I'd heartily recommend it to anyone, gluten-intolerant or not.  

Janette says she often finds gluten-free products to be a bit dry and tasteless, and as she feels she can't inflict them on anyone else she has to have her own separate portions, especially when it comes to sweet treats. Hearing that that sent me off on a mission - to find the nicest possible gluten-free products that she could happily serve to everyone at Christmas this year. Between us, we tested loads (lots of thanks to Janette's husband Jonathan who was a very willing tester too!) and I can vouch for everything mentioned here as being totally delicious. I'll hand over to Janette to give you her verdicts on our favourites now:


M&S The Collection Made Without Gluten 6-Month Matured Gluten Free Golden Stag Cake, £12 (907g)
'So many gluten free cakes are big boxes with tiny cakes inside. This is a proper, useful size that could be served at a tea-party and cut into decent slices - around 8-10 wedges. First impression is of a cake that could have been home-made by a competent cook, perhaps due to the fact that the angle between top and sides is curved, and the icing has a matt finish. On opening the box there is a distinct whiff of brandy  – proper brandy rather than flavouring - then the smell of fruit and buttery cake takes over. Fruit and nuts are evenly distributed and there's a good, thin layer of marzipan with a genuinely ground almond taste. Gluten-free cakes are often seriously over-sweetened. This is not - it's a proper, balanced, grown-up, rich, perfectly moist fruit cake. It tastes like a regular, high-end Christmas cake and if I hadn’t read the label on the packaging I would not have known it was gluten-free. I would have no hesitation in serving it on Christmas Day and I would certainly buy it again.'

Waitrose Gluten Free Christmas Cake, £5 (100g)

'A small box and an even smaller cake and at first I was disappointed, as the first slice tasted like a normal fruit cake rather than a rich Christmas cake, and there was no icing or marzipan. But it got better and better the longer it was opened - and by the time we finished it, it was really good. So my advice would be to open it a few days before you're ready to eat it. The topping of glacé cherries, flaked almonds, chopped walnuts and a small toasted marzipan star in the centre is lovely, although you do need to enjoy nuts - there are a lot them!'

Waitrose Christmas Gluten Free Mince Pies, £2.50 for two

'These are huge but as they're not as deep as normal, you can just about eat a whole one (though best to eat them with a plate and fork rather then with fingers!). The pastry is good - crisp and rich - and the just the right amount of filling gives you an instant hit of spices and orange. It would make a lovely festive dessert as well as being delicious with a cup of tea.'

Thanks, Janette! And now for two more Christmas treats that I've really enjoyed trying this month - which both also happen to be gluten-free:

Chococo chocolates are the best I've tasted for a long time and their Christmas selections (from £16.50 for 16 chocolates, www.chococo.co.uk) include two flavours that I've fallen in love with: Date & Cognac, and, in particular, Passion Fruit Caramel - the perfect combination of zingy fruit and sweet, oozy caramel. They're made with fresh ingredients including Dorset cream. You can really taste the freshness and they come with instructions to eat them within two weeks. I defy anyone to be able to keep their hands off them for that long, though!

And on the savoury front, two flavours of cracker from Paxton & Whitfield (paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk) were a huge hit in this house. Coming from the prestigious cheesemonger, it's not surprising that they're lovely on a cheeseboard - but they're pretty good just as snacks in their own right too. They're twice-baked sodabread crackers (both £3.75/85g) and the Apricot, Date and Sunflower Seeds version is good with blue cheeses, while the Multiseed & Cracked Black Pepper Cracker Bakes, made with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and linseeds, are ideal with hard cheeses. 


** Coming up next on A Cook's Plot: a lovely honey parfait that would make a fabulous festive dessert, and super-tasty sage and onion stuffing with a twist...