new year

happy new year to you - may this be a rich and inspiring year for you, full of abundance and creativity!

I've often found New Year in Scotland a bit of a strange time. There's the Hogmanay pressure to have a hootin, tootin, tartan time - and to be honest it doesn't really do a lot for me, so these days I prefer a peaceful meal, a movie, see the bells in and get up fresh with good intentions on the 1st.

Several years ago, while living in England, I felt the urge to come up to Scotland as celebrating New Year in London just wasn't the same. We rented a small cabin in Argyll near Lochgilphead, and prepared for a quiet and remote New Year celebration. On Hogmanay I suggested to N that we should go to Dunadd and a nearby stone circle at Kilmartin. Whilst at the stones I had an unsettled feeling, as if trying to remember what the stones were for - just a memory away in my mind. We walked over to another set of stones, and at that point I heard a car draw up and someone call my name. The lady that got out of the car was Liz, a fellow member of my meditation group in London. By coincidance she had taken a last minute offer of a New Year in Scotland from her friend. We were both booked into cottages on opposite sides of the same village, a remote forestry commission settlement 10 miles down a no through road. The rest of our meditation group, we knew, had gone on a pilgrimage to India. To me this felt as if this were a message to say - where you are is good enough! We agreed to meet up again on New Year's Day, and had a walk with thermos coffee and a slice of fruitcake.

This year has reminded me of that cabin... we have been relistening to Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain album which totally has that vibe... and last night inspired this rather 1970's scenario

lots of candles, vegetable and cashew nut curry, and a glass of beer... yum

I have also been taken with an urge to bake recently, and so far have made mince pies, carrot loaf and chocolate/courgette(!yes!) muffins.

Having made one batch of mince pies at Christmas, I was delighted with their Dickensian appearance, and made another batch for Hogmanay. I was finding it really hard to source g-free mince pies locally, so the gift of a jar of mincemeat from my friend Susan, inspired me to make my own gluten free pastry.

As all previous attempts at gfree pastry have been pretty disastrous, I returned to the trusty, and previously mentioned Evelyn Rose's Jewish cookbook, and used her almond pastry recipe which works and is delicious. If I remember correctly, the recipe goes something like this:

* * *

Almond pastry for mince pies - makes about 9 large Dickensian pies

** I am doing this from memory, as just loaned the book out!!**

9oz of gluten/wheat free flour
3oz (caster) I used demerara sugar, as all I had in house
6oz margarine/butter
1oz of ground almonds
1 egg yolk
2 tablesp.'s milk or cream/ricemilk etc

Grease a muffin tin with oil.

Rub the flour,sugar, ground almonds and marg together until resembles breadcrumbs (it may go into a big lump, but don't panic!).

Add the egg yolk and milk and mix to a soft pastry

Divide the mixture roughly into 2 - keeping half for the tops.

Line the muffin casings with the dough, lightly using your fingers to mould the case.

Put the remaining pastry for the tops in a bag and pop into the freezer to chill for 30-60 minutes. The tray can also go in the fridge if you like.

When ready, add the mincemeat to the cases.

Evelyn Rose recommends grating the topping after chilling it, but I managed to roll it out lightly - just flour the board and rolling pin - and use a shaped cutter to cut and lift the pastry onto the pies.

Put in a preheated oven 190C for approx 25 mins.

The pastry is sticky to handle when raw, but cooked is light and crumbly in texture - thick and holds together well. Let the pies cool until firm in the tray before taking them out. When eating just reheat at around 200C for 5-10mins.

Comments

[Susan]

Happy New Year. Ummm, I like your take on it (and the look of your grub!) The mince pies suit the fireplace. x

[Sarita]

Your mince pies look...well, good enough to eat...:) I also am gluten intolerant. Its alot of fun, eh? I wanted to mention, we have a few hard to find products here, like pastry mix off the shelf, pancake batter, brownie mix, etc. Are these available over there? I would be happy to assist if I can....?
Happy New Year to you as well!

[Sally Anne]

Oh, that all looks so delicious and very inviting.

[Pippa Long]

A v ery Happy and Healthy New Year to you, just reading your blog has raised my creativity so a big thank you. Pippa.

[Diana]

Happy New Year Caireen! Hope you've settled in to your new home. Yum yum to the mince pies! Diana x

[melissa]

oh yum, your new year's dinner looks perfect. i want to try those mince pies soon, even though it's not christmas.