The idea for these treats came from an article for kids in National Geographic Little Kids.  The marshmallow crispy cereal part is mixed up, then pressed into a cookie cutter, in this case a lovely heart. I used leftover strawberry icing from my daughter’s birthday cake, which I have been keeping in the freezer, to make them pink. On top are dried cranberries on half and the other half dried cranberries and almonds.

They look so whimsical, but they are oh so tasty! The strawberry icing sort of seeps into the crispy part, melding all the flavours together and the cranberries and almonds give a nice textural difference. If you make these with kids, make sure the cereal part is not too hot for them to handle. It will harden up quickly as it cools and you may have to end up reheating it, especially if everyone wants to be artistic or perfect. Just give it some time and it will all come together nicely.

This is a good project to really get your hands into. My kids all loved smooshing the cereal into the cookie cutter, even the one-year-old, though he was more interested in eating it . In the end we got 23 hearts, including the ones we all ate before I took the picture.

Sweetheart Marshmallow Crispy Treats

55g (4 tablespoons) butter

200g (4 cups) mini marshmallows

180g (4 cups) gluten-free crispy rice cereal

pink icing (You could use food colouring or ready made icing if you prefer)

dried cranberries (optional, use any decoration you like)

almonds (optional)

Melt the marshmallows and butter together in a saucepan. After it is all nice, smooth, and gooey, add the crispy rice cereal. Have a bowl of water to dip your hands in, a platter for the treats, and as many cookie cutters as you like ready on the side. For kids it is nice for each to have their own, but I had mine all share one so everyone had to take turns.

Get your hands wet, then pick up a fistful of the crispy-rice mixture and smoosh it into the cookie cutter until it fills it evenly. Gently remove the cookie cutter and place the treat on the platter. Repeat until you run out of cereal mixture.

Decorate each sweetheart with a thin layer of pink icing and a few cranberries and/or almonds. Enjoy!

This delectable cake is from Cookie Madness. This is my third gluten-free Christmas and the first Christmas that my mother-in-law asked me to bring a gluten-free dessert. I saw this cake and knew it would be just the thing, even if I was the only one who ate most of it. Most store-bought eggnogs are gluten-free already, but to make this cake perfect I knew it should be made with homemade eggnog.

I found the eggnog recipe I needed at eggnogrecipe.net. They have a fantastic selection of eggnogs. I chose the traditional eggnog. If you make this recipe, it has a fluffy top because of the whipped egg whites and cream. It makes a great deal of eggnog as well! The cake and icing only require a small portion, so I was left with eggnog to spare. Thankfully, my relatives enjoyed it .

If you are dairy and soya free, Cindalou of Cindalou’s Kitchen Blues has a good recipe. It has almond milk, so if you can’t have tree nuts I suppose you could substitute rice milk. I haven’t tried this recipe myself or in the cake but I would expect it would be good.

The icing has a cooked portion, and as Anna says, it can get lumpy. I made the mistake of cooking the first part too long, so my cornflour (cornstarch) and eggnog were already cooked together before I saw that I had to add more. The mixer helped break up some of the lumps but not all. Nevertheless, lumps and all, it still tasted delicious.

Make the eggnog first. You need at least one hour beforehand to chill the first part, then the egg whites and cream are stirred in one half hour before you use it. Next, bake the cake and cool completely. Last, make the icing and ice the cake.  Thanks Anna for a great recipe that really made our Christmas festive.

Traditional Eggnog

12 eggs separated

1.4 litres (6 cups/3 pints) milk

480ml (2 cups/1 pint) cream

480ml (2 cups/1 pint) bourbon

340g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar

180ml (3/4 cup, 3/8 pint) brandy

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, with a mixer, beat the egg yolks together with the sugar for about 10 minutes until the mixture is firm and the colour of butter. Very slowly, beat in the bourbon and brandy, just a little at a time. Allow the mixture to cool in the fridge (for up to 6 hours, depending how long before you plan to serve it).

30 minutes before your guests arrive (or you plan to bake your cake) stir the milk and 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg into the chilled yolk mixture.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture. In another bowl, beat the cream with a mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the cream into the egg mixture. If you plan to drink it, ladle into cups and garnish with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.

Julie Waldbaum’s Festive Eggnog Cake

220g (2 cups) gluten-free flour blend ( I used amaranth, cornflour (cornstarch), and tapioca flour)

340g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (Anna recommends fresh)

115g (1/2 cup, 4 ounces, 8 tablespoons) butter

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

240ml (1 cup, 1/2 pint) eggnog

Icing:

30g (1/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend ( I used all cornflour (cornstarch). You could use arrowroot or tapioca flour as well)

1/4 teaspoon salt

240ml (1 cup, 1/2 pint) eggnog

150g (2/3 cup) butter, soft

225g (1 cup) caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175C (350F). Grease two 20 or 23cm (8 or 9 inch) round cake tins.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum, and nutmeg. Add softened butter, mashing it into the dry ingredients and coating them with butter. When the mixture is moist with butter, add the eggs, vanilla extract, and eggnog. With a spoon or lowest speed of an electric mixer, beat until mixed. Turn speed to medium high and beat for about a minute. Pour batter into cake tins, dividing evenly. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. (Mine took 30 minutes).

Cool layers on rack for 10 minutes. Flip and cool completely.

In a heavy saucepan, whisk together flour, salt and about 1/4th of the eggnog. Cook on low heat, whisking constantly and adding remaining eggnog slowly, until mixture thickens. Set aside and let cool completely. This is important! If you don’t, then your hot mixture will melt the butter. If you notice lumps, strain it before it cools.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add flour mixture and continue beating on high for about 8 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved and the icing isn’t grainy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Ice the cake. Sprinkle grated nutmeg over the top (optional).

It was a perfect combination. The white chocolate accentuates the taste of the marshmallow and the buttery cashews work well with the cranberries. The white chocolate helped to bind everything as well. With the amount of marshmallows I had, or perhaps how this batch turned out, they seemed less gooey. If I had added more cereal, or even more cranberries and nuts, my treats would have fallen apart.

Now, if you are making these gluten-free be careful, as I know most of you are, to read the labels on the cereal. Most crispy rice cereals, Rice Krispies included, have barley malt in them. That’s why my marshmallow crispy treats are chocolate, because the only gluten-free crispy rice cereal I could find had cocoa in it. Not that that’s necessarily a problem; more chocolate is good for you, right, all those antioxidants?

Holiday Marshmallow Crispy Treats

55g (4 tablespoons) butter

180g (4 cups) gluten-free crispy rice cereal

200g (4 cups) mini marshmallows (I used 32 large marshmallows, what I had left over)

120g (1 cup) cashews

120g (1 cup) dried cranberries

284g (10 ounces) white chocolate chips

Grease or line a tin with foil or paper. Use any size. The larger it is the thinner the treats. Anna recommends a smaller one for more dramatic results. I used a larger one. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in the marshmallows until they are melted. Remove from heat, then stir in crispy rice cereal, dried cranberries, cashews, then the white chocolate chips. If you don’t stir in the white chocolate chips last then they will melt all over. If that doesn’t bother you, then don’t worry.

Spread the mixture evenly into prepared tin. They will harden up as they cool. Cool completely and slice into squares. Enjoy!