Gluten Free Pistachio and Cardamon Cakes

Every time I come back to Melbourne after visiting my family I am left feeling a little home sick. It usually takes me a week or so to settle back into normal life before I start feeling like myself again and enjoying this beautiful city. I always miss my old friends, the support of my family and being around the people and things I know so well. It can be easy to slip into feeling a wee bit sad when I'm so far away from my old life. To counteract this, every night before I go to bed I have been writing down three things I am thankful for. It just reminds me that there are so many beautiful things in my life, and everything that I am working hard for is paying off.

(How cute are these little houses I saw on my walk the other day)

Tonight before I went to bed and was getting ready to write down my three things I was struck by the realisation that there is so much more than three things to be thankful for everyday. I have so many wonderful friends here, and such a blessed life at times that I could fill pages and pages with things I feel thankful for.

So tonight just to name a few, I am thankful for:

My friends, these wonderful people who care about me, and I care about so deeply
Having a job, and such a sweet one at that
Going to pastry school
A lovely dinner at home
Some red wine
Having a warm bed
Waking up and having breakfast with one of my favourite people
Good coffee
Laughing all day
The fact that friend trust my advice
A book to read on the tram
A muffin for lunch
Talking to my mum on the phone
A nice shirt to wear to work

Apart from all this gratitude.... I would also like to share with you a lovely new recipe I invented this week. One of my best friends cant eat wheat, so I've been working on a range of gluten free cakes that don't taste gluten free. I find that every time you go to a cafe the only options for those eating gluten free treats is either orange cake or flourless chocolate cake......which gets so boring after a while. Hopefully I'll have a good collection of gluten free recipes soon so that gluten free don't feel so left out!

Gluten Free Pistachio and cardamon cakes.

120g butter
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1 cup of pistachios ground up (I cut them by hand which took forever but you could use a food processor)
2 eggs separated
1/2 cup of almond meal
3/4 cup of gluten free flour
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of cardamon powder
1 tsp of sugar

What to do:

• Cream together butter and sugar
• Add vanillas essence.
• Add one egg yolk at a time beating well between each addition
• Sift in 1/2 of the dry ingredients, add milk and then add the remaining dry ingredients.
• With an electric mixer whip the egg whits until soft peaks form, add the teaspoon of sugar and beat until thick.
• Fold through one third of the egg whites to loosen up the mix and then fold through the remaining egg white mix.
• Spoon the mix into patty pans and bake at 180 until risen and slightly brown on top. This should take between 20 to 30 mints.