Christmas Made Easy

I know I am more often than not going on about a product called Gookies. With good reason, I might add. Gookies is a gluten free, wheat free, fresh cookie dough roll that comes in a variety of flavours. There's cranberry and white chocolate (my favourite!), triple chocolate chip, chocolate chip & natural/plain. 

With Christmas being such an incredibly busy time of year for me, it's nice to have such a convenient way to supplement my Christmas baking with a handy roll of pre-made, fresh, gluten free cookie dough.

I'm not even going to bother with instructions on how to bake the gookies, as it is that easy. You literally follow the instructions on the packaging and go! 

I decided to get creative with the natural cookie dough. I took two rolls out of the fridge and allowed them to rest to get close to room temperature. I rolled one roll out and using my Christmas cookie cutters, cut some festive shapes out and baked them in the oven. After  baking, I decorated the cookies with a simple sugar paste, edible sprinkles, some icing and voila - Christmas cookies made easy!

The remaining roll of cookie dough I rolled out and sprinkled a liberal amount of white caster sugar, cinnamon and some nibbed almonds. I then cut the dough into strips of just under an inch in width, rolled them up tightly and placed them into a small pie dish and baked for around 25mins. After leaving to cool in the dish, I had instant cinnamon rolls. So easy. I love the versatility of the natural cookie dough. 

You can check Gookies out at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gookies/110103285717377

This link will take you to a page that lists all the locations where Gookies can be bought in-store and online: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gookies/110103285717377?sk=info

For other gluten free Christmas baking, feel free to check out my blog post from last year What To Leave Out For A Gluten Free Santa 

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year - I'll be back in 2012! 

Are You The Winner?

So without further ado - the winner for the incredible Foods of Athenry hamper is:

Owen Molloy!

Congratulations !!! (Image courtesy of Foods of Athenry)

I used the same process as I did for my previous draw. I assigned everyone a number and then used Random.org http://www.random.org/ to generate the winner.

As I do not have your contact details, could you please email me your postal details as soon as possible to glutenfreephotos[at]gmail.com. Delivery for this hamper can take place no later than tomorrow - so I need your address immediately. 

Unfortunately, The Foods of Athenry facebook page did not reach 300 likes, there will be no draw for a second hamper. However, the good news is - that in the new year they may be planning another giveaway. Yay! So keep an eye out on their page for more details and for their tasty food.

Thank you to each and everyone of you who entered and who supported my blog and The Foods of Athenry. A very warm welcome to all my new followers and 'likes'. I'm genuinely delighted to make your acquaintance. Hope to see you all around for my future giveaways, posts and ramblings of living gluten free.

A special thank you to The Foods of Athenry for donating such an incredible hamper for this giveaway - such an amazing and wonderful producer of delicious food. I urge you to try their products if you haven't done so already!

The Foods of Athenry http://www.foodsofathenry.ie/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheFoodsofAthenry

Twitter: http://twitter.com/foodsofathenry

Christmas Is The Time For Giving

How can I not squeeze one more giveaway in this year before Christmas well and truly takes over?

I am happy to say that The Foods Of Athenry http://www.foodsofathenry.ie have generously donated an incredible Christmas hamper to the readers of my blog for this final giveaway of the year. It's a lovely picnic style hamper basket. In it you will find the best of their Christmas gluten free range including Christmas cake/pud/mince pies and some crackers for cheese. Approximate retail value of €55. 

So here are the rules to win this fantastic treat:

Step 1: You have to 'like' and/or 'follow' my blog. 

Step 2: You have to 'like' The Foods Of Athenry facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TheFoodsofAthenry and leave a comment on their wall letting them know that you are entering my draw for their wonderful hamper.

That's it!

(Image courtesy of The Foods of Athenry)

The above image is a sample of the type of hamper you can win. This picture does not belong to me and was taken from The Foods of Athenry facebook page.

The competition is open to all residents in the 32 counties of Ireland. The closing date is Sunday 18th December 2011. The hamper will be couriered to the winner no later than Tuesday 20th December 2011.

Good luck! 

UPDATE: Great news - if The Foods of Athenry reach 300 likes on their facebook page by Sunday, there will be a draw for a second hamper!! Yipee! Go forth and share and like. Don't forget, you need to also like and/or follow my blog/facebook page too, to be in with a chance to win! Good luck!!

If you haven't heard of The Foods Of Athenry, you have been missing out!! They are a wonderful family run business. As it says on their website they 'Produce deliciously wholesome award winning artisan food for food lovers, the food conscious and the dietary challenged.' I can personally vouch that their food is just utterly delicious. Their gluten free range is so broad and so tasty. 

A sample of The Foods of Athenry GF products

 

More GF goodness - taken at Dingle Food Festival/Blas na hÉireann Awards

They have overcome adversity when a fire gutted their bakery. You can read all about their incredible story here from the Irish Examiner: http://www.examiner.ie/business/farming/food-for-thought-as-couple-turns-adversity-into-success-174862.html They even have their Gluten Free Christmas Pudding now on the shelves in Harrods no less!

So thank you to The Foods Of Athenry for donating the hamper to this draw. Again, I lament the fact that I can't enter my own giveaways. Such an utterly incredible one that it is! If you are looking to buy any of their goods, you can click this link here:  http://www.foodsofathenry.ie/stockists.html and it will list the various locations at which you can find their products.

Gluten Free Christmas Pudding