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Welcome to my blog! I started my blog to let you in on a little bit of my life. My life as me, as a mumma, as a Coeliac and my product reviews.






Sunday, 5 June 2011

Review ~ Isabel's Naurally free from: Dough Balls

Isabel over at Brazilian Flavours sent me a box her gorgeous cheese dough balls to try.

Being a Coeliac is hard to find tasty, healthy quick snacks for party's or for just enjoying. Well Isabel's Cheese dough balls are gluten and wheat free, and they fit the requirements just great! Also they're low in salt, sugar free and vegetarian :)

They won last years 'Free-from food award', and i can see why....


Just after they'd been cooked

When i first opened the packet i felt a little disappointed that all it seemed was that you'd just paid £2.69 for a small bag of flour. I was very wrong. When i opened the bag i could smell a subtle hint of cheese and the flour was very smooth and soft, like it have just been sieved.

I followed the preparation instructions which i found very clear and easy to read and follow, A simple four step job. Isabel said to make sure i used the exact amount of water shown in the recipe and not to guess as this will alter the results. I whizzed mine up in the food processor which made less mess and was much quicker than by hand. However if i was making these with children i would do it by hand, get your hands messy and have fun. They'd love it! And its very simple that not much could go wrong really.

I love how versatile this product is, you can add in your own favorite flavours to the mix. I added in some cheddar and mixed herbs. I LOVE cheese so i added a bit more than the recipe suggests :)
Next was to separate the mix into balls, the recipe says around 3cm in diameter will make you 26-28 dough balls. Mine made 27! :)
Now at this stage you have an option to cook now or to freeze for use at a later date, fantastic for preparation for party's/sleep-overs/movie night etc... Then all you'd need to do is pop them in the oven!?!
I put mine on a baking sheet with greaseproof paper, the oven was pre-heated to the correct temperature (180* fan assisted), if the oven is to hot or to cold the balls won't cook through properly.
These cook for 20-25mins until they've turned lightly golden in colour.

Once cooked i removed them from the baking tray and into bowl to serve, they kept the warmth in very well and were totally scrumptious to eat! My 16mth old daughter loved them to :)
The outside was crispy and golden with a yummy soft and slightly chewy centre, almost like ''normal'' glutinous dough balls would be.
Next time i think i will make them slightly smaller than the recipe suggests. Two reasons, one being that they were quite big to take your first bite from without squashing or ripping them open, and secondly purely so you get more :) yummy!!! These are an excellent sharing food, even though i could've eaten them all!
I will deffinatly be buying these for future gatherings, partys or just as something to keep in cupboard as a quick snack when i need one :) Mmm...i want more now!

Just before i devoured them!

Some ideas i have for future use of this product are; using dips, adding a small lump of mozzarella into the centre so it gives a melt in the middle effect, brushing the tops with milk or egg and sprinkling with sesame/poppy seeds before cooking, making them into tiny sandwiches for fun food for kids, adding garlic butter to the mix to create restaurant like dough balls to accompany pizza or pasta.

Also if you have an egg allergy you can use an egg replacer to make this mix, so get on it!

Dough balls can be purchased from ASDA and directly from the Brazilian Flavours website along with their other gorgeous products. The dough balls are priced £2.69 for 250gram box and are currently on offer, £2 off is you order a case of 8 box's. Yummy!!!
Also Isabel's products can be found in Waitrose and Ocado.


1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with you, I made your words mine!!!Everybody should try this product, I don't have any allergies or any specific food restriction and neither my family but everybody enjoys this so much as well as the pizza base...It is a must have product!!!!TRY and you will ENJOY!!!!

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