Help! I need a delicious make ahead gluten free pudding.

[firesidechat]

We have guests coming for lunch on Sunday and the husband is gluten free. All my usual winter pudding choices are unsuitable. Does anyone have a recipe? I don't particularly want to use special gluten free stuff.

Could you make a pavlova? Easy to make the base the night before and just add cream and fruit that morning. Make all the time for my dad who's gluten free. To make its 'wintery' could add a bit of cinnamon to the cream and maybe use clementines.

I could. They usually serve something like this when we visit them, but it does solve the problem. I like the idea of making it less summery.

Meringues? Does he eat dairy? Can you make a winter pavlova?

Alternatively pears poached in wine/cider.

I regularly male a 'tiramisu trifle' which goes down well: amaretti dipped in strong coffee for a few secs then layered in dish. sprinkle over grated dark chocolate and rum or brandy. Top with mascarpone/custard blended together, cover with a thin even layer of grated plain chocolate.
The bottom is really strong and the top is really creamy so they work well together.
Or lemon meringue roulade: make meringue as if for a pavlova but in a lined swiss roll tin. Once cool roll with whipped cream and lemon curd.

or rice pudding.

Apparently he is dairy free at home, but eats dairy when out. Personally I think he is taking pity on me and not stressing me out too much.

Cranachan - Scottish toasted oats mixed with raspberries and cream. Or Eton Mess.

Good ice cream with home made chocolate sauce.

Banana split.

Hmmm, dairy AND gluten free is really pushing you to fruit based dishes. Nigella had a lovely looking gin and tonic jelly which looked stunning topped with berries.

He has said he will eat dairy.

I think a pavlova or variation thereof will do the trick.

Nigella's Clementine cake - it is really easy to make.

I don't have the amounts to hand, though I am sure the recipe is available online, but you boil the clementines for a couple of hours, let them cook, give them a bit of a squeeze, then blitz in the food processor. Add sugar, ground almonds and eggs and blitz again. Put in a lined baking tin, and bake.

It makes the most wonderful dense, damp cake, and the nuts mean it keeps really well - though it is so delicious that it doesn't actually keep for very long!

Or there's my standby dessert - it looks like a cheesecake but there's no cheese.

Make a biscuit base - you could use gluten free biscuits - with blitzed up biscuits and butter. Line a flan tin and chill.

Mix a large tin of condensed milk with the same amount of whipping cream, and whisk. Add the juice of 2 large lemons or 3 limes, or a mixture of lime and lemon juice (you can taste, and add a bit more if you want) - the citrus juice will thicken the mixture. Pour it onto the flan base and chill again - it will thicken to a consistency that you can slice easily.

Hey, we're wheat and dairy free and puddings we make include:

Rice pudding made with coconut milk and lime (DF and gluten free)
Any cake/pudding made with Doves Farm gluten free flour or similar
Jelly (make with dessert wine/other alcohol and fruit maybe for adult)
Gluten-free crumble - equal amounts of gluten free flour/gluten free oats/sugar/dairy free whizzed til crumbly, spread over fruit and bake
Coconut icecream (e.g Bessant & Drury) or sorbets?
Birds custard made with Koko milk and refrigerated until "set" - like a creme.

That sounds lovely SDTG. I love lemon puddings and assume you can make it the day before?

Rice pudding is probably a bad idea. No two of mine ever come out the same - either thick stodge or runny mess.

Maybe a flourless chocolate cake? Can do either with ground almonds or without and serve with some thawed frozen cherries and offer cream/creme fraiche for those that want.

You can make gluten free brownies with ground almonds too.

Just your basic frangipane pudding - equal amounts ground almonds, butter (or non-dairy margarine also fine), sugar and eggs with a bit of vanilla - there are loads of recipes on the web - and pour the mixture over some interesting fruit like pears and cherries, or plums and apples, in a pie dish. Bake (it bakes much like a cake) and you can decorate with dribble of melted chocolate, almond flakes etc if you want it to look posh. Serve with cream, voila. It's nice if you make it slightly ahead (like the same morning) and have it just warm.

Nigellas flourless brownies are super easy and yummy.

I wouldn't reccomend gluten free biscuits for a cheesecake base as they are a different texture to wheat biscuits.

Otherwise crumble with gluten free flour and oats as a pp suggested is v good.

So what would you use for a cheesecake base? Just for future reference.

I'm torn now because MadderPink's recipe sounds lovely too.

Yes, you can definitely make it the day before.

Amaretti biscuits work for cheesecake base. Just check they are gluten free some of the cheaper ones aren't.

Last dinner party we had was a hellpit of food selective/intolerant but great company guests. I did a layered chocolate meringue with whipped cream, ganache, raspberries and honeycomb, and a lemon posset. Thankfully dairy wasn't an issue!

This pear and almond pudding cake is amazeballs

Just omit flour and sub in more almonds

serve with vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream

Don't use oats unless you've checked (1 in 20 coeliacs react to oats), also you have to buy specific gluten free oats as the normal ones are contaminated with wheat.