Looking for a special selection of recipes that are gluten and dairy-free this festive season? We've got you covered. We've selected some of our favourite recipes, some gluten-free, some dairy-free and some that are both! Take a look:

Gluten and Dairy Free Beef Hot Pot Cookability by Keith Kenny

Ingredients:

• 1kg of diced chuck steak
• 100g of gluten-free flour, seasoned
• with a pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tbsp. of gluten-free
• Worcestershire sauce
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, diced
• 3 sticks of celery, diced
• 1 litre of hot Beef stock
• 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2-3 medium potatoes, peeled
• 1 tbsp. of dairy free butter, melted
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil

Method:

1. Pre heat your oven to Gas mark 4 or 180.C.
2. Coat the beef in the seasoned flour, add olive oil to a pan and wait until the oil is hot. Add the floured, diced beef and cook until golden brown. Remove the beef and, in the same pan add all the well seasoned vegetables and cook for 2-3 mins. Next add the beef and half the fresh thyme to the pan and pour in the hot beef stock over the vegetables, bringing to the boil for 3-4 mins and stirring regularly.
3. Divide the mix equally into 4 individual oven proof dishes. Top with thin slices of potato and brush with the melted butter then sprinkle some fresh thyme leaves on top and season with salt and pepper.
4. Cover each hot pot with tin foil that has earlier been brushed with a light coating of olive oil.
5. Cook in the oven for 1 hour before removing foil and cooking for a further 40 mins.

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Dairy-Free Christmas Fruit Parcels Caitriona Redmond, Wholesome Ireland

Ingredients

• 100g Dried Fruit
• 1/2 Cup of Orange Juice
• 2 Cooking Apples (Bramleys are good or Granny Smith apples will do if you’re stuck)
• 1 Packet of Fresh Filo Pastry
• 30g Melted Soya Butter

Method

1. The night before, make sure your filo is out of the freezer  (if you put it there) and defrost in the fridge overnight. Pour the orange juice and dried fruit into a bowl then mix well and cover. Leave overnight and forget about it.
2. Peel the apples then grate them into the dried fruit mix and stir well.
3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius.
4. Spread out the filo pastry and cut the sheets into 4 equal (square) pieces. Most filo packets come with 6 sheets so this will give you 24 squares or 12 parcels.
5. In the middle of 12 of the squares put a teaspoon of the mixture.
6. Brush the outside of the squares with melted butter then bring the edges together to make the parcel. You will now have 12 parcels and 12 empty squares.
7. Put the parcels into the middle of the empty squares, brush the edges again and bring those together so that each parcel has 2 layers of pastry.
8. Put the parcels onto a tray lined with greaseproof baking paper then bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
9. Once golden and crispy at the edges, remove and let cool for 10 minutes before serving with a dusting of icing sugar.

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Chicken and Lemongrass Skewers with Spicy Crispy Oriental Salad Cookability by Keith Kenny

Ingredients:

• 6 x 170g chicken fillet, cubed
• 8 x lemongrass
• 1 bunch of fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp. of honey
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp. of olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Salad

• 100g of sugar snaps, sliced
• 100g of bean sprouts
• 8 baby sweet corn, sliced
• 2 chillies, sliced leaving seeds in
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 tbsp. of grated ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 50g of mixed bean sprout seeds
• Bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp. of sesame oil
• 1 tsp. of honey

Method:

1. In a bowl mix the cubed chicken, honey, some fresh thyme leaves and lemon juice with a pinch of
2. salt and pepper before popping into the fridge to marinate for 5-10 mins.
3. When infused, cut an angle at the end of the lemon grass so it makes it easier to skewer the chicken.
4. Heat the oil in a pan on a med to high heat, then fry the chicken skewers on each side until thoroughly cooked through.
5. Garnish with fresh thyme and use some of the oil left in the pan to drizzle over the chicken.

Method for Salad

1. Mix the honey, sesame oil and lime juice together.
2. Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl and add the sauce, tossing together gently.

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Gluten-Free Victoria Sponge Cakes Jennie Browne, of Goodness Cakes and Bake Fest Galway

Ingredients

• 450g butter
• 450g Caster sugar
• 9eggs – free range
• 1 vanilla pod ( scraped)
• 45og dove farm gluten free self raising flour
• Homemade strawberry jam

For the buttercream

• 250g unsalted butter
• 500g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• Rectangular mini cake tray

Method

1. Cream the butter & sugar until light & fluffy
2. Beat in eggs & vanilla, followed by the flour
3. Using an ice-cream or potato scoop, place 2 sccops into each section of the tin.
4. (If making cupcakes, ¾ fill each case)
5. Bake in a preheated oven for 17 minutes or until sponge spring backs when touched.
6. Leave to cool in tin.

Buttercream:

1. Place 250g of unsalted butter in a bowl, beat on medium speed until  soften, add your icing sugar & beat on low increasing speed once the icing sugar has been incorporated fully.  Beat on medium-fast for approx. 10 minutes until your buttercream is light & fluffy
2. Remove mini cakes from the tin, slice lengthways.
3. Pipe a layer of buttercream top with a layer of jam & dust with icing sugar.

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Cherry Vanilla Sponge Cookability by Keith Kenny

Ingredients:

• 500ml tin of pitted cherries or 200g of fresh cherries deseeded
• 4 large eggs
• 4 tbsp. of vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp. of cold water
• 4 tbsp. of castor sugar
• 1/2 tsp. of gluten-free baking powder
• 4 heaped tbsp. of gluten-free flour
• 1 vanilla pod (cut the pod horizontally and with the tip of your knife scrape out the vanilla.
• To make use of the pod, mix it with some sugar and store in an airtight jar)
• Baking tin size 24 cm long 14 cm wide 7 cm deep

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180.C, Gas mark 4.
2. Separate the eggs and put the white of the egg into a clean mixing bowl and whisk for 3-4 mins until semi stiff. While still whisking, add 1 tbsp. of sugar at a time and stir briskly until stiff like meringue and place into another bowl until later.
3. Wash out your mixing bowl and add the egg yolks with the oil, cold water, flour, vanilla and baking powder, mixing on a medium to high speed for 4-5 mins until stiff.
4. Blend the two mixes together slowly in a large bowl using a wooden spoon or spatula until it is a smooth creamy texture.
5. Brush the tin very lightly with oil and fill with the half the mixture, then add your cherries before topping with the rest of the mixture.
6. Place in the oven for 25-30 mins. To check if it is cooked, simply push a cocktail stick or skewer into the centre sponge and if it comes out dry it is cooked.
7. Remove from oven and let cool before dusting with icing sugar.