Everyone has a favourite family recipe, some recipes are known and made by a few family members, others are made and enjoyed by everyone. This recipe was first made by my Great Grandmother Rankin and is made today by many of my family members. I have not one, but two cousins who are celiacs so Mom and I do our best to make as many of our family favourites gluten free as possible. Luckily this family favourite can easily be made gluten free, just make sure you purchase gluten free cornflakes.
If there is one thing we have learnt from baking gluten free treats for my family it’s that you can never assume an ingredient is GF. Always check the label, we know that celiacs are used to checking, but if you are baking for a celiac check everything! I thought that the cornflakes I grew up on would be GF but they aren’t, so we found some that are. The only difference is that they are extra crunchy, but I think it adds to the texture.
To add peanuts or not to add peanuts that is the question. We are not entirely sure who started adding peanuts to this recipe. My Great Aunt Gail does not remember her mother adding the peanuts, but my Uncle Terence recalls that she sometimes did. It just goes to show how family recipes can evolve and are made differently by family members. For our gluten free recipe we decided to omit the peanuts. If you want to add them check out our non GF Mackintosh crisp recipe for our measurements.
Originally the recipe called for 3 10₵ Mackintosh’s Toffee bars (not sure how much they cost today but it’s not 10₵). My Great Aunt Gail liked to use 4 but recently changed it to 5 as the size of the bars have changed over the years. Mom and I often struggle to find the bars, they are not as readily available as they used to be. We now use a bag of individually wrapped toffee. The bags are much easier to find, just look in the candy isle of your grocery store. We hope we have inspired you to make these chewy treats for your family and friends. I know they will love them as much as we do.
Ingredients
1 246g bag of Mackintosh’s toffee
3 tbsp cream
½ tsp vanilla extract
3 cups gluten free cornflakes
½ cup shredded coconut sweetened or unsweetened
In a large bowl combine cornflakes and coconut, set aside. Bring water in the double boiler to a simmer, and maintain the simmer during the melting process. Melt the toffee with the cream stirring constantly. Once melted remove from heat before stirring in the vanilla extract.
Pour the melted toffee over the dry ingredients stirring carefully so you do not break the cornflakes. Drop approximately 2 tablespoons of mixture onto a silpat, parchment paper, or wax paper. We often rearrange them a bit to make sure they aren’t too spread out. Enjoy!
Shout out to my Cousin Megan and Auntie Cheryl for donating the Fitz & Floyd porcelain coffee mugs from the late 1970’s early 80’s. They looked fantastic in these photos and we will continue to put them to good use.
Gluten Free Mackintosh Cornflake Crisps
Ingredients
- 1 246g bag of Mackintosh's toffee
- 3 tbsp cream
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups gluten free cornflakes
- ½ cup shredded coconut sweetened or unsweetened
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine cornflakes and coconut, set aside.
- Bring water in the double boiler to a simmer, and maintain the simmer during the melting process.
- Melt the toffee with the cream stirring constantly.
- Once melted remove from heat before stirring in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the melted toffee over the dry ingredients stirring carefully until everything is fully coated.
- Drop approximately 2 tablespoons of mixture onto a silpat, parchment paper, or wax paper. We often rearrange them a bit to make sure they aren't too spread out.
