It’s common to miss out on things as a coeliac because you can’t get a good gluten free equivalent. But just this once, there was a perfect product when I needed it.

We had a rather awesome birthday party for the boys this year. (Not least because it was a joint party so I get away with only doing one!) The party was Jedi training, which was bucketloads of fun for the kids, but it called for some Star Wars themed party food. The internet beckoned, where hundreds of people have catalogued their themed party teas so people like me can (gratefully) capitalise on the craftiness and inspiration of others.

So we spent the morning making ‘light sabers’ by threading red grapes onto kebab sticks, we drew storm trooper faces onto giant marsh mallows, and we made ‘wookie cookies’ by dipping gf biscuits into melted chocolate then decorating with sugar strands and icing.

But my favourite was the ‘TIE fighters’ we made using the wonderful Mrs Crimble’s cheese crackers and pieces of cheddar. Who knew that Mrs Crimble’s crackers had this calling – it’s as if they were designed for this exact purpose! We used an apple corer to create the circular cheese centres, then ‘glued’ it all together using a smear of cream cheese.

These were served with some ‘Hoth dogs’ (sausages), along with some wraps and a few token veg sticks (very little point doing too many of these at a kids’ party!) It all went down really well, so much so that I have no decent pictures of the savoury stuff.

For the birthday cake, I used my (alright Delia’s) trusty flourless squidgy chocolate cake recipe, but cut into a rectangle and topped with a chocolate slab made with a Han Solo in carbonite mould. (You really can buy anything on the internet!) It turned out rather well. The cake was filled with cream and frosting, rather than the grown-up chocolate filling in the original recipe. It makes a fantastic cake, but as the name suggests, it’s soft. I refrigerated it overnight before putting the chocolate slab on.

And that’s birthday parties done for another year! Bring on Christmas. 🙂