Tasting the NEW GLUTEN FREE “Made without Wheat” [Just] Desserts Range by Marks & Spencer and Store Stockists List… (March 2016)…

Without much Fanfare and certainly no advertising (yet), Marks & Spencers have launched a wider range of ready-to-eat GLUTEN FREE products as part of their “Made without Wheat” range. It’s quite exciting to have even more choice as a Coeliac as that often is the challenge, although the world is slowly changing. M&S have always been pretty good to Coeliacs with their extensive literature on their website, listings of stores with GF Products (excluding the new products as yet although see my listing below which they emailed out) and even selective ordering of GF products at Christmas.

On my blog, I’ve reviewed M&S “Made without Wheat” products including Sweet Treats: (Victoria Sandwich, Lemon Drizzle Cake, Mince Pies, Hot Fudge Pudding and Triple Chocolate Cookies) Savoury Items (Quiche Lorraine, Chicken & Mushroom CrispBakes) and M&S Bread products (Soft White Baps, Sliced White Boule, Soft Brown Baps and Fruit Loaf).

(M&S Products also appear in my Chocolate Bar listing, Chocolate Box listing, Easter Egg listing, Mince Pie review and my 2015 Advent Calendar listing)

The full “Made without Wheat” range at M&S’s Flagship Marble Arch Store

The new range now includes:

Sweet Treats: Strawberry Trifle, Apple Pie, Vanilla Cheesecake (all reviewed below) as well as Rhubarb Crumble, Syrup Sponge Puddings and Chocolate Sponge Puddings.

Savoury Items: Spaghetti Carbonara, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Macaroni Cheese, Beef Lasagne, Chicken Arrabiata and Steak Pie and Chicken Pie.

Of course, many items of food are naturally GLUTEN FREE and don’t really require an additional label but their extended range now includes everyday items which are ready-to-eat and perhaps supports an occasional treat and /or a special meal! Personally, I’m not sure it makes sense to buy a ready-made pasta dish when even I can make that with the fairly good GLUTEN FREE pasta’s that are on the market (and indeed, M&S do their own “Made without Wheat” pasta sheets which I used to make a great lasagne, nor the Crumbles (as with fresh produce from my Allotment, it’s really quite easy to make your own Crumble) but I couldn’t resist the Sweet Treats:

EXTREMELY FRUITY STRAWBERRY TRIFLE: So it’s been many years since I’ve had a GLUTEN FREE Trifle. I did try and make one at Christmas but it was a spectacular failure (with the sponge pieces floating in unset-jelly.I may have put the sponge in too early into the hot jelly as it had crumbled and then dissolved making a greyish /yellow mush in the bowl!).

GF Strawberry Trifle by M&S

It looks like a regular Trifle and is the same size as the regular one in M&S. The Strawberry jelly in the bottom is sloppy, not too firm but with fruity whole strawberries. Then a firm layer of sponge which covers the whole of the cake (some trifles have only sponge pieces but this extends across the plastic bowl). It is thin, quite light and definitely airy. This is then topped with a layer of custard which is very sweet and creamy. It has a natural yellow colour and is not like School Dinner’s Trifles that moves in one piece but is soft and gooey but firm enough to remain in the Trifle formation! And finally, this is topped by lightly whipped cream which is also quite sweet and delicious.

Amazing GF Trifle

Already, I have seen some criticism of this as a Trifle, with some comments on Facebook groups suggesting that it should be a Raspberry based fruit trifle but I love the sweetness of the strawberries and the whole taste of the GLUTEN FREE Trifle. My challenge was not to finish it all off in one go!

NEW YORK VANILLA CHEESECAKE: I rarely have Cheesecake although have a weakness for the Godiva GLUTEN FREE Cheesecake served in the USA’s Cheesecake Factory and so did pick up the M&S “Made without Wheat” version. It is quite small as a cake goes but once I had eaten it, I appreciated that it is quite rich and creamy, so perhaps it is the “right” size.

New York “Made without Wheat” Cheesecake by M&S

Between two of us, we had half each and had I tried a little piece of it, I probably won’t have shared it. The base is like a traditional cheesecake except GLUTEN FREE digestive biscuits make up the buttery base. This is thick like it should be and has a delicate sugariness to it. The topping is really creamy and has a good flavour of Madagascan Vanilla. As it is baked there is a firmness to the cheesecake but it is still rather light and not at all heavy (like some traditional NY Cheesecakes). I think it might have been better if they had added a fruit compote on the top, if only to improve the look and the taste but a great product that’s all GLUTEN FREE.

M&S’s new Made without Wheat New York Cheesecake

And finally, I tried the SHORTCRUST APPLE PIE:

Uncooked “Made without Wheat” M&S Apple Pie

Again, this is a full sized pie: similar to regular M&S Sweet Pies so is too much for one-person, or indeed, a couple, but makes a useful Dinner Party dessert. Through the window I could see it was already cracked, and I did review other boxed ones and found that they all had “broken” roofs on the pie: perhaps that is the look M&S are going for: as it does have that “home-made” finish about it, rather than a perfect pie top.

Hot oven-cooked Apple Pie by M&S

After heating it up in the Over, this pie gained a lovely golden colour and no new cracks appeared on the top. The Shortcrust pastry was even and thick and easy to cut, although it did break more in the middle than on the edges. It has been crimped well with a lovely fruity filling which isn’t too sweet. Peeled apples are in a light sweet sauce but the impressive bit of the pie is the shortcrust pastry which is crunchy on the edge and firm, but easy on the teeth and not too heavy.

“Made without Wheat” Shortcrust Apple Pie by M&S

So Well Done M&S for yet another GLUTEN FREE delight: another Sweet treat that I will return to. I picked these products from the M&S Flagship store: Marble Arch!

They have kindly emailed me a listing of the current stockists of the new range but it is important to note that these are the larger stores and the availability is probably a little unpredictable at the moment…

Happy Hunting…

LONDON:

Brent Cross & Chiswick & Canary Wharf & Cardinal Place & Chelsea Kings Road & Colney & Covent Garden & Croydon & Crawley & Ealing Broadway & Eltham & Enfield & Fenchurch Street & Finsbury & Islington & Marble Arch & Muswell Hill & New Change & Pantheon & Richmond Kew & White City

SCOTLAND:

Aberdeen & Aberdeen, Union Square
Ayr & Ayr, Heathfield
Bishopbriggs Glasgow
Craigleith
East Kilbridge, Kingsgate Shopping Park
Edinburgh & Kinnaird
Falkirk
Glasgow Fort & Argyle Street & Braehead & Pollok & Sauchiehall Street
Gyle
Hamilton
Inverness
Irvine
Kirkcaldy
Livingston
Milngavie
Paisley
Perth
Stirling
Westhill

WALES:

Cardiff & Colverhouse Cross & Clanishen
Llanelli, Pontarddulais
Newport & Newton Mearns
Swansea

IRELAND & Northern IRELAND:

Bangor (Northern Ireland)
Belfast, & Abbey Centre & Boucher Road & Newtownbreda
Dublin, Grafton Street & Liffey Valley & Mary Street & Dundee Docks
Dundrum
Lisburn

And finally, across our “Green and Pleasant Land”: ENGLAND:

Aintree
Altrincham
Ashton-under-Lyme, Ashton Moss
Aylesbury
Banbury, Gateway Shopping Park
Basildon, Mayflower Retail Park
Bath
Beckenham
Beverley
Bexleyheath
Birkenhead
Birmingham & Merry Hill & Solihull
Birstall
Bishop Auckland
Blackburn
Blackheath
Blackpool
Blackrock
Bolton & Middlebrook
Bomborough
Bournemouth, Castlepoint
Brighton & Carden Avenue
Bristol & Cribbs Causeway
Bromley
Brooklands
Burnley
Bury, The Rock
Camberley
Cambridge, The Beehive Centre
Canterbury
Carlise
Chalton
Chelmsford
Cheltenham & Kingsditch
Cheshire Oaks
Cheshunt
Chester
Chesterfield
Chichester
Coatbridge
Colchester
Coventry & Binley
Cramlington
Crewe, Grand Junction Retail Park
Derby, Westfield
Doncaster, Wheatley Shopping Centre
Douglas
Durham, Arnison Centre
Epping
Exeter
Farehal, Whiteley Village
Gateshead & Metro Centre
Gillingham, Hempstead Valley
Gosforth
Grimsby
Guildford
Guisely
Handforth
Harbone
Harrogate & Oatlands
Hereford
Heswall
Hexham
Horsham
Ipswich
Kent, Bluewater
Kingston Upon thames
Leeds & Moortown
Leicester, Fosse Park
Leigh
Liverpool & Speke New Mersey
Longbridge
Lytham St Anne’s
Macclesfield
Maidenhead
Manchester & Trafford Centre
Margate, Westwood Cross
Middlesbrough
Milton Keynes & Milton Keynes Stadium
Newcastle & Kenton Bar Kingston Retail Park & Silverlink
Norwich
Oxford
Peterborough & Brotherhood Shopping Park
Pinner
Plymouth
Plymouth, Crownhill
Preston
Prestwich
Pudsey
Rawtenstall
Rayleigh
Reading & Woodley
Rickmansworth
Rochdale
Romford
Rugby, Elliotts Field
Sale
Salisbury
Scarborough
Sears Solihull
Sheffield, Crystal Peaks & Eccleshall Road & Fargate & Meadowhall
Shoreham
Southampton, Hedge End
Southend
Southgate
Southport
St Albans
St Helens
Stockton Heath
Stoke on Trent
Stratford
Stratford Upon Avon, Maybird
Summertown
Sunderland
Sutton & Sutton Coldfield, Princess Park
Tamworth
Taunton
Teesside
Thurrock
Tolworth
Torbay
Truro, Lemon Quay
Tunbridge Wells
Tunbridge Wells, Fountains Retail Park
Wakefield
Warrington, Gemini
Washinton
Watford
Wigan
Wimbledon
Wolstanton
Worcester
Worthing
Wrexham, Eagles Mead
York & Vangarde Monks Cross

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If you are a member of Coeliac UK, they produce a comprehensive directory which covers over 16,000 food and drink items (including GLUTEN FREE Chocolate Bars). This is available in a paper-based Manual and online FREE to members of Coeliac UK. They have also published an Easter listing (although it is not as visually EGG-citing as this posting and excludes many of the included Chocolatiers and High Street stores covered in my posts).

One of the hard-hitting posters (featuring Yours Truly) from Coeliac UK launched for Awareness Week, held in 2015 and to be seen again in 2016.

SIGN UP so you do not miss out on future updates to the Chocolate Bar listing, Chocolate Bags and Boxes, as well as new Restaurant Reviews, Travelling experiences, Food Shows, Product Reviews and (occasional) Recipes. Also check out my posts on GLUTEN FREE Ice Cream, GLUTEN FREE Advent Calendars, GLUTEN FREE Mince Pies and GLUTEN FREE Valentines Treats.

This information was correct as of March 2016.

But as I am learning, ingredients do change and therefore you should always read the label and check for yourself whether it is GLUTEN FREE or not!