Vegan Rice Krispie Buns

I am a hunger monster at the moment. Is it boredom? Frustration? Madness induced by motherhood?! All three?!? Anyway, what ever it is I am obsessed with goodies. Today I wanted homemade biscuits (cookies, to my American pals) but I didn't have the right flour.

OK, I thought, flapjacks will do, I'll make them. Guess what? Hardly any porridge oats. Grrr.

So what did I make? Essentially, vegan rice krispie buns. Do our American friends have these? They are a birthday party must-have in Ireland. They are Rice Krispies mixed into melted chocolate, then left to set.

There has been a bar of vegan couverture chocolate in the press since Xmas. Mr Vegan got it as part of his Xmas box from someone. I don't think the someone realised it was posh cooking chocolate.
Anyway, out it came today and I inspected it closely: it's organic, vegan and has raisins and almonds in it. Mmmm. There is so much written on the wrapper it's hard to know what's what. Anyway, the gist is it's by Organica, as part of their Vegan Diets range, and it's made in Switzerland for a company in England. The web address is www.seriouslyorganic.co.uk and they do lots of lovely stuff.

So I present to you, Vegan Rice Krispie Buns:

VEGAN LEMON & SESAME SEED LOAF

On last night's Desperate Housewives, Bree said baking is 'all about precision'. Not with me Mrs Van de Kamp-Hodge. No, here it's all about cravings and experimentation (the latter not always successful).

Today's experiment is Lemon and Sesame Seed Loaf. Hmm. We had delicious Lemon and Poppy Seed muffins in Paperchase in London at the week-end and I've had lemon cake cravings since Easter, so here we are. Our local veg shop, which also sells seeds, didn't have poppy seeds so instead I bought sesame and just sprinkled them on top. It turned out grand - not very sweet but the lemony-ness makes up for that. Add another 25g to 50 g sugar if you like a sweeter loaf.

Here's the recipe:

150 g of wholemeal spelt flour
100 g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
25 g of light brown sugar
25 g of caster sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water (or 1 beaten egg for non vegans)
150 mls of soya milk
juice and rind of one large lemon
1 tblsp vegetable oil
a handful of sesame seeds


* Preheat the oven to 160˚C
* Grease a 2lb loaf tin (or line with paper liner)
* Zest the lemon, then squeeze it
* Sieve the flour
* Mix flour, sugar and spice
* Make the NoEgg mix as per pack
* In a jug, mix together the soya milk, oil and NoEgg mixture
* Make a well in the flour and beat in the milky mixture
* Fold in the lemon zest and lemon juice
* Pour the mixture into the loaf tin. Gently shake to flatten the top
* Sprinkle with the sesame seeds
* Bake for an hour in the top of the oven. Move down a shelf if top browning too quickly.
* Test with a skewer to see if it is baked through
* Cool the cake in the tin

VEGAN DATE AND MUESLI SLICE

I adapted this from a Café Fresh recipe. I had to adapt it because their recipe included seeds and when I went to the press, the seed box was almost empty. So I threw in muesli, flaked almonds and a mushed up Weetabix instead. Necessity. Mother. Invention etc etc. This recipe is sugar free – so good for you!
I used a 12” x 9” oval ovenproof dish – a square one might work better for slicing.

240 g chopped dates
Juice and zest of 1 large orange
140g porridge oats
70 g muesli (try for one with seeds)
20 g flaked almonds
110g vegan margarine

o Preheat the oven to 180˚C
o Heat the dates, orange juice and zest over a low heat until soft (about 5 mins)
o Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl
o Rub in the vegan marg until it all sticks together
o Press half teh mix into the bottom of your ovenproof dish, tamp it down
o Plop blobs of the date mix onto the base at intervals and smooth down with your wooden spoon
o Put the rest of the oat/marg mix on top until the dates are covered. Tamp down.
o Bake for 25 minutes, until golden-brown.
o Cool in the dish before slicing – it may be crumbly. Who cares? Have more!

Vegan Apple Cake

Readers of this blog will know that I am mildly obsessed with apple cakes. I had HUGE cravings for them while pregnant and I am still searching for the right taste. I made up this recipe in an attempt to get what I am looking for. Did I succeed? YES! It’s the nearest in taste to my mother’s cake that I’ve yet had. It is not a very sweet cake (I am on a health kick so I put in v little sugar and v little fat) but it is really delicious. It's more of a loaf, really. And it's so healthy! My mother famously used to ‘forget’ to put sugar in apple tarts. She will love this cake/loaf which I will have to bake for her asap.

250 g of wholemeal self raising flour

2 med/large cooking apples

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water (or 1 beaten egg for non vegans)

200 mls of soya milk

50 g of light brown sugar

1 tblsp vegetable oil

30 g flaked almonds

• Preheat the oven to 160˚C
• Grease a 2lb loaf tin (or line with paper liner)
• Peel the cooking apples and chop into small pieces
• Sprinkle the cinnamon on the apples
• Mix flour, sugar and spice
• Make the NoEgg mix as per pack
• In a jug, mix together the soya milk, oil and NoEgg mixture
• Make a well in the flour and beat in the milky mixture
• Fold in the chopped apples
• Pour the mixture into the loaf tin. Gently shake to flatten the top
• Sprinkle with the flaked almonds
• Bake for an hour in the top of the oven. Move down a shelf if top browning too quickly.
  
• Test with a  skewer to see if it is baked through
• Cool the cake in the tin

VEGAN FOOD PYRAMID CHART

Isn't this great? Click the image to see bigger version. Buy the poster for your wall here.

INDIVIDUAL VEGAN CHRISTMAS CAKES

This is my normal vegan Xmas cake recipe with some minor adjustments. Pluses: these take less cooking time and are nicely two-mouthful sized. We have scoffed our big cake already and I needed something nice to bring to an Xmas tea party so I decided to try my normal recipe as individual cakes, for a change. I'm so glad that these worked.

INGREDIENTS

350 gr wholegrain spelt flour
175gr vegan marg
175gr light muscovado sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
150gr sultanas
200gr raisins
150gr dates
50 gr flaked almonds
1 tblsp treacle
100gr glacé cherries, halved
grated zest of an orange
2 tblsps ground almonds
120ml soya milk
2 tblsps red wine vinegar
¾ tsp of bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)
6 tblsps (90ml) brandy

• Preheat the oven to 160˚C
• Line a shallow bun tin with paper cases
• Sieve the flour and spice
• Rub in the marg until the mix is like breadcrumbs
• Stir in the flaked almonds and treacle
• Add the sugar, dried fruit, cherries, orange zest and ground almonds and mix
• Warm half the soya milk in a small pot and add the vinegar
• Dissolve the bread soda in the rest of the soya milk, then add
this to the milk and vinegar mix
• Stir this into flour and fruit mix until well combined
• Spoon mix into the bun cases and smooth the top
• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a skewer/cocktail stick comes out clean
• Brush the tops of the cakes with the brandy
• Cool on a wire rack

FOR THE ICING

500g icing sugar
60ml water
15ml lemon juice (1 tblsp)

• Sieve the icing sugar
• Mix in the water and lemon juice to from a paste
• Microwave on high for 30 seconds until runny
• Pour one dessertspoon of icing onto each cake
• Top with an almond or a glacé cherry or a sweetie - whatever you like!

VEGAN CARROT BUNS / MUFFINS

VEGAN CARROT MUFFINS/BUNS

Muffins to me are really large, greasy, shop-bought buns. In Ireland buns are small muffins, kind of. Anyway these are healthy and tasty and hit the right note for this time of year: spice and raisins. A real Hallowe'en combination.

5oz wholemeal self-raising flour
2oz light muscovado sugar
2oz walnuts
4 oz carrots grated (about 3 small carrots)
2 oz sultanas
2 oz chopped walnuts
½ lidful vanilla essence
2½ oz melted vegan marg
1tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water (or 1 egg beaten for non-vegans)
1 tsp nutmeg
1tsp cinnamon
60ml soya milk

pre heat oven to 200c

• grate the carrots
• mix the dry ingredients in a bowl
• add the sultanas and walnuts
• make the No Egg mix (or beat the egg) in a jug, with the milk and vanilla essence
• mix in the grated carrots
• mix in the melted marg
• add this mix to the dry ingredients
• divide into the 12 bun cases
• bake for 25 minutes


JUNO AS A WITCH ON HALLOWEE'EN