VEGAN APPLE CRUMBLE

My father-in-law gave us some apples from his Dublin garden. So far I've made two apple and cinnamon cakes and today I made a small apple crumble. Mr Vegan loves crumble so it's really for him. But I had a little sample and it's a sweet and spicy crumble with a thick topping. Our dish is an 8.25" pie dish - smaller than the usual size.

Topping

75g spelt flour
50g vegan marg
25g brown sugar
30 g porridge oats

Filling

3 apples, chopped
¼ tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
juice and zest of an orange
30g brown sugar

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C
• Stir the filling ingredients over a low heat until the sugar melts and the fruit starts to soften
• Pour the mix into a pie dish and let it cool while you make the topping
• Rub the marg into the flour
• Add the sugar and oats and mix through with your fingers
• Pour the topping onto the fruit and pat down with your hands
• Bake for 30 minutes
• Serve hot or cold, with soya cream or custard

VEGAN CHRISTMAS CAKE

Herewith - belatedly - my vegan Christmas cake - it's boozy, fruity and utterly yum. I made it yesterday with a little help from two of the kids. I've been making this cake for years and I always get comments from people who've made it, so please comment!

This year I am taking part in my friend Emily's Advent Linky Party with this recipe. See the Craft Advent/nest button over on the right and click to learn more.

Everything ready to go!

It helps hugely, I find, to get all your ingredients weighed and ready in advance.

Juno observing, Finn measuring

Nuala making a wish :)

This recipe makes a lovely moist cake; we used it as our wedding cake last year. We eat it plain but you can buy vegan marzipan and icing to decorate it if you like.

Nollaig shona! Happy Christmas!

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

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 150˚C
• Grease an 8" cake tin and line with a layer of greased greaseproof; leave a ridge of paper at the top
• 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 (it will puff up nicely!)
• Stir this into flour and fruit mix until well combined
• Spoon mix into greased tin and smooth the top
• Bake for 2 hours, until a skewer/cocktail stick comes out clean
• Leave cake in tin to cool, then turn out and peel off greaseproof
• Prick cake with a cocktail stick and feed with a third of the brandy
• Wrap cake in greaseproof and store in a tin
• Feed with the rest of the brandy at weekly intervals (if the cake lasts that long!)

The cake cooling in the tin

The finished cake!

CRAFT-ADVENT LINKY PARTY!

My friend Emily (artist/crafter/super-mom/wonder woman) is having a Craft-Advent Linky Party over at her lovely blog The Nest. She will be posting all sorts of beautiful craft tutorials, recipes etc. I can't get her sweet button (above) to go on my blog (grrr) so this will have to do as my 'I am taking part' button. Roll on Xmas!

ALMOND, DATE & ORANGE LOAF

Readers of this blog will know I love the date 'n' orange combination. This is a sweet, orangey loaf that is very simple to make. I used an electric hand mixer but if you have strong mixing arms, it's not essential to use a mixer.

Ingredients

200g wholegrain spelt flour

75g plain flour
1 level tsp bread soda (sieved)
100g brown sugar
100g marg
125g carton yogurt

rind of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange

2 eggs
50g dates (stoned & chopped)
50g flaked almonds

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.

Lightly grease and base line a 900g/2lb loaf tin.

Beat the sugar and marg until smooth and creamy.

Add the yogurt, orange rind, juice and eggs. Mix well.

Add the flour and sieved bread soda and beat on low speed.

Add the dates and nuts and gently stir until well mixed.

Transfer to the prepared tin.

Bake for about 55 minutes until skewer comes out clean.

Allow to stand for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire tray to cool.

NEARLY XMAS CAKE TIME

The recipe is ladybird-ed to the notice board and I am off to buy the ingredients. Any day now the mood will feel right for baking the Vegan Christmas Cake. My recipe is a Rose Elliott one that I adapted and I adore it. People always contact me to say they have made it with great success so I hope more of you will do so this year. Stay tuned!

TOASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Happy Hallowe'en!! It's rainy and dark here in Galway - not much chance of a roaring bonfire, sadly. My Hallowe'en Brack recipe is here for any lastminuters. We had roasted pumpkin and peppers with garlic last night - mmm.

I was looking at the pumpkin seeds as I carved the Jack O' Lantern, thinking, Don't throw away those pumpkin seeds, eat them instead! OK, it turns out it involves a bit of work but it's nice work.

Firstly, pick all the pumpkin flesh from the seeds.

Rinse them in a colander.

Dry them overnight on a baking tray.

Pre-heat oven to 180°C.

Sprinkle with olive oil and salt and place in oven.

Roast for 35 minutes and you have a healthy, yummy snack.

If you don't eat the seeds straight away, store in  an airtight container once they have cooled down.

CATHY'S SPELT LOAF MIX

I love spelt flour to bake with so I was excited when I saw this Irish-made multiseed spelt bread mix in Planet Life in Athlone for €3.99. You just add soya milk or buttermilk and mix to a dough, so it couldn't be simpler.

I can't get the link to Cathy's Spelt for Health site to work but I have found the company on Facebook here. They have lots of great products which I hope to try soon.

Here's how the loaf turned out - it looks and smells yum. We're planning to have it with a lentil soup for dinner.