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.

SPELT HALLOWE'EN BRACK

Juno admiring the brack

Here's a really easy tea brack recipe for Hallowe'en. It's loaf-shaped, not round, and the brandy gives it a lovely rich flavour. You could use whiskey or just use 180ml of tea if you don't want alcohol in the cake.

You can wrap a ring in greaseproof paper and bake it in the centre of the brack. Traditionally, the person who finds the ring in their slice of brack will be the next to marry.

Eat plain or buttered with a cup of tea.

RECIPE

150ml tea
30ml brandy
250g raisins
75g brown sugar
1 beaten egg
25g melted marg
255g wholegrain spelt flour
1tsp bread soda
1 tsp mixed spice

METHOD

- Soak the fruit, sugar, brandy and tea in a bowl - leave for 1 hour
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin (ready-made liners are great and no greasing needed!)
- Add the melted marg to the fruit mix. Stir through.
- Add the beaten egg. Stir through.
- Sieve then fold in the flour, bread soda and spice
- Pour into the lined tin (insert wrapped ring at this point, if using)
- Bake for 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean
- Cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack.

SPELT SCONES - sugar free!

I am off bread during the week in an effort to feel less bleh. My daughter wanted a scone today, so rather than buy tempting shop ones, I decided to bake spelt scones. Because they have strawberry soya yogurt in them, these are really sweet and tasty.

The lovely cloth is a bread cloth given to me by writer Valerie Trueblood and hand woven by her friend. It is my newest treasure possession and it got its first use with these scones.

INGREDIENTS

150 g wholemeal spelt flour

50 g porridge oats

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large egg beaten

4 tbsp yogurt (any flavour or plain)

1 heaped tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 200C

Preheat baking tray in oven and sprinkle with flour when ready to use

In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients together and make a well in the middle

Mix the yogurt, oil and egg in a jug, then mix into flour mixture until it forms a dough

Turn out onto a floured surface and shape into a round about 2 inches thick

Cut out scones with a small pastry cutter – about 8 depending on size of cutter

Place on a floured baking tray and bake in the middle of the oven for approx. 20 minutes

Cool on a wire rack

NAME CHANGE - THE VEGAN GOES VEGGIE

I've decided to change the name of this blog because the whole vegan thing is too restrictive for me. I am not vegan (my husband is) and sticking to vegan food only as a blogger means I blog little. I do intend to still post vegan recipes though.

So welcome to The Hungry Veggie, I hope I can manage to blog here more now that I can use eggs :)

VEGAN PRUNE AND BRANDY CAKE

Juno enjoying some cake

I have been experimenting again. I put on weight in May which is always a party month in our house with all the birthdays that fall in that month. This year we also had our first wedding anniversary, one son's communion and a holiday in NY. So I am trying to eat more sensibly and because I simply can't give up goodies, I needed a healthy cake. This delivers a moist, delicious loaf that just oozes goodness. It is even more gorgeous slathered in soy yogurt.

RECIPE
410 g can of prunes, pitted
120ml prune juice (the juice left in the can)
30ml tea
30ml brandy
50g brown sugar
1 portion of No Egg (or 1 beaten egg for non-vegans)
25 g melted vegan marg
255g wholegrain spelt flour
1tsp bread soda
1 tsp mixed spice

METHOD
- Pit the prunes, then soak them with the prune juice, sugar, brandy and tea in a bowl
- Preheat the oven to 160C
- Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin (ready-made liners are great and no greasing needed!)
- Add the NoEgg mix and melted marg to the fruit mix. Stir through.
- Fold in the flour, bread soda and spice
- Pour into the lined tin
- Bake for one hour, until a skewer comes out clean
- Cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack

VEGAN ST PATRICK'S DAY BISCUITS

Uniced vegan biscuits

Hello, all, and Happy Saint Patrick's Day. I decided to make biscuits for today's festivities and I veganised one of Rachel Allen's recipes from her lovely book Bake. It's easy peasy. This made 22 smallish biscuits.

Decorated vegan biscuits

Ingredients:
4oz vegan marg
2oz brown sugar
5oz plain flour
half tsp lemon essence (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C
Cream the marg, lemon essence and sugar with a mixer or by hand
Sift in the flour and mix to a soft dough
Roll walnut sized pieces of dough in your palms
Place them apart from each other on an ungreased baking tray
Flatten them a little with a fork dipped in water
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until golden
Remove from tray immediately and cool on a wire rack

Icing:
Mix 2 tsps of icing sugar with a little water.
Add more sugar and more water until the mixture is hard to mix
Palette onto the biscuits and decorate with green, white and orange jellies
Eat and have a happy Saint Patrick's Day!

VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE - VALENTINE'S DAY

Personally I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cake but what nicer for Valentine's Day for my favourite vegan than Vegan Chocolate Cake? I got this recipe from veganchocolatecake.net and changed the weights to European ones.

Ingredients

185g plain flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon bread soda
100g sugar

½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
5 tablespoons cooking oil

1 tablespoon cider vinegar
240ml cold water

Icing

1 small bar dark choc melted

1 tablespoon of icing sugar, to thicken

Method

• Preheat oven to 180˚C
• Grease and line an 8 inch round tin
• Sieve the flour, cocoa, bread soda and salt in a large bowl
• Mix in the sugar and salt
• Make 3 holes in the dry ingredients. Put vanilla essence into one, oil into another and cider vinegar into the third.
• Pour cold water over the top. Mix only enough to combine all ingredients.
• Pour the batter into the tin
• Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
• Decoration:
• When the cakes are cool, melt the chocolate
• Mix in the icing sugar
• Palette the icing onto the top
• Decorate with chopped nuts

MINI VEGAN BANANA AND WALNUT LOAF

I had a blackening banana hanging about and I also have a 1 pound loaf tin that I never use, so I decided to try a smaller version of one of my cakes, just to see. It worked out, so if you have a weeny tin that needs filling, here's the cake for you.

1 over-ripe banana
50g light brown sugar
125g wholegrain spelt flour
25ml soya milk
25ml rapeseed oil
50g chopped/halved walnuts
half tsp baking powder
1 tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water (or a beaten egg, for non vegans)


o Preheat the oven to 160˚C
o Grease a 1lb loaf tin
o Break the peeled banana into a bowl and whizz with the sugar (I used a hand blender)
o Add the NoEgg mix (or egg), oil and soya milk and whizz again
o Fold in the dry ingredients & walnuts
o Pour into the loaf tin
o Bake for 45 minutes. Test with a skewer.