Christmas Brownies

5 tbsp rapeseed oil (in the uk most vegetable oil is actually rapeseed oil so save some pennies and check the ingredients in your local shop)
200g dark chocolate
170g Self-Raising Flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
180g castor sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract or paste
230ml plant milk
200g hazel nuts
50g dried cranberries (if you want to make these boozy brownies then soak the cranberries in sherry overnight)
a hand full of crushed salted pistachios

Raw Vegan Banoffee Pie

I have always loved bananas in every way shape and form. Since transitioning to vegan I have become an even bigger fan due to the versitility of this delicious fruit. Today I want to share my raw banoffee pie recipe. It’s not completely guilt free but it’s pretty damn close and lets face it, we can always work it off tomorrow, right? or maybe the next day, haha!

Temporary image until I make another pie without coconut cream.

600g peeled banana’s (plus 1 banana for decorating the top)
360g medjool dates, stones removed
150g pecan nuts (or nuts of your choice)

No-Cook Vegan Pumpkin Pie

You can make this recipe 100% raw by using fresh uncooked pumpkin however my blender couldn’t handle it.

1 x 450g can Pumpkin Puree (or 1 pumpkin peeled and roughly diced)
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Ginger or a thumbnail sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg, optional
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves, optional
1 very ripe persimmon (or 2 very ripe sharon fruit), optional
500g Medjool Dates
150g Pecan Nuts

Vegan Custard Doughnuts

Those of you living in the UK know that the Co-op sells vegan doughnuts in their bakery. I know for definite (at the time of writing this) that both the jam filled and the custard filled are sfv and delicious! Unfortunately, they are so good that they are like gold dust unless you get there at opening time to snag them (especially the custard ones, damn it!). After several failed attempts to grab a bag of those custard filled pieces of heaven I decided to see if I could make my own. I have made cinnamon ring doughnuts before so knew the basic dough recipe I have would work just fine, but could I make the custard and get it into the doughnut?

Let’s start with a basic doughnut recipe:

Small Vegan Doughnuts

40g Vegan Margarine

170ml plant milk

¼ tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract

340g self-raising flour

7g dried fast active yeast

Vegetable oil for frying

 

Melt the margarine over a low heat then add the milk, salt, sugar, and vanilla before removing from the heat to cool slightly.

In a bowl mix the flour and yeast then add the cooled (but not cold) margarine mixture.

Stir with a metal spoon until it starts to combine then work with your hands to form a ball. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 10-15 minutes.

Place the dough back into the bowl and loosely cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour (or until the dough has doubled in size).

Roll out the dough so it is about 1-1.5cm thick and cut out 15 circles with a 2.25” (5.5cm) cutter.

Lightly cover again and leave in a warm place for a further hour to rise again.

In a deep frying pan (or deep-fat fryer) heat the oil to about 160°C/325°F, or until a small bit of dough dropped into the oil turns golden in about 15 seconds.

Fry the doughnuts in small batches until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the oil and place on a wire rack to drain.

 

So now we have the doughnuts it’s time to think about the custard. I love vanilla custard and so I thought I could use my vanilla custard recipe and just make it slightly thicker than usual. Removing half a cup of the vegan milk from the recipe gets the correct thickness so, once cooked, put a piece of grease-proof paper over the top to prevent a skin from forming and leave to cool.

If you want to take a short cut with the custard then Birds Original Custard Powder is sfv so just make up a half batch (or a full one if you have some bananas for bananas and custard) and leave to cool with a grease-proof paper hat on as above.

Once everything has cooled things get messy. Filling the doughnuts takes practice. You need a piping bag/syringe with a filling nozzle. Fill the bag/syringe with the custard and push the end of the nozzle into each doughnut in turn, filling the middles. Sounds easy but I had a few messy starts:

Once filled then top with icing or dust with icing sugar and serve!

These do need to be eaten the same day or you can freeze them.

Defrost frozen doughnuts and microwave for 15-30 seconds depending on your microwave for a soft warm doughnut. Enjoy!

Basic Vegan Vanilla Custard

Basic Vegan Vanilla Custard

2 cups almond milk

2 tbsp corn flour

1/3 cup caster sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp Vegg (or egg replacer of choice) blended with ¼ cup water

1 tbsp vegan margarine

2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk the corn flour, sugar, and salt together in a pan. Add the milk and Vegg then whisk until there are no lumps. Heat over a medium heat, whisking continuously, until thickened.

Take off the heat, whisk in the margarine and vanilla.

Serve Warm.