A Merry Vegan (& GF) Christmas Cake

Well, I thought I would be good and post this before Christmas all ready for Christmas Eve baking ….. as with many GF recipes it is best eaten within a day or two so plenty of time to get the ingredients ready 🙂 It is the same one that I share each year but figure better to have it in your face than searching for it!

Decorating the letterbox

Themselves have been super busy, in and out of activities over the past month: combinations of activities, lessons, competitions (both Judo and sailing), broken collar bones (himself), holidays and a tummy bug (herself) has meant the time has flown by and it is hard to believe that the end of the year is so close. This year we are hanging close to home which will be the first time in a while … have to say I’m looking forward to not having to travel! The excitement is building for themselves though and while they have decorated the letterbox for a neighbourhood search, Christmas Eve is the big night when we get the tree up and the decorations out proper. Another Christmas Eve highlight each year is to drive around the area looking at all the Christmas lights ….. though this does mean a tight schedule for Santa to arrive 🙂 Now all we need is for the weather to improve as it still doesn’t really feel like Summer is properly here with all the muggy, overcast days and rain we have been having.

Merry Christmas …. the non vegan have also been doing some gingerbread reindeer making

This recipe is pretty easy and great for us as it means the vegans amongst us still have a taste of ‘traditional’ Christmas fare. I have halved the original recipe so that it fitted into my bread loaf tin which also meant that it was consumed in a timely manner (it is best eaten within 2 days). Sadly, I can’t remember which book I got the recipe from all those years ago and I have altered it quite a bit over the few of times I have baked it so if you recognize it please let me know so I can credit the original correctly.

As you’ll know if you’ve been reading my blogs for a while I like simple and quick recipes. This one is a little out of the norm for me as it required cooking and mashing some kumara prior to mixing everything in one pot …. thankfully I survived the ordeal as it wasn’t quite as daunting as it seemed when I first read it 🙂   I figure one extra dish for some yummy Christmas cake was worth the effort ….. at least once a year that is.  The almond essence and decoration definitely gave it that Christmassy look and taste while using the vanilla essence instead, and flagging the decoration, produced a good fruit cake for any occasion.

So here is it for you to play around with and enjoy over this festive season and beyond ….

A Merry Vegan Christmas Cake

1 Tb maple syrup

250 gm of raisins or sultanas

1 Cup of water

1 small apple (peeled and grated)

62 gms chopped almonds – or in my case bashed almonds 

1/2 cup of mashed kumara (doesn’t matter if it is cold or warm)

1.5 Tb olive oil

1 tsp almond essence (vanilla also works fine if you just want a fruit cake)

3/4 Cup rice flour

3/4 Cup buckwheat flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

extra almonds to decorate – optional

• Bring maple syrup, fruit and water to the boil in a large pot then remove from the heat.
• Add apple, bashed almonds, kumara, essence along with oil and mix well.
• Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well again.
• Pour into a baking paper lined tin and gently press in extra almonds to decorate.
• Bake at 160 C for 45 mins and then leave to cool in the oven for the next 15-20 mins before placing on a cooling rack.
• Store in an airtight container and enjoy.

Hope this finds you surrounded by those you love and who love you, enjoying each other.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz

Vegan & GF Christmas Cake

As you can see I haven’t been very active on the blog front lately.  It feels like our December has very quickly disappeared in between weekends away with themselves, catching up with friends and doing jobs around here preparing for visitors to stay.

The candy cane tree

That hasn’t stopped themselves though getting super excited about Christmas!  They have been writing loads of Christmas letter, making presents and wrapping up a storm.  They have even had a bit of animal tending thrown in as they found a baby bunny and a baby bird abandoned in the backyard.  However with all the cleaning, weeding, creating, caring, wrapping and writing I haven’t thought much about Christmas kai at all let alone a Christmas Cake! So here is a bit of a repeat recipe from last year (that we are going to make again tomorrow) to get your chops around 🙂

Feeding baby bird just before we put it outside (after it called its parents and they replied) where its parents came and continued to feed it until it got up the strength to fly away.

Sadly, I can’t remember which book I got the recipe from all those years ago and I have altered it quite a bit over the couple of times I have baked it so if you recognize it please let me know so I can credit the original correctly 🙂  I have halved the recipe so that it fitted into my bread loaf tin which also meant that it was consumed in a timely manner.  As with many GF vegan recipes the sooner the munching is completed the better … we stretched it to three days with success although day three wasn’t as yum as day one and two’s munching 🙂

As you’ll know if you’ve been reading my blogs for a while I like simple and quick recipes. This one is a little out of the norm for me as it required cooking and mashing some kumara prior to mixing everything in one pot …. thankfully I survived the ordeal as it wasn’t quite as daunting as it seemed when I first read it 😉  I figure one extra dish for some yummy Christmas cake was worth the effort ….. at least once a year that is.  The almond essence and decoration definitely gave it that Christmassy look and taste while using the vanilla essence instead, and flagging the decoration, produced a good fruit cake for any occasion.

So here is it for you to play around with and enjoy over this festive season and beyond ….

A Merry Vegan Christmas Cake

1 Tb maple syrup

250 gm of raisins or sultanas

1 Cup of water

1 small apple (peeled and grated)

62 gms chopped almonds – or in my case bashed almonds 😉

1/2 cup of mashed kumara (doesn’t matter if it is cold or warm)

1.5 Tb olive oil

1 tsp almond essence (vanilla also works fine if you just want a fruit cake)

3/4 Cup rice flour

3/4 Cup buckwheat flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

extra almonds to decorate – optional

• Bring maple syrup, fruit and water to the boil in a large pot then remove from the heat.
• Add apple, bashed almonds, kumara, essence along with oil and mix well.
• Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well again.
• Pour into a baking paper lined tin and gently press in extra almonds to decorate.
• Bake at 160 C for 45 mins and then leave to cool in the oven for the next 15-20 mins before placing on a cooling rack.
• Store in an airtight container and enjoy.

Hope this finds you surrounded by those you love and who love you, enjoying each other.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz

Christmassy Snacker balls

I know, I know …… it is way too early to be thinking about Christmas!! Themselves however have had other ideas and they are super excited about it.  They have even been buying each other presents and because of their excitement they have also been giving them to each other already.  Clearly they are confident that there will be a supply of gifts coming on the actual day from us and others :).

Seedlings in our handmade, compostable pots

All their chatter about December has started me thinking ahead though and what we are actually going to do this year which is a bit overwhelming, in the middle of work, at times. Thankfully in between all the Christmas talk they have been busy growing seedlings and getting their own garden plots ready.  Today they got the frames all built with the help of himself, and began transplanting everything in.  It has been great to see how eager they are to grow and care for their little seedlings and how excited they are to have their own gardens.  Long may it last and fingers crossed that we have some delicious fresh, garden grown peas, beetroot, lettuces and carrots for our dinners soon.

Herself and her new māra kai (garden)

Anyway …. with another week of Infant Massage to make snacks for and themselves chatter about Christmas kai I thought I would do a bit of a twist to my usual Snacker Ball recipe (click here to see that one).  As regular supermarket cherries aren’t actually vegan due to the colouring in them I have opted for cranberries to give it a ‘cheery, red’ look.  However you could always swap them out for cherries or other fruit and even add a bit of almond essence for a more ‘christmassy’ taste.  It is one of those recipes that you can play around with easily to get it just how you and yours love it. So without further ado  ….. here it is 🙂

Some extras for themselves

• 1 Cup dried dates
• 1 Cup cranberries (or other dried fruit)
• 1 Cup boiling water
• 2 Cups desiccated Coconut
• 3 Tablespoons black chia seeds
• 2 Tablespoon psyllium husks
• 100gms dark chocolate (broken up into small pieces)

-Soak the dates, chia seeds and cranberries in the water for 10-15 mins and then mash into a smooth paste – of course if you have a blender this is easier 🙂

-Stir in the other ingredients and mix until fully blended

-Shape the mixture into small balls (makes around 50 with this recipe) and put into a container.

-Refrigerate and enjoy

Hope this finds you all calm and without any Christmas stress mounting.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz