Shortbread -Vegan style

I have posted this one before but though it is such a quick and easy make that it was worth sharing again ….. especially as I have just been baking it for an Infant Massage the other week.

This recipe comes from a great wee book we got when himself (then aged eight) decided that he wanted to become Vegan.  As I tend to feel better without gluten I was trying to find a way to still bake yummy treats without gluten, eggs or butter  being involved and began trawling the library for books.  Thankfully Jennifer Katzinger was a step ahead and had already written her book; Flying Apron’s Gluten Free and Vegan Baking Book.  It is a great ‘go to’ resource as it has a mix of sweet and savoury treats which have all been tested in her bakery.

As close as I get to homemade shortbread 🙂

The end result of the she calls Maple ‘Butter’ Bars is so like shortbread that I have just given it that name 🙂 It is a super quick, easy and very delicious recipe.  The only thing we have altered from her original recipe is to use coconut oil instead of palm oil.  I have noticed though that the quality of the coconut oil does change how it bakes in the oven so wanted to mention here that if you find you have coconut oil bubbling away on top of your shortbread as it bakes then fear not.  We have had this once or twice and simply pour a bit of the excess on top then return to the oven for a little extra baking with the same delicious results.

Scored into bite size pieces while it is still warm in the pan

We have also played around with the flour that we use over the years.  I love a mix of brown rice flour and buckwheat however the non-vegans on the bus prefer it when I use the Edmonds GF flour so I guess it is just personal taste for you and yours.  I have given the full recipe below however I usually just do a half recipe as it is very sweet and moreish.  I also cut them into bite size biscuits so that it goes a bit further. 

Vegan Shortbread

• 2 3/4 Cups GF flour (1 3/8 buckwheat and 1 3/8 rice, all rice or premixed works)
• 1 cup of coconut oil
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

-Heat the coconut oil in a pot until it is just liquid then add the maple syrup in along with the vanilla essence and stir well

-Mix in the flour until it is well blended in.

-Spread the mixture into a baking paper lined tin.  Preferably a tin that you can open and slide the baking paper out of at the end. You want a layer about 1/2 to 1 cm thick.

-Bake at 190C for 30 mins or until the edges are golden and hardening a little.

-Remove from the oven and use a knife to ‘cut’ into small pieces.

-Slide the baking paper with the scored shortbread intact onto a cooling tray.

-Cool and enjoy.

Hope this finds you warm where ever you are 

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz

Ginger-Nut Bites

It is the final week of my Infant Massage course tomorrow and the final week of baking for all those wonderful mamas.  It has been such a lovely group and I always love seeing just how much the bubas enjoy the massage (or not some days) and grow over that time.  Themselves have also loved catching up with friends each week while I teach especially with all the amazing weather we have been having ….. well that was until Summer officially arrived on and the rain started. 🙂

Themselves enjoying the local river.

So with the weather feeling a bit cooler I thought I would warm the insides of everyone a bit with some good old ginger-nuts.  This recipe is delicious, easy and able to be eaten raw or cooked so win/wins all round I say.  The original recipe says that it makes 8 biscuits however we usually get at least 16 and sometimes 20 out of it so obviously it is all about size.  I tend to double up the recipe to get a decent batch and because themselves love these yummy morsels it also means I have a chance to get some too!  The fact that they don’t expand on cooking does mean that you can pack them pretty close together on your tray which for us means one batch rather than two … always a bonus when your oven is a tiny bus one.

Ready to go in the oven – with a bit of ground almond to help with the flattening part.

Gingernuts

1 C ground almonds

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 Tb black strap molasses

3 Tb maple syrup

• Mix the almonds and ginger
• Add the molasses and maple syrup then mix until the mixture forms a dough
• Roll into small balls and place on tray
• Flatten each ball with a fork (you may need to dip the fork in rice flour or ground almonds so it doesn’t stick)
• Bake for 10-15 mins at 180C
• Cool on the rack before devouring

Hope this finds you warm, happy and content regardless of the weather outside.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz

Christmas Cake!

The sun is out here in Kaikōura and it is finally feeling like Christmas is on its way!!  So of course with Christmas comes the proverbial cake.  Last year we just missed out on having a cake as I didn’t think I had a recipe, then low and behold as I was sifting through the recipe book I came across this beauty.  I have actually had this recipe for a long time, since my sugar free time four years ago, without realising that it was actually vegan.  At the time it lost out to another recipe, as I was still eating eggs, only to be found the other month when I was searching for birthday cake recipes.

Enjoying some pre Christmas sunshine …. homeschooling outside 🙂

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 (both four years ago and now) 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 to see what it was like with success though day three wasn’t as yum as day one and two’s munching 🙂

Decorated and ready to go in the oven

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.

 …. now for the munching to begin

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.

Even got a thumbs up from the non-vegan among us!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas/Holiday season enjoying the good things life has given you and remembering lots of special memories.

Arohanui

Y

www.becominghealthy.co.nz

Vegan goodness

So our latest culinary challenge, sorry, adventure has been delving into the world of veganism as our youngest has decided that he is now Vegan.  He has always been a bit of a picky eater around meat and is constantly worried about animal welfare so it really didn’t come as a huge shock when he announced a month ago that he was vegetarian and then followed up a week later with ‘ I think I’ll give being a vegan a try.’

The last few pieces of our vegan shortbread.

It actually hasn’t been that bad and if anything it has been awesome not having him tempted by all the rubbishy chocolate treats that abound in every shop.  There are 2 main stumbling blocks I have hit so far though; 1) Eating out and 2) Baking.  Eating out is a bit of a mine field as it seems every thing is out on the children’s menu … have you noticed how every kid’s menu is deep fried meat of some description … and most things suitable on the adult menu are either too spicy or so expensive it makes us think twice. Thankfully we don’t eat out that much, the thought it takes is beyond my mental powers at the moment, and when we do venture out at least he is having a fairly healthy meal unlike before.

Which brings us to the second point ….. soooo many recipes rely on eggs (well the ones I currently make anyway) and even though we are pretty good at replacing the dairy it is taking me a while to get my head around using egg replacements (chia seeds and water is the main one I’m using at the moment).  I have been doing the research though to ensure that we get all the good bits into him and thanks to some great Vegan recipe books from the local library  I have found some great savoury and sweet baking ideas to keep everyone (well half of us to be honest) happy.  The one recipe that has been made the most so far is courtesy of Jennifer Katzinger’s Flying Apron Gluten Free and Vegan Baking Book.  This delicious ‘Vegan Shortbread’ (my name for it as I have returned the book and forgot the name sorry) is so easy and so delicious that I’m sure you’ll be whipping it up numerous times too.

What I’m putting below is a half recipe of what is printed in the book as I found that was more than enough.  I also cut it into more squares than the recipe in the book indicates as we found it very rich and a little square of it was enough.  If you enjoy this recipe though I would recommend checking out the whole recipe book as has so many more delicious things to make. 😉

Vegan shortbread

• 1 & 3/8 cups Rice Flour
• a grind of salt
• 1/2 Cup of coconut oil
• 3/8 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

– Preheat the oven to 190C (375F)

– Melt the coconut oil and then add the maple syrup

– Blend all the ingredients together.

– Pour and flatten the mixture into a baking paper lined baking dish

– Bake for 15 – 20 min or until the edges are slightly brown

– Remove from the oven and cut into squares while it is still warm in the tin

– Slide onto a cooling rack and break into separate pieces when it is fully cooled.

– Enjoy!

Well that is it from me on a cold and snow predicted evening. I hope this finds you all warm, healthy and enjoying life at whatever temperature you have it at. 😉

Arohanui

Y