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Showing posts with the label Baking

Vegan Chocolate Cake

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Written by McDonald, T. | Date 9th of January 2023 My sister and cousin are the cake queens.  Since baking is obviously in the blood and I used to bake with my Nan as a child, I decided to bake a chocolate cake for the work's Christmas do.  As ever, I searched for the best vegan cake recipe, but nothing seemed right.  They either had too much sugar or used solid fats in the cake mix, which I try to avoid, especially if the cake will have butter frosting.  Nonetheless, I came up with this recipe based on others I had found.  Although the first attempts failed by either sinking in the middle or sticking to the tins or just didn't taste right, in the end I succeeded.  This is my vegan chocolate cake with chocolate butter frosting.  

Nan's Bread Pudding - Low Cal

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 30th of December 2022 I grew up on this.  It is easy to make, makes the kitchen smell amazing and there is no better comfort than this Victorian pudding!  However, this old fashioned pudding can harbour a huge amount of calories.  With this in mind, I decided to reduce the calories and make it a less frightening bit of fun.   So, since it is the new year and you have been dieting in the lead up to Christmas, why not indulge one last time before you get back on that diet? 

Deborah's Palm Tree

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 27th of March 2023         Let food tell a story.  Making this bread with the family is a great way to explore the Holy Bible and provides the participants with visual cues that will help them remember the story. You will be able to literally digest the story from Judges!

Chocolate Chip Vegan Muffins

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 25th of July 2022 What could be better than a chocolate chip muffin?  A batch of them!  With this in mind, let us make a whole batch of lovely light vegan chocolate chip muffins.  This is very easy and requires no special ingredients.  

Basic Vegan Sponge Cake

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Updated 22nd of September 2023     Whatever cake you are making, a basic sponge cake is the likely place to start.  This is so easy to whip up in no time at all.  You can alter the flavouring or even add some icing.  Just let your imagination run wild!

Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 9th of May 2022 Did you know that lemon is said to ward off depression? Yes, lemon is a happy fruit, so if you need cheering up and you are partial to a piece of cake, this is one that you should try. It is easy to make and tastes fantastic with a lovely light lemon flavour. The sponge is nice and light with a pleasant lemony taste. In addition, the lemon drizzle is made with powdered sugar to excite those taste buds even further. 

Vegan Apple Cake

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 4th of April 2022  This is a cake of compassion.  Compassion for the animals, compassion for the lonely, compassion for those who are pining for someone they love.  As a vegan, I miss out on nothing!  This is a great cake that is 100% vegan!  In fact, it celebrates being vegan.  It is not just perfect for the month of sorrows when comfort is needed. It is also the perfect recipe for Jewish new year, so bookmark this recipe for the New Year!  Whatever your reason, this cake is a delight. 

Vegan Soda Bread

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  Written by McDonald, T.   |  Updated 21st of August 2023. Why not try this traditional Irish bread for St Patrick's Day? Soda bread gets its name from the bicarbonate of soda, which is used instead of yeast. This bread is great on its own, with some jam or just with some butter. St Patrick's Day is on the 17th of March this year (2022). 

Peanut butter cookies

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 8th of November 2021 Vegans always get excited when we see a pack of biscuits that are vegan.   Sometimes though, just for fun, we like to make our own biscuits.  It is a lot easier than you might think and it will make you think about just how much sugar goes in biscuits. Notes You might find it easier to roll the dough into balls and shape them by pressing on them with a folk.  Creaming means to use the back of a large spoon to mash and mix into a paste. Makes 12 cookies Ingredients   1 cup of  peanut butter 0.25 cup of gram flour or plain flour 6 tablespoons of vegan milk 0.5 - 0.75 cup of sugar (mix brown and white) Milled flax seed 1 tps baking powder 1/4 tsp of salt Method  Step 1 Add the peanut butter and sugar, then add salt and flax seed.  Mix the flour, baking soda and milk in a separate bowl.  Once you have a smoothish paste, add it to the other bowl with the peanut butter and sugar.  Cream together.  Step 2 Create a dough with your hands. 

Focaccia Bread: The Perfect Recipe

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 18th of October 2021  As much as I love flatbread, it is not that good at soaking up liquids.  I needed a bread that would adsorb liquids to go with soups and stews, so I searched the internet and the library looking for a suitable bread an I found, ironically, a sort of flatbread that was perfect for the job called Focaccia, an Italian flatbread.  Pleasingly, Focaccia is accidentally vegan because it is mainly just flour, yeast and water.  I then looked for the best recipes I could find.  As always, I found some fantastic ideas and recipes but none of them was exactly what i wanted; as a result, I used the best parts and common themes to create my own recipe.  Since I like to keep the roughage levels high, i added wholemeal flour to the recipe.  After some careful planning, I produced the perfect Focaccia bread.  Just for a little trivia, the Guardian (2018) in their article 'Rachel Roddy's recipe for focaccia; An authentic Italian recipe f

Cherry Crumble Squares

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Date 28th of June 2021 While visiting my Mum, she told me about some vegan recipes that she knew about so i wrote them down and now i am sharing one of those little wonders with you.  This is a lovely little treat that is simple and fun at dinner parties or festivals.  If you like vegan food, why not subscribe to this blog?  This is lovely desert with great texture and is filling. Waste Short term  None  Long term Oat container unless you can get them from a zero waste shop. Vegan butter wrapper.   Flour bag. Golden syrup tin. Almond butter jar.  Cornflour packet. Tips  Get fresh cherries from the market and freeze them yourself.  This will make them zero waste.  If you can get almonds from a zero waste shop, why not try making your own almond butter? Choose a vegan butter that is not in a plastic tub. 6 Large slices Ingredients  250g of defrosted and drained frozen cherries 100g of oats 150g of plain flour 2 tbsp of golden syrup 2 tbsp of almond butter 75

Vegan Bread You Don't Need to Knead!

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Written by McDonald, T.   |  Updated 5th of August 2021 I have been looking for ways to make bread and this is one of the easiest I could find.  No need for kneading makes it so easy all you have to do is mix all the ingredients together and leave it overnight before baking it the next day.  This recipe has some extras in so if you want to make it closer to zero waste, just leave out the optionals.  Dough for the olive and bell pepper version Waste Short term waste: Zero  Long term waste: Flour packaging Yeast packaging 2 Glass jars (optional) Sugar packaging  Salt container  Mix the dry ingredients together. Sticky dough. After 12 hours, put into a big pot. Serves 6 Ingredients 2 cups plain white flour 2 cups wholemeal (Strong or bread) or rye flour  2 -3 tbsp of caster sugar (optional)  1/4 cup of sliced olives (optional) 4 chopped sun-dried tomatoes (optional)   1 tsp Salt   1/