Baking Without

So it's a simple one today. Again, I've turned a classic into a healthy little snack that I can eat. These are free from gluten, dairy, egg and soy. Suitable for vegans too. 

Cacao Crispies

 (makes 12)

Ingredients:

2 cups puffed brown rice

1/2 cup almond butter

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 tablespoons cacao powder

1/4 teaspoon ginger

Method:

1. Line a small baking tray with baking paper.

2. Put the puffed brown rice in a large bowl and set to one side.

3. Put the almond butter, brown rice syrup, coconut oil, cacao powder and ginger in a small pan and heat gently until it's smooth. Be careful not to overheat.

4. Pour the mixture over the puffed brown rice and mix until it's all stuck together, adding a little more syrup if needs be. 

5. Press the mixture down into the baking tray and place in the fridge for half an hour. (I drizzled a bit of cashew butter over the top for an extra touch) 

6. Once set, cut into squares and store in the fridge for 5-7 days.

So again I've been experimenting with a classic bake but turned it into a healthy, raw, vegan treat free from gluten, dairy, egg, soy and refined sugar!

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread

Ingredients

For the chocolate layer 

70ml coconut oil (melted)

3 tablespoons cacao powder

1 &1/2 tablespoons brown rice syrup

1 teaspoon dairy free milk 

For the caramel layer

100ml tahini (sesame seed butter) 

35ml coconut oil (melted)

60ml brown rice syrup

1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt

For the shortbread layer

125g ground almonds

50ml coconut oil (melted)

30ml brown rice syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Start with the shortbread layer. Place the ground almonds into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the liquids. (If your coconut oil is solid, microwave it for about 30 seconds until it turns liquid) 

2. Add the liquid mixture into the ground almonds and stir until it all sticks together. 

3. Press the mixture into a baking tray and place in the freezer. (I used a mini sandwich tin, but it's down to your preference.)

4. While the shortbread mixture is setting in the freezer, start with the caramel layer. Add all the ingredients into a blender/food processor and blitz until combined. Careful not to overdo it otherwise the caramel will become lumpy. 

5. Get the baking tray out of the freezer and pour the caramel mixture on top of the shortbread layer. Pop back in the freezer.

6. Next move on to the chocolate layer. Mix together the coconut oil, brown rice syrup and milk until combined. Whisk in the cacao until you have a smooth mixture. 

7. Again, take the baking tray out of the freezer, adding the chocolate mixture on top of the caramel layer. Return to the freezer for 20 minutes until the chocolate is set.

8. Take out the freezer and remove from the tray, cutting into squares if you've used a baking tray or popping them out the cases if you've used a mini sandwich tin. These then need to be kept in the fridge and will keep for 5 days (if they last that long!)

Happy baking!

Move over cows, make way for the nuts and seeds! As you may know already there are a wide range of options out there for those people who are lactose intolerant, suffering from a milk allergy or maybe just want to cut down on dairy. I'm aware you could easily go to the shops and buy a carton of dairy free milk but where's the fun in that? (Plus making your own means no extra ingredients go in, just pure seed/nut and water!)

I'm going to show you how you can make your own plant-based milk.

You will need a muslin cloth which you can easily purchase at Lakeland. 

Plant-based Milk

(makes about 500ml)

Ingredients:

1 cup of your chosen nut/seed

2 cups fresh water

Method:

1. Soak the nuts/seeds overnight in a bowl of water.

2. The next day, drain your nuts/seeds and put in a blender/food processor along with 2 cups of water. Blitz for 1-2 minutes. 

3. Place the muslin cloth over a bowl (I use a funnel but if you don't have one don't worry) 

4. Pour a little of the mixture into the cloth. Gather the cloth up around the mixture and squeeze so the liquid comes out. When no more liquid comes out open up the cloth and pour some more of the mixture in. Keep doing this until you have no mixture left and have a dry cloth full of nut/seed pulp. 

5. Pour the milk into a bottle and place in the fridge. It will keep for about 3 days. (Be sure to give it a good shake before you drink, it may separate but that's normal.)  

Since it's nearing towards Christmas now I figured it was only right to try out some gingerbread. A bit experimenting did take place and I found that the blackstrap molasses (which you can find in a good health shop) in this recipe adds a deep flavour to the gingerbread men and using a small amount of oat flour gives it a slight twist on the classic. 

This recipe is suitable for vegans, and free from gluten, dairy, nut, egg and soy.  

Glorious Gluten Free Gingerbread

 (makes approx. 20)

Ingredients:

300g gluten free plain flour*

(*I used 160g rice flour, 50g oat flour, 50g quinoa flour & 40g gram flour)

100g coconut oil

100ml maple syrup

2 & 1/2 tablespoon blackstrap molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

4 whole cloves, ground

pinch of pink himalyan salt

 

 Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Beat the coconut oil and maple syrup together until creamy then add in the molasses, vanilla extract and the spices. 

3. Mix in the flour until fully incorporated. Knead until you have a smooth dough. If it's too dry add a little more maple syrup, if too sticky add some more flour. 

4. Sandwich the dough between two pieces of large baking paper and roll out until 0.5cm thick (this stops it sticking to the rolling pin.)

5. Cut out the gingerbread men using your cutters and place onto the lined trays. Bake for 12 minutes then take out to cool (Note: they will firm up a lot once they've cooled.)

6. You can decorate them with icing etc but I prefer to leave mine as is. 

Note

I made my own flour blend when creating these so if using a ready mixed gluten free plain flour I cannot promise they'll turn out exactly the same. 

Happy baking!

Choco-cado, you're wondering? If I named this post avocado cookies there's a chance you wouldn't read it. In fact, now you're probably still thinking avocado in a cookie? What is this madness? Well I tell you it's no madness, rather a masterpiece. The avocado is in place of the usual butter you would use in a cookie, combined with maple syrup and cacao powder you get this wonderful, soft, fudgy chocolate brownie-like cookie. It's also really good as a dessert, warned up with a dollop of (dairy-free in my case) ice cream or frozen coconut yoghurt. 

The cookie is free from gluten, dairy, egg, nuts and soy. Also suitable for vegans!

Choco-cado Cookies!

(makes 6-8) 

Ingredients:

100g ripe avocado

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup cacao powder

1 tablespoon chia seeds (or 1 egg)

60g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used raw chocolate)

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

optional - cacao nibs

Method:

1. Grind the chia seeds and mix with 3 tablespoons of water. Leave for 5-7 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a baking sheet.

3. With an electric mixer, whisk the avocado and syrup until smooth. Add in the egg.

4. Mix in the cacao powder and bicarbonate of soda until fully incorporated. Then mix in the chunks of chocolate and cacao nibs, if using.

5. Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, spoon mounds of mixture onto the lined baking sheet.

6. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies have firmed slightly. Note they will be more soft than an average cookie.

7. Leave to cool then put in the fridge to firm up the cookies. Eat within 3-5 days. 

So the idea behind these came about as I wanted something I could snack on that would be full of goodness. At the same time I also quite fancied the idea of turning flapjacks into a healthy, energy boosting snack. So from that we got these vegan superfood snack squares, free from gluten, dairy and egg but full of super energising ingredients!

Superfood Squares

(makes 9)

Ingredients: 

Dry

1/2 cup quinoa flakes

1/2 cup buckwheat flakes/gluten free oats

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon hemp seeds

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon goji berries (or dried fruit of choice)

1/4 cup Raw Health's dark hemp chocolate, roughly chopped  (or any of your choice)

Pinch of pink Himalayan salt 

Wet 

1&1/2 tablespoon almond butter 

3 tablespoons maple syrup 

1 tablespoon cacao butter (could sub for coconut oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a small baking tray.

2. Measure out all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

3. Add all the wet ingredients to a small saucepan, heat gently until it's formed a smooth mixture.

4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until fully incorporated and has created a flapjack-like mixture. If it's too sticky add some more flakes, if it's too dry add more maple syrup.

5. Transfer the mixture onto the baking tray and press down until the mixture is compact. At this point I like to stick a few exrtra chunks of chocolate into the mixture.

6. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden.

7. Leave to cool before cutting into 9 squares.  

   

Today I fancied making soup but was unsure what kind so I headed to the shops and I ending up picking up some beetroot, parsnip, fennel and ginger. (Beetroot being a favourite of mine at the minute.) I got home and came up with this wonderful gluten and dairy free creation to warm me up on a cold day. 

Roasted beetroot, parsnip and fennel soup

(serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 large beetroots

2 parsnips

1/2 fennel bulb

1 inch of ginger, grated

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon rosemary

1 tablespoon of your preferred oil (I use rapeseed) 

2 cups cold water

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Peel and chop the beetroot, parsnip and fennel into small chunks. 

3. Spread out onto a baking tray and drizzle with oil, making sure all the veg is covered. Roast for 30-45 minutes. (You may need to take the parsnip and fennel out at 30 minutes, beetroot may take a bit longer.) 

5. Pour the soup into a pan and heat for about 5-7 minutes until piping hot. You may want to add more water depending on the consistency you like your soup.