Vegan Pancake Tuesday… Spelt & in Sweden!

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by Aissa in Savoury, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

Tags

Pancakes, recipe, Savoury, Sweden, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

Hey guys! Long time no post! 😦 Here I am with another Vegan Pancake Recipe… but it is Pancake Tuesday back in Ireland and my sister is up in Nordic country for a visit … so here we are!

Vegan Pancakes- Spelt!

1 generous cup of whole spelt flour (called Dinkel here!)
2 teaspoons of baking powder (as aluminium free as possible)
A quarter teaspoon of sea salt
Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder
OR a teaspoon of extract in the wet stuff
2 dessertspoons of org raw coconut oil melted
1 and a half dessertspoons muscovado sugar
A cup and a few dessertspoons of vegan friendly milk (warm)

I used the Swedish “Oatly”, they have a version here for coffee that is richer … foams so all the cafes here use it.

Method

Sooo melt the said coconut oil on a medium heat. In a bowl… I used a cool green Swedish dish i found in the kitchen…you can use your own, no found Swedish dishes necessary. Where was I?

In a bowl mash your muscovado it is a soft packed sugar and tends to have clumps. Rapadura/sucucant would be fine too. Now pour in your coconut oil and mash and smush them together.

Put your Vegan friendly milk in the saucepan you melted your oil (so no waste!) and warm it up to finger temperature. Do do this, doing this is important as cold milk will make the coconut oil go hard again.

Whilst this warms… measure out the dry stuff. Flour, salt, baking powder and vanilla powder and mix together. If using vanilla extract add it to your warming milk.

Add the warm milk to the oil and sugar- mix mix mix mash mash mash- NO LUMPS PEOPLE! Grab a whisk like implement- being in a foreign country without my kitchen supplies I used one whisk from an electric mixer. Add in your dry ingredients and whisk everything together so no bits.

Pancake stuff Sweden style!

Leave to sit for sit least a half an hour, so it thickens up a bit.

Put a frying pan on a quite high heat and put a teaspoon of coconut oil in to melt. You will most likely have to sacrifice the first pancake to the pancake gods, but a good test is to put a tiny drop of the batter in the pan and if it sizzles and changes colour really fast it is hot enough.

This is a small non stick frying pan! 😉

I had a small pan so I used only two thirds of a soup ladle per pancake. I like them thin too. Leave one side cook for over thirty seconds, until it turns golden brown at the edges, it should then be ready to flip. Then leave that side sit for a least thirty second before you try and move it. I had my sister supervising me so I did not give into my terrible impatience and interference with the natural cooking order of pancakes… much more of a mix stick in oven or fridge or jar to ferment person! 🙂

La Vegan Pancake, in a bowl.

TA-DA! Et Volia! Vegan pancakes. I had mine with Oat cream, organic lemon and real Maple Syrup. Because I like the classics!

I have been baking since I got to Sweden, but nothing I felt good enough about to share, my last place the oven didn’t close correctly … weird bakes ensued! The odd batch of biscuits/cookies were okay but by ‘gum were the cakes a mess!! New season, new semester in college and new place- last biscuits I baked took… wait for it FORTY FIVE minutes 🙂 But I currently have a Beetroot and Red Cabbage Sauerkraut brewing do will share that next!

Vegan Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies

15 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by Aissa in Biscuits, Chocolate, Cookies, Traditional, Vegan

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Biscuits, Chocolate, Cookies, recipe, Traditional, Vegan

Hi!

It has been a while 😦 sorry ! The last month and a bit life has been crazy but also exciting. I have left Dublin and I am briefly in County Cork with my big sis before I move to Sweden! I am going back to college to do a Masters in Photography… might mean improved pictures for the blog! How you guys stuck with me in the early posts I do not know! Everything looked so orange!!!!

I did make a final bake in our Dublin flat – “On the Move Coconut Macaroons” it was my second time making them, but they were a tad crumbly.. . so when I make them again and have the recipe perfected for nostalgia’s sake I will post a few pics from Dublin too.

I am still trying to pack and I leave County Cork tomorrow! But there is always time for a homemade classic chocolate chip cookies. I have no precariously balance baked goods on a windowsill… this time I put them in the garden and managed to keep them out of reach of my sister’s cute cat 🙂

So Celebrating my move north Vegan Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Two dessertspoons of natural smooth cashew nut butter
One rounded dessertspoon of organic raw coconut oil
Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract
A third of a cup of room temperature almond milk – don’t add it all yet
A quarter cup of coconut blossom sugar
A quarter cup of rapadura/ turbindo/ sucucant sugar *
One cup of unbleached white flour or half & half with fine wholemeal **
A quarter teaspoon of himalayan pink salt or fine sea salt
Half a teaspoon of low aluminium baking powder
Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ more extract/ half a pod***
Approx. 30g or just over 1 ounce of chopped medium dark chopped chocolate. Mine was an organic 70% cocoa.

O I do love my footnotes !

* I could not get rapadura in my local health shop so I used organic raw cane sugar this time.

** I brought a bag of organic unbleached flour with me but could not get a fine wholemeal as normally I would do half and half. If you would like to do Gluten free I recommend half ground almonds and half a white gluten free flour mix.

*** you can NEVER have too much vanilla 🙂 Though they are also lovely with some orange zest!

Method

Preheat your oven to 170C/ 325F could go up a few degrees if not fan assisted. Make sure your oven shelf is in the middle, the top shelf = burnt biscuits. Have your lined baking tray at the ready.

Grab a medium to large bowl. Put in your cashew nut butter, raw coconut oil and vanilla extract and mash together. Mash mash mash until a smooth mix, a la picture.

I forgot to take my almond milk out of the fridge so I added a drop of hot water to it and added in half. Important not to add cold non-dairy milk as it will make the coconut oil go solid again and you will get knobs of it in your mix :-{ ugh.

In another bowl bung in all your dry stuff. Sieve the baking powder if lumpy. Mix until all one colour. I used my sister’s lovely wooden bowl 🙂

Chop your chocolate, fine-ish and no need to be precise in the size of the bits- the unevenness gives them character and also varies the chocolate experience!

Now, add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients. You can use your spoon at first, but it will remain bitty and flakey unless you get your hands in there. I find it is better if your hands aren’t too warm so run them under the cold tap for a sec before you start. Press and fold the dough together once or twice and then sprinkle in your chocolate. If the dough is a bit dry add a little more of the left over almond milk and mix and press the dough again. You just want there to be no flour-y bits and for the chocolate to be pretty evenly distributed. It makes for quite a wet batter.

By the rounded teaspoon place them on your baking tray. Give them a little squish down so they aren’t too high as with the baking powder they will rise a bit anyway.

This made fourteen cookies. My sister’s oven is hotter at the back, so I had to turn them after ten minutes. The oven is not a crazy uber volcano hot oven like my one in Dublin was and I opened it a million times so they took FIFTEEN minutes. I am going to say ten to fifteen minutes because of my impatience and the unfamiiar oven-ness. When they are browning at the edges they are done. Leave them sit on the tray for a five mins before attempting to eat, they need time to firm up.

Ta-da! Viola! Vegan Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies in the garden 🙂

Look how safe those biscuits are, all on the ground not three stories up and half off a sloping windowsill. When I find somewhere to live in Sweden (O dear lord God I have nowhere to live!!) I will post as soon as possible, maybe with baked goods on a Swedish windowsill! 🙂

Xs Aissa

Jam Crumble Cookies Vegan & Gluten free

03 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by Aissa in Biscuits, Cookies, Gluten Free, Sweets, Vegan

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Biscuits, Cookies, Gluten free, recipe, Sweets, Vegan

Biscuits were required eating yesterday evening.. sometimes they are just necessary. I have made various versions of these over the years, sometimes with spelt flour sometimes with the addition of different nut butters. It is a flexible recipe. Since i planned to share the recipe I thought I would do my GF version! More egalitarian 🙂

You will need : A couple of bowls, measures and an 8inch pie or cake tin.

Jam Crumble Cookies

Three and a half dessertspoons of org coconut oil
Two dessertspoons of a nut or seed butter *
One dessertspoon of real maple syrup
Scant half a cup of coconut blossom sugar
A quarter cup of buckwheat flour
Two big dessertspoons of gram flour/ cornstarch
Two thirds of a cup of gluten free flour **
Almost half a cup of ground almonds
Two big dessertspoons of fine maize meal
A good pinch or eighth of a tsp of himalayan pink salt / sea salt
A dessertspoon of vanilla powder/ paste / extract
Three to six dessertspoons of almond milk
Roughly half a cup of no added sugar jam- I used apricot

*I used a sunflower cashew one I had made

**I used a brand called Doves which is a mix of rice, buckwheat, tapioca and potato

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F. Rub a bit of coconut oil on your pie/tart dish or line a metal cake tin with paper.

Grab a bowl and mash your coconut oil and seed / nut butter together. Add in your maple syrup and mash mash mash some more, make sure to press out any lumps of coconut oil that may be hiding in there.

Coconut oil and Sunflower cashew butter

Add in your coconut sugar. Yes you guessed it! More mashing, biscuit exercise, working on that upper body strength! Again make sure it is blended properly so it has all become one colour.

Plop all your flours, the ground almonds, vanilla powder and salt into another bowl. I don’t bother sieving .. but if you are not using gram (chickpea) flour and choosing cornstarch you should sieve the cornstarch alright.

Put your dry ingredients into the wet. It will take a bit of pressing to get them pressed together. If you find it is looking more floury than bread-crumby (see pic) you may need to add a dessertspoon or two of almond milk. Start by sprinkling one spoon of milk over the ingredients and mix and press again. If still dryish add another spoon. It should just hold together when pinched. If you are happy with its crumbliness take a generous half a cup plus a dessertspoonful out and put it aside.

crumble

Add another two spoons of almond milk and mix again. It should turn to a doughy texture when you squeeze it with your hand. Grab your prepared pie/ cake tin and press the mixture in – evenly.

The stickier dough

Next the jam! Usually half a cup will do but always good to have a spare spoon to make sure the base is properly covered.

what unevenly spread jam looks like 😉

Next get the crumble you had set aside. Sprinkle the crumble over the top making sure no jam is visible!

pre baking

Pop it in the centre of your oven (slightly to left in mine as right side of my oven is hotter!). It took 35min in my fan oven so I ‘reckon it could take 40 in a non fan.

Posing for it’s close up

If you used a square tin you could cut little squares but mine is round so it is tart slice style biscuits for me!

Hope you try it or make your own version of it! Xs Aissa

Footnote:

I was inspired by a multitude of jam crumbly recipes when scouring the internet but special kudos mention to “Have Cake will Travel” recipe as inspiration.

It is also lovely made with raspberry or blueberry jam! It is also very easy to make nut free- use a seed butter, use fine maize meal instead of the ground almonds and use a non diary milk not made from nuts! Problem with coconut? Use vegan butter instead of coconut oil and use rapadura / sucucant sugar instead of coconut sugar!

Vegan Creamy Vegetable & Herb Soup & Gluten free

27 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Savoury

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Gluten free, medicinal mushrooms, Savoury, Soup

It is a typical Irish Spring day, varying from beautifully sunny to intense showers of rain. A bright green soup seemed to be the order of the day. I think it took me half an hour to make – so fast, healthy and importantly yummy! 🙂

So you will need one or two pots and a blender (hand held will do)

Creamy Vegetable & Herb Soup Vegan & Gluten Free

Five cloves of garlic – I used wet cos it’s in season
A dessertspoon of org coconut oil
A teaspoon of nigella seeds
A quarter teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
One medium sweet potato
Half a teaspoon of ground turmeric
Approx. Two cups of stock*
Ten organic shiitake mushrooms (very good for you)
A small head of broccoli
A half teaspoon of dried oregano
Approx. twenty fresh oregano leaves
Approx. thirty chives – chopped
A teaspoon of dried dill
A can of coconut milk (keep a tablespoon of the cream aside)
A pinch of himalayan pink salt or sea salt
Black pepper a good few twists/ a quarter tsp of powder
A dash of brown rice vinegar or a small squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

*you can use half an onion stock cube- I buy one free of palm/ hydrogenated oil and hydrolysed veg protein by a brand called Kallo, or you can make your own! See my recipe for homemade stock at the bottom of the post here :

Vegan French Onion Stew-oup Quick!

Method:

If you are using a homemade stock put it on to a high heat so that you can be bringing it to a simmer while you prepare your ingredients. If using a cube or bouillon then boil the kettle so you have hot water ready!

Put your saucepan on to a medium high heat and pop in your coconut oil to melt. Meanwhile chop your garlic and have your nigella seeds, chilli and turmeric ready. Start chopping your sweet potato into inch size cubes. don’t peel the potato – the skin is good for you!

Once the oil is melted and warmed put in your nigella seeds and chilli to sizzle. Add in your garlic- giving it the odd stir to stop it burning. Now add in your turmeric powder- and a tiny splash of water or stock so that it doesn’t burn and leave it cook for few seconds. Add in a cup of stock and throw in your sweet potato. Add in your dried oregano and dried dill. Add your salt and pepper. Make sure the potato is just covered by stock- so you will prob need to add the second cup now. Cover the pot so the potato can cook.

Wash your org mushrooms. I like to chop a few of them really finely so that they can impart more flavour and then thinly slice the rest ( I save a few from blending near the end as I like the odd bit of mushroom in my soup). Now chop your broccoli, peel the tough stem and chop this too- it is very nutritious! This should have taken a few minutes unless you are super skilled with a cleaver!

Add your shiitakes to the pot and put the cover back on. Get your fresh herbs ready. Keep a big dessertspoon of chopped chives for later. Add in the fresh oregano and chives. Keep the top off the pot- as you want the water to reduce a little. Check if the sweet potato is nearly cooked. It should be softish and certainly no crunch to it. If it is nearly cooked and in your chopped broccoli. Press the veg down so the water is pretty much covering everything. Leave it to simmer.

Grab your can of coconut milk and take a spoon of the creamy stuff off the top. This is to add to your soup when serving.

Check how the broccoli is cooking. If they are nearly cooked add in your coconut milk. You will need to stir it through so the creamy goodness mixes in properly. Reduce the heat to medium, you just need to leave it cook for another few minutes so the broccoli is done and it has all warmed up to a simmer again. Add a dash of the brown rice vinegar or a squeeze (half a teaspoon) of lemon juice. The acidity really does help bring all the flavours together.

Take it off the heat so it is not a danger to you when you blend it. If you are using a jug blender ladle in the chunky bits first and pour the liquid. If you like save some mushrooms from the mushing and leave them in the pot/ Blend to creamy- takes about a minute in my blender.

If using a hand blender: again take it off the heat! 🙂 You need to make sure the veggies are properly cooked so your blender doesn’t hate you. Don your apron and get to blending!

Now put the creamy green soup back on the heat inc the shiitake mushrooms you saved. You may want to add a little hot water if it is too thick. You should have some chopped chives left. Add half of what you have left- approx. a teaspoon. Now have a taste and see if it needs more pepper or salt. Don’t leave it boil or you will loose flavour. Just warm it enough for it to be ready to serve.

Pour it into your bowls and a teaspoon of your creamy coconut and a sprinkle of chives. Ta-da! Voila! Green Hearty Creamy Veg and herb soup!

Over exposed soup! 😦 I can’t take another photo because I ate it!!!

Xs Aissa

Horseradish Preserve! Vegan & Gluten free

24 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by Aissa in Fermentation, Gluten Free, Natural Health, Savoury, Superfoods, Traditional, Vegan

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Fermentation, Gluten free, Natural Health, Raw, recipe, Savoury, Superfoods, Traditional, Vegan

I’m on a spice kick! Wasabi-ing my popcorn and now horesradish-ing my everything! ( I can make my own verbs up and no-one can tell me otherwise!!) Horseradish is a some what overlooked root. Its super heat and flavour add that extra kick to.. well as I said everything, but it also as medicinal properties- anyone who has had the fresh stuff will tell you it clears your sinuses but it is also anti-bacterial (like garlic)- though traditional recommended for helping with respiratory conditions I have heard of it being used for fluid retention, urinary tract infections and inflammation. * So a great thing to have in your kitchen.

In order to keep the heat in your horseradish you need to make this all in one go. So no chopping the horseradish wondering off to look something up on line and spending three hours looking at cat videos 🙂 If left out to the air – esp. ones blended it starts to loose its heat.

I have made this a number of times so here is the list of what you will need to make:

Horseradish Preserve

A good sharp knife
A good strong chopping board
A little upper body strength or a helper
A good strong blender or food processor
A jar
A Horseradish 🙂
Approx. a cup of apple cyder/ cider vinegar raw and with the mother culture in it.
Optional: Swimming goggles.

Method

Ideally the horseradish would be organic, but I couldn’t get any this time. So I made sure to peel it really well incase there were any residues left on it. Horseradish is very woody it even has a grain to it so it is a bit like trying to chop a soft-ish stick! If you find the grain it is easier to peel. The other tip is to cut length ways first , chop the top and bottom off and then chop to smaller bits. With my blender I need to chop to top of finger size bits, you might have to chop smaller.

Horseradish root looking rooty

Pop the chopped up bits in your blender/ processor and add about six tablespoons of apple cyder vinegar. Pulse off and on five or six times – and then blend for thirty seconds. My blender has a setting for nuts and I actually do it on that first as the horseradish is so hard. Once it is pulverised a bit you can blend like normal.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Maybe get the goggles!

DO NOT TAKE THE TOP OFF THE BLENDER WITH YOUR HEAD OVER IT!!!! It is like putting your head in a bowl of twenty freshly chopped onions. You eyes will be scalded and streaming! Even scooping it into the jar I try and keep my face well back.

Fluffy horseradish ready to apple cyder vinegar-d

All that spicy goodness is heading off into the air so to catch it cover the horseradish with the apple cyder vinegar fast! A good apple cyder/ cider vinegar- that is naturally fermented and raw is full of good bacteria and malic acid (helps break down uric acid – which in turn is good for your joints). This good vinegar will preserve your horseradish- I have had a jar for months at a time in the fridge.

Looks like snow but it is HOT HOT HOT 🙂

It is a wonderful accompaniment to any meal – but is a especially good mixed with avocado, hummus or a pinch added to your homemade salad dressing. even when using the jar I don’t leave it open to the air for long- to keep all the great spices in!

Hope you guys try it out. It is pretty amazing stuff. It will be called a superfood yet! 🙂

xs Aissa

*footnote. I am not a health practitioner. but I have read if you are on low thyroid medication or pregnant you should not being eating truckloads of horseradish!

Wasabi Popcorn! Vegan & Gluten Free

31 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Savoury, Traditional

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Tags

Gluten free, Savoury, snack, Traditional, Vegan

Happy New Year! Here is my New Year’s Eve snack. This truly may be the easiest recipe I have put up yet. But it tasty so I wanted to share! 🙂

Wasabi Popcorn!!

Organic Popcorn- approx. a third of a cup
2 big dessertspoons of org cold pressed coconut oil
2 big teaspoons of wasabi powder
Roughly 8 dessertspoons of nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons of org cold pressed olive oil
6 twists of black pepper
A pinch of himalayan pink salt

Soo very easy..

Put your wide based saucepan on a medium to high heat.

Melt the coconut oil.

Add the popcorn. Shake the pan the odd time. Wait for a minute for it to start popping. Put the lid on and turn the heat down to medium.

Start making the wasabi mix. The odd time agitate the saucepan to stop the popcorn from burning.

Wasbai Nutrional Yeast mix Method:

Put your wasabi powder in a bowl. Add four dessertspoons of nutritional yeast and your black pepper and salt. Put in the olive oil and mash the ingredients a bit. It should be kinda bread crumb… crumbly.

Add in the rest of the nutritional yeast, mix again. Taste add more wasabi if you would like it hotter. Ta-da!

Once the popcorn is only popping a few times every 30 seconds, take it off the heat. Put some of the wasabi mix in a bowl and pour your popcorn in the bowl. Add more of the wasabi mix on top. Keep some to the side for adding more.

Hope you have a happy healthy New Year! Xs Aissa

It’s Silly Season it’s Vegan Stollen with a Rosy Marzipan Heart! Updated recipe – 2015 style!

24 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Aissa in Bread, Cake, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Bread, Cake, recipe, Traditional, Vegan

Stollen Update 2015!

I thought I would do a re-jig of last year’s Its Silly Season its Stollen Time post. The wonderful Mihl from Seitan is My Motor agreed to let me put her recipe in this post (Thank you again! 🙂 ). I have made my little adaptions- to the wonderful original but do check out the link to her page as she has more pictures, describes the process very well and explains the tradition of Stollen! You can also discover all her other delicious delights.

I am making two batches of Stollen this year- Six mini Stollen- I have three in the oven right now! Starting to smell nice in here!! 🙂

I have been making Stollen for Christmas for a few years. Clearly alcohol laden fruitcake is the Irish tradition, but I never liked it much. I was the person who ate the marzipan off the outside! I came across a wonderful recipe for vegan stollen here on “Seitan is my motor”. For emphasis her instructions are very clear! Which is what won me over. I was previously a bit intimidated by enriched dough. Knowing if you have kneaded enough, throwing the yeast in on top of the salt and immediately killing it ( 😦 ) etc. Kneading is all about getting your back into it and not being tempted to add more flour 🙂 Once you make this you will realise it can be done, to delicious results.

I have adapted the recipe a little and I make my own marzipan for it (Marzipan recipe inc here!). My changes are few, you have to respect yeast no messing with the recipe too much or the magic chemistry will be off. I use coconut oil instead of margarine, I use a third of a cup. I rub it with coconut oil too. As you would expect because I am a vanilla fiend I use a generous dessertspoon of vanilla powder overall. Finally I do not like raisins- I can stand a sultana in a scone …but raisins eep! and shiver! so I use chopped organic un-sulphered apricots in my stollen.

It takes a little planning. You make the plain dough the night before and leave it to proof in the fridge. You bring all to together, shape, leave to rise and bake the next evening.

So with no further a due the recipe!

Silly Season Stollen Aissa’s adaption of Seitan is my Motor’s wonderful recipe

Stollen with a rosy marzipan heart!

The dough part un (1):

500g/ 5 cups of unbleached plain white flour
7g/ 1 tsp dry yeast or 40g fresh yeast- I’ve never used the fresh in this!
Third of a cup of rapadura/ sucucant sugar & one tablespoon of icing sugar
Generous half a cup of non-dairy milk and a bit more as needed- I use un-sweetened almond milk
A third of a cup of org raw coconut oil

The dough part deux (2):

A pinch of himalayan pink salt/ sea salt
One and a third cup of ground almonds
A tablespoon of non-dairy milk
Half a teaspoon of lemon extract or a few drops of food grade lemon oil
A quarter teaspoon of almond extract
A large teaspoon of vanilla powder/ extract

The dough part trois (3):

Half a cup of chopped un-sulphered organic apricots
A third of a cup of quite finely chopped whole almonds

For finishing:

A quarter cup of coconut oil
Third of a cup of icing / confectionary sugar

METHOD: don’t be scared!!

Seriously- don’t be scared! It will be soooo gooooood!

So dough part un! I put my oven on to 100C/ 220F and put the third of a cup of coconut oil and the generous half cup of almond milk in a heat proof bowl and pop it in the oven to melt.

Next! Mix your flour and sugar- press out any lumps. I don’t bother to sieve anything.

Take the melted oil and milk out of the oven and leave it to cool. You do not want the mix or the bowl to be too hot or it will kill the yeast. It should be body temperature. You could put it in another bowl- I like to save on wash-up though!

Add the yeast, give a gentle stir to dissolve and add in your flour sugar mix. Combine it too a rough ball- add an extra splash of almond milk if very crumbly. Don’t cover it. Leave to sit for about 15 mins.

Dough part deux: Put the dry ingredients (ground almonds mixed with the pinch of salt- if you are using vanilla powder put it in now) in on top of the dough and mix a bit- you need to use your hands. Mix the wet ingredients – I do it in a teacup- and pour this over your mix. And knead a bit to kinda combine.

Transfer to a very lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. I do not partake in tons of kneading every day so I tend to take a minute or so to get the hang again, I knead for maybe 7 minutes. My technique is to push away from myself and then pull each side back towards me to form a ball again and then repeat. Try to keep doing it in the same direction Do not add more flour – the gluten will develop and it will stick to itself not the surface- you will even see it getting kinda stringy looking bits- which are the gluten strands!

Now cover it and put it in the fridge for the night so it can rest, and you can too!

The next day. The Dough part trois!

It is usually the afternoon by the time I get around to making the stollen. So take it out of the fridge and uncover it, I usually leave it out for a couple of hours, but if you have a particularly warm kitchen you may not have to wait as long. The yeast will wake up and when the dough warms up it is easier to work with.

Meanwhile chop your apricots and almonds .

Part trois!

Now knead the apricots and almonds into the dough. You need to get your back into it! As the dough will be a bit stiff to start and you want to get them evenly distributed. It can take me maybe 10 minutes. Form it into a rough ball and divide into three. I draw an kind of an upside-down Y into the top of it to give me three even pieces.

stollen dough divided

Next bit is the marzipan making! Or if you can buy some and add a little rose flavouring and roll it into logs for your stollen. But lets go back to my 2014 post by the wonderful power of time travel……” do do do do…do do do do do…”

Since I make my own marzipan I put my rose flavour into that instead of the mix. You just cannot get good quality marzipan here. Since I buy my ground almonds in bulk … because I bake so much… it makes sense to make my own.

Marzipan is a wonderful human invention! So versatile! The almond-y heart of your stollen perhaps little marzipan balls that you can dip in melted dark chocolate and leave to set in the freezer. Tasty treats for over the holidays.

Marzipan

200g/ two cups of ground almonds
100g/ one cup org vegan icing sugar
A teaspoon of vanilla powder/ a pod/ paste
One tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
Two tablespoons of maple syrup
A quarter teaspoon of sea salt/ himalayan pink salt
Half a teaspoon of almond extract
Optional: Eight ground apricot kernels or increase the almond extract to one teaspoon
Seven drops of food grade rose oil* or a generous dessertspoon of rose water
One dessertspoon of cold water

*mine is in an almond oil base as pure rose oil is like twenty five euros a bottle!

Put your dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the wet, not the water though! Press it all together. If it still a little crumbly you can add your water and press it together again. It should form a ball like biscuit/ cookie dough. Cover in tinfoil/ baking paper and leave in the fridge for at least a half an hour.

If using in your stollen you will be rolling into three little logs. If you plan to make marzipan chocolate balls you will have billions of them!!! So maybe half the recipe, you could also leave out the rose and use orange zest and a little orange oil or orange flower water instead!?

I digressed in 2014! Back to Stollen!

Roll out one of your stollen. See Mihl’s site here: Stollen recipe and picture instructions!

it should be about 12cm wide and you place your little marzipan log in the middle with a couple of cms to spare on the top and bottom. Fold the right side in and press it on top of your marzipan. Roll it all to the other side so the marzipan so completely covered. Now press the meeting points of the dough together, at the ends fold it over and under and gently pinch so the dough so there are no holes underneath.

Cover with a damp towel, I leave mine for about 15- 20 minutes. My oven takes a while to pre-heat so I turn that on now to 200C / 400F.

Put in the oven and bake for 10 mins. Then cover them up with some tin foil, so they don’t go too brown. Turn the temperature down to 180C / 350F. Bake for another 30 mins … or if you are typing a blog forget about them and bake for longer thereby leaving one a little bit charred. I would go for the former not the latter myself…

Et Voila! That’s it.

Here is mine naked out of the oven !

Triple mini stollen

Ready to wrapped and hibernated for a bit.

snowy stollen

Hope you guys try it. It really lasts, unless you end up eating it really fast, which has been known to happen. If you are clever and hide one, you can toast slices of it too, sooo good!!!

Will try and post again soon, but just incase Happy Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, New Years, or a bit of time off work! 🙂 Xs Aissa

Almond Cake with Lemon Icing- Vegan & Gluten free!!

01 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by Aissa in Cake, Cupcakes, Gluten Free, Uncategorized, Vegan

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Cake, Cupcakes, Gluten free, Vegan, Vegan icing/ frosting

Sorry for the gap in posts! Life has been very life-y. I changed jobs, visited family and one of my wisdom teeth has turned out to be the source of all evil- currently quite uneven faced. So…. though I am seriously sugar free at the moment in order to give my immune system some chance of winning the battle against invading forces, here is the as promised the almond cake! Gluten free of course. The base recipe is similar to my last few cake ones, I guess I am really liking the texture the coconut oil gives to the cake. Springy and moist with good structure.

Almond cake- wish I had vegan vanilla ice-cream with it

Almond Cake- gluten free & vegan of course!

A full cup or 200g of apple blueberry puree (or apple puree and add a some mashed blueberries)
4 scant dessertspoons of org cold pressed coconut oil
Just under half a cup of rapadura / sucucant/ turbinado sugar
Half a teaspoon of apple cyder vinegar
Half a teaspoon of almond extract – 1tsp if you like it intense
A third of a cup of buckwheat flour
Two thirds of a cup of ground almonds
Half a cup of fine maize meal
A pinch/ eighth of a teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt/ fine sea salt
A generous tsp of vanilla powder/ a pod/ extract
1 teaspoon of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of aluminium free baking powder
1 teaspoon of aluminium free bread / baking soda

Method:

Preheat your oven to 170C. Prepare a 20cm/ 7.5 inch cake tin

Put your fruit puree and coconut oil in a perspex / heat proof bowl and put it in the preheating oven for a few minutes to melt.

Meanwhile prepare all your dry ingredients. Sieve your baking powder and soda incase of lumps.

Take the oil and fruit puree out of the oven and mix in the sugar, stir until it dissolves. Next add in the apple cyder vinegar and almond extract.

wet and dry

Put your dry ingredients into the wet. Mix gently, just until there are no lumps.

Pour into you tin, make sure it is evenly spread. Place in the centre of the oven- or slightly to the right for me as the left is hotter.

Bake for 25mins (fan) or 30 min. Done when it is coming away from the sides and if you put a skewer in it and it comes out dry.

If you want to make cupcakes take 5mins off the baking time! O and put a dab of oil in your cupcake liners to stop them sticking to the paper.

Lemon Icing

2 big teaspoons of org cold pressed coconut oil
The zest of an organic unwaxed lemon
Half a cup of vegan icing sugar
Five teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

Method:

Mash the coconut oil until soft. Add the lemon zest.

Press out any lumps in the icing sugar and add to the coconut oil. Mash press and mush them together. The sugar and oil take a bit of work, gradually begin adding the lemon juice and it will turn into icing.

Lemon icing

I put it on the cake when it was still a little tepid- so it melted a bit. Normally I would advise leaving it cool completely- but actually the fact it melted a little into the cake was nice!!

I will also be putting up a fermented cauliflower recipe next- which I will be partaking in -lots – for the good bacteria, enzymes and yeasts! I will defeat you yet tooth!

Xs Aissa

Homemade Almond Milk -Vegan & Gluten Free

27 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Natural Health, No bake/ Raw, Traditional, Vegan

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Almond Milk, Gluten free, Natural Health, Raw, Traditional, Vegan

I am on a almond kick at the moment. Almonds in my smoothies, ground almonds in sauces, plans for a version of almond butter and I will have a Almond Cake recipe for you guys after this.

Once you have a metal sieve and a strong blender or food processor you are all set for making Almond Milk. I was in Sicily for my holidays recently, we stopped in a small town near Mt.Etna and when getting our necessary espressos the gentleman in the bar gave us a taste of his almond milk. It was made from locally grown almonds, was crazily sweet and had a just a hint of lemon in it. Delicious! So I was inspired to add a little lemon juice! The organic unwaxed lemon I got is Italian – so I have decided it was a Sicilian one!

Warning extremely addictive!

Almond Milk

A generous cup of whole organic almonds- soaked overnight
Two big dessertspoons of desiccated/ shredded coconut
Less than an eighth of a teaspoon of himalayan pink salt
Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ insides of a pod
Two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
Optional: two medjool dates/ two teaspoons of maple syrup
A pint and a quarter or approx. 600ml of water (maybe more)

Method:

Soak your almonds overnight- make sure they are well covered by water as they will swell.

Throw the water out that they have been soaked in and give them a brief rinse. Put them into your blender/ food processor. Add your coconut, date/maple syrup, water, salt and vanilla. I blend mine on the setting for nut butters/ dips. Basically a few short burst and then continuously for 45 seconds. Add half your lemon juice. Blitz again for another 30 seconds. Taste it and see if it needs more lemon juice or not!

Straining your milk. You can use a nut bag or muslin cheese cloth. I just use my metal sieve. I pour some in to the sieve over a wide topped measuring jug. Press the ground almonds to get all the milky-ness out of them! It should deliver just over a pint.

Taste again! If very creamy you may want to add more water- you can either stir it through or give a quick blitz again to throughly mix. Put in the fridge it is best served chilled! I keep the almond pulp for making cookies/ raw little sweets or adding to a dinner.

I will have a glass tonight to toast the Lunar Eclipse! Hope you try making it!Xs Aissa

Moon looking beautiful already!

Greeeennnnn!

24 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by Aissa in juice, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan

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Juice, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan

Just a quick one, I feel bad for not posting recently. Busy crazy life like stuff! So here so a crazy green one for your consideration… before i go on holidays for a week! ( Guilty face… is there an emoticon “guilty face”?)

Greeeennnnn!

A inch in diametre of wheatgrass
One TINY apple
Half a cucumber
A thin slice of organic ginger*

*non organic can have been irradiated!

Greeeeennnn!

I tried it without the apple- dear lord god it was awful! Uber green and a burst of energy. I had it before doing some yoga antioxidants to protect my cells!

Xs Aissa

VeganEtcetera

~ Eating healthily easily

Vegan Pancake Tuesday… Spelt & in Sweden!

Vegan Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jam Crumble Cookies Vegan & Gluten free

Vegan Creamy Vegetable & Herb Soup & Gluten free

Horseradish Preserve! Vegan & Gluten free

Wasabi Popcorn! Vegan & Gluten Free

It’s Silly Season it’s Vegan Stollen with a Rosy Marzipan Heart! Updated recipe – 2015 style!

Almond Cake with Lemon Icing- Vegan & Gluten free!!

Homemade Almond Milk -Vegan & Gluten Free

Greeeennnnn!