Category Archives: Gluten Free

Nana’s Coffee Cake turned Vegan

21 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in Cake, Cupcakes, Gluten Free, Traditional, Vegan

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So there’s a style of coffee cake that seems to be particular to Ireland ( though I’m open to correction on this ) anyhooow my Grandmother made a rockin’ coffee cake and I really wanted to veganize it. I also made it moderately healthier. The Irel Coffee essence mentioned here has been around in Ireland for donkey’s years and is a mixture of coffee, chicory and sugar you can use a good strong coffee extract instead. So here is what you will need…
A mug or cup measures. I tend to just use the one mug for everything, like I’ve said before as long as you use the same mug it will all be in proportion.
A 20cm/ 7.5 inch cake tin and some baking paper to line it.

Dry ingredients

  • A third of a cup of sunflower / rapeseed oil (canola)
  • Half a cup of apple and apricot puree – I buy an organic one by a brand called Clearspring, if you are amazing you can make your own. You could also use plain apple and use apricot yoghurt and just switch the measurement about.
  • A quarter cup of coconut/ soya yoghurt – you could use apricot flavour to intensify the fruitiness or I must insist on apricot flavour if you are using half a cup of this and a quarter cup of puree.
  • A third of a cup made up of 3 dsp of raw rapadura sugar (i.e. turninado ) and the rest Xylitol
  • 4 tsp of Irel Coffee essence or 4 tsp of good quality coffee extract use (use 3 if your coffee extract is strong)
  • One round teaspoon of cornstarch

Wet ingredients

  • A half a tsp of vanilla powder or a tsp of vanilla extract but if using extract put this in with the wet.
  • One cup of fine maize meal
  • One generous cup of ground almonds
  • Two round teaspoons of baking powder
  • A quarter teaspoon of baking soda
  •  A pinch of sea salt ( if full Irish granny mode throw a pinch of your left shoulder too )

Making it

Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F. Prepare your 20cm / 7.5inch cake pan, this size pan makes a low cake. this is perfect if you want to make a two layered cake without the hassle of cutting through cake slices. If you prefer a higher rise just use a cake tin a size smaller.
First a get a bowl and put in your oil, fruit puree, yoghurt and coffee extract. Grab a sieve and sieve the cornstarch, now put your sugar and xylitol into it, I always sieve my rapadura sugar but is hard work sieving xylitol so even if you just sieve out the lumps in the sugar it should be sufficient. If using vanilla extract add it now. Give it all a good whisk.

Get another bowl and put all the dry ingredients into it. Make a well in the centre and pour your wet mixture into this. Gently fold the mixtures together, be nice to it, you just want to get rid of any floury lumpy bits. If you are too rough or over mix you will knock the air out and end up with a dense cake.

Pour (or push cos it’s thick) the batter into your cake tin making sure it is evenly spread. Place in the centre of the oven

After 5 mins turn down your oven to 170C/ 340F. It takes 23 minutes in my Uber fan oven it could take 25 or even 30 depending on your oven. You will know it is done when it is coming away from the sides maybe little cracks are starting to appear ontop, also when you stick with a skewer it should come out dry. You will get to know your oven, like I have to put everything on the right hand side cos the left is too hot.

So you could leave it like this, slice it into fingers and have it with tea or coffee. But to really finish it off it needs to be iced (frosting). Just make sure it has cooled down first!

Icing

This is like a soft royal icing or a butter-cream.

  • Two dsp of organic raw coconut oil
  • 1 tsp of Irel coffee essence or good quality coffee extract
  • Half a cup of icing sugar ( confectioner’s sugar )
  • Two dsp of hot water
  • Eight walnuts for decoration

Get a bowl and add your coconut oil and mash it until soft. Add your coffee essence/ extract and mash again. Now add your icing sugar, really get in there to make sure really mixed together, use the back of your spoon to press out any lumps. Now add your hot water, it is important that it is warm, cold water will make the coconut oil re-solidify. Mix to a nice smooth spreadable texture.

Put on your cake and arrange the walnuts to decorate.

Pre- icing, a certain someone had some while I was waiting for it to cool

Pre- icing, someone had some while I was waiting for it to cool

Here is the finished thing!

So much nicer iced

So much nicer iced

Lemon Poppy Seed cookies for Pixies

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Biscuits, Cookies, Gluten Free, Vegan

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Lemon Poppy seed Cookies- naturally gluten free and of course vegan.

I made tiny little biscuits this weekend. I like to make them small but with an intense flavour.

Dsp = dessertspoon Tsp = teaspoon

Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F. Line your baking tray.

  • Two thirds of a cup of ground almonds
  • Half a cup of fine maize meal
  • Good pinch of sea salt
  • Two dsp of organic extra virgin coconut oil
  • Three dsp of maple syrup or raw dark agave
  • One tsp of lemon extract
  • Juice of two thirds of a lemon ( bergamot if in season)
  • Two dsp of poppy seed. Put the poppy seeds to one side.

Apart from the poppy seeds combine your dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the centre to prepare for the wet stuff!

Mash your coconut oil with your maple syrup or raw agave and lemon extract. Add your lemon juice give a quick stir and pour into the dry ingredients.

Now fold in your poppy seed pixie dust! ( o dear !)

Mix, get your hands in there and form a ball of dough. If a bit dry add more lemon juice.dough.

Roll out to a scant 1cm( 1/4 inch ) thick.Cut out your desired shapes. I did tiny abstract shapes about 1cm X 1cm (1/4 inc X 1/4 inc ).

rolled outI baked these ones for 10 mins- I turned the tray half way through and it made 60 that’s sixty tiny biscuits / cookies! I baked a tiny bit bigger square shaped ones in the past and didn’t open the oven and they took 8 mins.

You will notice by the pic  that even though I insist they are Pixie Cookies- they kinda look like pretty dog biscuits!!!

X Xs Aissa

Tinnie tiny pixie biccies

Tinnie tiny pixie biccies

Out Of The Tree Cookies

08 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Biscuits, Cookies, Gluten Free, Vegan

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Made these up a while ago, think you might like them. When I say made up I mean the recipe not that they are imaginary biscuits…. I even have a pic this time to prove it!

Remember I just use the one mug all the time for all my cup measurements- so if you do not have cup measures do not worry as long as you use the same mug all the time everything will be in proportion!

If using vanilla extract instead of powder put it in with the wet stuff

  Dsp= dessertspoon Tsp= teaspoon

Cookies on a plate slightly soft focus - it was a plan, soft edges like a 1980s video for an overwrought ballad

Cookies on a plate
slightly soft focus – it was a plan, soft edges like a 1980s video for an overwrought ballad

          OUT OF THE TREE COOKIES!
  • 1 scant dsp of organic raw coconut oil
  • 1 scant dsp crunchy peanut butter ( avoid ones with oil and sugar- you just want the peanuts!)
  • 1 dsp (big) almond butter
  • 1 small tsp tahini (runny one)
  • A dessertspoon of vanilla extract (if not using powder- as that goes in to the dry things)
  • A capful of almond extract ( equal to nearly a tsp- adjust depending how almondy you like them)
  • half a tsp acai powder- not essential, more optional extras at the bottom!
  • 3 or 4 dsp of a non dairy milk
  • 3  dsp of maple syrup or raw agave or coconut nectar
  • mix and mash and mix and stir until VERY well combined and then in another bowl mix the dry stuff
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder (If you are a Vanilla fiend and just want to taste vanilla you can do both powder + extract!)
  • Third of a cup of ground almonds
  • Third of a cup of fine maize meal
  • Nearly a quarter of a cup of buckwheat flour
  • 3 dsp of organic desiccated coconut.
  • Pinch of salt
  • Half a tsp of baking powder
  • NOTICE ALL THE DRY ADDS UP TO A GENEROUS CUP! (MUG)
  • * Optional extras- the ones in pic I put in half a tsp of Maca and Lucuma. The maca has a almost butterscotchy taste and the lucuma  has a sweet taste and  both are good source of actual nutrients!

Pre heat your oven to 180C/ 350F fan, even if not a fan oven I would be inclined to not go higher than this, just give them an extra maybe 3 mins. Line your baking tray.

You will get about a dozen biscuits (Ireland)/ cookies (North America) based on the above amounts.

Mix, mash the wet. Start at 3dsp of milk, hold back on the fourth spoon, you may or may not need a spoon later.

Mix the dry ingredients as-well

Add the dry to the wet.  Mix – you really need to get in there with your hands and squeeze and mix so the fats are taken up into the dry really well.

If you are having problems getting it to hold together this is were you add your extra splash of milk. Remember you are combining ingreds not stirring a soup.

If you are in the mood for rolling then roll out the dough to 1cm thick (third of an inch)

Cut out your shapes – I have done small hearts about 1 inch by 1 inch (like 2.5cm X 2.5cm) You could do trees!

Took 10mins at 180C / 350F in my Uber fan oven- need to keep an eye on them though.

The ones in the pic I clearly didn’t roll out – I put a tsp of dough per biscuit and just flattened them on the baking tray and squashed them with a fork to make even- I had preheated my oven for longer and they took 9mins!

I have experimented with the levels of buckwheat flour- I find if you go over a third of a cup they start to taste a little on the bitter side.

Close up baby

Close up baby- lightly browned edges- that’s what ya want.

Belated Happy Pancake Tuesday!

07 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in Gluten Free, Vegan

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So on Tuesday after a whole day in health shop talking about pancakes, giving people wheat free pancake mixes I went home and ..

did my wheatgrass shot and yoga, put my kale and carrots on, had them with pinto beans, coconut aminos ,ume plum seasoning and some wasabi- yum yum… and FORGOT ALL ABOUT PANCAKE TUESDAY! could have stuck the kale and carrots into a crepe…I suppose?

I decided against that so I had a PANCAKE WEDNESDAY!
Much requested
VEGAN GLUTEN FREE PANCAKE RECIPE by AISSA

First Put Two dessertspoons of organic coconut oil to melt in your pancake pan! (high heat)
1 mug of Buckwheat flour
Half a teaspoon of g/f baking powder
1 teaspoon of arrowroot
I use a half tsp of vanilla powder but you could use a tsp of vanilla extract and put in the wet ingredients
MIX DRY INGREDS TOGETHER
Now for the liquid ones
One quarter of a mug of apple puree (I used an organic apple and strawberry this time!)
I dessertspoon raw agave (optional) into this
Fill the rest of the mug up with unsweetened Almond milk
Pour the melted coconut oil from your pan into the mug
Add this mix to the dry and give a fast stir – until no lumps
Fill another mug with non diary milk ( I used a light coconut- made for use in tea and coffee).
Pour in half of the milk and mix again- I found I gradually ended up adding more to the mix as I did the pancakes, as the batter thickens because of the arrowroot powder.
Pour a ladle into the already hotpan, start at centre and swirl out so its nice and thin- I always end up throwing out my first pancake- like a PANCAKE MUST BE SACRIFICED SO THE OTHERS CAN BE GOOD! (cult leaders voice)
Flip ,cook other side. fill with nice things- I did some of the left over puree, coconut yoghurt, and lecithin! Very tasty
XX recipe just a little bit late but if you are not really sick of pancakes maybe next week on Pancake Wednesday???
X

My First Post!!!

06 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by in Chocolate, Cupcakes, Gluten Free, Vegan

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Hi there!

So I hope to thrill and excite and maybe mildly amuse you (intentionally or not!). I know I should go all out with a beautiful picture and a perfectly laid out text for my debut.. but I think I just need to start- so here we go…

ALMOST FREE OF EVERYTHING CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Sooo line two cupcake tins- add a dot of sunflower oil to each liner- this prevents sticking later

Preheat your oven to 170C/ 340F if a fan oven 180C/ 350F other wise.

When I say cup – I use an actual mug for measuring so it is all roughly. I PROMISE TO BE MORE PRECISE IN FUTURE! but I think you can be relaxed as long as you use the same mug all the time

Dsp= dessertspoon Tsp = teaspoon

I use Vanilla powder if this is unavailable add 1 dsp of vanilla extract to your agave.

• 2/3 squares of 72% vegan fair trade chocolate finely chopped set aside for later. I use one that is sweetened with Xylitol. It is an English brand called Plamil.

• 1 very well mashed organic fair trade ripe banana (approx 1/3 cup) Put in a mug add==>

• 3 dsp sunflower oil or rapeseed oil (i.e canola) Always org cold pressed and in a glass bottle!

• Fill the rest of the mug (2/3) with coconut milk – the light version suitable for tea or coffee use

• Add a dash of organic apple cyder vinegar ( prob near a tsp )

Leave this to sit and curdle a little, meanwhile organise the other ingreds.

Get yourself a bowl and in it put==>

• just barely 2/3 of a cup of organic dark agave ( I happened to have a cranberry agave and mixed it with a dark raw one)

• The fine zest of two blood oranges

• Add the banana, milk etc mixture into this and ..

Whisk and jump up and down so it knows your serious!

So now so get your dry ingreds ready. You don’t have to sieve everything but do sieve the baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, cocoa and salt. Lumps of any of these are like sooo not nice! Seriously!

• Generous 1/3 cup organic ground almonds

• Scant 1/3 cup a gluten free flour (I used a rice and tapioca mixture)

• 1/3 cup buckwheat flour + 3 dsp

  • Generous 1/3 cup of Organic Fair Trade Cocoa

• 1 tsp vanilla powder (or if using an extract put it into the wet stuff)

• ¼ tsp or good pinch sea salt

• 1 tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp cornstarch (i.e. sometimes called corn flour )

• 1/8 tsp of org cinnamon powder

• 1/8 tsp or ¼ tsp org cardamon powder- depending on your love of it!

Now it is important not to dilly dally OR over mix as the soda reacts with vinegar and you can loose the rise if you dilly dally or over mix…

Gently combine the dry into the wet, softly – just until no visible floury bits.

Use a dessertspoon to fill your cupcakes- because they are vegan and gluten free they will not rise as high so fill to almost the top of the liners.

Sprinkle the tops with the finely chopped chocolate and stick in the oven. Bake for 20min in fan oven could take 22-25 in reg oven.

Because of the sprinkle of chocolate they come out looking ready to eat, but you can always let them cool and make a ganache. —>

  • 30g of fair trade chocolate finely chopped – maybe even an orange flavoured one
  • 1 teaspoon of organic coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon of organic agave or maple syrup

Melt in a bowl over warm water and simply pour over your cupcakes, now super chocolatey!I really hope you like them! It’s made me hungry now. I might make them over the weekend and add a picture or two!!!

xx Aissa