Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

If you like super moist and yummy cupcakes then this recipe is for you. They are light and fluffy yet still packed full of a nice chocolatey flavour. I tested these on my non vegan family and they could not believe that they were vegan and that there was no butter in them.

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes but as it is usually only me eating them, I tend to half the recipe and make 6. The cupcakes will keep in an airtight container for approximately 4 days. 

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 cup of non dairy milk 

1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar 

3/4 cup of granulated sugar

1/3 cup of oil (I use olive oil)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon of any additional extracts (I like to use peppermint to make after 8 cupcakes) if you don't want to add another flavour then just add more vanilla. 

1 cup of plain flour

1/3 cup of cocoa powder 

3/4 teaspoon of bicarb of soda 

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

pinch of salt 

Icing

1 cup of non dairy butter/margarine 

1/2 cup of icing sugar 

75g of dark chocolate 

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 170c (fan)

2. In a bowl mix the non dairy milk and apple cider vinegar. Place to one side for approximately 5 minutes until the milk has started to cuddle

3. In another bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, bicarb, baking powder and salt

4. To your flour mixture add your milk and vinegar. Followed by your sugar, oil and extracts

5. Mix until smooth and transfer to cupcake cases. Fill the cases approximately 3/4 full

6. Place into the oven and cook for approximately 20 - 25 minutes

7. Once the cupcakes are cooked remove them from the oven and place onto a cooling rack to cool 

8. Whilst the cupcakes are cooling, begin to make your icing

7. Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler

8. Whilst your chocolate is melting, add your butter and icing sugar into a food mixer and beat for approximately 3 to 4 minutes until the butter becomes light and fluffy

9. Once the chocolate has melted again this will only take a minute or two. Place it to one side to cool slightly. The chocolate needs to be warm but not too hot that it will melt the butter

10. When the chocolate has cooled, add the melted chocolate to the butter icing and beat until combined. Once combined, pipe or spoon the icing onto the now cooled cupcakes. 

Enjoy! 

Quick, Easy and Simple Avocado Pasta

If you are looking for a creamy yet light and fresh pasta sauce then look no further! 

Ingredients

Pasta - how much and whatever you like 

1 avocado 

hand full of basil leaves (I use spinach when I don't have basil) 

10 baby tomatoes

1 clove of garlic

splash of olive oil 

pinch of salt and pepper 

2 teaspoons of lemon juice (vinegar works perfectly if you don't have lemon) 

Method

1. Cook the pasta

2. Whilst the pasta is cooking, cut and remove the stone and skin from the avocado and place into a food processor along with the basil, tomatoes, garlic, oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice. 

3. Blitz the ingredients until they form a smoothish paste. The consistency of the sauce is up to you really, I like mine fairly smooth. 

4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and return to saucepan. Add avocado sauce to pasta. 

This recipe makes enough sauce for 2 large or 3 small servings. 

I often like to take this to work with me and if I do that, I cook the pasta and then let that cool and through in a splash of olive oil to stop it from drying out and then in a separate container take my sauce. Then at lunch time I reheat my pasta and then stir through my sauce. As there is lemon/vinegar in the sauce it should stop it from going brown. 

The sauce will keep in the fridge for about a day maybe two. 

Home Made Pizza Dough

Who doesn't love pizza and who doesn't love making food. Pizza dough is so simple to make and very impressive! 

Ingredients 

2 cups of strong white bread flour

1/4 of a cup of wholemeal bread flour

Pinch of salt

3/4 of a cup of warm water

1 packet of dry yeast 

Method

1. Mix warm water and dry yeast and set aside for 10 minutes 

2. In a food mixture combined flour, salt and yeast water

3. Mix for 5 minutes and set aside in a cling filmed bowl (this can be left to one side for between 1 hour to 4 hours)

4. Take the dough mixture out of the bowl and kneed on a floured worktop

5. Place back into bowl and set aside for 20 minutes

6. Roll out the dough and shape into a pizza shape

Any topping can be added to this pizza and then simply pop in the oven at 180c (fan) for 15 to 18 minutes. 

Almond Vanilla Granola

Yet another one of my favourites for breakfast. 

Ingredients 

3 cups of rolled oats

1/4 cup of chopped pecans

1/4 cup of dried cranberries

1/4 cup of flaked coconut 

1/4 cup of flaked almonds 

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

pinch of sea salt

1 tablespoon of agave 

1/4 cup of oil 

1/4 cup of water

Method 

1. Pre heat the oven to 150c (fan)

2. In a large mixing bowl combined oats, pecans, cranberries, coconut and almonds

3. In a small saucepan, mix and heat brown sugar, vanilla, salt, agave, oil and water. Bring this to a gentle simmer until all of the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, pour the liquid into the dry ingredients. 

4. Combined the wet and dry mixtures well and spoon out onto 2 lined baking trays. 

5. Cook in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown and dry

6. Leave to cool and then store in an airtight container for approximately 3 weeks. 

This recipe will make approximately 10 to 12 servings 

Vegan Guacamole

I am yet to meet a person who doesn't like gauc! Like seriously who cannot love this stuff. And homemade is even better, so fresh and tasty and oh so simple to make. 

Ingredients 

2 large ripe avocados 

half a red onion (diced)

1 clove of garlic 

4 cherry tomatos 

1 lime (juiced) 

pinch of salt and pepper

dash of olive oil 

half red chilli (deseeded and chopped)

Method

This is really the easiest thing you could ever make and though it may be simple, it will still impress your friends! Simply take all of the ingredients above and put them in a food processor, blend them up and there you go. Guacamole is made. Be careful not to over blend though, it should still have some bite to it. 

Bagels

I have developed such a love for bagels. Bagels for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

There is a bagel for every occasion. Whether it is cheese and tomato, avocado or mushrooms, it is a winner. Simple and easy to make yet so filling and delicious. 

Vegan Apple Crumble

One of the hardest things about going vegan is giving up the home cooked staple foods that your mum makes. For me that means Apple Crumble and Custard!

Instead of giving it up, I thought I would try my hand at making it vegan.

Ingredients

Cooking Apples (I used some from my parents tree)

Caster Sugar

Plain Flour

Vegan Butter

Method

Now the amount of apples you decide to cook is up to you, but it will affect the amount of other ingredients you need.

For the two little ramekins that I made, I used approximately 4 medium sized cooking apples which i peeled, cored and cut into chunks. I then put the apples in a saucepan and stewed for approximately 10 minutes adding a little water if it looks like it is sticking.

What I usually do is cook as many apples as my parents give me in autumn when they fall and stew them and freeze them for whenever I need them. It is so quick and simple meaning whenever you get a hankering for crumble or pie, you have pre cooked apples ready to go, you just have to defrost them.

Once you have stewed your apples (or defrosted them), add them to a heatproof dish. I used two small ramekins as I was only cooking them for me but my mum always uses as casserole dish to put hers in. Then add approximately 3 to 5 tablespoons of caster sugar to the apples (depending on how many apples you have used and how sweet you like it). At this point you can also add cinnamon if you wish (I did - approximately 1 teaspoon).

Next comes making the crumble topping. When making my crumble topping, I used approximately 60g of flour, 30f of sugar and 30g of vegan butter to my 4 medium sized apples. If you are using a casserole dish, the average measurements are 120g of flour, 60g of caster sugar and 60g of butter.

Mix all those ingredients together in a bowl with your hands. Use your fingers and thumb to breadcrumb the mixture together. After this, transfer the mixture to a baking tray and cook in the oven at 170 c fan for approximately 15 minutes or until a light golden brown colour.

Once the crumble topping is made, add the topping to the apples. You can either leave this to one side and cook later as it will only need to be heated for approximately 5 to 10 minutes at 180 c fan to heat the apples and warm it back through as everything is already pre cooked or cook and eat straight away.

I found this vegan apple crumble simple to make and delicious to eat. Serve it with vegan vanilla ice-cream and people probably wouldn't notice the difference.

Vegan Curry

Curry - Simple, Warming and Perfect for a Friday night! This vegan alternative has it all. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons of Tikka Curry Paste (I use Sainsbury's) - you can use whatever type of curry paste you want e.g. balti, korma, madras. The spiciness is up to you. 

1 tin of Coconut milk

100g of Red Lentils 

2 medium sized Potatoes

Half a large sweet potato

1 large carrots (chopped)

Half a red pepper (chopped)

1 clove of garlic (pressed)

1 onion (chopped)

Serves approximately 4. 

Method

1. Add 100ml of boiling water to the red lentils in a bowl and put to one side. 

2. In a medium sized saucepan add the chopped potatoes and carrot (no need to peel - the skin has all the goodness!), add water and allow to simmer until vegetables are soft. This will take approximately 10 minutes. 

3. In a large frying pan/wok, add a splash of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, mushrooms and garlic. Once the onions have began to brown, add the pepper. 

4. Once the potatoes and carrots are cooked add them to the mushrooms, onions and peppers. To this add the curry paste and allow to fry for approximately 3 to 5 minutes. 

5. Next drain the red lentils and add to the curry. Following this add the coconut milk and allow to simmer and thicken for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. 

6. Enjoy! Your vegan curry is ready to go! Serve with rice, popadoms, nan bread, pitta etc. 

Tip - this curry freezes really well so if you are like me and love to have food ready to go in the freezer this is a winner! 

Vegan Lasagne

I am a great lover of food you can make lots of and freeze because some days when I come home from work I really cannot be bothered to stand in front of the cooker and make food. Lasagne is one of those dishes. Make it in a large tin, eat some and then have enough left for 2 or 3 more meals. It also keeps for quite a while in the freezer to meaning if you make loads, you don't have to eat it for the next 3 weeks solid to use it up! 

Ingredients

500g of button mushrooms (sliced)

1 onion (chopped)

1 clove of garlic 

1 tin of chopped tomatoes 

2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar 

100g of vegan butter

100g of plain flour

1/2 pint of soya milk

vegan cheese to grate 

Lasagne sheets

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 160c (fan).

2. Add a splash of oil into a large pan (I use a wok because of the amount of mushrooms) and add the chopped onion and pressed garlic. Allow these to cook until they start to brown (approximately 5 minutes). Next add the sliced mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are soft. 

3. To the mushroom mixture add the tin of chopped tomatoes and dark brown sugar. Allow this to simmer until the tomato sauce has reduced. (if it doesn't, simply add a tablespoon of cornflour to thicken). If the mixture is to wet, your lasagne will be soggy. 

4. In a saucepan melt the butter and then add flour. Mix continually until combined. Next add in small amounts of the milk, do not add it all in one go because this will stop the natural thickening of the roux. Once all the milk is combined, take off the heat. 

5. For my lasagne, I used a 9cm by 9cm deep tin (like one you would use to make brownies). Add a layer of the mushroom mix followed by lasagne sheets. Add a layer of your béchamel sauce and then a layer of cheese. Continue this layering until you have used all of the mixtures. I usually tend to get two layers. 

6. Cook in the oven for approximately 40 to 45 minutes. If your cheese begins to brown cover the tin with foil. 

This dish is really great because you can make it in the morning and then simply cook it in the evening or make the day before etc (just pop it in the fridge). 

Like I said, I make this dish to freeze because it is so simple and easy. 

Vegan Cheese

Cheese for me has got to be one of the hardest things to give up. When I was veggie, I totally relied on cheese to get me through and now I am vegan, there is no more halloumi to keep me going.

After doing some research, I discovered that Tesco sells a vegan cheese - violate which comes in a block, slices or a cream cheese. I am yet to try the slices or cream cheese but the block of violate isn't half bad. It really does smell like cheddar cheese! Result. And the taste isn't too bad either.

It is quite a rubber cheese, it reminds me a little of a cheese string but never the less for vegan cheese, it seems like a winner. It tastes good enough to eat on its own or melted. As it is a rubbery, it is a little bit of a chore to grate but you can grate it.

Next on my list to try is the cream cheese! Watch out for the review shortly.

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

One of the things I struggle most with being a vegan in the UK is not being able to simply pop to the shops to buy treats as UK supermarkets really don't stock a wide range of vegan products.

I am therefore always on the look out for sweet simple treats to make and these cookie are amazing!

Ingredients (yields 12 cookies)

1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons of water (this acts as the egg)
1/4 cup of sunflower oil
1/4 cup of vegan butter (this can be replaced with peanut or almond butter for a different taste)
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of demerara sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of bicarb of soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking power
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 cups of oats
100g of dark chocolate

Method 

1. Pre heat the oven to approximately 160c (fan)

2. In a large bowel add the flax egg mixture. Leave this to ferment for approximately 5 minutes (it should look thicker in appearance)

3. To the flax egg mixture add sunflower oil, butter, sugars and vanilla. Mix well until smooth

4. Next add bicarb, baking powder, sea salt, cocoa powder and oats. Mix well after adding each ingredient

5. Chop/break into little chunks the chocolate and add to the mixture

6. If you mixture looks to dry or wet, simply add more oats or a little soya milk

7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spoon on the cookie mixture. The mixture can spread a little when cooking so ensure you leave gaps between your balls of dough. I used approximately a tablespoon of mixture per cookie and left approximately 10cm gaps between them

8. Cook in the oven on the middle shelf for approximately 12 minutes. Once out of the oven leave on the baking tray to cool for approximately 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to completely cool.

These cookies are incredibly easy to make and taste delicious. My non vegan mum said they tasted like a hobnob!

Tip - Try not to touch them too much before they are completely cool, they can be a little delicate when still hot and can easily snap and break although this just makes them even better crumbled over vegan ice-cream.