Vegan Baklava

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] This was my first ever attempt at baklava so it isn’t very pretty but I promise that it’s very delicious!! I found the original recipe here and veganised it accordingly, it was a pretty straightforward conversion and I’m really happy with how it all turned out. I ended up doing the cooking after the sun went down and the lighting in my house is pretty dark so I didn’t take photos of the process, just of the end result.

Vegan Baklava

Ingredients:

1 pkg filo pastry
1 cup non dairy butter
1 cup chopped nuts
2 tbs ground cinnamon
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
5ml vanilla extract
2 tbs agave nectar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a small bowl mix nuts and cinnamon. If required cut the filo pastry so that it is the correct size and shape for the pan. Cover filo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, add butter, top with nuts and then repeat, continue layering, until all ingredients are used up. The top pastry layer should be about 6 – 8 sheets deep.

3. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.

4. Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and agave. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

5. Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Advertisement

Vegan Vanilla & Walnut Cookies

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]What started out as a hankering for a midnight snack last night turned into a lovely batch of vanilla cookies. This recipe is so easy and would make a great base for any kind of extras you’d like to add, choc chips, dried fruit, nuts, whatever you can think of. The only problem with me cooking midnight snacks is that I forget to take photos of the whole process, I started off well and ended well but got forgetful somewhere in the middle.. I blame it on the cookie cravings. The cookies themselves were really lovely, not overly sweet which I found quite nice, but if you like your cookies super sweet you might like to add some white sugar to the mix.

Vanilla & Walnut Cookies

Ingredients
150g dairy free margarine
150g brown sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla paste (or extract)
250g all purpose flour (half wholemeal would work as well)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Cream the margarine and sugar together
3. Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla paste
4. Add the walnuts, sifted flour and baking powder and mix well (you may need to use your hands)
5. Bake on a greased cookie tray for 10 – 15 minutes. Leave the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tray

This recipe made approximately 24 cookies.

Don’t forget to become a fan of Vegan Chickie on Facebook

Bake Your Own Bread

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]I’ve never baked my own bread before so my bread baking mission today was quite fun. Next time I’ll add lots of seeds to make it nice and grainy and I think I might make the next batch using half white flour and half wholemeal (this time I used only white) but it all comes down to what type of bread you like I suppose so I’ll leave that up to you! The recipe makes 2 loaves of bread.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 cups hot water
3 tablespoons raw sugar
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups flour
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 cups flour
Non dairy milk or margarine to glaze
1/2 cup sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional)

Method:

1. Pour warm water into a small bowl and add the yeast, DO NOT STIR. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, pour hot water over the raw sugar and salt, stir to completely dissolve. Add 3 cups of flour and mix well. Pour the oil over the mixture, add the yeast mixture (do not stir). Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and mix well (you will probably have to use your hands at this point).

3. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set aside to rise. Leave the mixture to sit for 1 hour.

4. Divide the mixture into two lots and knead the dough for about 10 minutes per batch (the recipe doesn’t require a lot of kneading so you don’t have to be too rough with it). Put each batch of dough into a greased loaf tin and cover with a damp towel for another hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Glaze the top of the dough with non dairy milk or margarine, top with sesame seeds (or poppy seeds or nothing at all! Whatever you want!) and bake for 25 minutes.

NOTE: I had my oven on regular bake for the first 15 minutes and then turned it to fan bake for the final 10 minutes so that the top was extra crunchy, but if you can’t do that with your oven it doesn’t matter!

Carrie’s Carrot Cupcakes

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]I’m happy to welcome my friend Carrie as our guest blogger this week, who is here to share her carrot cupcake recipe with us. Carrot cake is my absolutely favourite cake so I’m really looking forward to giving this recipe a try. Thanks for sharing this with us Carrie!

Vegan Carrot Cupcakes

½ cup (115g) Nuttelex
1 cup soft brown sugar
¼ cup apple sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup soy milk
1 cup carrots, finely grated
1 ¼ cup plain flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and flour a muffin tray or line muffin tray with cupcake papers.

Cream nuttelex and brown sugar until smooth and creamy. Add apple sauce, vanilla extract, salt, baking powder, spices and soy milk and carrot and mix together well. Add plain flour and stir until combined.

Spoon batter into muffin tray and bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until cooked through. Cool completely before icing.

Vegan Cream Cheese Icing

¼ cup Nuttelex
¼ cup Tofutti
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
lemon juice to taste

Cream together margarine and cream cheese. Add the icing sugar in 2 batches. Mix until smooth and creamy, then add the lemon juice.

Banana, Raspberry & Choc Chip Muffins

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]Wow, these muffins are so good that I don’t think they’ll last through the night! I’m pretty impressed with this recipe actually, especially since it’s the first time I’ve attempted a muffin. The recipe below will make 12 muffins – or, if you are like me and choose to make them smaller, then you’ll end up with 18 or 19. I prefer my muffins to be cupcake sized.. I’m weird that way! Making them larger will be just as delicious though, just make sure you keep them in the oven for an extra 5 minutes or so.

Banana, Raspberry & Choc Chip Muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 ripe bananas
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 1 1/2 of extract)
1 cup vegan choc chips
1/2 cup raspberries chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium sized bowl
3. In a large bowl, mix the sugar and oil together, then add the banana. Mash the banana with a fork, combining with the sugar mixture as you go.
4. Stir in the water and vanilla and mix until well combined. Stir through the choc chips and raspberries.
5. Fill each muffin tin halfway with the batter. Bake for approx 30 minutes, until they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

NOTE: I think this recipe would also be great as a banana cake or loaf.. you would just have to adjust the cooking times to suit.

Enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]This was my first attempt at vegan cookies and I’m so thrilled with the results. These cookies are the perfect amount of crunchy and chocolate-y, I think next time I’ll add some chopped walnuts to the mix as well, although I don’t think I’ll need to make any more cookies for a VERY long time, I doubled the normal amounts thinking the original yield would only be a dozen or so and I wanted to take some to my Bowen lady, five dozen cookies later I was still baking and that’s not even taking into account the cookie dough I ate straight from the bowl! My goodness, I’ll be eating choc chip cookies for the rest of the year!!

Ingredients:
4 1/2 teaspoons egg replacer (We use ORGRAN)
6 tablespoons (90ml) water
1 cup (225g) non-dairy butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 cups non dairy choc chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or use a non stick baking tray.

2. Whip the egg replacer and water together, until it’s thick and creamy.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugars and vanilla. Add the egg replacer mixture to the bowl and thoroughly combine.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture until it begins to form a dough. When it is almost thoroughly combined, stir in the choc chips.

5. Bake on cookie sheet for approx 10 – 15 minutes or until golden brown. Stand for 5 minutes and then put on wire racks to cool completely.

Yeild: 2 dozen

Anyone want to come round and share them with me? I have soooo many:

Vegan Chocolate Cake

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]I think this chocolate cake is the easiest cake I’ve ever made, I’d barely even started and it was already baking away in the oven! Delicious too! It’s recipes like these that make me wonder why people bake with eggs and milk at all!

Vegan Chocolate Cake
(The Joy of Vegan Baking)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (188g) unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 cup cold water

+ the frosting of your choice

Method:

1. Prehead the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a baking pan. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder in a bowl until thoroughly combined.

2.Create a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the vanilla, oil, vinegar and water, mix until just combined. Pour into your prepared pan, and bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

3. Cool on a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

NOTE: you can also use this mixture for cupcakes, in that instance check after 15 minutes to see if cakes are done.

Vegan Pancakes

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]Another recipe with just an end result photo.. sorry about that! Will make sure I am better prepared with a charged up battery next time!!

This recipe is from The Joy of Vegan Baking.

I really LOVE this cook book and anyone who is even remotely interested in vegan baking really should get themselves a copy, it never ceases to amaze me. This pancake recipe is SOOO good.. even just thinking about it makes me want to make up another batch! Now if I could just invent a vegan nutella to slather my pancakes with I’d be all set!

Vegan Pancakes
(The Joy of Vegan Baking)

Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (or half all-purpose and half whole wheat)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup non-dairy milk (we used soy)
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons liquid sweetener such as maple syrup or apple juice concentrate (we used orange juice)
Additional oil or vegan butter for cooking (optional – depends on your pan)

Method:
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, oil and sweetener.

Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix just until moistened, a few lumps are okay (Don’t overmix or the pancakes will be tough).

Heat a nonstick pan over a medium head. (add some oil if required but with a nonstick pan you won’t need it)

Pour the batter onto the griddle to form circles about 10cm in diameter. Cook the pancakes for a couple of minutes on one side, until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip the pancake and cook the other side until golden brown.

This recipe makes 8 to 10 (super delicious) pancakes.

I served mine with fresh fruit and some vegan choc chips.. OMG! Delish!
For chocolate pancakes, use chocolate soy milk instead of soy milk, and add a cup full of choc chips!

Banana, Date & Walnut Loaf (vegan & sugar-free)

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]This is such an easy recipe! And delicious too. I wasn’t really able to get a good photo of the end product, the loaf tin I used was a bit too wide so my loaf ended up flatter than I would have liked, also, I was too busy eating it to take photos – but rest assured it was very yum!

Banana, Date & Walnut Loaf

Ingredients:

4 large, ripe bananas
200g wholemeal flour
75g oats
100g chopped dates
50g chopped dried cranberries (optional)
50g chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Mash the bananas and combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Grease a loaf tin and bake mixture in oven for between 50 – 80 minutes (start checking it after 50 mins and take it out once a skewer or knife to the center comes out clean).

It’s as simple as that! Enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

[tweetmeme style="compact" source="VeganChickie"]This vegan chocolate cupcake recipe is soooo good that even the non vegans of the world will love them (that means you Tennille!!).

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
(Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World)

Ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond or chocolate extract (I prefer chocolate – almond extract has quite a strong flavor)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

2. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil,  and vanilla extract and other extract, to the soy milk mixture and beat till foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to the wet ingredients and beat till no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are okay!)

3. Pour mixture into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before icing.

For the icing, I just used a plain chocolate icing: 2/3 cup of cocoa powder, 3 cups of icing sugar and enough warm water to make a paste.. ice your cupcakes and sprinkle with some 100s and 1000s and you’re all done!