Week 15 Dish 2: Vegan pear walnut muffins

I went to the Enchanted Woodland in Syon park earlier this evening. For those of you who haven't heard of it, Syon park is famous for having many different and rare trees, and every year for 3 weekends they open the park in the evening with all the trees illuminated in lights of different colours. It really looks spectacular!

(The photo really doesn't do the park justice)

Earlier in the day before my exciting evening I baked pear and walnut muffins. It's difficult to find exotic fruits now so I thought it would be best to make something with pears which are so readily available. This recipe doesn't have a huge amount of sugar and the batter (I licked the bowl at the end of course :p) was not overly sweet, but when I bit into the muffin the taste was so amazing! The pears had become really soft and tender and the sweetness really came through making the muffins divine, especially when hot and fresh from the oven. Oh so good!!

Makes 12

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup whole meal flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/4 cup finely chopped ripe but firm pears (about 2 medium pears)

1/3 cup walnuts pieces

3/4 cup soya milk

2 tbsp vegetable/ canola/ rapeseed oil

1 tbsp linseeds

4 tbsp water

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and line a muffin tray with muffin cups.
2. Grin the linseed with water until smooth and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add the pears and walnuts and toss gently to coat.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the soya milk, oil and linseed mixture, and pour this into the dry ingredients stirring until just combined.
5. Divide the batter equally amongst the muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack though I recommend you eat them while hot and fresh!

Original recipe: Pear walnut muffins

Week 15 Dish 1: Vegan carrot cake with cashew cream cheese frosting

Ahhh this week has been a bit boring... I'm on my ENT placement and it's really not an area I'm interested in. I've spent the week looking up noses, in ears and down throats - lovely. Thankfully it's only a week long so it's over. But of course, it hasn't put me off my baking!

This week my netball team had a team dinner, and though I couldn't make it (very sad) I contributed with vegan carrot cake! You really can't go wrong with carrot cake, everyone finds it yummy, so I though it would be perfect. I've been told that everyone loved it, and hopefully they weren't lying, so it's definitely one to try out! Other than the faff of grating the carrots, it's easy peasy...

Ingredients

For the cake

3 1/2 cups out flour (made by grinding oats in a food processor)

3 tbsp ground linseed

1 tsp heaped cinnamon

1 1/2 tbsp baking powder (though the cake doesn't really rise much)

2 1/2 cups soya milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp orange juice

1/2 tsp orange zest

1/4 cup melted vegan margarine

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

2 1/2 cups chopped grated carrots (use a food processor to further chop the grated carrots)

For the frosting

2 cups cashews, soaked 4 hours (use chopped cashews in warm water to make this faster)

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp liquid coconut oil

1/3-2/3 cup maple syrup/ honey/ golden syrup

Water as needed (use as little as possible)

Decorations as preferred - I used finely chopped walnuts and orange zest

Method 

1. Preheat over to 180 degrees C and line a 13x9 inch cake tray with grease proof paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix the oat flour, linseed, cinnamon and baking powder.
3. Fold I'm the soya milk, vanilla extract, orange juice and orange zest.
4. Melt the margarine and add the sugar to it. Melt it further if necessary to make a thick paste and add this to the bowl and combine.
5. Finally, fold in the carrots, nuts and raisins and pour the thick batter into the preparers cake tray. Bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
6. While the cake is baking, prepare the frosting. Blend all the ingredients in a blender until completely smooth, adding as little water as possible. You will have to keep stopping to give the ingredients a stir to encourage the blender.
7. Once the cake is completely cool, you can frost it using a palette knife and decorate as you like! 

Originals recipes: Vegan carrot cake, cashew cream cheese frosting

Week 14 Dish 2: Vegan cranberry walnut oat cookies

I finished my renal placement, it went so fast (probably because it was only a week long) but was pretty useful! I talked to a lot of patients with kidney transplants, on dialysis, and with lots of other signs. There was a patient with aortic regurgitation with a diastolic murmur and a collapsing pulse, which I have only seen once before. Definitely useful! Now I'm on to my ENT week, let's see how that goes....

To continue the sweet and sour theme (mostly so that I can finish the cranberries in the freezer) I decided to make cookies with cranberries as my second recipe this week. The original recipe said dried cranberries but the frozen ones work just as well, hope you enjoy them :D

Makes ~20 (depending on size)
Ingredients
2 cups oats
2 cups wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup agave/ honey
3 tbsp golden syrup (optional, depends how sweet you want the cookies. I used 3 and next would probably use 1-2)
1 cup water
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped cranberries (fresh, frozen or dried unsweetened)
1/2 cup walnuts
Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.
2. Mix together the oats, flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Then add the remaining ingredients other than the cranberries and walnuts.
3. Stir until almost combined, then add the cranberries and walnuts and finish mixing.
4. Scoop heaped tablespoons of the batter onto the baking trays. They do spread a bit so leave about 1.5 inch gap between them. I made 21 cookies but they were quite big so you can probably get about 30 if you want smaller ones.
5. Bake for 10 minutes (maybe less if they are smaller), allow to cool for a couple of minutes on the tray before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Sweet and sour goodness!

Original recipe: Vegan cranberry and walnut oatmeal cookies

Week 14 Dish 1: Vegan orange cranberry muffins

HALF WAY!!!!! That's right, as of the end of week 13, I am officially half way through my baking challenge and this is the first recipe of the second half! Frankly, I'm really proud of the fact that I've managed to keep it going for 13 weeks. I feel like I'm in my stride now, I can definitely do this. I've only got two more weeks of firms followed by 4 weeks of Christmas holiday, which will definitely make things easier.

So for the first recipe of the second half, I decided to bake something sweet and sour: vegan orange and cranberry muffins! We have had cranberries in our freezer for ages and my mum asked me to finish them so I thought this was the perfect recipe (though I didn't use them all - means I have to make them again, what a shame :p). Cranberries are always sour, but they just taste so good in these muffins. As usual, very quick and easy to bake so give them a go!

Ingredients
2 cups wholemeal flour
2/3 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tbsp orange zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen), roughly chopped
1 cup pecans/ walnuts, roughly chopped
Method

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Line a muffin tray with muffin cups.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
3. Make a well in the centre and add orange juice, canola oil, orange zest and vanilla extract. Combine until half mixed, then add the cranberries and walnuts and finish mixing.
4. Fill the muffin cup 3/4 full and bake for 23-27 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once cool enough to handle, transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. NOM NOM NOM!

Original recipe: Orange cranberry muffins

Week 13 Dish 2: Vegan pineapple cupcakes

Here's a second pineapple treat! :D

Makes 16-18
Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup soya milk
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup sugar
8 oz/ 125 g tin crushed pineapple, drained
Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line muffin trays with cupcake liners.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda,  and salt. 
3. In another bowl, mix the oil, milk, applesauce and vanilla. Stir in the sugar and pineapple until well combined.
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, spoon into the cupcake lines and bake for 23-25 minutes.

Original recipe:Vegan pineapple cupcakes

Week 13 Dish 1: Vegan Pineapple coconut cookies

My GP attachment is officially over! I'm quite sad about it really, I have a brilliant time out in Somerset. All the doctors were juts so welcoming and I had so many of my own clinics. I learnt so much and felt like part of the team (cliche I know, but still true) because they got me so involved unlike many attachments when you're just put in the corner to observe. And of course the GPs I stayed with were so amazing! I already mentioned that they took me clay pigeon shooting, and during the rest of the trip they took me wine tasting, cider tasting and to pudding club! Pudding club was a very interesting experience, I tried so many and there was one in particular that I loved - apricot brioche tart. Unfortunately it's not vegan but I might still make it at some point when I feel like indulging. Safe to say I had lots of fun!

The doctors I stayed with had an amazing garden and grew many fruits, veg and herbs. It made me miss my tropical fruits so I treated myself to a pineapple tin this week after I saw this very scrumptious looking recipe. They came out quite different compared to the photos of the original recipe but yummy nonetheless! Again, these are one of my less healthy bakes, but it's good to treat yourself every now and then ;)

Makes 12
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegan margarine
225 g pineapple pieces, crushed (but not too much)
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (or nut of preference)
1 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
2. Cream the vegan margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the pineapple and beat until well mixed, followed by the baking powder and flour while mixing on low speed.
3. Stir in the chopped nuts and 3/4 cup of desiccated coconut.
4. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the rest of the coconut before placing on the baking tray about 2 inches apart. My batter was very wet, probably because I crushed the pineapple more than I should have so couldn't make balls. Instead I sprinkled a bit of coconut on the tray, put a dollop of batter on top of it and sprinkled more coconut on top. A bit tricky and messy but worked out in the end!
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Cool for 5 minutes on the tray then remove and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Original recipe: Vegan paradise cookies

Week 12 Dish 2: Vegan banana walnut muffins

As I mentioned before, I started experimenting with vegan dishes because my dad recently decided to become vegan. He actually make this choice early this year, but I was so busy with 5th year and looming exams (nightmare!) I never really baked anything vegan until July after my exams were finally over. What really inspired me to begin were 3 extremely overripe bananas; usually used to make banana bread but the recipe was not vegan. So I thought, it can't be that hard to find a vegan recipe can it? And it wasn't hard at all! I found so many, chose the simplest one with ingredients that most people would have, and voila! Vegan banana bread! Soon this became a standard treat I would bake if the bananas became too mushy (and thanks to the gorgeous summer we've had, this has been pretty common). I've since experimented with bars and cookies, but nothing beats a moist muffin! So here is the recipe, which can be made as a bread, muffins or cake.

Makes 12 muffins/ one bread loaf/ one 8 inch cake
Ingredients
225 g plain flour
3 heaped tsp baking powder
100 g brown sugar (I've been reducing this to 75 g)
3 tsp ground cinnamon or mixed spice or a combination of the two (I've been using 5 tsp and would recommend it to anyone who loves cinnamon)
3 large mushy bananas, mashed
75 g vegetable or sunflower oil (weight)
50 g walnuts (or other nuts or dried fruits)
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and get the muffin cases ready.
2. Add the mashed bananas, sugar and oil to a large mixing bowl and mix well.
3. Add the sieved flour, baking powder and cinnamon/ mixed spice and mix until combined.
4. Stir in the nuts/ dried fruit and spoon into the muffin cases.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
6. To make as a bread, bake in a greased and lined loaf tin at 180°C for 20 minutes, then check. If the loaf is browning, cover with foil and bake for another 40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Remove from the tin after cooling for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
7. To make as a cake, bake in a greased 8 inch cake tin at 180°C for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from the to and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Original recipe: Vegan banana bread
Like I said, a very simple recipe with scrumptious results! Because vegan muffins are usually made with oil, they are often more moist and soft than their non-vegan counterparts - try them and see for yourself!!

Week 12 Dish 1: Vegan red velvet cake with cashew cream cheese frosting

It was my sister's birthday yesterday!! Happy belated birthday Sis!! Unfortunately I'm away in Somerset at the moment, but I did go home last weekend so we celebrated her birthday on Sunday. I baked a cake (of course) and we went out for a yummy meal (cake first, then the meal - this is the way it should always be :p). The cake I baked for her was a vegan red velvet. The original recipe was for a two-tier cake but I knew that it would be too much for my family to finish especially with all the Diwali sweets I made, so I only made half the recipe, and as you can see below I made it in a skull cake tin - so cool!! I also left out the food colouring because I didn't have the right type, and didn't put on any frosting because it would just be too sweet for us. But the recipe below is for a two-tier cake with frosting. Enjoy!!

Ingredients
For the cake
440 g plain flour
300 g sugar
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
4 tsp cocoa powder
470 ml soya milk
155 ml vegetable oil
3 tbsp red food colouring - this should be a non-natural type for the colour to stay red. Apparently beetroot juice works too but I haven't tried it!
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the cashew frosting
2 cups cashews, soaked for 4 hours
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp liquid coconut oil
1/3-2/3 cup maple syrup/ honey/ golden syrup
Water as needed
Decorations as preferred e.g. nuts, raisins, chocolate etc
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees C. Line two 8 inch cake tins with grease proof paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cocoa powder. Create a well in the centre and add the milk, oil, food colouring, vinegar and vanilla. Mix until combined.
3. Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake tins and place in the oven spaced evenly apart. Bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the cakes pull away from the sides of the pan.
4. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.
5. While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the frosting. Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add as little water as possible. Set aside.
6. Once the cakes are cool, you can frost them. Place one cake upside down (slice off the rounded bit of the cake if it doesn't stand straight). Using a palette knife, spread some of the frosting, about 1/4-1/3, over the top of the cake. Carefully set the other cake on top, again upside down and with some of the rounded bit sliced off to help it sit straight if necessary. Cover the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate however you like!!

Original recipes: Red velvet cake, cashew cream cheese frosting

Vegan almond barfi

And here is the final recipe! It's really a halwa recipe, but you can set it and cut it into diamonds like I did, or serve it warm as halwa!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups almonds soaked overnight
2 cups water
2 pinches of saffron
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
Method

1. Line a 9x9 inch baking tray with grease proof paper.
2. Blend the soaked almonds with some of the 2 cups of water - use as less as possible to start of with to make the almond paste as smooth as possible. Add the remaining water.
3. Pour the paste into a pan and cook until the mixture thickens and dries. Add the sugar and mix well. then the oil. Continue cooking until the mixture becomes lumpy and thick.
4. Lastly add saffron and cardamom and mix in. Pour into the prepared tray and let cool for 30 minutes before refrigerating to cool completely. Cut into diamonds. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.

Original recipe: Almond halwa

This is the last of the 3 Indian sweet recipes - I hope you like them!

Vegan date fig barfi

My second vegan Indian sweet recipe is a sugarless vegan date fig barfi - delicious and not overly sweet like most Indian sweets are! Definitely an easy one to make, so go for it :D

Makes 12-16 squares (depending on how big you cut them)
Ingredients
1 cup dates
1 cup dried figs
1 cup water
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup cashews
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
Method

1. Soak the dates and figs in hot water for an hour. Line an 8x4 inch (or similar size) deep tray with grease proof paper.
2. Coarsely grind the dry almonds and cashew and keep aside.
3. Blend the dates and figs using some of the water used for soaking until coarsely chopped (the less water you use the easier the next step will be). 
4. In a pan, heat the oil at a low heat and add the date fig mixture. Cook at low heat stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Add in the almonds, cashews and cardamom powder and keep cooking until the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan. 
5. Spread the mixture into the pan. Let cool and refrigerate for an hour before slicing. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week!

Original recipe: Date fig barfi

Vegan kesar barfi

Happy Diwali and Happy New Year! It has been a very busy weekend for me. Saturday night was my final year dinner, and it was a really good night - and a bit emotional too! I can't believe I'm almost at the end of my 6 years at medical school. So many good memories :) Other than that, I also celebrated my sister's birthday yesterday because I'm away in Somerset during the week on her actual birthday. Which of course means I baked a cake for her (recipe coming soon). And as if that wasn't enough, I ambitiously decided to make 3 different indian sweets for Diwali! I don't make things easy for myself do I? So here is the first of the three sweets - vegan kesar (saffron) barfi!

Date fig barfi (left), almond halwa (middle), kesar barfi (right)
Makes 12-16 squares (depending how big you cut them)

Ingredients

3/4 cup almonds soaked overnight
1/2 cup fine semolina flour

2 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Pinch of cardamom powder

1/2-1 tsp saffron strands (to taste)

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Line a small dish with grease proof paper (I used a small pie dish).
2. Soak the almonds overnight. Peel and pulse into coarse crumbs (peel them by soaking in boiling water for 2 minutes, then press them and the almonds should pop out of their skin).
3. In a pan, dry roast the semolina on low-medium heat for 6-8 minute or until it's starts changing colour and in fragrant. Add the ground almonds and oil and mix well to form crumbs.
4. In another pan, mix the sugar, water, cardamom powder, saffron strands and salt. Bring to the boil on a low-medium heat until 1 string consistency is achieved (a few minutes). Add it to the semolina mixture and mix well until combined while on the heat.
5. Take off heat after a few seconds and pour into the prepared tray. Even it out and cut into squares before it hardens. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before breaking into pieces. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.

Original recipe: Kesar barfi

2 more recipes to come!

Week 11 Dish 2: Vegan pumpkin muffins (ghosts and pumpkins)

Happy Halloween!!!! Yes, I know I'm a day late but I just completely forgot yesterday.... I blame the excitement of going clay pigeon shooting!!! That's right, the GP took me clay pigeon shooting - it was so much fun (even though I was pretty rubbish haha). I definitely want to go again - who wants to take me next time? :p

The recipe for today is pumpkin muffins! 'More pumpkin?! Why!?' I hear you say....trust me, these are too good not to make (and I still have enough pumpkin left for one more recipe - I know you're excited :p). I made them for the GPs that I'm staying with on Tuesday and thought I would post them on Halloween (I'm sure you can understand why from the picture below) but it's a bit late now, oh well! I hope you appreciate the ghosts and pumpkin shapes, I bought the silicone moulds from aldi (cheap but fantastic).

Ingredients
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup soya milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
2 tbsp treacle
Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C and prepare a muffin tray with muffin cups.
2. Mix the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, soya milk, oil and treacle. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well combined.
4. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Original recipe: The best pumpkin muffins

This weekend is Diwali, so I hope to make some vegan Indian sweets - I'm quite excited!