Vegan red velvet brownies

For my last recipe of the baking-filled week, I tried another red velvet recipe. Like the red velvet cupcakes I made earlier, these are also made with beetroot as well as kidney beans to give the red colour. Unfortunately they haven't come out red (the eternal red velvet problem) - but they do taste nice, albeit quite bean-y. As a bonus, they are pretty healthy.

Ingredients
1 cup red kidney beans
1/2 cup chopped cooked beetroot (roughly 1 small beetroot)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup ground flax/ linseed
4 tbsp apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease an 8x8 inch tin with soya margarine.
2. In a food processor, puree the kidney beans and beetroot - it takes a while so be patient. Add the apple sauce and vanilla and pulse a few times to mix.
3. In a large bowl combine the cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, sugar and linseed. Add the bean and beetroot mixture and fold until well mixed.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes, turning halfway through. When removing from the oven, test with a toothpick - some batter should cling to the toothpick.
5. Allow to cool completely and refrigerate for an hour before cutting.

Original recipe: Healthy vegan red velvet brownies

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!

Vegan peanut butter fudge (Easy peasy)

Ever since I went to New York last year I have become addicted to peanut butter flavoured things thanks to Reese's peanut butter cups (also sold in St Mary's hospital shop, yum). So when I saw this recipe I just had to give it a go. This is another quick, busy-schedule recipe. Like the vegan chocolate, it takes no time at all so anyone can do it. I took some fudge in with me to my placement and shared it with my team - they all loved it which made me very happy! Extremely yummy but also equally calorific so you have been warned ;)

Ingredients
3/4 cup vegan margarine
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups icing sugar
Method

1. Melt the margarine in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth.
2. Stir in the icing sugar a little at a time until well blended (it will look a bit lumpy at first but keep adding more sugar and it will be fine).
3. Scoop into a 9x9 inch baking dish and pat down. Chill until firm and then cut into squares for eating. Store in the fridge of course otherwise it will go all mushy!

I reduced the sugar down to 2 cups from 3 2/3 cups in the original recipe and I think it's just the right amount of sweet, hope you think so too :)

Vegan chocolate

I've wanted to try this recipe for a while, even bought the ingredients for it but only just got round to it. Now that I've done it, I don't know why I waited so long! It literally took 10 minutes to prepare, and then the solidifying time. So so easy (which is why I'm not counting it as one of my 2-a-week), and not to mention delicious. It's the type of chocolate that literally melts in your mouth, a bit like the centre of a truffle (the best bit in my opinion!). I never want to buy chocolate again - this is just too good.

(I used my new rose moulds - so cool right?)

Ingredients
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (cheapest from VB but you can also get it from health food shops for an extortionate price)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp agave nectar (from health food shops)/ coconut nectar/ maple syrup/ honey if you're not vegan)
1/4 tsp stevia sweetener (I bought asdas own brand sweetener which is stevia, but I'm sure you can use truvia too!)
Method

1. Melt the coconut over a low heat and remove from the heat as soon as it's melted.
2. Sift in the cocoa powder and whisk until well combined.
3. Add the sweeteners and mix well.
4. Pour into moulds/ tray (and cut into pieces when solid)/ pour over dessert or fruit/ anything else you can think of. I will definitely be experimenting with it!

Original recipe: Homemade, raw, vegan chocolate

Like I said, this chocolate melts very easily so it needs to live in the fridge. SO SO GOOD!!!

(NOT VEGAN) Skull and crossbones baileys and hotchocolate jelly

As promised, here is my 5th dish! Like dish 4, this one is also NOT VEGAN. But as you will see, its a very flexible and adaptable recipe. In fact, it's not really much of a recipe at all, its more of an idea. When I first thought up this blog (only a week ago!) I got very excited and bought a few silicone tray moulds to experiment with. Being a medical student, I actually tried to find ones shaped like organs (LOL) but unfortunately could find any - so I got the next best thing, and it arrived a couple of days ago!!

Skull and crossbones!!
Ingredients
Baileys Irish cream
Hot chocolate
Agar-agar powder (1 g per 100 ml, from VB, really expensive in health food shops)
A funky silicone mould tray
A set of standard silicone muffin cups (or shapes of your choosing, as long as the funky ones fit into these)
(I haven't put any amounts because it depends on your moulds - you can measure how much water goes into them first so that you know how much you will need)
Method

1. Heat the Baileys in a pan. Add in 1 g of agar-agar powder per 100 ml (though I used 2 g per 100 ml of Baileys to make it set firmer and therefore easier to take out of such a tricky mould) and whisk until all the powder has dissolved. Pour into the mould and set in the freezer for 30-40 minutes or until well set.
2. Heat the hot chocolate in a saucepan with 1 g of agar-agar powder per 100 ml and whisk until all the powder has dissolved. Allow to cool until it begins to thicken.
3. Carefully remove the baileys from the mould (tip: pull the tray away from the edges of the jelly before you try to pop it out to reduce mishaps), put face down into the muffin cups and pour the hot chocolate into the gaps. Allow to set in the fridge and enjoy!!

You can easily substitute the Baileys and hot chocolate for two other drinks that go well together, and if you don't have a funky silicone tray, why not just do two layers in the silicone muffin cups instead? And if even that is too much faff for you, just mix the hot chocolate and baileys together!

Vegan watermelon jelly

Now this is the quickest and easiest recipe ever! All you need is agar agar powder (the vegan alternative to gelatine) aka faluda power and hey presto, jiggly jelly!! A bit of a cheat really (so I'm not counting it as one of my two dishes) but the next recipe I've got planned will make up for it, trust me ;) . Inspiration for this was the half eaten watermelon found in the second fridge that had been forgotten about!

Ingredients
Half a medium watermelon
100 g sugar (though I only used about 75g in an attempt to be healthier)
13 g agar agar powder (from VB, also available in health food shops for about 10 times the price and I'm not even exaggerating)
Method

1. Cut the watermelon into large pieces, place in a food processor and puree. 
2. Strain the juice through a fine strainer to remove the pulp and seeds (I ate this, pretty yummy so don't waste it). This made about 1 litre of juice for me. As a rough guide use 10g sugar and 1.3g agar agar powder per 100ml. 
3. In a large pan heat the watermelon juice and add the sugar and agar agar powder while regularly mixing with a whisk for 4-5 minutes. 
4. Remove from heat and pour into containers of your choice - I used silicone muffin cups. It should start to thicken fairly fast and only really takes about 1-2 hours to get to the right wobbliness, but will take longer in a big container!

Original recipe: Watermelon jelly

Like I said, easy peasy! And you can use agar agar to make a jelly out of pretty much anything (see the tips below) - I aim to try some alcoholic ones when my family finishes these ones off. Also have some fun silicone moulds on the way - actually feel excited like a little kid!

Read all about it
Agar is derived from a plant source, sets more firmly than gelatin and is really easy to use. You should use ~1g per 100ml of water or milk, and ~1.3g per 100ml of more acidic liquids such as fruit juices. If it doesn't set properly or sets too hard, you can melt it down again, add more powder or liquid and the problem is solved!