We discovered this brilliant food additive recently – oak smoked water. It’s completely natural, but sounds like pure alchemy!
Add a few drops to home-made hummus, baba ganoush or barbecue sauce. I think it would be a great addition to my vegan seitan burger recipe. Get the great taste of outdoor grilled food – without the time, effort and (something which I lack!) skill of getting a fire started.
These vegan, gluten-free brownies were one of the sweet treats (the other was vegan, gluten-free shortbread) that I took to my last Women’s Institute meeting.
The original recipe used coconut oil as the shortening ingredient; however, I had some remaining Trex that I’d used for the shortbread. I don’t think it detracted from the taste. In addition, I didn’t have a lemon to add to my soya milk to make the buttermilk; instead, I used lime. If you have neither, a tablespoon of white wine or cider vinegar will suffice.
The resulting brownies were rich, chocolaty, gooey and sweet with that lovely crackle top that brownies should always have. They were so sweet, in fact, that I’d reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe – perhaps down to 300 grams.
I brought the few portions that hadn’t been eaten by the ladies back home. I had one of them the following night, reheated in the microwave and a generous amount of thick cream dolloped on top. It was lovely!
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest
Having specialist dietary requirements has become so much easier to live with in the past couple of years. If you’re vegan or gluten-free, you’re thankfully much more catered for in supermarkets and restaurants.
Since moving to Wales, I joined the local Women’s Institute in the village. The members take it in turns at each meeting to make the tea and provide the cake & biscuits. This week, it’s my turn! In the group, there are a few vegetarians, a vegan and someone with Coeliac disease. I decided I’d make two different things; one biscuit-y and one cake-y. The former would be vegan gluten-free shortbread. The latter, I’ll share on here next week.
Doves Farm produce a huge range of flours, one of which is a gluten-free plain white flour. It’s a blend of rice, potato, tapioca, maize and buckwheat flours. The lack of gluten means that the mixture can be unworkable and the biscuit too crumbly. To combat this, a minuscule amount of xanthan gum is added to the flour to help bind the dough and subsequent biscuit. In addition, I used Trex as the shortening. The brand doesn’t make it apparent on the packaging, however, it is completely vegan.
I used my favourite antique wooden mould, dusting it with rice flour which is gluten-free.
The recipe worked well; the dough came together and moulded with no trouble. The round released from the mould easily and slicing it into triangular ‘petticoat tails’ was a breeze.
If I were to make these again, I’d up the sugar content, perhaps sprinkling some granulated over the top just before they went into the oven.
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest
Have you given something up for Lent? Have you decided to carry on after the end of Veganuary? If you have – well done to you – we’ve picked out a trio of vegan Easter treats for you.
The three things we’ve chosen are each a little different to the usual Easter eggs, and probably even more delicious!
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