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‘dessert’ Category

  1. Rhubarb Tart

    June 9, 2008 by Victoria

    This was the first time I’ve made a tart, I used to just buy them and stick them in the microwave, but most tarts, even if they don’t contain milk are glazed with it, or eggs. It was about time I started making my own. This is Nick’s absolute favorite dessert, thanks to his granny who used to bake them for him. It’s funny, I always see grannies as the type to bake tarts but mine never did. I wonder where I got that stereotype from? There are loads of vegan rhubarb tart recipes out there, but this is just what worked for me. One that I want to try in the future contains not just rhubarb but strawberry (yum yum) over at the Rural Vegan blog

    For the rhubarb and sugar filling, I added some flour as I made a peach crumble from La Dolce Vegan a while ago, and the flour/sugar seemed to form a wonderful syrup. The rhubarb came from my fathers garden, so now I have tonnes of the stuff. It’s immense, particularly the leaf which he stripped off for me, it’s was pretty much as big as me!

    Rhubarb


    Anyone have any suggestion of how else to eat it other than tart, and stewed rhubarb with custard (I have yet to try the vegan custard I found in Tescos)?

    Directions:

    Filling:
    4 large stalks of Rhubarb
    3/4 cup regular sugar
    1/4 cup flour
    3 tablespoons lemon juice

    Chop up the rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces and mix with the rest of the filling. Leave it to sweat.

    Pastry:
    2 cups plain flour
    Pinch of salt
    1/2 cup margarine
    1/5 cup water

    Mix the flour and margarine with your hands until crumbly. Gradually add water (you may not need it all) until the dough sticks together when you squish it together. Roll out roughly and put in cling film. Leave in the fridge for about a half hour before rolling out two circular pieces. Place one in your pie dish, add the filling, then place the other on top. Crimp the edges and poke a few holes into the top. You can then glaze the top with a little bit of soy milk. I cooked my tart for about 75 minutes at gas mark 4 (Thats 350 degrees folks) but cooking times vary from oven to oven. Leave to sit for a few minutes before cutting a big slice to have with a large mug of tea. The tart was lovely, it left the house smelling great for a few hours and our tummy’s nicely satiated with a good combination of bitter and sweet.

    Rhubarb Tart

    Category baking, dessert, humor, ommnomnom, recipe | Tags: | 5 Comments

  2. Easy Vegetable Paella

    May 14, 2008 by Victoria

    I haven’t updated in about week, but I have made so many dinners in that amount of time that I just wish I had time to take photos of them all! For one, using the tofu ricotta recipe in Veganomicon I made a roasted toasted lasagna that went down a treat with all the omnivores at a bar-b-que last weekend. If only they knew there was tofu in it! It’s so funny that sense of fear I have seen in a number of omnivores when it comes to eating tofu. That particular bar-b-que/party went on until the next morning and I offered to throw together some scrambled tofu to go with the breakfast for the masses. I altered between telling them it was tofu scramble and just getting them to taste (what they believed mostly consisted eggs) and they all loved the stuff! There were a good number, who on hearing it was tofu point blank refused to eat it. It’s a strange mentality. Mmm, I also made a sun-dried tapenade, also from Veganomicon that was eaten well before the bar-b-que even got started, so I’ll make sure to repeat that recipe again and post up the results.

    Easy Vegan Paella with a Slice of Lemon

    Today’s recipe was last nights dinner – Paella. We had made this once before, so this recipe is pretty much ad lib. There are several places where you can find vegetarian paella recipes on the net,and they all tend to be vegan. I think of it as similar to cooking risotto, except you just add all the stock at once. This is probably going to feature largely in my kitchen this summer as it’s a light and amazingly full of flavor dish. That and it’s super easy to do, especially because you should have most of the ingredients on hand. Nick and I threw together a large pot of Sangria to go with our Paella that kept us going all night. It’s amazing how good a cheep bottle of wine can taste when mixed right. Sooo good. omm.

    On to the Ingredients: Paella with Artichokes

    • 250g / Half a bag of Paella Rice (You can use other types of rice if you can’t find paella rice)
    • 1 cup vegetable stock
    • 1/4 cup Olive Oil
    • 1 large onion diced
    • 4/5 cloves garlic loosely chopped
    • 1 red and 1 yellow Bell Pepper sliced
    • 1 courgette chopped
    • 6 large Mushrooms sliced
    • 1 cup frozen peas
    • 1 tin Chopped Tomatoes
    • A pinch of Saffron (You may substitute Turmeric if you don’t have any saffron)
    • Salt and Pepper to Taste
    • 1 lemon
    • Optional. You can get a tin of artichokes to garnish, but I wouldn’t eat enough of them to make it work buying the tin so didn’t bother.

    Man in the Kitchen 131/366

    Directions:

    In a large pot heat up the olive oil and then add the onions and garlic. You can of course do all this in a large frying pan and serve the pan to the table. Just make sure you don’t loose many ingredients when you stir! Cook these until the onions are translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables, and cook for about 5 minutes then add the peas. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
    Add the tin of tomatoes, rice and safron and mix well. Then add the stock. Cook for about 15/20 minutes stirring often and adding small amounts of water if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste.
    Serve with lemon slices and a large glass of Sangria

    Easy Vegan Paella with a Slice of Lemon

    Category alcohol, book, dessert, mains, ommnomnom, recipe, review | Tags: ,,,,, | 13 Comments

  3. Peach Crumbcake from La Dolce Vegan

    April 28, 2008 by Victoria

    La Dolce Vegan was one of the first vegan cook-books I bought. I found it in Hodges Figes an immediately picked it up. There are some mixed reviews on amazon but I’d say it’s a good buy for anyone new to veganism and a pleasant read. Sarah Kramer has included some neat cooking tips and a crafty section at the end, and the book is packed with extra comments for a more personal touch.

    Peach Crumb Cake
    The Peach Crumbcake is I guess what we’d call a Peach Crumble. Remember those Apple Crumbles that the sold in the school canteen. Usually soggy and full of bitter apples and a couple of canteen lady hairs. *Gah* Luckily, the only thing that Kramers Crumbcake has in common is the crumblyness. My very critical of new things boyfriend tested the cake for me and said that it is better than any of the pies his granny has ever made for him. I’m pretty sure that if something competes with grannys cooking it has to be good.

    Ingredients:

    • 2 cups Flour
    • 1 1/2 cups Sugar
    • 2 tsp Baking Powder
    • 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
    • 1/4 tsp Salt
    • 1/2 cup Vegan Margarine
    • 3/4 cup Soya Milk
    • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
    • Egg replacer to equal 2 Eggs
      • I used 2 teaspoons of “No Egg
    • 1 1/2 cups Peaches, finely chopped
      • I used canned peaches, this meant the mix had more liquid and took slightly longer to firm up in the oven
    • 1 tbsp Sugar

    Directions:
    Preheat the oven to 350F (Gas mark 4). Lightly grease an 8-inch cake pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the margarine and combine with your hands (I love this part, it’s really satisfying ^_^), until it resembles a coarse meal. Set aside 1 cup of the mixture for later.

    Add the soya milk, egg replacer, vanilla, and peaches to the remaining dough and stir until “just mixed”. (I actually replaced some of the milk with the juices from the peaches can and left out the vanilla). Spoon into the cake pan and spread the reserved mixture evenly over top of cake. Sprinkle top with 1 tbsp of sugar and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

    Peach Crumb Cake

    Category baking, book, dessert, ommnomnom | Tags: ,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  4. Peanut Butter Chocolate Cups

    April 20, 2008 by Victoria

    Reeses cups used to be one of my favourite sweets before I went vegan. At first I used to have cravings for milk chocolate products like Toffy Crisps and Starbars, and other such tasty badness.
    Peanutbutter Cups
    Now that I have gotten over my addictions to those things, I usually crave something savory instead, or satiate my need for sweet things with home-made buns. But I still oogle the Reeses cups in the shops, so I had to try and make something similar. There are dozens of recipes on the internet, so I just took the basic ingredients available to me and tasted as I went along. I don’t recommend this method to you although. I felt quite ill after consuming far too much cooking chocolate, sugar and peanut butter! Anyways, on to the recipe:

    Ingredients:

    • 1 bar dark cooking chocolate
    • 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
    • 1/2 cup sifted icing sugar
    • 4 teaspoons soya butter
    • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

    Directions:
    Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a bowl over a pot of boiling water
    Meanwhile, mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. It should form a stiff texture that is mailable with your hands, and doesn’t leave them sticky.

    Peanutbutter Cups

    I recently bought some silicone bun cases in Dunnes Stores. They’re a great product, suitable for the oven, microwave and freezer.

    • Line these with a teaspoon or two of the melted chocolate
    • Roll a ball of the peanut butter mix in your hand, and smooth it out into a cylindrical shape that will fit into your case
    • Pop it into the case, and top with more melted chocolate.
    • Put into the freezer until nice and hard
    • Serve with a cup of tea, you’ll need it to wash down the chocolaty peanuty goodness

    Peanutbutter Cups

    Category dessert, ommnomnom, recipe, snacks | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  5. Vegan Jager Bomb Cupcakes

    April 11, 2008 by Victoria

    Vegan Jager Bomb Cupcakes

    One of my long time friends is having a birthday meal next weekend. A few weeks ago I promised him some special cupcakes as a birthday present. Special because they are going to be vegan Jager Bomb cupcakes ^_^ I did some googling to see if it could be done, and so far one person, over at ecupcake.blogspot has tried. They looked like they held up alright in the oven, so tonight I had a test run to make some vegan jager bomb cupcakes.
    Gooey innards of Vegan Jager Bomb Cupcakes

    I’m not going to post the recipe this time around. I am going to tweak the recipe next weekend and I want to see which batch turns out better.

    In essence, the bun is died with liquorice and ruby red food coloring gel, and I used a mix of soya milk, rapseed oil and red bull as the wet ingredients with colored butter-cream red bull icing and gooey jager innards. I haven’t been able to eat a whole one yet as they are fantastically rich! However, according to my boyfriend, who is pretty critical of new foods, they taste great. Like a tasty sweet and mild jager bomb. You can taste both the red bull and the jager. The one thing that I find quite odd is the smell, usually fresh cupcakes are sweet and enticing, not alcoholic and enticing. I can’t wait for round two!

    Category alcohol, baking, dessert, recipe | Tags: | 7 Comments

  6. mmm Mac Peanut-Butter Brownie Cupcakes

    March 25, 2008 by Victoria

    Proof of my mac fan-girl-dom and <3 love of tasty tasty buns

    Apple mac brownie cupcake

    Ingredients:

    • 2 cup flour
    • 2 cup sugar
    • 1 1/2 cup water
    • 3/4 cup coca powder
    • 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
    • 1/2 cup rapeseed oil
    • 2 tablespoons molasses
    • 1/2 cup chopped nuts
    • 1/2 cup roughly chopped vegan dark chocolate
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • Icing-sugar to sift
    • Cardboard and a Sissors

    Mac mac mac

    Directions:

    • Turn on the oven at Gas mark 5. It should be hot by the time you have finished mixing the ingredients.
    • Sift flour, coca and baking powder into a large bowl
      Add sugar and salt
      Whisk in the water and oil
      Add chopped nuts and dark chocolate
      Mix in the molasses and peanut butter with a wooden spoon until gloopy
    • Dollop the mixture into each bun case; they should only be about half way full.
    • Pop in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, until they are soft, but the knife comes out dry.
    • You can either eat them now, or wait for them to cool down and make a cardboard stencil for the mac-tacular effect ^_^ Tastes better with HB Soya ice-cream

    mmmMac Brownie Cupcakes 78/366

    mmmMac ^_^

    Category baking, dessert, recipe | Tags: ,,,,, | 9 Comments