Vegan Chocolate & Caramel Tarte

Vegan Chocolate & Caramel Tart

I’m almost 3 weeks into Vegan May and so far, so good. Yeah, OK, I miss cheese a little bit, but having gone to Club Mexicana last weekend and eaten some of their Vegan Cheese Fries the craving was satiated slightly. We hosted some friends over the weekend for Eurovision and I decided to try and bake something for us all to share after we’d had a little bit too much to drink. Having tackled vegan cinnamon buns I wanted to do something else which usually relies pretty heavily on dairy, a Vegan Chocolate & Salted Caramel Tart. Caramel usually has stacks of cream and butter, a ganache filling is filled with cream and pastry, almost by definition, is crammed full of butter. Read more

Vegan Cinnamon Buns

Vegan Cinnamon Buns

I’m 10 days into a Vegan month and so far it’s going pretty well. I’ve yet to find myself melting down into a puddle crying about halloumi. There’s still time, but so far, so good. One of the big ones for me when it comes to a month like this isn’t actually my meals, or even what milk to put in my tea, it’s the baking. I usually bake a couple of times a week, minimum, and most of my go-to recipes are full of butter and eggs. Cookies for instance are one of my favourite things to bake, but I’ve yet to find a vegan cookie recipe that’s matched up (if you’ve got one, please, please leave it in the comments below!). I decided to kick the month off with a batch of Vegan Cinnamon Buns though, to see whether I could make a completely vegan dough.
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Courgette Pancakes

Courgette Pancakes

If you don’t like pancakes, you’re lying. They are one of the most versatile food types. From crepes to fat american style there’s a huge amount of contrast in both texture and flavour. You can make them sweet or savoury, from the toppings down to the amount of sugar you add into your mix. This particular recipe, for Courgette Pancakes, can be eaten with sweet food (try with syrup and peanut butter like we did) or savoury (omit the sugar from the recipe and have them with something like avocado and eggs).
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Pulled Jackfruit (Vegan Pulled ‘Pork’)

Pulled Jackfruit

It’s national vegetarian week! I have a lot of vegetarian and vegan friends, in fact I’m half way through another meat free month myself, and one of the big nitpicks is often how a lot of meat focused restaurants hardly make an effort, using the excuse “but there isn’t anything suitable” or “you really want another veggie chilli, right?” instead of trying something a bit different. This recipe would sit nicely on the menu at any of the major BBQ places across the UK, or even at a number of Mexican ones. There are in fact a couple of places that do entirely veggie and vegan Mexican where Pulled Jackfruit is a staple.
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No Bake Almond Butter Bars

Following on from my last recipe post (Coconut Quinoa & Kale Salad), I’ll be keeping things relatively healthy. This, in part, is due to our oven being broken since I got home from Christmas (it has since been replaced, and upgraded!). I still had the baking urge, so I looked into some no bake recipes. The great thing about a lot of raw recipes is that they are pretty healthy. This has no sugar (just some honey), no butter (just coconut oil) and is packed full of seeds.

Almond Butter Bars

I’ve been looking for a snack to get me through the mornings lately (I’ve been so hungry of late) and these no bake almond butter bars are great. They have enough to them to tide you over but without too much fat and sugar they are (relatively) guilt free. The main thing I’d say though, is make sure you do keep them in the fridge. They get a tiny bit too gooey and sticky. They still taste great but it’s a bit messy to eat at your desk. Also nut butter, make your own. It’s so cheap and so much healthier than the store bought stuff. Ages ago I said to my friend Steph that I was going to try and do some more diabetic and gluten free friendly recipes, so here’s another for my Free From bakes.

Almond Butter Bars

Now my oven is fixed I’m going to start churning out the bakes again. I know it’s been quiet recipe wise for a few weeks now. The great news is that it actually has two shelves now. Which is going to cut down my baking time for a bunch of stuff. It’s actually a little worrying how excited I was when I saw that we had a new shelf. Things like this and new baking toys tend to get me far too overexcited.

Almond Butter Bars

Almond Butter Bars

Oh and hey, my friend Lucinda doodled me up bit of a logo which she then got printed on to stickers for me. Who wants one? They’ll be going on all of my Cake Care Packages from now on too!

Bearded-Bakery

Bearded Bakery Stickers

 

No Bake Almond Butter Bars
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 16 bars
Ingredients
  • 120ml cup honey
  • 60ml coconut oil
  • 60ml cup almond butter (I made my own, you can use store bought if you prefer)
  • ½ tbsp. cocoa powder
  • ¼ tsp. sea salt
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 70g chopped almonds
  • 50g cup chopped walnuts
  • 100g cup dark chocolate chips
  • 35g sunflower seeds
  • 40g pumpkin seeds
  • 50g Berries (Optional, pick the type)
  • 90g rolled oats
Instructions
  1. In a small saucepan over a low heat mix together the Honey, Oil, Almond Butter and Cocoa Powder. Keep stirring so it doesn't catch. Allow to heat for a few minutes until well mixed together.
  2. Meanwhile mix the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
  3. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and combine well.
  4. In a lined dish (I used my brownie tray) press the mixture out into a square. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, cut up and serve. This will last for several days in the fridge.