Flight of Fancy
Let's eat!
easy peasy Vegan honeycomb
I’ve been promising for a while now to make my father some honeycomb. It’s one of his favourite things but I was getting cold feet because of sugar temperature and the like.
Today I made more than one batch of honeycomb trying to get the recipe right, and I am ashamed to admit that I do not have a proper candy thermometer so I used an old meat thermometer I found combined with a clothes peg. Lets just say it did not go well the first couple tries!
Some notes before the recipe:
- Please use a proper thermometer, it will save you time and ingredients. (I do speak from experience)
- The golden syrup I used can be exchanged with agave, maple or corn syrup.
- Don’t walk away from the pot, sugar is much like and avocado, turn your back for a second and it’s inedible.
- Use a bigger pot than you think you’ll need. It does puff up quite a lot and it’s better to have used a bigger pot than have used a smaller one and got sugar all over your stove.
What you’ll need:
- Candy thermometer
- Biggish saucepan
- Baking tray or cake pan sprayed with some non-stick spray
- Patience
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 4 TBS golden syrup
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method:
- Line your chosen pan with some non-stick spray or baking paper and spray if you want to save on washing.
- In a medium to large saucepan add the sugar, syrup and water. Give it a little shake to settle it.
- Place pot over highish heat and watch it bubble. Do not stir it. It’s tempting but don’t do it.
- Cook for about 8 minutes. The sugar solution should be golden brown and be a temperature of 149 degrees delicious (or 300F). This is where it’s important to have a proper thermometer. One of my failed batches I just took the sugar too far and the smell of burnt sugar is hard to get rid of.
- When your sugar is at the right temp, remove from heat and let the bubbles settle for about 30 seconds.
- Throw in the bicarb and whisk vigorously until combined, pour straight into your lined pan. This step is where it puffs up and develops it’s honeycomb effect.
- Now you wait until the honeycomb has cooled. Break into pieces and eat as is or dip in some melted dark chocolate.
If you try my honeycomb drop me a message and let me know how it turned out for you!
Thanks for reading and health and happiness to all of you.
xx
N
Best ever banana bread (Vegan friendly)
Today started off as a banana bread day, you know the one where you wake up to a bunch of over ripe bananas judging you from the fruit bowl. They threw down the gauntlet and I responded by turning them into some deliciousness.
I’ve had a lot of banana bread in my life, my Ouma used to make it and in turn my mother used to make it. All versions turned out spectacularly. Their recipes obviously had eggs in and were eaten with lashings of real butter so I have adapted it for the herbivorous of us.
Some notes before I put down the recipe.
- In the recipe I have pecan nuts, these can be substituted for walnuts or cashews, both would be nice I reckon.
- The egg replacer I used is Orgran No-egg Egg replacer. I got this at wellness warehouse, it’s pretty affordable for the amount of “egg” you get out of it. You could also use a flax egg instead of the Orgran.
- Get some vegan butter for serving. There is just something special about having some melty butter on a warm, fresh out the oven, slice of banana bread.
What you’ll need:
- 4 ripe bananas (It comes to about 350g), also one extra for decoration
- 240 g white cake flour
- 200 g brown sugar
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- 5 ml cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 125 ml almond milk
- 60 ml coconut oil (room temp)
- 10 ml egg replacer powder mixed with 30 ml water and left to sit for about 5 mins
- 65 g pecans, roughly chopped
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and generously spray a loaf tin with non-stick spray.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix it up a little with a wooden spoon.
- In a blender (you could probably also use a stick blender, I haven’t tried, but probably) blend the bananas, coconut oil and almond milk until smooth. You can mash the bananas but I find the blending method just works better.
- Pour the banana mix into your dry ingredients and combine.
- Add the mixed egg replacer and stir through.
- Stir in the pecan nuts until evenly distributed.
- Pour batter into the lined loaf tin make sure it’s spread to the corners. Top the batter with some sliced banana and a sprinkling of brown sugar.
- Bake at 180°C for an hour. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and eat immediately. I mean you don’t have to eat it immediately but I challenge you not to.
- When it’s cooled completely you can wrap in in foil and it’ll last for about a week in the fridge. (But if you still have a full loaf after a week, what’s wrong with you?)
I really hope you enjoy making and eating this bread as much as I did!
As always, please let me know how it turned out for you and what you thought!
Thanks for reading,
xx
N
Chickpea Chili! (Vegan friendly)
Do you have a busy week ahead of you? This is a perfect chili to pre-make and put in the fridge when you don’t have time (or you’re too lazy) to make something from scratch. This is a damn fine chili and makes about 5-6 generous portions.
This is some serious comfort food, I have such a soft spot for chili. If you like the heat then increase the chilies in the recipe.
Also, I know it’s weird but don’t omit the walnuts. It just gives it that something extra.
What you’ll need:
1 ½ cups rice of choice (I used Spekko long grain)
2 TBS olive oil
1 white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
2 red or green peppers, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
4 small red chilies, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all-spice
1 tsp chili flakes
½ tsp salt
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can cherry tomatoes
½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
Method:
- Cook the rice according to packet instructions and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, heat up your olive oil and add the onion and garlic. Sauté for about 4 mins.
- Add the carrot and celery to the pot and cook until softened slightly. About 5 minutes.
- Add all the spices and stir to coat, keep cooking for about 4 minutes until fragrant.
- Place the chopped pepper, chili and walnuts into the pot, cook for another 4-5 minutes.
- Add the can of tomatoes, the chickpeas and 1 cup of water. Stir through and simmer for 10-15 minutes until thickened.
- Serve with the cooked rice and a green salad. Don’t forget to top with some nutritional yeast and a squeeze of lime!
Thanks for reading! And as always let me know if you give it a try and what changes or improvements you made!
xx
N
Matcha & Lemon sticky buns (Vegan friendly)
Hello my food friends! It’s Sticky Bun Friday! It’s just like pancake day except with less pans and more sticky. I mentioned in one of my posts that I was going to give you vegan alternatives to various things I’ve tried in the past that have been huge hits. One of the big ones that stands out for me are the sticky buns I made for Christmas. They were the perfect marriage of sticky, sweet and soft. With this recipe I am aiming to get the exact same deliciousness with a matcha and lemon twist.
Matcha powder is made from green tea leaves and in turn has incredible health benefits. The green fairy dust is full of good stuff like antioxidants, this little health punch helps lower cholesterol, helps with inflammation and keeps you alert! It’s like the healthy version of coffee.
Matcha has a slightly bitter taste which pairs beautifully with citrus. I made this recipe with a lemon filling as well as a lemon glaze. It comes together zesty and sweet, but not overly sweet. Just my cup of tea.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup almond milk
- 3 TBS vegan butter
- 1 pckt instant yeast (about 2 tsp)
- 1 TBS sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour (plus a little extra for dusting)
- 2 TBS matcha powder
- 2 TBS goji berries (For decoration)
Filling:
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 2 TBS all purpose flour
Glaze:
- 1 cup icing sugar (sifted)
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
Method:
- In a saucepan gently heat the milk and butter until just before a simmer. Remove from heat and add the yeast. Let this sit for 10 minutes to activate.
- Add the matcha and the flour together.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the yeast mixture, the salt and sugar.
- Using a dough hook, mix the flour into your yeast mixture, a little bit at a time.
- Mix for about 10 – 15 mins until the dough has come together and is soft.
- Cover the bowl with cling film and let sit for 20 minutes in a warm area.
- While it is rising mix your filling.
- Add all filling ingredients together and mix until well combined. Place in the fridge to harden a little.
- Line a dish of your choice with vegan butter and a dusting of brown sugar.
- When your dough has finished the first rise, take it out of the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a large rectangle, try get it about 1 cm high.
- Spread your filling evenly on the dough, then roll it up. Remember to roll from the long end until you have a long sausage.
- Cut the dough into disks now, about 4 cm. Place the rolls in your greased dish, make sure they are nice and cosy. They should be touching but not too tightly. Cover with cling film and let rise in a warm area for 20-30 mins until slightly puffy.
- Preheat your oven to 180°C.
- Bake for 20-30 mins until cooked through and all golden around the edges.
- While the rolls are baking, make the glaze.
- Combine the glaze ingredients together with a whisk, making sure there are no lumps. When adding the lemon juice, do so a little at a time until you get your preferred consistency.
- When your buns are cooked, remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Pour over the glaze, sprinkle with dried goji berries and serve while still warm.
I hope you guys enjoy this recipe as much as I did! (I’ve already eaten 3, someone please stop me haha!)
Thanks for reading, and as always, if you make this please drop me a message and let me know how it turned out! You can also tag me in your creation on Instagram @ninarlasvegas!
xx
N
Malt Vanilla tart with coconut cream (Vegan friendly)
Vegan malt vanilla custard tart with coconut cream
This was such a complete accident. Yesterday I was trying out a recipe for something completely different and it was just not working. The kitchen gods were not on my side and after a while I just decided to, as my mother would say, wing it.
I made a vegan malt custard with an almond and oat tart base. The coconut cream is pouring consistency. The custard sets quite nicely and has a lovely wiggle to it. You can make the tart one full day before you need it while chilling your cream over night.
What you’re going to need:
Base:
- 100 g oats
- 90 g almonds
- 3 TBS coconut oil
- 2 TBS maple syrup
- ¼ cup chopped dates
Custard:
- 1 cup almond milk
- 4 TBS cornflour
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 TBS malt syrup
Coconut cream:
- 1 can coconut cream
- 150 g icing sugar
- 2 TBS cornflour (if necessary)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
- In a food processor, add the almonds, oats and dates. Pulse until it resembles a course crumb.
- Add the rest of the crust ingredients and blend until well combined.
- Place the mix into a pie dish and use your fingers to flatten it and squish it up the sides. You want it to be even all the way around.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes.
- Take it out and leave to cool.
- In a medium saucepan, add your almond milk, coconut milk, vanilla and syrups. Heat to a gentle simmer on a medium heat. While whisking, add your cornflour. Keep whisking over a medium heat until it starts to thicken. Do this for about 8 minutes until your custard is a thick pudding consistency. Don’t worry if it’s not too thick because it will get even thicker while cooling.
- Leave it to cool for a minute or two then pour it into your cooled tart base.
- Leave in the fridge until set nicely.
- For the cream, I would recommend chilling the coconut cream overnight. It is easier to get some volume this way. Some people say you should separate the solid cream from the water underneath but I didn’t want to waste it so I just used it all. This makes it the looser cream that you see in the picture.
- So with a hand held electric whisk or kitchen aid beat the coconut cream for 6-8 minutes, then add the sugar and whisk again for another 5 or so minutes until it thickens. If it is just not thickening for you, add the cornflour and keep whisking. This is a kinda cheat way to thicken the cream.
- Serve chilled and on an empty stomach!
Thanks for reading and as always, if you try it out message me and let me know what improvements you made or tag me in your creation on Instagram @ninarlasvegas.
xx
N
Summer Rice Salad with Tahini dressing
No one ever makes the right amount of rice, ever. It’s always too much or too little. This salad is perfect for the next day left over rice if you’ve been a little heavy handed the night before. It makes a great salad to have as a fresh lunch or a perfect side on a hot summer evening.
You can use any leftover rice you have, or make it fresh. I like to use brown rice, it’s full of fiber, protein and as an added benefit is low GI.
This dish is super easy and can be whipped up in about 15 minutes. It really is a low effort meal that you can serve in a pinch that is also good for your health!
This is how it’s done:
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked rice (I used Spekko brown rice)
½ tsp ground cumin
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
½ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
½ cup chopped dates, soaked in ½ cup hot water
1 carrot, grated
3 spring onions, chopped
½ red pepper, chopped
½ pineapple, trimmed and chopped into 1-2cm pieces
½ cup almonds, roughly chopped
2 cups rinsed baby spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Dressing:
¼ cup tahini
2 tbs lemon juice
½ tsp ground cumin
½ cup warm water from soaked dates
1 TBS maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
- In a small bowl, roughly mix together the cumin, garlic, soaked dates, lemon zest and juice. Set aside.
- In a large salad bowl, toss together the rice, parsley, spinach, peppers, carrot, spring onion, almonds and pineapple.
- Pour the garlic mix over the salad and mix through.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
For the dressing:
- In a small bowl or jug, use a stick blender to combine all the ingredients for the dressing together.
- Adjust the date water as needed for desired consistency.
Serve the salad with tahini dressing on the side. Garnish with fresh parsley.
*I am a huge fan of garlic so I use it i almost everything. If you are making this for a weeknight meal then you can easily omit the garlic.
*If you don’t have tahini (I know it can sometimes be a pain to find), then use some blended cashews. Remember to soak your cashews in hot water for 20-30 minutes before blending though) It won’t have the same flavour but it will be a creamier and sweeter version.
*This will keep for about 2 days. Keep the dressing separate though.
Thanks for reading! Remember, if you try this recipe out, drop me a message and let me know how it turned out!
xx
N
Valentine Sugar Cookies! (Vegan and GF)
Tomorrow is valentines day! I feel like everyone deserves some love on Valentine’s Day, even if it’s just self love. I have been on a massive “self love” kick this year, and eating better is just one part of it. I have also decided to make myself and my family some delicious valentines biscuits!
I used to do a huge amount of cake and biscuit decorating, but of recent years I have let that skill fall to the wayside. I think that today is the day I begin again, and as they say, there’s no time like the present.
This is my first attempt at vegan sugar cookies and it did not come without it’s challenges. My main ingredients were coconut oil and rice flour.
What you’ll need:
- kitchen aid or similar mixer
- baking tray
- baking paper
- piping bags (smallish ones)
- Small round piping nozzle
- Cookie cutters in your own desired shapes
- cling wrap
- some time
Ingredients:
Cookies:
- 170 g Coconut oil (softened)
- 60 g vegan butter or margarine
- 180 g Icing sugar (Sifted)
- 2 TBS cornflour
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 500 g rice flour
- 2 TBS almond/soy milk, or water
Icing:
- 200 g icing sugar (sifted)
- 1/4 cup plant based milk or water
- Food colouring of your choice
Method:
- In the stand mixer, add the oil, margarine,icing sugar, salt and vanilla.
- Using a paddle attachment beat the mixture until creamy.
- Add the rice flour in batches, it should be a little crumbly.
- Add the milk a little bit at a time until the dough comes together. It should be soft and doughy without being too wet.
- Divide the dough in two and wrap each one in cling film.
- Place in the fridge and rest for about an hour.
- Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.
- On a floured surface (use rice flour) and roll out the dough to about 5mm height.
- Cut out shapes and place on the baking tray, if you don’t use all your dough, you can re roll it and cut more.
- Place trays in the fridge and rest for about 10-15 minutes.
- While they are resting, preheat the oven to 170 C.
- Bake cookies for 10-15 minutes, they should get a little brown around the edges.
- If they are still soft when you take them out, don’t worry they will harden while cooling.
- Place the cookies on a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While they are cooling you can make your icing.
- In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or in a medium bowl with a handheld whisk, place the sifted icing sugar and a bit of your liquid.
- Keep mixing until incorporated but don’t add all your liquid at once because it’s easy to add water but hard to take it out!
- Once it comes together and is lovely and glossy but not runny, split into 2 or 3 bowls. You will now add a drop or 2 of your chosen food colouring’s to each bowl. You should now have enough icing to start decorating.
- When your cookies are completely cool, fill your piping bags and let your creative juices flow!
- When you are done, let them harden completely. These can then be kept in an airtight container, jar for a week or so.
- Or just give them all to your valentine! (Which could also be you <3)
I hope you guys have as much fun making these cookies as I did!
Thanks for reading!
xx
N
Very Berry Vanilla Cake (Vegan friendly!)
After the incredible chocolate cake that I made the other day, I decided to give a vanilla cake a shot. This cake is super easy and can be modified according to any taste. For example you could add some lemon rind to the sponge and citrus to the buttercream, or add peanut butter to the buttercream and have a PB&J cake!
This cake is incredibly soft. The fruit syrup soaks into the sponge and it makes it a decadent addition to any meal. If you plan on keeping it for a few days, keep the fresh fruit aside and decorate when serving.
I was looking to create something fresh and light for summer. With the combination of raspberries, strawberries, figs and a rich creamy icing, it really does check all the boxes.
What you’re gonna need :
Equipment:
- 2 x 8″ (20 cm) cake tins
- baking paper
- an oven
- a spatula
- a grand sense of amazingness
- ridiculously comic chef hat and matching apron.
- handheld beater or stand mixer
The cake:
- 360 ml almond or soy milk
- 1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 250 g white sugar
- 1 TBS vanilla extract
- 150 ml sunflower oil
- 280 g cake wheat flour
- 30 g cornflour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup fresh raspberries (rinsed and halved)
Vanilla buttercream:
- 150 g vegan butter / vegan margarine (I used margarine but I prefer the taste and texture of vegan butter.
- 300 g icing sugar (sifted)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 TBS almond or soy milk
Berry coulis:
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen berries (of your choice)
- 2 TBS lemon juice
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup water
How to put it all together:
- Grease and line your cake tins with a bit of vegan butter and a circle of baking paper to line the bottom.
- In a bowl or jug, add the plant-based milk, sugar, vinegar, oil and vanilla extract. Mix it up with a whisk or fork and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, bicarb, cornflour and baking powder together.
- Add the oil mix to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon or hand whisk until smooth. Don’t over mix.
- In a small bowl, toss your raspberries in a spoonful of flour – this coats them and stops them all sinking to the bottoms of the batter.
- Add your raspberries to the batter and stir through.
- Divide your batter between your 2 cake tins, try get it as even as possible. Scaling it will help.
- Bake at 180 degrees C for about 25-30 mins.
- They will be done when you stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean.
- Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes then take them out carefully and place on wires racks to cool completely.
- While you cakes are baking make your coulis.
- In a small saucepan, add your chosen berries, lemon juice, sugar and water. Bring to a boil and simmer until it has reduced down to a slightly jammy consistency. Set aside to cool.
- For the buttercream, add the vegan butter or margarine to your mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy. You can do this in a stand mixer or with a handheld electric beater.
- Add your icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.
- If it looks a bit crumbly, slowly add your plant-based milk until it comes together to a creamy icing.
- Beat your icing until you have the desired texture then set aside.
Assembly:
- Firstly make sure all you ingredients are completely cool before assembling because otherwise it will not stay together.
- Level your cakes just so they are even and have a nice flat surface for icing.
- On you bottom layer add a good chunk of buttercream, spread around to the edges.
- Add a couple teaspoons of the cooled berry coulis on top, then place your second sponge on top.
- Add the rest of you butter cream and spread over the top of the cake.
- Decorate with fresh berries and a drizzle of the berry coulis.
- Eat it all.
Post recipe ramble:
This cake comes out incredibly soft and moist. If you want to make it a day or so before you need it, make sure you cover the sponges in some plastic wrap and keep in the fridge until the day. Ice and decorate before serving.
The margarine is yummy but I do prefer the vegan butter for taste and appearance.
Make sure you preheat your oven, this seems obvious but it’s something that often slips the mind.
Sieve your ingredients, always. Don’t be lazy. It makes a huge difference to the texture of your cake.
So that’s about it. I hope you enjoy making this cake as much as I did. If you do make it, drop me a comment or message and tell me all about your changes and experience! I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading!
xx
N
Worlds Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
Death by chocolate
OH. MY. GOD. I baked this cake today slightly modified from Lovingitvegan’s “The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake” and it really is. This is hands down the tastiest cake I’ve ever made and it’s vegan to boot.
I have a family that is very picky about the cake they eat. I mean crumb density, icing flavour and the ratio of icing to cake has to be perfect. This blew them away. I had to put it away very swiftly after taking the photos so I couldn’t eat the whole damn thing.
Nom nom nom
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake:
- 300 g Cake Wheat Flour
- 70 g Cocoa Powder
- 280 g White Sugar
- 8 ml Bicarbonate of soda
- 5 ml Salt
- 360ml Vegan Buttermilk (lemon juice mixed with soy milk)
- 15 ml Vanilla Extract
- 120 ml Canola/Sunflower Oil
- 25 ml White Vinegar
- 75 ml Applesauce (I used the apple puree for babies)
For the Vegan Chocolate Buttercream:
- 260 g Vegan Butter
- 420g g Powdered Sugar
- 60 g Cocoa Powder
- pinch Salt
- 5 ml Vanilla Extract
- 15 ml Soy/Almond milk
- 1/2 a slab Vegan chocolate (I used Ooh la la chocolate with sea salt and vanilla bean)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spray two 9-inch baking pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with a circle of baking paper. You can also use a bit of vegan butter smeared around the pans with the circle of baking paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour and the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, bicarb and salt.
- Add 1 and 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice to a measuring jug and then add soy milk up to the 360ml line. Let it curdle into vegan buttermilk.
- Add the vegan buttermilk, vanilla, oil, vinegar and applesauce and mix in. Use a hand whisk to remove any large lumps.
- Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cake layers cool for a few minutes and then remove them from the cake pans and transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely before frosting. I like to wrap my cakes in some plastic after they are mostly cooled, then chuck them in the fridge for about 30 mins. Icing a cold cake is way easier than a warm one.
- Prepare your icing by adding your vegan butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla and the soy milk to the bowl of an electric mixer. Start off at slow speed and gradually increase speed until your frosting is thick and smooth. Add an extra dash of soy milk if you need it, but do it slowly. It’s easy to add liquid to icing but it’s hard to get rid of!
- Level your cakes (if you’re fussy) then ice the cooled cakes and decorate with chocolate shavings, blueberries or the left over crumbs of your cake.
- Serve as afternoon tea or a decadent dessert.
Please help me stop eating this cake
I hope you guys try this out, it was a wonderful experience for me, beginning to end. I will definitely be making this more often.
Thanks for reading!
Love and health to all
xx
N
Vegan lavender and maple “shortbread” (super easy)
Vegan, easy, moreish
I don’t think there is anything that is better suited to a cup of tea than shortbread. It’s also good for snacking, dessert, lunch, dinner and breakfast. *I am not advocating eating shortbread for every meal, that would be aweso.. I mean crazy* This is my first vegan sweet tooth addition to the blog, and I’m really happy how they turned out, so it’s a good start.
Just one thing before we start, you may have noticed the shortbread in the title is “shortbread”. This is because my effective taste testers (mainly my family, like vegan guinea pigs really) say, although they are super delicious, they apparently do not have the proper texture of old timey shortbread. So I am calling it “sort of” shortbread. Like classic shortbreads second cousin.
These take about 30 minutes to make. Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature, and make sure you preheat your oven. Unlike me who forgot and then stood by impatiently watching it get warmer.
What you’ll need:
- 125 g Vegan butter (I used Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter from Wellness Warehouse)
- 60 g light brown sugar
- 60 g maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 300 g cake wheat flour (sieve it, don’t be lazy)
- Small bunch Lavender sprigs with flowers. If you don’t have lavender, you can substitute for some chopped nuts of your choice or leave it plain or add anything and let me know how it turns out!
How to do it:
- Preheat your oven to 180° C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Also cut a piece about 60 cm long
- Rinse your lavender if using, and carefully pick the little purple flowers from the stems, set these aside.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand mixer, place the vegan butter and sugar, beat it until its nice, light and creamy.
- Add the vanilla and 40 g of your maple syrup, mix until combined.
- Add your flour to the mix, one spoon at a time, on slow setting. Mix on one speed higher until it’s all crumbly.
- Then add the rest of the maple syrup, this should bring it together. It should be a soft dough, but not sticky.
- Take it out the bowl and place it onto your long piece of baking paper
- Fold the paper over the dough and use a rolling pin to flatten it out to about 6mm height.
- Sprinkle your lavender flowers on your dough, pressing them down gently.
- Use a big knife or dough cutter to section your dough into 5 cm x 2 cm fingers. You can do smaller or bigger if you like, just adjust your baking time.
- Place the fingers onto your lined baking sheet about 1-2 cm apart. They dont have to be too far apart as they don’t really spread that much during baking.
- Bake at 180° C for 10-15 minutes. Mine baked for 11 minutes but it depends on external factors. Just keep and eye on them, and a nose. As soon as the amazing smell of maple syrup and lavender starts filling your kitchen they shouldn’t be far off! They should be a light brown around the edges and still lightish in the centre.
Thanks for reading ❤
If you try this out, I would absolutely love to hear about your experience! (Be it good or bad!)
Love and health to all of you,
Xx
N
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