Home-made refreshing ginger ale: version 1!

Home-made refreshing ginger ale, version 1!

My husband Peter made this home-made refreshing ginger ale, version 1! He made this 2 days ago, when the weather was really hot in our garden. We needed something refreshing to cool down a bit & this is what he invented! Yummy, I say! All hail to Peter! This home-made ginger ale is a tasty drinkable food gift and a great appetizer drink too!

MMM! Vegan & Gluten-Free!

Recipe: For a whole lot of ginger ale

Ingredients:

5 cm of freshly peeled ginger, grated finely with a ginger peeler/ if you do not have that, grate very finely

2 liter of water

juice of 1/2 lime

4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

Method:

1. Bring your 2 liters of water to the boil. When boiling, ad grated ginger, lime juice & leave to boil for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.Turn the heat off & place fitting lid on. Let it infuse for about 15 minutes, off the heat.

2. Now, pour your hot liquid through a fine sieve above another clean large pot. Now, ad 4 tablespoons of maple syrup & stir to dissolve into the hot liquid. Pour ginger ale into a fitting bottle or fitting bottles & screw the lids on. Place into the fridge to cool off completely.

3. When you are ready to drink your ginger ales, shake the bottle or bottles well up & down before pouring them out, to shake the sediment off the bottom of your bottle so that your leftover ginger bits are equally divided in your drink. Pour into 2 x 330 ml glasses until 3/4 full, add into each glass 4 to 5 ice-cube rounds & top of with a fresh sprig of mint! Enjoy instantly with a loved one! Yummy! You can taste the lovely ginger in your throat & the mint & ice makes it all so refreshing!!! Yummy! Thanks Peter!

You might like:

1. Home-made limoncello!

Home-made limoncello, lovely wrapped!

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Home-made vanilla sugar!

Home-made vanilla sugar!
An excellent food gift too!

2 months ago, I made home-made vanilla sugar. It is so easy to make & so tasty to use too. Here in Belgium, we can buy it in expensive little sachets of each 20 gr.  Who knows what else they put in that vanilla sugar?

So, this is how I did this & you can easily make this too!

Tasty home-made vanilla sugar!

Recipe: For 450 gr vanilla sugar

Ingredients:

450 gr of white vegan castor sugar = 2 cups

1 thick dried Bourbon vanilla bean

Method:

1. Take a fitting glass jar with fitting lid for your 450 grams of vanilla sugar to be!

2. Place the thick dried vanilla bean on a chopping board & slice the bean open vertically, on the long side. Scrape the vanilla seeds out & place them into the sugar. Cut your  vanilla bean in different pieces & add to your sugar. Mix well with a clean spoon. Place the fitted lid on & place into a dry cupboard. Every day or so, mix with a spoon. After 1 week, your sugar will be ready. You can leave your vanilla beans in the sugar for a long time, the vanilla flavour will develop more,… Before using, you can sieve your vanilla sugar & keep in a lovely glass jar with fitted lid to give away as a lovely & tasty food gift! Or you can process the bean bits in a food processor & not sieve the vanilla sugar. I like the black spots in my vanilla sugar, don’t you? You even can leave the vanilla beans for a few months into your sugar: it is up to you! Enjoy!

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You might like:

1. Home-made limoncello

2. The Virtual Vegan Potluck & my recipe in it: Vegan forced rhubarb, pear & chocolate chip crumbles!!

3. Vegan & Gluten-Free strawberry, raspberry cashew smoothies! 

4. Nigella’s chocolate rice pudding! 

Two vegan & GF spreads!

Sun-dried tomato spread with basil, chickpeas, garlic powder & a special ingredient too!

Marinated artichokes in a flavoured oil & chickpeas spread!

Yesterday, I made these 2 tasty vegan & Gluten-Free spreads! They rock! They are so versatile to use too. You can use them as a lovely spread on bread or make a lovely sandwich out of it. Great also as a yummy spread in wraps or burritos’. Great on crackers too! Enjoy it all!

After being in the fridge for 1 night, the spreads will stiffen up a bit. MMM!

1 st Recipe: Sun-dried tomato with basil, chickpeas, garlic & white balsamic vinegar spread! ( First picture! )

For 1 medium round jam pot

Ingredients:

1/2 can of organic chickpeas = 120 gr,  rinsed & well-drained

50 gr of sun-dried tomatoes with basil

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of Maldon sea salt

15 grins of finely milled black pepper

2 teaspoons of a fruity Extra Virgin Olive Oil ( EVOO )

4 teaspoons of white balsamic vinegar ( This is the special ingredient here !), divided in to 2 teaspoons + 2 teaspoons

A good quality white balsamic vinegar!

Method:

1. Take a food processor & place chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, black pepper, olive oil & 2 teaspoons of that white balsamic vinegar in it. Blitz until 3/4 mixed. You still want to see bits of everything. See 1st picture! Taste! I added the other 2 teaspoons of that white balsamic vinegar to the mix. Blitz or pulse again. Taste again! MMM! You can taste the power of this fab spread!

2. Use like you will. I spread  it on a tasty organic sourdough slice! Yummy!

Yummy & powerful too!

2nd Recipe: Marinated artichokes & chickpeas spread!

Recipe: For 1/2 medium pot

Ingredients:

1/2 can of organic chickpeas = 120 gr,  rinsed & well-drained ( is the other half of that earlier can of chickpeas!! )

1/2 teaspoon of Maldon sea salt

20 grins of finely milled black pepper

1 pot or marinated artichokes in a flavoured oil ( drained but flavoured oil kept!!! ), this pot is 285 gr.

2 tablespoons of that flavoured oil

Method:

1. 1. Take a food processor & place chickpeas, marinated artichokes, sea salt, black pepper & 2 tablespoons of that flavoured oil in it. Blitz or pulse until it is all beautifully combined! You want to get it smooth here! Taste! My spread was superb this way. Add some seasoning if you need to. Don’t add more of that oil in here because you want to have a spread & not a dip!!!!

2. Use like you will. I spread  it on a tasty organic sourdough slice! Yummy!

MMM!

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You might like:

1. Vegan & Gf chickpeas & spiced avocado spread 

2. Vegan spiced curry smoked cashew & black bean spread sandwich

3. A quick & tasty pasta dish, using white balsamic vinegar !

Sophie’s home-made dry spiced rub & dry spiced rub whiting fillets, served with a spiced broccoli & potato mash!

Sophie’s dry spiced rub whiting fish with spiced broccoli & potato mash!

Yesterday, I bought fresh whiting fillets at my local fishmongers’. I wanted to make my own spice rub to put on top of the fish fillets. I marinated the fish fillets tops for 2 hours with the rub! I served them with a spiced up broccoli & potato mash. I did it this way!

Recipe: For Sophie’s spiced mix rub = 33 gr.

Sophie’s dry spiced rub! This would make a tasty little food gift too!

Ingredients:

3/4 teaspoon of Maldon sea salt flakes, crushed

1 tablespoon of ground cumin

1 tablespoon garam masala

2 teaspoons of ground coriander

2 teaspoons of spiced curry powder

2 teaspoons of smoked paprika, the dulce version ( this is the milder variety )

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

10 grins of finely milled black pepper

Method:

1. Take a medium bowl & ad every spice. Mix with a little whisk. Place into a fitted pot with fitted lid. Keep dry. You need 2 tablespoons for this fish recipe ( not a fishy recipe though) !

MMM! A divine combined dinner!

Recipe: For the dinner:

Ingredients:

** For the whiting fillets: ( you want to marinate the whiting fillets 2 hours before dinner!!! )

2 fresh whiting fillets, together they are 380 gr, cleaned with water, pad dry on kitchen paper

2 tablespoons of Sophie’s dry spiced rub ( recipe above !)

a fruity extra virgin olive oil : 2 to 3 tablespoons ( evoo )

baking margarine

** For the broccoli & potato mash:

540 gr of potatoes, peeled, each potato & cut into 2

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 big head of broccoli, about 440 gr, washed, cleaned & cut into florets, big main stalk removed ( weighted when cut up )

1 medium white onion, peeled & cut into fine wedges

2 fat cloves of garlic, finely minced

dried mixed smaller chili flakes, in a grinder

black pepper

Maldon sea salt

baking margarine

a splash of unsweetened soy milk

Method:

1. 2 hours  & 10 minutes before dinner, prepare your fish fillets. Take 2 large clean plates. See that one fish fillet fits onto 1 big plate. Pour your fruity EVOO in a mug. With a silicon pastry brush, brush the topside of each fillet with the fruity oil. Smear 1 tablespoon of the Sophie’s dry rub all over the surface of each whiting fillet. Spread it around with clean fingers. If you have some rub left, from that 1 tablespoon, smear the back top, firstly  in with some of that fruity evoo & smear the rest of that rub onto the back of the fish fillet, like this:

Smearing the rest of the 1 tablespoon of the dry rub on the back top end of the fish.

2. Do the same with the other whiting fillet, also using 1 tablespoon of dry rub. Do the same, if you have any leftover dry rub, from your 1 tablespoon. Like above here/ It will all looks like this:

The whiting fillet coated with a fruity evoo & on top Sophie’s dry rub spice mix!

3. Place cling film over the top of each fish plate & place into the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours!

4. Just before making dinner, boil your potatoes with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder added. Boil until tender. Drain well. Mash. Add a splash of unsweetened soy milk & a knob of baking margarine. Add some Maldon sea salt & 10 grins of finely milled black pepper. Mix. Keep warm. In the meantime, boil your broccoli parts in boiling water with dried chili flakes & some sea salt. You want the broccoli parts to be aromatised with the dried chili flakes. This will be about 1/2 teaspoon max. My dried chili flakes come in a grinder. They will be ready after 5 minutes or so. Drain well & add with the mashed potatoes. Mash. Using the same hot pot, heat up on medium high. Add 2 knobs of baking margarine & let it melt. Add the chopped onion & garlic & fry until browned & cooked through. Add some sea salt & 8 grins of black pepper. Stir often. When ready, add to the broccoli & potato mash. Mix well with a spoon & taste! It has to taste fabulous, a bit spicy & tasty! Check the seasoning. Add some dried chili flakes if you need to, to add some more punch. I added 7 grins! Taste again. Keep warm.

5. Now, heat a non-stick large pan on high fire. When hot, add a swirl or 4 of that same fruity evoo & heat up. Place your fish fillets, with the rub on down, into the hot pan & fry them on this side for about 3 to 4 minutes, carefully turn the fish fillets over & fry them for another 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fish fillets!!! You don’t want to overcook the fish! Check often. Turn the heat off & place a fitting lid on to keep warm. Now, plate up! Take 2 lovely plates & with an ice-cream scoop, scoop 3 balls out of your spiced broccoli & potato mash. Do the same with the other plate. Carefully, take a fish fillet out of the pan & place besides the mash, onto each plate. Enjoy, my friends! MMM!

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You might like:

1. Orange zested fish with a watercress & potato mash

2. Roasted fish fillet with a lemon, garlic & parsley crust, served with oven baked potatoes & a side salad

3. Marinated salmon in a spicy crust, with a sweet potato mash, side salad & cherry tomatoes

Vegan gluten-free chocolate hazelnut milk!

Home-made chocolate hazelnut milk!
A stylish food gift !

Tasty & easy home-made chocolate hazelnut milk!

I made this tasty home-made chocolate hazelnut milk with soaked hazelnuts. This chocolate version has a deeper, rich & tasty chocolate flavour but isn’t too sweet. I didn’t use medjool dates because I am not very fond of them. I used maple syrup, grade C to sweeten & also used coconut sugar sweetened raw cacao nibs. Yummmmm!

Why do you need to soak your raw nuts for 8 to 24 hours?

The nuts become less raw & they are easily digested in the stomach. When these nuts are soaked, then well-drained & rinsed, they become more useful to use in raw vegan cheesecakes, in baked desserts, in muffins or in bread. Or you can make your own vegan cheese or spread.

You can make nut milk from every nut or a mix of nuts that you like & love. You even can make milk out of seeds like sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. I am experimenting with them now. More recipes to come! Most recipes on the internet say that you use 1 cup of raw nuts & 3 to 4 cups pure water. In this recipe, I will use  3 cups of water. Why? because I like it this way & the nut milk is a bit thicker too.

You can make your own nut milk & add whatever ingredients you want, vanilla, sweeten it with dates, agave or maple syrup, add extra yummy things like chocolate, cacao nibs, coconut sugar sweetened cacao nibs, carob, cacao or add in spices: it is up to you! I will not strain my pulp because it is more healthy to drink up your pulp & my Vitamix mixes it all in really well. If you have a normal blender, it is better to strain your nut milk. See this post before on how you should do that!

Recipe: For 1250 ml = 5 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup raw, unsalted hazelnuts, covered in 2 cups clean water, soaked in water for at least 8 to 24 hours, kept in the fridge, nuts well rinsed & drained/ I always soak them overnight in the fridge.

3 cups clean water

1 cup of coconut sugar sweetened cacao nibs

2/4 cup maple syrup, grade C + 1 tablespoon

Method:

Since I got my Vitamix TNC 5200, I have made my all of my nut milks in this fabulous machine. Because I use my Vitamix, I don’t have to strain my hazelnut pulp. It is all well & finely mixed into the liquid. It has more flavour, is thicker, has more power & is much healthier that way!! If you don’t have a power blender like I do, then you will have to strain your milk by using a nut milk bag. How to use it & step by step guide, you will find, on one of my previous post: Here!

1. Place your soaked, rinsed & well-drained hazelnuts in your Vitamix blender & add 3 cups of clean water. Add coconut sugar sweetened cacao nibs & 2/4 cup of maple syrup too. Place your fitting lid on with the tamper in it. Now, turn your machine gradually on from speed 1 to 10 & then, turn on high power. Mix your nut milk for 1 minute or 2 or until completely mixed. Do this, by pushing the tamper up & down to make the ingredients go into the running blades. Now, taste. It has to have a more deeper, rich chocolate flavour & it has to be sweet but not too sweet. I added that 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, like mentioned on the list. Mix again.

2. Now, pour the tasty home-made vegan chocolate hazelnut milk in a clean bottle & turn the lid on. Label it. Keep in the fridge for most 4 to 5 days. Everytime, you want to drink it, you must shake your bottle up & down because otherwise the heavily parts will sink to the bottom. You need a smooth drink all the way! You will be left with 1/2 glass of chocolate hazelnut milk. You can drink it straight away!

You can decorate this lovely bottle with a nice lint & give it away as a lovely home-made food gift. MMM,…too! Enjoy! The uses are endless! More recipes on how to use it, later on!!!

Pouring the home-made vegan chocolate hazelnut milk in the clean bottle!

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You might like:

1. Two vegan home-made cashew milks ( the milks have been strained )

2. Two home-made vegan almond milks ( the milks have been strained )

3. Home-made cashew milk in my Vitamix ( the milk has NOT been strained )

Vegan spelt savoury scones!

Tasty vegan spiced spelt savoury scones!

Hello, my friends! Long time no see! The last 2 weeks, I lost my blog mojo. I didn’t feel to cook nor bake. Then, I fell from the stairs in my home & my husband got sick as well.

But now, I am better & my husband is okay too. Now, I have plenty of energy again to cook & bake! Let’s get on with it! I invented these tasty savoury vegan scones. They are a bit spicy at the end of your tongue with the smoked spicy paprika in it! They are tasty on their own, sliced open, layered with a vegan cheddar cheese slice or eat them, sliced open, with some vegan butter smeared on them, lovely to enjoy with a home-made vegan soup, yum yum!

Tasty vegan savoury scones, baked with lots of love!

Recipe: For about 15 smaller round scones, diameter 5 cm

Ingredients:

* The dry ingredients:

350 gr light organic spelt flour

20 gr baking powder

100 gr vegan vegetable fat, in chunks / I use Trex

150 gr vegan green olives stuffed with red bell pepper, out of a can, rinsed & drained well, each filled olive, cut up into 2 or 3 slices

60 gr canned corn, rinsed & well-drained

20 grins of finely milled black pepper

1 teaspoon of crushed Maldon sea salt flakes

1 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon of spicy smoked paprika ( Pimentón de la Vera, the spicy version.)

1/2 teaspoon dried shalot granules

* The wet ingredients:

80 gr silken tofu, well-drained

150 ml unsweetened soy milk

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200° C ( 400 F ) for about 10 minutes. I always use a fan oven. Adjust your oven to the right temperature, if you need to.

2. Take a large bowl & ad spelt flour & baking powder. Mix well with a spoon. Take your Kenwood-bowl from your Kenwood kitchen robot. Sieve the flour & baking powder. Place the dough hook. Add the vegetable fat. Mix on low-speed together. Scrape the sides of the bowl often & remix. Add the cut up olives, corn, shalot granules, 20 grins of finely milled black pepper, 1 teaspoon of Maldon sea salt & 1 + 1/2 teaspoon of smoked spicy paprika. Mix well.

3. Now, add wet ingredients to this mix. This is the silken tofu & soy milk. Mix until well joined on higher speed. Taste. It has to taste good & a bit spicy. Don’t knead the dough too long with the dough hook. Flour a Silpat or a kitchen counter well with the same light spelt flour. With floured hands, place your dough onto the Silpat. Knead for 1 minute or so, until the dough comes together, but not too long. If your dough is too wet, add about 1 to 3 spoonfuls of the same flour to the wet dough & knead it until it comes together. Make a rounder shape, about 1 cm thick. With your 5cm cutter, flour it on the insides to prevent sticking. Make rounds into the dough & place them spaced apart onto a clean Silpat on an oven rack for stability. Re-use the other rest of the dough & do the same. Bake in the preheated oven for about 13 to 15 minutes until slightly golden on the sides & on top. Mine took 15 minutes. Place the risen baked scones on a wire rack to cool down. When cold, place into a cookie or cake box. But I assure you, they won’t last that long! They are lovely & airy on the inside!

A lovely airy & tasty interior!

How to enjoy them?

1. Great on their own, sliced open & layered with a good vegan cheddar slice !

2. Great  sliced open, smeared with vegan butter, just like that!

3. Very tasty, sliced open, smeared with vegan butter enjoyed with a home made vegan soup

4. They are also tasty, sliced open, smeared with vegan butter & eaten with a great vegan salad!

5. Lovely to enjoy with a vegan hot stew. Yummy yum!

MMM! Sliced open, smeared with vegan butter & vegan cheddar slices!

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Vegan carob banana bread!

A stunning vegan carob spelt flour banana bread!
A great & tasty food gift too!

Today, I made this tasty vegan carob banana bread. I didn’t add any nuts because I didn’t want to use them. We can’t buy carob chips over here so I used carob powder instead. If you can get carob chips, you could use these 2 types of carob for more carob power! Normally, I would use 1/3 cup carob chips & 1/3 cup carob powder! I like its taste & I don’t get any headaches this way!

Vegan deliciousness!

Recipe: for 1 vegan carob banana bread, for 9 normal slices

This is not a sweet carob banana bread but it tastes just right: Great as a tasty breakfast too!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup powdered coconut blossom sugar

1/2 cup vegan butter, at room temperature

3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed well with a fork

2 cups light organic spelt flour

1  teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons aluminium-free baking powder

1/3 cup carob powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Maldon sea salt flakes, crushed

1/4 cup silken tofu

2 teaspoons vanilla extract/ I use home-made

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180° C ( 350 F ) for about 10 minutes. I always use a fan oven. Adjust your oven to the right temperature!!!

2. In your Kenwood, add the K-paddle. In your bowl, add vegan butter & sugar. Cream together. Scrape the sides too. Add mashed bananas, silken tofu, cinnamon, carob powder, vanilla & mix until well combined.

3. In a large bowl, sift spelt flour, baking soda & baking powder. Add the crushed sea salt flakes. Mix well with a large spoon.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in your Kenwood bowl. Mix good until it all comes together.

5. I always use silicon baking materials. You don’t have to grease silicon baking materials!! Never! Fill your silicon bread loaf tin with all the batter.  Push the batter down into the tin with the help of a spoon. Place your silicon loaf tin on a Silpat for stability & place onto an oven rack. Shake a bit with the bread tin to shake off any air bubbles. Smooth the surface of the bread batter. Place into the hot oven & bake for about 30 to 40 minutes.

I tested mine after 25 minutes with a small pin. Prick a small hole in the center of the banana bread & test. If the pin is clean, the bread is cooked through. Mine needed an extra few minutes. Do the pin test again. The bread was okay!  My banana bread took 32 minutes to cook. With oven gloves on, take the oven rack out of the oven & place on wire rack to cool off a bit. Leave the bread into the silicon baking tin for about 10 minutes. This will give a lovely shine on the outside of your carob banana bread. After 10 minutes, you can easily take the bread out of the tin & carefully flip the bread over. Place them on wire rack to cool down completely. Store in cake boxes. Enjoy, my lovely ones! 

Yum Yum Yum!
Vegan carob spelt banana bread!

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You might like:

1.Vegan individualized spelt banana Bundt breads!

2. Vegan carob cranberry fudge brownies!

Vegan cranberry carob brownies!

MMM! Divine vegan cranberry carob brownies!

Today, I made these tasty vegan cranberry carob brownies. They are so simple to make yet so pleasurable too. Make them now & enjoy every bite of them!

Tasty vegan cranberry carob brownies! MMM!

Recipe: For 14 to 16 smaller brownies

Ingredients:

** The dry ingredients:

1/2 cup organic white flour

1/2 cup organic white spelt flour

1 cup powdered coconut sugar + 1 tablespoon

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup of fresh frozen cranberries, each berry chopped into 2 /  (I used fresh cranberry bags, that I froze in my freezer & didn’t defrost the cranberries )

2/4 cup carob powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

** The wet ingredients:

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sunflower oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preaheat your oven to 175° C ( 350 F ) for 10 minutes. I always use a fan oven. Otherwise, adjust your oven to the right temperature.

2. In a large bowl, add spelt  & white flour, sugar, carob powder, baking powder, cinnamon & baking soda. Add chopped cranberries. Mix everything well with a spoon.

3. In another bowl, add vegetable oil, vanilla extract & water. Whisk away. Then, pour the wet ingredients to the dry ones & mix with a large spoon until just joined. Pour the mix into a non-stick baking pan or a square baking pan that has been lined with baking paper, size 20 cm x 21 cm, depth: 5 cm. Spread the mix evenly out. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the centers are set or the tops aren’t shiny anymore. Take out of the oven & let the brownies cool in the pan for another 15 minutes before slicing. Leave them rest for another 10 minutes before enjoying some of them. Enjoy every bite of them! This is greatly paired with a good organic not so sweet cranberry tea!

MMM,….!

A tasty vegan brownie with a lovely cranberry tea!

You might like:

1. Vegan carob banana bread!

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Vegan Christmas Stollen, my way!

Recently, I had the idea of making a vegan Christmas Stollen. Normally, a Christmas stollen has dried glacé cherries, nuts, candied peel & dried fruit like sultanas in them. I don’t like a lot of these ingredients so I had to make & invent one, my way. I don’t know if you still can name it a stollen but I love it anyway! So did my husband Peter. I know that you all will love it too!

MMM! Vegan Christmas Stollen, my way!! An Excellent food gift too!

Normally, a Stollen is a fruit cake, more like a bread, containing dried fruit and often marzipan and covered with sugar or icing sugar. The cake is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices. Stollen is a traditional German cake, usually eaten during the Christmas season. It is made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Candied orange peel and candied citrus peel ,raisins & almonds, and different spices such as cardamom & cinnamon are added. Other ingredients, such as milk, sugar, butter, salt, rum, eggs, vanilla, other dried fruits, nuts and marzipan can also be added to the Stollen dough. Except for the fruit added, the dough is quite low in sugar. The finished cake or bread is mostly sprinkled with icing sugar. The traditional weight of a Stollen is around 2 kg, but smaller sizes are now available. I didn’t add icing sugar on top! I did it this way:

MMM! All vegan goodness!

MMM! A perfect vegan view of heaven!

Recipe: For 1 very large Christmas stollen

Ingredients:

65 gr organic light spelt flour

435 gr organic white bread flour

1 flax egg (= 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons water, whisk well together, leave to be for 10 minutes, to form a sort of gel-like consistency, to thicken a bit instead of 1 egg! )

100 gr vegan dried cranberries

50 gr unsweetened coconut flakes

50 gr roughly chopped walnuts

100 gr dried soft apricots, finely diced

50 gr dried mixed tropical fruit, ( I used a mix of papaya, mango & banana )

50 gr dried dark sultanas

150 gr dark cane sugar

100 gr vegan butter, room temperature, cut into smaller knobs

225 gr warm soy milk, not hot!!

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt flakes, crushed + 1/8 teaspoon extra

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon of ground mace ( foelie in Dutch )

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

3 teaspoons of dried yeast

2 teaspoons of home-made pumpkin pie spice

200 gr of a good vegan & Gluten-free almond marzipan

Method:

1. Take your Kenwood & attach the dough hook. Place the 2 flours into the Kenwood bowl & mix. Add dried yeast, flax egg, vegan butter, brown cane sugar, warm soy milk & sea salt into the bowl. Knead until you have a soft dough, for a few minutes on medium to higher speed. You can also do this by hand. Stretching & kneading the dough well until you have an elastic dough but still soft. I took the dough, with floured hands, out of the bowl & scattered some flour onto my Silpat. I kneaded the dough for a few moments extra with my hands. It was perfect. I put it back into my bowl. While the dough hook was o & working, I added the dried cranberries, the soft apricot pieces, the coconut flakes, the dark sultanas & the tropical mix too. I also added the chopped walnuts to the dough mix. Mix well until all is beautifully incorporated. Stop the machine from time to time, to add the dough that is on the sides of your bowl & mix again. Add cinnamon, ginger, mace & home-made pumpkin pie spice. Mix well into the bowl. Flour your Silpat or your kitchen counter & flour your hands a bit. Take the dough out of the bowl & knead a bit with your hands until ready. This took only 1 minute. See that the dried fruits are all well mixed into the dough. Place the dough back into the bowl & place cling film over the top of the bowl & place in a warm place or above your central heating. That’s what I did. Leave it there to rise for the 1st time. I needed 90 minutes. If you have a very warm place, you will only need 60 minutes or so. The dough must be risen 2 its size! Check often!!

2.  Put the dough back onto your floured kitchen counter or floured Silpat & knock the dough back & flatten it out. See picture:

Flatten the dough well!!

3. Shape your 2 rolls of marzipan, into a longer finer sausage shape & place them neatly in the middle of the dough, horizontally too. See picture:

4. Now, fold your dough around the marzipan pieces. Tuck, the ends of each dough side well over the marzipan pieces, like this:

The marzipan has been tucked in well! Just before the 2nd rise!!

5. Shape the dough like a bread. Place it on a special Silpat, especially for baking breads. Place it onto a baking tray. Place cling film over the top, loosely & place near a warm fire, to let it rise for the 2nd time.

You want it to rise for 45 minutes or a bit more. When the dough is nearly well risen, preheat your oven to 180°C (350 F ) for 10 minutes. Place the dough onto your your baking tray, in the middle of your hot oven & bake for about 30 to 35 minutes. My Christmas stollen was ready after 35 minutes. My Stollen baked for 20 minutes on 180°C ( 350 F ) & then 15 minutes on 175°C. Test with a little pin into the center of your stollen, to see if it is baked properly. It was! Otherwise, put it back into the hot oven. Transfer carefully to a wire rack or 2, to cool off completely. Just before serving, dust with icing sugar or not! Your choice! Enjoy it too, my lovely ones! xxx

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Sophie’s Gluten-Free & Vegan Christmas granola!

I adore making granola. You can find a lot of unhealthy granola recipes on the internet. I experimented with other recipes & I came up with this one. This is my favorite granola recipe. My husband & my family loves it!

I call this one a Christmas recipe, because there are red dried cranberries & green pumpkin seeds in it. They are the primal colours of Christmas.

It is lovely enjoyed with some vegan coconut yoghurt or soy yoghurt or a vegan nut milk.

Tasty home-made vegan granola!

You must have seen this picture before, I use it in my about page. This picture is already 4 years old. So, is that one, below.

MMM! This would make an ideal Christmas gift!!!

Recipe: For a whole lot of granola!

Ingredients:

230 gr. medium Gluten-Free oat flakes( not the large big ones, but the full GF oat flakes, but a little bit smaller.)

70 gr. pecans, broken in to pieces

45 gr. pumpkin seeds

1 + 1/2 teaspoons of a good vanilla extract ( I use home-made )

1 tablespoon flaxseed

60 ml. canola oil

80 ml. maple syrup

To add after roasting into the hot oven:

50 gr. raisins, cut up

30 gr. dried not so sweet cranberries, cut up

Method:

1. Preheat the oven on 180 ° Celsius. ( 350 F )

2. Take a large bowl & put the GF oat flakes, pecans & pumpkin seeds in it. Mix well. Add 1 tablespoon of flaxseed to it. Mix well.

3. In another bowl, mix canola oil with the maple syrup. Add vanilla extract. Stir good.

4. Put the ingredients of bowl 1 into bowl 2 & mix well.

5. Take a non-stick roasting tin & spread out evenly in to the roasting tin.

6. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes until all crisp.

7. Every 5 minutes or so, you have to stir everything around, so that it will be crisp on every side.

Otherwise, it will burn on one side & it wouldn’t be crisp on the other side.

8.Bake until everything is golden & ready.

9. When it is ready, turn the oven off. Take out of the oven & let it cool off completely.

10. When it is all cooled of, place it in a bowl & add the dried fruit. You can choose whatever fruit you want, but I like this combination.

11. So, I added the dried cranberries & dried raisins & mixed it with a spoon through the granola.

12. Store in an airtight storage box. Enjoy!!! xxx

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You might like:

1. Making your own home-made muesli

2. Blueberry muesli

3. Quinoa flakes porridge with banana, roasted pecans, milk & agave syrup

Sophie’s festive speculaas, reposted!

Sophie’s festive speculaas cookies!

Speculaas (Dutch pronunciation: [spekyˈlaːs], Flemish speculoos, French spéculoos) is a type of short crust biscuit (cookie), traditionally baked for consumption on St Nicholas’ Eve in the Netherlands (December 5) and Belgium (December 6).

In recent years it has become available all year round. Speculaas are thin, very crunchy, slightly browned and, most definitely, have some image or figure (often from the traditional stories about St. Nicholas) stamped on the front side before baking, the back is flat.

Speculaas dough does not rise much.

Canadian moose & Canadian maple leaf speculaas cookies

Normally, Sinterklaas comes in Belgium, in the night of 5th december to 6th december. On the evening of the 5th of December, the children put their shoes next to the chimney. They lay sugar beets or carrots for the Saints horse. They also present food or drinks for Sinterklaas himself, near the chimney because he works a lot that night. He must be very hungry too. Also, he rides his white horse & works alongside his dark men, dark helpers, all night long. He does this when the children are asleep, on the roofs of each house. He gives mandarins, sweets & speculaas. Normally, he also gives presents to the children. We all love this lovely white bearded man. If you were a naughty child, the black men would spank you with the mitre from Sinterklaas.

Sinterklaas on its white horse

Sinterklaas & his black helpers

Dutch and Belgian versions are baked with light brown (beet) sugar ( cassonade sugar ) and baking powder. You can also use dark cannonade sugar so that the speculaas is darker in colour. Normally, we use speculaas spices, a blend of spices because it is more easier to use. We can buy that in 20 gr sachet in Dille & Kamille. That is a cook shop , their shops are located in many cities in The Netherlands & in Belgium. Their website is www.dille – kamille.be

Speculaas spices

You can read it in French & in Dutch. Most Speculaas versions are made from white flour, brown sugar, butter and spices. Some varieties use some almond flour and have slivered almonds embedded in the bottom.

I have 1 recipe with not every spice in it, but you can make your own speculaas mix with, easy like this:

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons ground cinnamon,

1 tablespoon ground cloves,

1 tablespoon ground ginger,

1 tablespoon ground nutmeg &

1 tablespoon ground cardamom.

Method:

Mix all the spices well together & place in a fitting bowl & screw the lid well on. Shake well until all joined. Use 2 teaspoons.

Enjoy!! It works really well!!!

A famous Belgian & Brussels statue: Manneken Pis!

Yes, It’s Manneken Pis! Click on the link to find out who he is!!

My Recipe: for about 65 speculaas, small to medium-sized inclusive 2 larger Moose

Ingredients:

500 gr organic white flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

250 gr lighter brown cannonade sugar ( kinnekes suiker )

200 gr light salted butter, softened

2 organic eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons of speculaas spices / bought or home-made ( see note: above )

Method:

1. Take your Kenwood or Kitchen aide & put the K-paddle in.

2. In a large bowl, sieve the flour & sieve the baking powder. Set aside.

3. Put the softened butter in the fitting bowl together with the sugar. Mix it until it all is well combined.

4. Add the beaten eggs & mix well.

5. Add the speculaas spices & the sifted flour and baking powder. Mix until it all is well combined.

It is now brown in colour. Place the mix onto a floured silpat with floured hands & mix well until you have a thick dough, for about 1 to 2 minutes. The dough will be very sticky. Place cling film all over & place into the fridge, on a plate, for at least 1 to 2 hours to stiffen up. You can also leave it overnight in the fridge. I never do. I can’t wait that long!

6. Preheat your oven to 175°C, ( 347 F ) if you are using a normal oven. 150°C ( 302 F ) fan oven, for 15 minutes. Take 2 oven racks out of the oven & lay silpats on them. I use a fan oven.

7. Take your dough out of the fridge, open the cling film & slice 1 big piece, 1/3 th of the dough. Place the other dough back into the cling film & place into the fridge until you want another piece to work with. So, that the dough will stay firm. Now, lay your silpat in front of you on the table. Flour well. Flour the rolling-pin & roll the dough out to 0,5 cm thick. With your favourite cookie cutters, cut out cookies & reuse the dough again & again until it is all used up. Do flour your Silpat from time to time, because you don’t want the dough to stick. Place onto a silpat on an oven rack, well spaced apart, about 1 inch ( 2,5 cm ) apart & bake for about 13 to 15 minutes until browned & cooked through. In my case, it took every time 15 minutes. Take out of the oven & place onto wiring racks to cool down completely. Do the same to the rest of the dough.

8. When the cookies are completely cold, place into cookie boxes to store or give them as presents.

These are crunchy cookies & a bit soft in the middle.

Enjoy with a good cup of coffee or an excellent cup of tea!

These treats make excellent food gifts!

A knight on his horse!

An excellent food gift, seasonal too!

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You might like:

1. Gluten-Free & Egg-Free speculaas spiced apple muffins

2. Vegan spelt speculaas spiced rhubarb cake with chocolate chips 

3. Vegan rhubarb spelt speculaas crumble served in hot Devon custard ( the custrad is not dairy-free!!! )

Vegan cranberry clementine chocolate chip muffins!

This morning, I made these tasty & invented cranberry & clementine chocolate chip muffins! They are so delectable & seasonal too! These are great as a special breakfast, smeared with vegan butter. Yummy, I say! Check them out!

Delightful vegan cranberry & clementine chocolate chip muffins!

Yummy!
Vegan goodness!

Recipe: For 16 heart-shaped muffins

Ingredients:

** For the dry ingredients:

2 cups organic light spelt flour

1 cup organic white flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2/3 cup fresh frozen cranberries

2/3 cup shelled walnut halves, cut up , measured when cut up

2/4 cup vegan chocolate chips, semi-sweet

** For the wet ingredients:

1/2 cup maple syrup

6 tablespoons sunflower oil

2/3 cup fresh clementine juice

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 220° C ( 425 F ) for 10 minutes. I always use a fan oven. Adjust your oven to the right temperature.

2. In a large bowl, combine light spelt flour, white flour, sea salt, baking powder & cinnamon. Mix well. Add fresh frozen cranberries, chopped walnuts & vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips. Combine well. Set aside.

2. In another smaller bowl, combine maple syrup, 6 tablespoons of sunflower oil & the fresh clementine juice. Mix well with a whisk.

3. Now, add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients to form a dough. combine well. Do not overmix!!! Spoon your dough equally divided filled for 2/3 into your heart-shaped silicon baking ware, pushing the dough down into the heart shape & place onto an oven rack into the preheated oven. Bake for about 12 minutes, until the tops are golden & browned. Test with a mini skewer, into the middle top of each muffin, to see if the insides are cooked enough. If not, add them back into the oven & bake for some extra minutes. Do the pin test again. If ready, transfer to a wire rack, to cool into the silicon pan, until completely cold. Unmold the muffins carefully, upside down is the best way, carefully pushing the muffin down, out of the muffin pan to prevent breaking the muffins!!!  Enjoy them cold, sliced open, eaten with some good vegan butter! MMM!!! If you have leftovers, store them in a muffin or cookie box.

MMM! A tasty vegan cranberry & clementine muffin with chocolate chips, smeared with vegan butter!

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You might like:

1. Cranberry muffins with pecans & orange

2. Maple Cranberry & pecan scones served with maple’s butter

3. Cranberry, pecan & oat spelt cookies

Vegan cashew, chocolate & pumpkin spread!

You know by now, that  I like to make tasty & invented cashew cheese spreads, all invented by me, moi! 

I do think a lot of you have tried a few of them like my vegan strawberry cashew spread, this was more like a thicker vegan strawberry cashew yoghurt,  my vegan pear & cashew cheese spread & my vegan rucola ( arugula ) cashew cheese spread. If you liked & loved them the same way, as my husband & I did , then I know you will love this home-made cashew, chocolate & pumpkin spread! Check it out!

How to use it all up?

1. It is great to eat like that, with a lovely spoon, straight from the jar!

2. It is excellent as a lovely cheese spread on some toast or on a lovely sandwich!

3. It is great too, as a lovely spread onto pancakes!

4. Lovely to pour over your morning muesli!

5. Pour it over vegan ice-cream!

6. It is lovely to enjoy, smeared onto a fresh slice of bread!

7. Lovely to eat on a slice of vegan cake

MMM! All vegan goodness!

1. Pumpkin, chocolate & cashew spread: For 5 smaller jam pots!

3 cups of raw & un-roasted cashews, soaked for 1 night in clear water, well-rinsed & well-drained

2 cups  home-made roasted pumpkin purée

1 cup of vegan chocolate drops, similar to milk chocolate!

4 to 5 tablespoons maple syrup, I used 4 tablespoons

2 teaspoons of  home-made pumpkin pie spice

Method:

1. First, melt your vegan chocolate drops ” au-bain-marie “. Let it cool a bit. Pour it into your Vitamix. Place all of your ingredients in this order into your Vitamix or power-blender. Place the tamper into your fitting lid & press the power on, go from low-speed, from 1 to 10 & push onto higher power. Use the tamper & push all the ingredients into the blades & blend until it is to your  liking. I blended it for about 1 to 2 minutes. I checked the consistency & tasted it. It was ready. Turn the high power off, turn the lower speed from 10 to 1 & turn the power off. Taste! Mine tasted fabulous!! It is a bit sweeter but not too sweet.  If you don’t have a Vitamix, mix everything well with an emulsion blender & then after mashing & puréeing the cashews, whisk everything well together. Taste much in between. You must taste the chocolate, the pumpkin spice & the cashews in the background. But I had to place my creation in some lovely jam pots with fitting lids & placed them in the fridge to cool off & to stiffen up a bit. They were great & thick enough as it is & they were ready to use & to eat up! This vegan pumpkin, chocolate cashew cheese spread is so tasty! If the pots are in the fridge for a longer time, you must stir into the spread with a smaller spoon so that the maple syrup is well incorporated into the mix. Yummy Yum!

Great to give away as a special food gift, at Christmas! Store in the fridge.

A tasty & wanted food gift!!

An excellent & tasty vegan food gift!!

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Vegan pumpkin & pumpkin spiced pancakes with home-made pumpkin pie spice!

A while ago, I made home-made roasted fresh pumpkin purée. I had to use it up. The rest, I froze into Ziplock bags in my freezer, for later use. We can’t buy pumpkin in a can. It doesn’t exist in Belgium! Too bad, I say! and because we can’t buy pumpkin spice over here, I made my own. This is also good for the people of Belgium so we can use this tasty mixed spice too!

Home made pumpkin spiced & vegan pumpkin pancakes!
A real delight!

It was the 1st time, I made vegan pancakes & it worked out really well.

MMM! Double pumpkin vegan pancakes!

I also made my own pumpkin pie spice!

Home-made pumpkin pie spice!

So, here we go!

1. Vegan & Gluten-Free Pumpkin pie spice recipe ( my version )

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, freshly grated

1 teaspoon of ground mace ( = foelie in Dutch )

1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves

Method:

1. Take a clean smaller bowl & add all the spices. Like this picture:

Ready to be mixed up!

2. Mix with a little whisk until it is all beautifully combined. Like this picture:

Your pumpkin pie spice is ready to use!

3. Use instantly or place into a lovely jam pot with fitting lid & place a lovely label with the date on it when you made it. Store in a dry cupboard. Enjoy! This would also make an ideal food gift!

Home-made pumpkin pie spice!

2. For the Vegan pumpkin & pumpkin pie spiced pancakes! For 7 thicker pancakes!

Ingredients:

1 cup of soy milk, not so sweet

1/2 cup of home-made pumpkin purée

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 cup + 1/4 cup of organic flour

1 tablespoon of coconut sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of home-made pumpkin pie spice: ( recipe above! )

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt flakes, crushed

2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed

Method:

1. Take a medium bowl & add milk, flaxseed, pumpkin purée & sunflower oil. Combine well with a whisk.

2. In another larger bowl, sift together flour, salt, pumpkin pie spice, sugar & baking powder. Mix with a spoon.

3. Add wet ingredients to the dry mixture, stirring until just joined. A few lumps are okay.

4. Oil a non-stick pan with sunflower oil & heat up on high. Cook 1/3 cup of the pancake batter at once into your hot pan & spread it out a bit, with the back of a spoon & flip the pancake over when bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake. Cook the second side until golden brown. Re-oil your pan, if you need to. Do the same with the rest of the pancake-batter. Keep the pancakes warm, on a hot plate, covered with aluminium foil.

5. Serve at once with a loved one. I love to top my pancake with hot maple syrup, cold maple syrup, my favourite jam, coconut sugar or powdered sugar.

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1. Sophie’s Spiced spelt vegan pumpkin bread