More on the early festive theme today. Quite often the mincemeat you get at the supermarket has suet in it and so isn't veggie (although many now use veggie suet - but you have to check the packet). This year I've decided to make my own, I'll make pies nearer christmas and in the meantime store this in appropriately sterilised jars.
Ingredients
3 cooking apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1 &1/2 oranges (juice and zest)
1/2 lemon (juice and zest)
1tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
100g dark muscavado sugar
175g mixed dried fruit
50g dried apricots
150g dried cranberries
70g flaked almonds
100ml brandy
100ml orange juice (or orange & cranberry)
To Make
put the apples in a pan with the sugar, lemon and orange zest and juice. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about ten mins, until the apple is soft.
Add the rest of the ingredients
Bring to the boil again, reduce the heat and simmer (not covered this time) until the mix is thick and there is very little syrupy liquid left.
Cool - and use for pies! Or if you're not making them yet, like me, store in sterrlised jars.
Saturday
Christmas Cake!
I love Christmas! I love thinking up present ideas, decorating the house, getting the tree and all the rituals associated with food as well. So whilst there's no turkey in sight on our Christmas table I do make vegan versions of the rest of the Christmas fayre. I can't remember where I came across this cake recipe now, but it works really well.
It's still November but it is wise to make the cake early and to 'feed' it regularly with sherry or rum so that it's nice and mature when you eat it. It's also snowing today, so I'm feeling quite festive. The back garden is blanketed, I've been out to fleece my onions and garlic and put some food out for the birds so now I'm in my kitchen, looking out at the snow and creating lovely spicey chirstmasy smells. All in all feeling rather jolly.
Anyway - to business.
Ingredients
675g mixed dried fruit
1/4 pint veg oil ( I use sunflower)
350g SR Flour
1 lemon rind (buy unwaxed!)
450ml water
2 tsp mixed spice
75g brown sugar
3tbsp sherry or rum
To make
So easy!! Just mix all the ingredients together, apart from the sherry/rum! Stick in the oven (in a cake tin, obviously, lined with baking paper) at 150c for 2 hours.
Once baked leave to cool for half an hour or so then prick the top with a cocktail stick. Feed the cake by spooning the sherry or rum on top. Wrap the cake up well - either double wrapped in baking paper or I do mine in a clean, tightly secured tea towel and then put in an airproof tin. Feed again a couple of times before you want to eat it!
At Christmas you can either eat it as it is (the Yorkshire way is with wensleydale cheese but clearly not appropriate for vegans) or ice it. I tend to cheat here and buy ready made icing and marzipan, secured with apricot jam.
Ho ho ho
It's still November but it is wise to make the cake early and to 'feed' it regularly with sherry or rum so that it's nice and mature when you eat it. It's also snowing today, so I'm feeling quite festive. The back garden is blanketed, I've been out to fleece my onions and garlic and put some food out for the birds so now I'm in my kitchen, looking out at the snow and creating lovely spicey chirstmasy smells. All in all feeling rather jolly.
Anyway - to business.
Ingredients
675g mixed dried fruit
1/4 pint veg oil ( I use sunflower)
350g SR Flour
1 lemon rind (buy unwaxed!)
450ml water
2 tsp mixed spice
75g brown sugar
3tbsp sherry or rum
To make
So easy!! Just mix all the ingredients together, apart from the sherry/rum! Stick in the oven (in a cake tin, obviously, lined with baking paper) at 150c for 2 hours.
Once baked leave to cool for half an hour or so then prick the top with a cocktail stick. Feed the cake by spooning the sherry or rum on top. Wrap the cake up well - either double wrapped in baking paper or I do mine in a clean, tightly secured tea towel and then put in an airproof tin. Feed again a couple of times before you want to eat it!
At Christmas you can either eat it as it is (the Yorkshire way is with wensleydale cheese but clearly not appropriate for vegans) or ice it. I tend to cheat here and buy ready made icing and marzipan, secured with apricot jam.
Ho ho ho
Sunday
blackberry upside down cake
This was inspired in part by a visit to our dear friends Tammy & Graham down in Oxford and their dedicated campaign to pick all the berries near their house before their neighbour did! There seems to be no competition near here for the berries so we've had a load of crumbles and there are tubs full in the freezer.
Anyway in an attempt to try something other than a crumble I made this upside down cake for dinner when we had friends over, and I was really pleased with it. The cake recipe can be used for a plain sponge as well (and in fact I used it for Iain's birthday cake, photo below).
Cake Ingredients
1 cup of soya yogurt
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of veg oil
1tspn vanilla essence
Juice of one lemon and rind
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
Mix ingredients and bake for 50mins at 180c
For the 'upside down' bit
Sufficient number of blackberries to cover the base of your cake tin
Vegan marg
Brown sugar
Melt the marg & sugar together on a low heat in a pan, and mix in blackberries. Coat the bottom of a (greased) take tin with the mixture and then put cake mixture on top. I also mixed blackberries through the cake mixture so they were scattered throughout. I'm sure you could make this with any number of fruits too.
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