Category: puddings

Perfect Egg-free and Dairy-free Pancakes

 

I haven’t posted a pancake recipe for ages, but since it’s Shrove Tuesday, today is the day for an updated version. I first devised my pancake recipe when Big S was in nursery and everyone else was partaking in pancake day, and i just couldn’t let her miss out. It was moments like these that were the driving force for starting, and then carrying in my blog. Food is such a big part of life, particularly any social or celebratory occasions that I have always been desperate to make sure my girls (and everyone else with allergies) don’t feel left out.

This pancake recipe is as simple as anything and gives fabulous results from a few store cupboard ingredients. They have a bit more pouf than traditional English style pancakes or French crepes; think one step towards a big puffy American version. We’ll be having them tonight for Shrove Tuesday with sugar and lemon or garnished with Plamil chocolate spread – delicious 🙂

These also make a wonderful breakfast, and also reheat successfully so you can make a batch on a Sunday and have exciting breakfasts for the next few days. I’ve added the quantities in both grams and cup measurements because pancakes are sometimes easier to make using cups than scales

Perfect Egg-free and Dairy-free Pancakes

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegan, vegetarian)

makes 10-12 small or 6-8 large pancakes

 120g plain flour (1 cup)

2 tsp baking powder

30g caster sugar (2 tbsp)

pinch of salt

2 tbsp sunflower oil

250ml dairy-free milk (1 cup)

  1. Sift the flour and mix in the other dry ingredients
  2. Add oil and dairy-free milk and whisk until smooth, add more oat milk as necessary to make a ‘single cream’ consistency
  3. Fry on both sides in a hot pan wiped with a smear of sunflower oil
  4. Eat hot topped with lemon and sugar, honey, maple syrup etc.

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Tarte aux Framboises (Raspberry Tart)

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I’ve updated this delicious celebratory tart with a far better Creme Patissiere recipe. One of my lovely followers has a daughter who is using this recipe for her GSCE food tech exam. I’m so proud and happy that she is using one of my recipes! Anyway, they were having problems with the original recipe and the creme pat was ending up lumpy. Seriously not good, and I felt so bad that one of my recipes was failing at such a crucial time. So, the recipe has been tested and tweaked and we now have a creme pat that is as smooth as you like. Good Luck Charlotte, I hope the teachers like the result 🙂

There’s so much more buzz around free-from than when I started my blog 7 years ago, and certainly many more products for sale (although I’d have to say the egg-free options are still sadly lacking) which is fantastic. But, it seems to me that lots of the products and recipes available fail to think about flavour or appearance. I don’t see why a free-from foodstuff should not be as pretty as a ‘conventional’ one and it should certainly taste as good. I bought some highly recommended ‘freeform’ doughnuts recently – they looked great but oh my, I have never eaten anything so heavy or unappealing masquerading as a doughnut before! In fact both girls took a bite and threw them straight in the bin, which was especially galling as they’d cost a pretty penny! Why do people accept such offerings? Maybe deep-down inside many people think sweet treats can’t be really tasty without dairy or eggs?! Well, I’m telling you they can be (sometimes they can be far nicer!). Ok, they’re often not identical, but I’m on a mission to prove the friendly food can be delicious food – there’s no making do or missing out with my recipes!

This tarte aux framboise is a perfect example. I think it looks good (I hope you agree!) and it certainly tastes good – I ramped up the vanilla in the creme patisseriere to compensate for the richness which is lost when eggs are not used. I don’t think anyone feels like they were eating an inferior ‘free-from alternative’ –  so job done 🙂

Whilst the delicate arranging of fruit makes this tart look complex it really is very simple – a crisp blind baked pastry case (shop bought shortcrust pastry is fine), a rich vanilla scented custard, fresh fruit and an apricot jam based glaze. All that is required is a little patient arranging and you have a pudding worthy of any patisserie window! p.s. note the difference between the next two photos – the apricot glaze really is the icing on the cake!

Tarte aux Framboises

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, vegetarian and vegan)

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make one 12 inch tart

for the pastry case:

1 recipe shortcrust or 1pack of shortcrust pastry

  1. Follow this recipe substituting dairy-free margarine for the butter, or use shop bought that is dairy-free
  2. Roll out the pastry and line a tart tin. Fill with cling-film or parchment filled with baking beans. Bake at 200 degrees Centigrade (180 degrees Fan) for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and bake for a further five minutes until golden. Cool.

for the creme patisseriere:

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1/2 cup corn flour (cornstarch)

2 cups dairy-free milk

1/3-1/2 cup caster sugar (depending on how sweet your tooth is)

1tsp vanilla paste or extract or seeds from I vanilla pod

Salt, a pinch

  1. Pour the milk, sugar and vanilla into a saucepan. Heat until hot but not boiling.
  2. Pour the cornflour into a bowl, stir in a small amount of the hot milk mixture to make a smooth paste. Then add the rest of the milk mixture and stir well.
  3. Return to the saucepan and stir continuously whilst heating. It will initially look like it’ll become lumpy, but these will disappear as it gets thicker. You want it to be thick enough to be able to be piped.
  4. Pour into a bowl and cover with cling film (touching the top of the creme pat so no skin forms) and leave to cool

for the nappage (glaze):

1 tbsp apricot jam

1 tbsp water

  1. To make the nappage (apricot jam glaze) heat the apricot jam with 1 tbsp water (strain if lumpy) until bubbly and sticky.
  2. Brush over the fruit whilst hot

to assemble:

  1. Whisk the creme pat thoroughly and either pipe or spoon a 1/2 cm layer into the tart shell.
  2. Top with raspberries (whole or sliced in half) and bush with hot nappage.
  3. Leave to cool before eating.

lucylox5 Comments

Lime and Ginger Cheesecake

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Cheesecakes have always been one of my favourite puddings, and that remains the case since cooking dairy and egg-free. I’ve tried many, many truly awful recipes, but this ‘no bake’ recipe works an absolute treat.

Tofutti is the only dairy-free cream cheese that I rate, but this particular recipe can use any brand of vegan cream cheese to great effect. I find most dairy-free cream cheeses unpleasant and often rather pasty, but this recipe transforms even a disappointing ‘cheesy’ spread into a luxurious, zingy, creamy cheesecake. It’s luscious, cheesy, zesty and sings with flavour. A great way to end a rich or spicy meal. The combination of ginger and lime works really well and if you didn’t mention it to them, I’m fairly certain not many people would call it as a vegan cheesecake.

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Lime and Ginger Cheesecake 

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan) N.B. contains soya

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This recipe makes 1 small cheesecake (enough for 4 small portions or 2 large)

100g ginger biscuits, crushed

1 tbsp dairy-free spread, melted

5 tbsps soya cream cheese

2-3 tbsps soya yogurt

Juice and zest of 1 lime

2-3 tbsps icing sugar

  1. Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted spread. Press into the bottom of the pie tin, or into individual ramekins. Place in the fridge to set.
  2. Whisk together the other ingredients until they are smooth. Taste and add more lime juice or icing sugar according to taste.
  3. Pour onto the biscuit base, and level off the top.
  4. Leave to set in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
  5. Remove the tin prior to serving and garnish the top with a little more zest.

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lucylox10 Comments

Tiramisu

Tiramisu has been on my list of ‘must recreate’ dishes for a really long time. I always really liked the coffee creaminess of tiramisu and it’s a pudding that I miss, although I think it fell slightly out of fashion in general.

I’ve been mulling over how to recreate the mascarpone and cream combo for ages. Cashews seem a popular choice to create a ‘cheesy’ alternative but we’re really not great fans. Even though Little S can now eat cashew nuts, I think soaked and blended cashews seem to only make a creamy nutty paste, which just isn’t quite right in my book. So I definitely wasn’t going to go down the cashew route. In my opinion coconut is similar in that it leaves behind an overpowering coconutty flavour and I didn’t want my tiramisu to have any unexpected coconutty taste. I was aiming for as authentic as possible a recreation, and I think this version is it.

Out of everyone who tasted my tiramisu the only comments that could improve it were that it needed more intense coffee flavour and some masala heat. I actually left out the masala as I was making it for the entire family (use vanilla if you don’t wish to use alcohol) and I used decaffeinated coffee and not quite enough of it. I know where I went wrong, but the recipe below has the mistakes corrected, but you may wish to add a splash more masala or soak the sponge for longer in stronger coffee to get an extra coffee and alcohol hit. The creaminess needs those strong flavours.

Rather than recreating the ladies fingers I baked a vanilla sponge and sliced it before dunking in the coffee. The resulting effect is spot on for tiramisu. The mascarpone and cream filling is a combination of sweetened soya cream cheese and soya whipping cream. This produces a cream which is both light and airy but with an extra richness and a greater stability. Once set in the fridge this Tiramisu lasts up to 3 or 4 days which is perfect as it does make a substantial quantity.

Tiramisu

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan. N.B. contains soya)

serves 10-12

for the sponge:

200g self-raising flour

100g caster sugar

pinch of salt

100ml sunflower oil

150ml dairy-free milk

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade/Gas mark 5
  2. Line a shallow baking tin with parchment
  3. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Stir in the sugar.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix together the dairy-free milk, bicarb, lemon, vanilla and oil.
  5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix, until well combines.
  6. Pour into the lined tin and level off and bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden and a knife comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

for the cream filling:

200ml dairy-free whipping cream

100ml dairy-free cream cheese

4 tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tbsp masala wine (more if you wish)

  1. Whip the cream until light and fluffy, then add the cream cheese and sugar and whip until fully incorporated. Add the flavouring and whip again.

To assemble:

 1/2 cup freshly brewed espresso or very strong instant coffee

1-2 tbsp cocoa powder

  1. Slice the sponge into fingers and dunk in some freshly brewed strong coffee. The longer it’s absorbing, the stronger the coffee flavour
  2. Layer the ingredients into decorative bowls or a large rectangular serving dish.
  3. Start with soaked sponge, then a layer of the creamy cheese mixture and then a layer of cocoa powder. Repeat twice and finish with a heavy dusting of cocoa powder.
  4. Leave to set in the fridge and when ready to serve, slice into neat squares.

lucylox7 Comments

Chocolate Pancakes with Rich Chocolate Sauce

Everyone loves pancakes, and it is essential to have a good few recipes for creating quick and exciting breakfasts or puddings, and obviously for Shrove Tuesday a.k.a. Pancake Day 🙂

It would be logical to presume it wouldn’t be possible to make nice pancakes without the milk and eggs, because in essence a pancake is just milk, eggs and flour. But you would be very wrong, it is in fact very easy to make delicious, authentic tasting and looking pancakes without any milk or eggs in sight. I have, mind, eaten some bad rubbery vegan pancakes along the way, but these are not them. These turn out as lovely light, puffy pancakes (yes no egg needed involved!). Perfect for eating from a stack and smothered in sauce.

We’re generally a sugar and lemon, or golden syrup household, but the picture on the cover of this month’s Waitrose food magazine of these chocolate pancakes tempted me in. Chocolate pancakes covered in chocolate sauce looked so deliciously double chocolatey good, that I had to have a tweak of the recipe to make it dairy and egg-free.

And they’re good. We had them as a dessert, as I am not sure I can cope with that rich chocolate sauce at breakfast time. But you never know! There’s a sinful breakfast right there if you want one.

Happy Pancake Day to all. I hope you enjoy these deliciously chocolatey pancakes as much as we did.

Chocolate Pancakes

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian  and vegan)

makes approx 10-12 pancakes

1 cup plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp caster sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbsp flavourless oil, I used sunflower

1 cup dairy-free milk

  1. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cocoa, sugar and salt.
  2. Pour in the oil and milk and whisk to make a smooth batter. If possible leave to rest for half an hour before using.
  3. Heat a frying pan to medium hot, wipe with a dab of oil and fry ladlefuls of the batter. You will know it’s time to turn them over because the bubbles will rise to the surface of the pancake showing it’s time to flip.
  4. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

Rich Chocolate Sauce

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, can be soya-free, vegetarian and vegan)

50g dairy-free chocolate

1 tbsp dairy-free margarine

1 tbsp maple or golden syrup

2 tbsp dairy-free milk

  1. Gently melt all the ingredients together, either in a saucepan or in the microwave.

lucylox2 Comments

Baked Caramel Cheesecake (dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free)

Are you a baked or unbaked cheesecake fan? I definitely prefer unbaked one but they seem almost distinct desserts to me, more like siblings than twins. So it’s probably a good thing to have a wonderful baked cheesecake in your repertoire as well. In fact, I did some cheesecake research before devising this recipe and it seems that cheesecakes are popular throughout much of the world, with subtle variations but the baked version is more traditional.

There are many vegan recipes for baked cheesecakes but most seem to be made of soaked cashews. Clearly that’s not going to fit with my requirements of being nut-free but also I personally think people are deluding themselves with cashews. To me the resulting concoctions taste like cashew nuts funnily enough – like all nuts they have a strong pervading flavour. It seems like that’s just me as people rave about cashew-based puddings, but I have never come across a cashew product which isn’t inherently nutty. So, yep you guessed it, there are no nuts in my baked cheesecake!

This cheesecake recipe is made using tofu and in my opinion gives amazing results, the texture is completely spot on to replicate the dense, slightly cloying nature of a baked cheesecake, with the bonus prizes of a bit of wobble and squidge. I have to admit that while the results were really authentic, nobody in the family liked it as much as an unbaked cheesecake – I guess we’re just a family that prefers that fresher taste.

To add flavour to tofu which is essentially very bland, I’ve incorporated a few dollops of Lotus caramelised spread, giving a wonderful caramel taste which works so well with a fruit syrup. I’m thinking that chocolate spread or Wow Butter would work well too.

 

Baked Caramel Cheesecake

(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan) N.B. contains soya

Makes an 8 inch cheesecake

15 ginger nuts or 18 Lotus biscuits

3 tbsp dairyfree margarine

300g silken tofu

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tbsp dairyfree milk

4 tbsp lotus caramelised spread

4 tbsp icing sugar

  1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Centigrade
  2. Turn the biscuits into crumbs by either placing in a bag and thumping with a rolling pin or whizzing in a food processor
  3. Melt the margarine and combine with the biscuit crumbs. Press firmly into a springform cake tin and bake for 10 minutes. Cool.
  4. Mix together the cornflour and milk to make a thin paste and set aside.
  5. In a food processor, blend together the tofu cornflour paste, lotus spread and icing sugar until totally smooth.
  6. Pour on top of the biscuit base and level off. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until set with a little wobble in the middle and slightly browned around the edges.
  7. Leave to cool fully in the tin.
  8. Serve with blueberry couli or caramel sauce.

lucylox2 Comments