Walnut and Macadamia Brownies

In the past week I've used 1kg sugar, 600g chocolate and 450g margarine in pursuit of the perfect vegan brownie.

In the past few years I've eaten various attempts at brownies by restaurants / cafes and only been impressed by one - Herbies in Exeter. They were kind enough to give me their recipe, however when I eventually tried it I found it to not work at all :(

They suggested they be cooked at 300^oC, which when I tried at my oven's max (260^oC) they burnt within minutes.

More interesting than the recipe itself is the technique - to take them out of the oven half way and knock the air out by banging a counter. I've not found reference to any other recipes using this technique through Google. If makes sense though - allow the mixture to rise creating texture but then knock the air out.

There seem to be many recipes online for what is essentially badly cooked cake mixture - not my idea of brownie! I've lost count of the number of forum posts I've read where people have claimed to have discovered brownie when their chocolate cake attempt went badly wrong.

To me a brownie should be crisp on the outside, cakey towards the egde then fudge (boarding upon gooey) in the centre. Not 'fudgy' - why make it fudge like when you can make real fudge?

The recipe I've created is essentially fudge (sugar + fat + chocolate) with enough flour and raising agent to separate out and form cake at the edges. I used Herbie's slamming technique, but increased the cooking time, lowered the temperature and added 2 slams.

I'm really pleased with the result - it excludes ingredients not generally found in British kitchens (egg replacer, specialist flours etc) and is simple to make. I used macadamias and walnuts, but any nuts can be used. I would recommend that you do use some form of nut though - my final test omitted them (for cost) and it didn't cook as well.

One important thing to note: these brownies improve with age. When you take them out of the oven the very centre will appear to be too gooey. Only when they've fully cooled (several hours later) will they have reached the right consistency. The first time I made them I thought the recipe was a failure - it wasn't until I tried them again a day later that I realised they were near perfect.

If you use a different size pan to me (e.g. they're thicker or thinner) then you'll need to play with the cooking time.

Wet Ingredients: 300g Soft Brown Sugar 50g Caster Sugar 150g Soya Margarine 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 120ml Soya Milk

Dry Ingredients: 125g Wholemeal Flour 40g Cocoa Powder 1/4 tsp Salt 2 tsp Baking Powder

Other Ingredients: 140g Chocolate 75g Walnuts 75g Macadamia Nuts

Start by melting the wet ingredients together in a pan over a low heat. Use a whisk to ensure they're fully combined and the sugar dissolved. Be careful not to overheat or take the mixture to the boil - it'll change the consistency if you do (e.g. you'll make toffee):

Leave to cool - if it's too warm when you add it to the dry ingredients then it'll melt the chocolate and again change the end consistency.

Mix the dry ingredients, then thoroughly combine in the wet:

Chop the chocolate into chunks if not using chips. Chop or break the walnuts. Chop the macadamias if whole. Add to the mixture and stir briefly:

Line an 11x7 inch pan with silicone sheet or baking paper, fill and even out with a spatula:

Place in a 200^oC (180^o fan) oven for 10 minutes, then remove and bang down on the top of the cooker. If it's risen at all you should see it deflate. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. Remove and bang again, then place back in the oven for its final 10 - it should have 30 minutes in total.

Finally remove from the oven, bang for a third time and place the tin in an ice water bath to stop the cooking (a larger pan with ice cubes and water will do the trick - just make sure the water doesn't go over the sides!).

Leave in the pan for a few minutes, then lift out:

Leave to cool for a few hours, then slice into 12, remove from the silicone/paper and leave to cool completely - overnight is best. If you don't you'll find it quite gooey in the centre (a good thing?).

I'll experiment with using the brownie in other recipes (ice cream, sundaes, cheesecake etc), but it's incredibly moreish on its own (I've eaten a lot of this stuff this week!). Today we enjoyed some with mint tea:

Something I don't make nearly often enough - handful of mint steeped in water with sugar. It's so much better than tea from bags!

Quiche Lorraine

I've been through a phase recently of not doing much cooking. It's mostly because I can't be arsed, partly because I've lots of other things vying for my time. Whilst hungry and driving 100 miles home on Friday however; my mind started to wonder onto the subject of recipe creation.

There are several things that I've been waiting too long now for other people to veganise. One of which is quiche - I've tried several attempts over the years and none have really hit the mark.

All that I've tried haven't had quite the right texture, level of creaminess or depth of flavour. Adding insult to injury, some contain yellow colourings (such as cumin and pakrika), which weird the flavour. The tofutti ones sold in H&B are probably the best commercial attempt, but like all frozen food they're not that great.

For my first attempt I wanted to go for the 'traditional' lorraine variety, which in the UK contains cheese and lardons. Most vegan versions I've tried have contained silken tofu, which bulks it out but adds no flavour. Therefore I decided to go with smoked tofu as well as fake bacon.

Yesterday I made four test recipes, using various ratios of smoked tofu, soya cream, cheddar spread, soya milk and salt:

My original hunch was right, so I made a larger version today, along with actual pastry:

225g Smoked Tofu

150ml Alpro Fresh Cream

100g Tesco Freefrom (Scheese) Cheddar Spread

Pinch of Salt

Pack of Redwoods Rashers

The result was very good. I'd rather have used a deeper tin with smaller diameter, but I forgot to buy one earlier in the day. Therefore it ended up pretty thin - still good though.

It's insanely creamy. I think it could take more smoked tofu, but the flavour is spot on. The top surface cracked slightly whilst cooking - I'll try a lower temperature for longer next time, as well as possibly floating slices of tomato on the top to help retain the moisture.

You can use ready made / rolled shortcrust pastry if you're feeling lazy - Jusrol is now actually labeling its products vegan. If you've a food processor though then the following is very easy (not to mention far cheaper):

150g Plain Flour

85g Pure Soya Margerine

Pinch of Salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and wizz till you've 'breadcrumbs':

With the motor running add a small amount of water, so that it starts to come together. Remove and mold into a ball, wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll it out, line a greased 25cm flan dish (leave the edges overlapping) and cover with a layer of foil and baking beads (fuck you Delia). Bake for 15 minutes at 180 celcius (160 fan), then remove the foil/beads and cook for a further 5.

Allow to cool, then trim the edges with a sharp knife:

Meanwhile, slice the rashers into smallish pieces and lightly fry. Don't cook them as long as you would if you were making a sandwich - they shouldn't brown or crispen.

Place all remaining ingredients in a food processor (break the tofu by hand into smaller chunks) and whizz until completely smooth:

Add the bacon, then pour into the pastry case.

Cook for about 20 minutes at the same temperature as before (180/160 fan). Allow to cool, then remove from the tin and slice:

Next time I'll go for a smaller dish and make it deeper, but I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. It's a simple enough recipe - will experiment with adding extra flavours to it with time.

Carbonara

A long, long time ago this was a recipe blog. The more I started travelling the lazier I became, so it turned into a restaurant / cafe review blog instead. Why make yourself when someone else can do the work?

I still do a fair amount of cooking, but it tends to be highly reliant on finished goods (premade sauces etc) rather than from scratch. I don't blog recipes that aren't tried and tested - I've taken some great photos of attempts before that haven't quite worked out taste wise, so ditched them and continued experimenting.

This blog is useful for me too - though I go through phases of making something I'll then completely forget about it for 12 months, only to realise that I can't remember the recipe. Old age and all that. There are several things that I've made up and not blogged - now I'd have to start again from scratch! So, think of this as own personal cookery scrap book.

I've been experimenting with Carbonara for a few years, using different types of vegan cheese. I made pretty good stuff with Redwoods super melting, but it uses a whole block which is both expensive and horrendously fatty. Scheese will melt if you grate it finely enough and apply enough heat, but it's taste is too easily lost. Alpro cream works well, but needs thining. The new Tesco scheese will melt into sauce but causes it to set up as it cools.

What does work well is the new scheese cheddar spread that's sold in Tesco (see previous blog post for more). Combined with Alpro cream it tastes great, but isn't runny enough. Thinned with soya milk the taste is less intense, but the compromise is worth it.

Serves 2:

120g Tesco Cheddar Spread

125ml Alpro Fresh Single Cream

50ml Plain Soya Milk

4 Redwoods Bacon Rashers

Oil, Salt & Pepper

Slice the rashers into sensibly sized pieces and put enough pasta onto boil for 2. Spaghetti and linguine work well, shapes can be good too (except those designed to hold loads of sauce as there won't be enough).

Fry the rashers in a little oil until crispy, then add the rest of the ingredients to the same pan and whisk until smooth:

Add salt to taste, then pepper before serving. Vary the quantities of each ingredient to suit.

Houmous

Like most UK vegans, houmous has figured heavily in my diet over the years. Mostly through desperation/lack of choice from supermarkets when I've forgotten to make lunch, but occasionally for pleasure too.

Embarrassingly, it's not been until recently that I've tried making it myself. Too much faff and all that.

It's actually remarkably easy however, and doing so allows you to use much better quality extra virgin olive oil than you'd ever get in premade stuff.

Ingredients:

• 390g Organic Chickpeas in Water
• 1 tbsp Tahini
• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tbsp Chopped Garlic
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• Salt
• Pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Drain the chickpeas and blend the chickpeas into a paste:


Add the rest of ingredients (salt and pepper to taste), minus the oil:

As it blends, pour oil in until the right consistancy is reached:


Taste, season and reblend if required. Serve topped with pesto, or simply on its own. You can add other flavours in the final blend (olives, sundried tomatoes etc) also.

Steamed Cocktails

I realise that I'm probably missing the point of having an espresso machine.

I'll blog about coffee another time. In the meantime, I've found that various soya milk based cocktails work rather well when steamed.

The above was tonight's:

• 1 shot Kahlua
• 1/2 shot Frangelico
• So Good (fresh)

Steamed directly in a whisky glass (foamed to 40^oC, then plunged and heated to 60^oC creating microfoam). It could probably be improved by adding some grated chocolate to the top - the foam's a bit bland otherwise.

A while ago I poured a little creme de menthe into shot glasses, then topped with steamed chocolate alpro, topped with froth. Works really well.

I'll keep you updated :)

Mustard Tofu & Chive Mash

I felt bad for not posting any recipes, and for eating far too much junk food. If you look really close you'll even see green bits!

This is a really simple recipe with just a few ingredients. It's basically a honey mustard sauce with agarve in place of honey. It does the trick and gives a similar overall taste.

Pasta works equally well; I just fancied mash because I've not had it in a while.

Ingredients:

• Firm Smoked Tofu
• 1 Red Onion
• 1 Clove Garlic
• 4tbsp Wholegrain Mustard
• 150ml Single Soya Cream
• 2tsp Agarve Nectar

Slice onion, mince garlic and cube tofu. I use a block of Taifun Smoked with Almonds and Sesame Seeds (Waitrose / independant health food stores).

Fry over a medium heat till the onions soften and start to caramelise. Remove from the heat, add the mustard (4 level tbsp) and stir so that everything's coated. Pour in the cream and put back on the heat.

Quite a few wholegrain mustards come with white wine as an ingredient, so its worth looking for one labelled vegan.

When the cream's been heated, add the agarve 1 tsp at a time. Taste until the balance suits your palate. Adding too much will make it oversweet and ruin the other flavours - 2 tsp is just right for me.

Allow to simmer and reduce until you've a sticky, slightly sweet sauce / coating on the tofu and onion.

Mash Ingredients:

• Potatoes
• Single Soya Cream
• Margerine
• Salt
• Chives

I didn't forget to include quantities - I just never measure them and adjust each time to taste. As a general rule: use 2 medium sized potatoes per portion.

Peel and chop, boil until done and drain. Pass once through a ricer, stir then add the other ingredients until it tastes good.

Pass through the ricer again if you can be arsed, the stir in a generous amount of chopped chives.

If you've spent too much time faffing about (taking pictures doesn't help) then transfer back to the pan and heat over a low flame.

Serve immediately.

Crêpe Suzette

Pancakes in boozy orange juice.

Crêpe Suzette is really easy to make - I used to make it for breakfast when we spent our summers in France in the 80s/90s. If you substitute butter for marg and ensure you use vegan alcohol; pretty much any Crêpe Suzette recipe will work.

In fact, you don't really need a recipe at all. Just melt some margarine in a pan and add orange juice/peel, lemon juice/peel, sugar and Cointreau to taste. Simmer down slightly, add pancakes and warm through. If flambéing's your thing then pour a ladle of flaming cointreau or brandy over at the end - it's not strictly needed though. You can leave out the booze altogether if you like.

Here's the quantities I used last night:

• 6 Pancakes
• Knob of Margarine
• 1 Orange (zest only)
• 1 Lemon (zest + juice)
• 200ml Orange Juice
• 100g Castor Sugar
• 75ml Cointreau + extra for flambéing

I blogged my pancake recipe a year ago (clicky click) which worked perfectly. I mixed half of the soya milk with the flour first, then whisked in the rest of the milk. It looked a little thin at first but seemed to do the job and came out lump free.

Zest the orange and the lemon, then juice the lemon. Add to the orange juice along with the sugar and cointreau.

Heat the margarine in a pan, then add the liquid. Simmer for 5 minutes so that it reduces slightly and becomes more syrupy. Taste and add more sugar / booze as needed.

You may choose to remove the zest at this point - whilst it looks nice it doesn't taste so great. Add the pancakes one by one, sliding under the sauce then folding into quarters. Warm through for a couple of minutes.

If you feel the need to set fire to things; either seek professional help or heat a ladle of cointreau, light and add to the pan (or pour the Crêpe Suzette once served).

You can serve with icecream if you like, but it tastes perfectly fine on its own. I can thoroughly recommend eating it immediately whilst the pancakes are still delicate. I discovered to my dismay last night that if you pounce around with a camera for 20 minutes they can become rather chewy! :O

Miniature Chocolate Chip Banana Drizzle Cake

Everybody say "awwwwww" - this is the smallest cake I've ever made.

Ages ago (years) I bought a couple of 4" spring form tins, which I don't remember using until tonight. Now that I'm living alone again I need to restrain myself from making standard 8" cakes ;)

I'm not sure how much of a success this cake was, I just decided to have a go. I made a standard sponge with banana and chocolate chips. I made banana drizzle icing, which I'm not sure (according to google anyway) anyone has done before. Perhaps with good reason? :p

It's pretty moist and I think I used a few too many chocolate chips and a bit too much banana. The cake itself physically worked and it tastes pretty good. I'm not so sure about the icing - I was aiming for a buttercream consistancy but a base of 25g mashed banana wouldn't allow this to happen. Personally I don't believe it has enough of the banana flavour in it.

For my notes as much as anything I'm blogging the recipe anyway, on the pretense that it needs some tweaking.

Cake Ingredients:

• 100g Self Raising Flour
• 75g Castor Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 100ml Water
• 25ml Sunflower Oil
• 75g Banana
• 25g Dark Chocolate Chips

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, then add the oil and water. Mix to a batter. Add the banana and mash it into the mixture. Add the chocolate chips and beat as much air in as possible.

Pour into two greased 4" springform tins and cook at 200^oc for 20-25 mins.

Remove and allow to cool when an inserted cocktail stick can be withdrawn cleanly.

Icing Ingredients:

• 25g Banana
• 125g Icing Sugar
• 10ml Soya Cream

Mash the banana and add 100g of the icing sugar in stages. Combine to a thin icing, then sieve the lumps/dark bits out. Add the remaining icing sugar and soya cream.

When the cake has cooled apply the icing and eat. As it's quite moist I'm guessing that it may improve over night.

Cream Doughnuts

Having been told in a health checkup this week that my cholesterol level is too low to be read (using 3 separate blood samples in two machines) I decided to celebrate with a spot of deep frying.

I sometimes make special trips to Co-op to buy their doughtnuts and used to buy Tesco and M&S ones when they were suitable. Nothing beats a freshly fried one however.

I veganised a recipe a few years back and whilst it worked, the taste just wasn't quite right. I was inspired by Terre a Terre to have another go and am pleased to report that the results were pretty good.

As always I'm going to give an honest review and not just say they're amazing because I made them. Fresh out the frier they were amazing - just like ones from fun fairs. I think this recipe would work best for traditional ring doughnuts served hot. Once cooled and filled (as I did with the remainder) they weren't as good. Therefore next time I make them I'll either do ring or play with the recipe a bit.

Ingredients (4 huge doughnuts):

• 250g Strong White Bread Flour
• 25g Margerine
• 150ml Water
• 1/2 tsp Dried Active Yeast
• Pinch of Salt
• Pinch of Sugar

Place all ingredients in a bread maker and select the Italian dough/pizza setting (45 minutes on my Panasonic).

Place the dough on a floured surface and kneed for a couple of minutes with your hands.

Divide the mixture into 4 and shape into lozenges. Place on an oiled try in a warm area for 20-30 minutes (I use an oven that's been heated to 50^oc, then turned off). During this time they should smooth out and gain in volume.

Heat your fryer to 190^oc and cook each doughnut for about 3 minutes (turning regularly).

I've just acquired a camera that shoots 720p video, which is a vast improvement on my iPhone's terrible video application that I used earlier this year for my pancake recipe. Thus I've decided to play around with vlogging a bit more:


They should float as soon as you place them in the oil and start bubbling immediately. Within 30 seconds you'll be able to turn it over. Once cooked remove the basket and shake off excess oil, then roll in sugar.

If filling, allow to cool first. I tried Soyatoo squirty cream, however piped whipping cream would have been better. I'd also recommend using standard jam - the stuff I used was a bit too syruppy and synthetic tasting.

Blueberry Waffles

It's been a while since I posted a new recipe. Various other things have been going on in my life recently, including eating out a lot more than normal. Don't worry, I'll start recipe posting again sooner or later. In the meantime you'll have to make do with the following post.

When my parents get a list of things I want for my birthday I normally end up with something I like, but from the more practical end of the scale than fun. This year however I got a shock, when to my delight I was given a waffle iron. Not just any waffle iron: a beautiful Cuisinart one.

A few years ago I tried buying a waffle iron. To my horror I found that there were none available on the UK domestic market. I investigated whether or not to import one from the states and get a power convertor, but in the end gave up.

Upon receiving this I started trying recipes from books and the web. The 3 I tried from Vegan Brunch all (in my opinion) sucked.

I'm aware that yeast risen ones are probably nicer, but haven't tried any yet. What I did try however was my standard cake recipe, which gave the best results by far. Thus I made a few minor modifications and blogging tonight's rather tasty attempt at blueberry waffles.

I think there's probably some refining left to do, but I could quite happily eat one of these again.

Ingredients:

• 150g Castor Sugar
• 200g Self Raising Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 150ml Water
• 75ml Sunflower Oil
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Essense
• 50g Blueberries

Heat the iron on setting 3 (of 6). Mix the dry ingredients together then add the wet. Mix thoroughly, then stir in the fruit (I used small frozen berries). Grease the iron and spread the mixture onto it (you should have a small amount left over).

Cook for around 8 minutes, resisting the urge to peek (which will cause them to split). When done the amount of steam produced should have visibly reduced. Carefully extract from the iron and serve with vanilla icecream. Makes 4 waffles (each of which serves 2 people, or one hungry person).