Tag: no refined sugar

Vegan Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Scone Recipes: 1 Sweet, 1 Savoury

 

825955DA-F9B2-4A90-BA3A-15417AC8829F I had just made some Tiger Nut Milk and also had some raw sweet potato left over from juicing and I remembered seeing a recipe on The Tiger Nut Company Instagram feed that featured scones made with sweet potato and tiger nut pulp (but you can use tiger nut flour). Yes! I thought, it’s been a year since I tried a scone recipe ( Vegan Gluten-Free Almond & Apricot Scones ) let’s have a go! So I did. They turned out so well, I made a savoury version, too: Savoury Sweet Potato Scones using almond milk pulp, nutritional yeast, ground oats and paprika – see later in the post.

The original recipe by Kimberly Parsons of The Yoga Kitchen can be found here. They are moist and filling,  can be made nutfree, using seeds instead of the walnuts, and are a great way to use up nut milk pulp.

I used a chia egg instead of a hen’s egg (1 Tbsp Chia Seeds soaked in 3 Tbsps Water to form a gel). I steamed rather than boiled the sweet potato to maximise the nutritional content, and as I didn’t have any buckwheat flour, I milled some buckwheat flakes, and it worked well.

There is no refined sugar, just a little maple syrup.

Tiger nuts are tubers, full of gut-healthy nutrients, protein, calcium, Vitamin E, B Vitamins. They make lovely creamy, sweet milk – see link at the end of the post for how to make it.

This recipe with my alterations is reproduced by permission.

Ingredients for Tiger Nut & Sweet Potato Scones

90g tiger nut pulp (or tiger nut flour)

2 tsps baking powder

35g buckwheat flour (I milled some buckwheat flakes)

pinch Pink Himalayan salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 chia egg

180g steamed sweet potato, blended to a purée

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp maple syrup

30g chopped walnuts plus extra to decorate

A little nut milk to brush on top

 Method

Preheat oven to 180C

Line a large baking tray with baking paper

Whisk together Tiger nut meal or flour, baking powder, buckwheat flour, sea salt and spices in a medium bowl

Whisk the egg, sweet potato puree, vanilla extract and maple syrup until it’s a smooth paste

Add the mix to the dry ingredients and mix, adding the chopped walnuts once combined

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop mixture onto the prepared baking tray, Or small handfuls gentle rounded and flattened, brush tops with tiger nut milk and decorate with walnuts

Bake for 15-18 minutes until risen and the base sounds hollow when tapped. Allow to cool, and enjoy!

(I found the timing a bit difficult to judge as I have a fan oven and cooked them on a slightly lower heat for a little longer)

 

Savoury Sweet Potato Scones

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This time I used almond milk pulp, nutritional yeast, paprika, salt and pepper, ginger and left out the maple syrup and vanilla. They were really good, keep well in the fridge and freezer and are very filling.

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Ingredients

(All quantities are approximate)

1 Cup Almond Milk Pulp

35g Ground Oats

2 Tbsps Nutritional Yeast

2 tsps Gluten-Free Baking Powder

1 tsp Paprika + some to dust

1/2 tsp Ginger

Pinch Pink Himalayan Salt and Black Pepper

Approx. 200g peeled Sweet potato, chopped, steamed, cooled and blended

1 Chia Egg

1 Heaped Tsp Almond Nut Butter

35g Mix of finely chopped walnuts and almonds, reserve some for decoration.

A little nut milk to brush on top.

Method as before:

Mix dry ingredients with the spices.

Whisk the chia egg, sweet potato purée, nut butter together and add to the dry mix.

Mix with a fork until it starts to come together, then knead with your hands until it forms a ball.

Form as before – I used the s allest cutter in the set – brush with a little nut milk, dust with paprika and ground walnuts.

56209B2B-AE73-48BA-AF5F-4C9B20C3A04DThe trick is to keep the dough very moist and gently flatten it to about an inch and a half to keep them a good thickness and make them light.

Cook approximately 15-20 minutes, but keep an eye on them. They should be a little crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

Cook as before and cool on a wire rack.

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They keep well in the fridge, too.

Both versions can be eaten on their own or with nut butter, vegan cheese, or fruit spread for the sweet version.

Enjoy!

Thank you to Ani of The Tiger Nut Company and to Kimberly Parsons of The Yoga Kitchen.

(Tiger Nuts and Tiger Nut Flour from The Tiger Nut Company, link in text above).

See also: Savoury Vegan Glutenfree ‘Cheese’ & Herb Scones

Vegan Gluten-Free Almond & Apricot Scones – oh yes!

How to Make Horchata (aka Tiger Nut Milk)

Nut & Seed Milks & Smoothie Recipes

How to Make Smooth and Creamy Hemp Milk

How to Make Cashew Nut Milk & Why You Should!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Vegan Salted Chocolate Cashews – Going, Going …

FB963C8C-1363-40DC-A04A-3BC4D64FE136A quick post to tell all you raw chocolate lovers that my favourite Raw Chocolate Company has just brought out these raw chocolate smiles which they’ve called Vanoffee Salted Smoochies! All I can say is yum, yum, yum!! They are so smooth, lightly salted and still have a bite (often cashews go soft when used commercially).

If you like the idea, you have to hurry: these are a special edition, produced to gauge customer reaction and as of this afternoon only 20 bags left!

If enough of us give positive feedback and tell them how gorgeous they are (and the cashews ;-:) they may just bring them back permanently and in a swish new pouch to replace their basic temporary one. They really deserve some new clothes.

A note of caution, these are just as addictive as their Vanoffee Mulberries!

Raw Vanoffee Chocolate has a lightly malted flavour and is so smooth and ‘creamy’ on the tongue.

It was described by one of the Dragons on Dragon’s Den as the best chocolate he’d ever tasted.

All The Raw Chocolate Company products are Vegan, Organic, Gluten-free, Kosher and Sustainably Sourced. They use coconut blossom sugar, not refined sugar, and unlike with palm oil, no trees are felled. They are dairy-free, additive-free and unlike commercial dairy chocolate, raw chocolate contains lots of nutrients.

Full disclosure: Although my family has had a long association with the company and its founder, since before its inception, I always buy the products and am not requested or paid to review them. I buy them because I love them, it’s the only chocolate I eat.

This review is purely selfish: I want more Vanoffee Salted Smoochies!

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Ps There’s also New Vegan Chocky Cherries waiting to be tested. It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Four Raw, Vegan, Gluten-free Yummy Christmas Treats

img_2880Some of these recipes are a couple of years old, so most of you won’t have seen them. These were a big hit when I first made them and I thought I would provide the links again so you can take a look and see if they’re worth trying. Containing no refined sugar, they are healthier alternatives to commercial Christmas treats and can make lovely gifts.

Christmas Truffles

These are a similar recipe to the raw Christmas pudding (see below) but have been adapted to make into small treats and present as gifts if you so wish. They have walnuts and dates in them. They are made in the food processor and then rolled in whatever topping you like.

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This raw Christmas pudding is full of dried fruit and nuts, can be sweet or tangy, is very filling and satisfying – you only need a small serving – it will keep well in the fridge or freezer and is yummy with vanilla coconut yogurt or cashew cream.

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Spiced & Fruity Vegan Gluten-Free Christmas Pudding!

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Spicy Orange Fruit Balls are made with figs, apricots, coconut/almonds (can be nut-free) orange zest and cardamom, a real taste of Christmas and a hit with everyone who tried them, even the Tweens! Children like making them, too, with supervision. They make a lovely gift and a change from sweets or sugary commercial chocolate.

I’ve saved the best till last:

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GoGo Berry Fudge: So Decadent, It Should Be Illegal!

These are so chocolatey and luxurious, but they are raw and full of nutritional goodies. They make an excellent gift in a decorated tin or jar.

I devised this recipe for The Raw Chocolate Company

Unfortunately, they no longer sell the goldenberries, although they had a few raw chocolate-covered ones left at the time of writing (4/12/17), but you may be able to get them elsewhere. They are quite tart, but you can use other dried fruit, maybe try apple juice-infused dried cranberries or apricots? The fudge is sweetened with maple syrup.

Oh, and this recipe comes with a video by Belinda Carlisle’s GoGos to sing along to while you make them!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Raw Carrot Cake Bites with CoYo Frosting – So Moreish!

img_3253I saw these on Instagram and had to try them! Before I became vegan and gluten-free, the only cake I really liked was carrot cake. This raw version from Charley’s Health comes pretty close and were perfect for our family visit with the littles.

I made some small adjustments: I used walnuts instead of pecans (I’m sure you can use seeds if you need to avoid nuts) and used half as much maple syrup in the frosting and they were perfect. Just sweet enough. I also used a little squeeze of fresh orange juice as well as the zest as the mixture was a little dry to manipulate – our medjool dates were quite hard so they were soaked in a little orange juice while everything else was prepared. I also used plain yogurt with a few drops of vanilla extract added as we couldn’t find vanilla yogurt. You could add a few drops of fresh orange juice instead.

The only thing I would point out is that this recipe makes a small amount, the slices are bite-sized – you wouldn’t want to eat more than a couple, they are very satisfying, but if you have visitors you would probably want to double the recipe.

There is no refined sugar, they are vegan and gluten-free. The base is done in the food processor and then frozen before mixing the yogurt and maple syrup for the frosting.

We made the base the day before and put in the freezer, the frosting was made next morning just before our little munchkins arrived. They keep well in the freezer (the slices, not the munchkins!).

As always, measurements are approximate and you may need to adjust to your own tastes and equipment.

Excuse the awful photos, there was no natural light – the sky was getting ready to send down a deluge – and I had to take them quickly before they were scavenged!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Spiced Fruity Raw Vegan Gluten-Free Christmas Pudding & Christmas Truffles

imageThis raw vegan Christmas pudding was inspired by a recipe on The Raw Chocolate Company blog, but it doesn’t seem to be there anymore so I can’t credit the original (though there is a more luxurious – cooked – recipe).

We made the raw one the previous Christmas, which turned out a little bit tart as we’d used golden berries and orange juice (they also made it orange!), so this time I have swapped them for raisins, apple-infused cranberries and fresh apple juice.

So long as you keep to the overrall amounts, you can use whatever dried fruit you like, depending how sweet or citrusy you prefer it.

This pudding is rich and contains no refined sugar.

Amounts are approximate and you can play around with the different spices, dried fruit and nuts.

It will keep in the fridge for a few days, but we made ours in advance and put it in the freezer. It turned out really well.

This time, we made two small ones with this mixture, a large one is too much if there’s only two of you. You only need a small slice.

You can eat it as it is or with some whipped coconut cream (add whatever ‘flavouring’ you like ;-)), cashew nut cream or coconut yogurt.

You might also like my recipe for Christmas Truffles which are great as a gift or if you want to img_2880freeze small treats rather than make a whole pudding.

For the mould, you can use a pudding bowl, a cereal bowl or in our case, a Tupperware bowl! I’m not fond of plastic, but sometimes there is no other option and as we wanted to freeze the pud, that’s what we used, 2 small plastic bowls with lids. You could line the bowl(s) with parchment to make them easier to remove, although we found they it came out of the plastic bowl quite easily.

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Ingredients

1 Cup chopped Medjool Dates, pitted & chopped

1/2 Cup Goji Berries

1/2 Cup Dried Mulberries

1/2 Cup Apple juice-infused Cranberries

1/2 Cup Raisins

1 Cup Sweet Apricot Kernels /Almonds, or a mixture of them and Walnuts, all lightly chopped (we forgot to chop ours this time!)

1 Cup Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds

 2/3 Cup fresh Apple Juice

Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Lemon and Orange Zest to taste

Method

 Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and pour over the apple juice.

Stir well, cover and leave to soak. Give it a stir occasionally. We left ours an hour, if you want the nuts softer, leave it a bit longer.

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Turn the mix out into the food processor, add the spices and zest.

Pulse and stir until you get the consistency you want, depending on whether you want a smooth or coarse texture.

Taste-test to see if the balance of spices/zest is right.

When you’re satisfied, spoon the mix into the bowl(s), pressing down with the back of the spoon.

Place in the fridge to set.

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And Bob’s your uncle!

(I can’t show you a slice with all the trimmings as this was going straight back in the freezer).

Enjoy the video!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Healthy Almond, Raisin & Mulberry Treats

imageThese are another version of fruit and nut energy balls made from almond milk pulp, this time using some dried Turkish mulberries from The Raw Chocolate Company  and also trying out some Pulsin’ Cacao Butter Buttons for the first time. Please don’t mistake these Cacao Butter Buttons for White Chocolate Buttons – I wonder how many people have done that? They are cacao fat, to cook with, not dessert chocolate for eating or decorating birthday cakes.

These cacao butter buttons are so much more convenient than solid blocks of cacao butter which need a hammer and chisel and some hefty muscles to break up! The melted cacao butter not only adds a mild chocolate flavour but also helps bind and firm up the ingredients.

I’ve also used some Golden Linseeds, partially ground to release the nutrients,  which some of you may not have seen or used before. They contain Omega 3, 6, and 9 healthy oils, protein and fibre and are regarded as a superfood. (See Golden Linseeds (aka Flax Seeds): The Original Superfood?)

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All ingredients are organic, vegan and gluten-free and the recipe can also be nutfree if you use an alternative to almond milk pulp as the base. (Eg Tiger nuts are actually tubers and make excellent sweet and creamy milk).

These energy balls are healthy bites of protein, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats and fibre. They are sweet and fruity but contain no refined sugar.

Measurements are very apporoximate and rely on my short-term memory functioning long enough to write them down!

Ingredients

1 Cup Almond Milk Pulp (see How To Make Almond Milk) or any other milk pulp (which may alter the taste or texture)

1 Cup Raisins

3-4 Medjool Dates, pitted and chopped

1/4 Cup Mixed Golden Linseeds & Sesame Seeds, partially ground

1/4 Cup Pulsin’ Cacao Butter Buttons, melted

3/4 Cup Dried Mulberries

2 Tbsps Apple Juice

Desiccated Coconut and Cacao Powder for dusting

Pulse a few times and then process in bursts, scraping down the sides, until it is the texture you want and will come together to form a smooth ball.

Roll in coconut or dust with cacao powder.

Refrigerate to firm them up. Will keep for several days in an airtight container.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Spooky (but healthy) Halloween Treats!

img_2294These were a very last minute flash of inspiration, there was tiger nut milk pulp* to use up (but you can use nut milk pulp or rolled oats) and a family visit coming up, so something had to be done and pdq!

They are very fruity, soft and squishy with a very slight tartness due to the Bramley apple and lemon juice, offset by the sweetness of the carrot, raisins and mulberries.

All ingredients are organic, vegan and glutenfree and the only possible ‘nut’ allergin is the pine kernels used to decorate (which can be omitted), however I believe pine kernels are seeds rather than nuts. Tiger nuts are of course tubers, not nuts.

These are healthy treats, no refined sugar and won’t have the kids bouncing off the ceiling or in a funk next morning. They are full of vitamins, minerals, protein, healthy fats and micronutrients.

All measurements are very approximate!

Ingredients

1 Cup Raisins

1/3 Cup Chopped Dried Sulphur-free Apricots

1 Cup Tiger Nut Milk Pulp (you could use any nut milk pulp or swap for ground oats moistened with a little apple juice, but the taste and texture will be a little different)

1 /2 Cup Grated Bramley Apple (or any tart apple)

1/2 Cup Grated Carrot

1 Chia Egg (1 Tbsp Chia seeds* soaked in 3 Tbsps Water, stirred frequently for about 10-15 minutes until they swell)

1 1/2 Tsps Baobab Powder (we use Aduna)

1 Tbsp Melted Cacao Butter (we used 4 Pulsin’ cacao butter buttons)

1/4 Cup Desiccated Coconut

Good Squeeze of Lemon Juice – watch out for the pips!

Place all ingredients in a food processor, pulse and stir down as often as it takes for the mixture to come together and roll into balls.

Make small balls and decorate with cacao powder* or coconut for hair, goji berries*, dried mulberries* or pine kernels for eyes and mouths and slightly squash the sides or tops to distort the ‘faces’ a little.

Place them in petit fours cases and put them in the fridge to firm up.

Happy Halloween! 🎃😱

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*Nut & Seed Milks & Smoothie Recipes

The Raw Chocolate Company

The Tiger Nut Company

Aduna

Pulsin

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Vegan, Gluten-Free Plum Crumble – Nice, But Not Too Naughty!

You may remember in my previous post I was asked what I ate if I couldn’t have anything ‘naughty’ (see here). Well, that day, our neighbour gave us some plums from his garden and as our teenage friend was coming to visit again the next day – this time with his dad and dad’s partner – we decided to make a huge plum crumble. If you read the earlier post, you’ll understand why it had to be huge: teenage boy/growing/neverstopseating!

Here’s the recipe: no refined sugar, just a little maple syrup and a lot of natural flavour! Unfortunately, we didn’t weigh the plums, there were enough to fill a supermarket ice-cream box.

The topping can also be used for an apple or any other fruit crumble.

Ingredients

(Organic where possible, all quantities are approximate)

Plums, washed, stoned and cut in half

Cinnamon to taste

1 Tbsp Maple Syrup

A Few Tbsps of Apple Juice, but don’t drown them

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Topping

4 oz Gluten-Free Oats – if you prefer a finer texture, grind the oats and buckwheat flakes into flour

2 oz Buckwheat Flakes

2 oz Almonds, finely ground

(You could replace the almonds with desiccated coconut for an alternative flavour)

Approx. 2 oz Raw Virgin Coconut Oil, gently melted over warm water

1-2 Tbsps Maple Syrup

If you want a little more sweetness, you could add a small handful of raisins, either to the plum base or to the crumble topping.

Method

Place the plums cut side up in an ovenproof dish

Add Apple Juice

Sprinkle with Cinnamon

Add Maple Syrup

To make the topping:

Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together

Stir in the coconut oil and maple syrup (and raisins if using)

Mix together well with a round-bladed knife and then through your fingers to create the crumble effect

Cover the plums

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Place dish in oven at 170C for a Fan oven for about 40-45 minutes. Keep your eye on it, it needs to be golden, not dark brown!

Serve hot or cold with custard or plain yogurt, or Nana Rhys Cream with Mango, Cacao & Peanut Butter – the men had custard, I had CoYo plain coconut yogurt. I think it’s even better the next day when the crumble has soaked up some of plum juice.

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Makes enough for about 6 or 7 servings.

Our teenage friend gave it the thumbs up and had his two servings as per normal!

Copyright: Chris McGowan