Perfect pancake mix (dairy free)

My life is complete! Substituting milk with oat milk makes perfect pancakes. You wouldn't know they are made with a different ingredient. My 8 month old daughter was all over them!

This recipe makes about 12 large crepes.

200g plain flour

4 large eggs

600ml oat milk

Pinch of salt

20g sugar

Mix / fry / eat!

Upside down berry cakes (dairy free)

Quick recipe that I found in an online magazine. It's a good way how to motivate yourself to go out for an autumnal walk and pick some blackberries. Or get the berries from a frozen section in a local supermarket (like I did) and take the cakes with you when going for that walk.

250ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil

300g berries

4 large eggs

300g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence 

250ml apple juice

280g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

110g polenta

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. 

2. Line each hole of 2 x 12-hole non-stick muffin tins (about 100ml each)with a circle of baking paper. 

3. Divide the berries among the holes. 

4. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence together until foamy. 

5. Beat in the rapeseed oil, then the apple juice. 

6. Sift the flour, baking powder and polenta over the top and fold in.

7. Divide the mixture between the muffin holes and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. 

8. Leave for 5 minutes, then tip out onto a wire rack.

Apple curd tart (dairy free)

I found this recipe in The Guardian recently and made a couple of small adjustments in order to make it dairy free.

Another seasonal apple win! 

For the curd filling:

350g (2 large) bramley apples (peeled, cored and grated) 


Juice and zest of 1 lemon

A pinch of salt


125g dairy free spread


250g granulated sugar


4 large eggs (beaten
)

100g ground almonds


2 tsp demerara sugar

For the pastry
:

250g plain flour

A pinch of salt


250g dairy free spread


2 tsp caster sugar


1 egg yolk


1½ tbsp chilled water

1. First, make the pastry. 

Add the flour, dairy free spread, salt and sugar into a bowl. 

Beat the egg yolk with the chilled water, then pour into the flour mixture and combine to make a dough. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead briefly until smooth, then put into a plastic bag or wrap in clingfilm and chill in the freezer for at least half an hour. The dairy free spread won't make the dough as solid as  butter would. It makes it nicely pliable though.

2. Put the grated apple, lemon juice and zest, salt, dairy free spread and sugar into a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir gently until the butter has melted, the sugar dissolved and the mixture is warm, but not hot. Pour in the beaten eggs, then WHISK the mixture over a gentle heat until thick and creamy – about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, fold in the almonds, then set aside until the apple curd has cooled.

3. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 

4. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until 3-4mm thick. Line a loose-bottomed tart tin with the rolled pastry, trimming the edge. 

4. Line the tart tin and pastry with parchment paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Blind bake the pastry for 12-15 minutes, until it is dry to the touch. Remove the paper and beans, or rice, then return the pastry case to the oven and cook for 5 minutes, or until lightly coloured. Allow it to cool for a few minutes, then pour in the apple curd. Sprinkle the demerara sugar and flaked almonds evenly over the top. 

5. Bake at 190C/375F/gas mark 5 for about 25 minutes, or until the curd has set and is lightly coloured.

Orange & almond cake (dairy free)

This is my favourite cake to eat. Super simple to make and delicious. Another plus is that it contains absolutely no fat, no flour, it has whole fruit in it, which, in my eyes, makes it a healthy cake!

Ingredients:

300g ground almonds

200g sugar 

6 eggs

1tsp baking powder 

2 large oranges

100g dairy free dark chocolate 

2 tbsp dairy free spread

Method:

1) In a large pan, boil the whole oranges for 1 hour

2) Once the oranges are soft, quarter then and blitz them in a food processor until completely liquidised. 

3) Add eggs and blitz

4) Add sugar, baking piwder and almonds and mix until all ingredients are incorporated

5) Pour into a lined round tin and bake for about 45 minutes at 200C, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. 

6) Once the cake has cooled down, melt together the chocolate and the butter (in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water) until smooth and spread on top of the cake

Quickie cookies (dairy free)

These are not going to be winning the Great British Bake Off at any point, or even dream of entering the competition. But if you fancy a cookie, and you don't have much time on your hands, bake these as all the ingredients are gonna be in your cupboard/fridge already. The measurements are a bit weird as I have converted them from Slovak measurements of e.g. 1 1/4 dl sugar, which after re-weighing came to something like 110g...

Ingredients:

150g dairy free spread
240g plain flour
110g demerara sugar
2 medium eggs
100g chopped dairy free dark chocolate (I use Bourneville)
50g chopped nuts (whatever kind you fancy or have in the cupboard)
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp baking powder

Method:

1) Cream the dairy free spread with the sugar and mix in the eggs
2) Mix together the flour, nuts, chocolate, baking powder and cinnamon
3) Fold the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar/egg mixture
4) When combined, using two tablespoons, put heaps of the cookie dough on a tray lined with paper
5) Bake in batches at 200C for approximately 10 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are getting golden brown.

Apple and cinnamon buns (dairy)

I had some fresh yeast left over from my last bake, so I decided to do a little bit of inventing today. It may not be an original idea, but I have never seen it before, and I really fancied the combination of ingredients. My yeast dough phobia is well and truly over!

Ingredients:

Dough:
250ml tepid milk

25g fresh yeast*

500g plain flour

2 yolks

50g caster sugar 
200g butter or margarine

Pinch of salt

Filling:
150g demerara sugar
2 cooking apples (peeled and finely chopped)
50g ground almonds
2tbsp ground cinnamon

1 egg for glazing (beaten)

*this can be a difficult thing to buy in the UK, but you can get a little bit from a baker at a supermarket for free. Or alternatively try a Polish shop.

Method:

Make a starter by putting some of the sugar into the milk and crumbling the yeast into it. Leave it in a warm place, covered with a tea towel to froth up. 

2) Mix together the flour, the rest of the sugar and salt

3) Mix in the egg yolks and the softened butter or margarine.

4) Mix in the yeast starter and knead until the dough stops sticking to the bowl.

5) Cover with tea towel and leave in a warm place to double in size.

6) Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out into a large flat rectangle
7) Mix together the demerara sugar, almonds and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the dough
8) Squeeze the chopped apples to get rid off any excess juice and put on top of the dough as evenly as possible
9) Roll the dough into a swiss roll shape
10) Cut into equal size portions and place on a tray, leaving space between them, as they will grow substantially
11) Cover with tea towel and leave in a warm place until they double in size (or join up)
12) Bake at 200C for approximately 30 minutes

Harlequin pumpkin and sweet potato soup (dairy free)

I can never resist buying a new kind of pumpkin, whenever I see one in the shop. I have to admit, that I'm not very adventurous with it and usually just make it into a soup. But always a different one.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp of olive oil

2 harlequin pumpkins, or 1 large butternut squash (quartered and deseeded)

1 onion (peeled and quartered)

2 sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed)

4 cloves of garlic 

1 chicken or vegetable stock pot (I use Knorr)
1 pot of soya single cream

Method:

1) Place the pumpkin, onion and unpeeled garlic on a large roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and roast at 200C for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables caught colour
2) Drizzle the rest of the olive oil in a large pot and heat up. Add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes.
3) Add the pumpkin, sweet potatoes and squeeze out the garlic into the pot.
4) Cover with water, add the stock pot, cover and simmer until the vegetables are soft.
5) Add the soy cream and blitz until smooth. Season to taste.