Vegan Macarons

I was sceptical as to how to make a delicious macaron without egg whites, but this recipe worked really well. I think the trick was to chill the chickpea water (aquafaba) overnight, and I used fancy organic chickpeas (but I couldn't say for sure that made a big difference).
As these are vegan, they are obviously dairy- and egg-free, but they are also gluten-free!
I filled the macarons with a vegan orange buttercream (I know I made them pink...but for this first experiment, I thought I'd go crazy and mix up the standard colour/flavour combo), and after they had been left for a few hours, the end result was soft, almond, fluffy goodness with a hit of orange.
These were only my first attempt so I'm sure I can improve these even more, and I'll be sure to keep this blog updated if I do :)

Easily makes 40 shells (20 macarons)

Ingredients:

For the vegan macaron shells:

• 150g chilled aquafaba (I got this from one can of chickpeas, but you may need a bit over one can's worth)
• 200g icing sugar
• 200g ground almonds
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 50ml water
• Food colouring of your choice (I used a pink concentrated gel)

For the vegan buttercream frosting:

• 55g vegan margarine (I used Flora dairy-free)
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• 175g icing sugar
• 2-3 tbsp dairy-free milk (I used hazelnut)
• Food colouring (optional)

Method:

1. Grease and line the base of four baking trays with baking parchment.

2. Divide your chilled aquafaba into two, and pour half into a bowl with the icing sugar and ground almonds. Beat until you have a thick paste and set aside.

3. Begin whisking the remaining half of aquafaba on a low speed in a stand mixer (with the balloon whisk attached). Place the caster sugar and water in a saucepan on a low heat and use a sugar thermometer to analyze the temperature (swirling the pan occasionally).

4. Once the mixture reaches 110c, increase the speed of the whisk to high. Continue heating the sugar mixture until it reaches 117c.

5. As soon as the temperature reaches 117c, turn the whisk speed down to about medium, and carefully pour in the VERY HOT syrup. Once all of the syrup has been added, turn the speed up to high and whisk for at least 5 minutes. The mixture will turn very white and glossy, but I didn't find it ever created stiff peaks (as egg white meringue would). Add your food colouring and whisk in.

6. Spoon a small amount of this mixture into the ground almond paste and beat to loosen the mixture. Fold in the remaining "meringue" until the mixture is a consistent colour and texture.

7. Pour into a piping bag and pipe 4-5cm onto baking trays lined with baking parchment, leaving at least 2cm between each piped circle. Once a tray has been filled, tap the base of the tray against the counter, and then set aside for one hour, or until the top of the macaron feels dry (and doesn't stick to your finger).

8. Preheat your oven to 120c/250f. Bake the macaron shells for 20-22 minutes, until they are firm to the touch. Leave them on the trays to cool completely.

9. Meanwhile, make the filling by placing the butter, icing sugar and orange extract into the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Add one tablespoon of dairy-free milk and begin whisking at a low speed. Gradually add more dairy-free milk until the buttercream pours slowly off a spoon (and so would hold it's shape when piped). Add food colouring if you like and whisk in.

10. When the macaron shells have cooled, flip half of them over and pipe a small amount (about a teaspoon's worth) of buttercream onto each flipped shell. Gently cover with an un-flipped shell and press together.

11. These are lovely straight away, but even better after being left for a few hours, which allows the macaron shells to soften and become the perfect afternoon tea treat.

12. Enjoy!

Vegan Bavarian Custard Slice

This is a really simple variation to the classic Bavarian Custard Slice (as requested by my partner after seeing in a bakery). This was relatively simple to make vegan - the custard sets really well and is beautifully creamy, and shop-bought puff pastry tends to be vegan (though check the packaging!). I spread a layer of cherry jam in between the pastry bottom and custard, which gives a nice zing to the dish.
As this is vegan, it's completely dairy-free and egg-free :)
This made around 12 decent sized slices.

Ingredients:

• 1 block (500g) puff pastry
• 100g raspberry jam
• 1-litre soy milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g caster sugar
• 200g cornflour
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 100g soy margarine
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180c/355f/gas mark 4, and grease and line the base of a 20 x 30cm baking tray with baking parchment.

2. Roll your puff pastry to an 18 x 15cm rectangle, then place in the baking tray. Bake for around 15 minutes, or until well risen and golden, and then leave to cool.

3. Make the custard filling by combining the soy milk, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan and bringing to a boil. Once simmering, slowly pour over the cornflour mixture, beating well to ensure there are no lumps.

4. Return to the saucepan and gently heat for around 5-8 minutes, or until it has thickened considerably. At this point, stir in the margarine and turmeric and beat until the custard is glossy. Set aside for a few minutes whilst you prepare the pastry.

5. Carefully slice the pastry horizontally (so that you have two thin layers of 18 x 15cm rectangles). Place the first, cut side up, on a tray (if you have a tray with 5cm tall sides, that would be best, but the custard is thick enough that this isn't essential.).

6. Spread the jam over the pastry, as evenly as possible. Spoon over the thick custard, and then top with the other half of the pastry. Set in the fridge for 2-3 hours, until fully set.

7. Dust with icing sugar and cut into slices.

8. Enjoy!

GBBO 2019 Week 4 - "Dairy" - Vegan Gulab Jamun

Yep, I was not a big fan of the dairy week on GBBO - it's very difficult to bake a vegan version of bakes when the theme is dairy...So, what I did was take the showstopper of Indian milk sweets, and find a vegan version of one of these.

After trawling the internet for recipes, I came across an interesting version of the Indian dessert "Gulab Jamun", which traditionally contain a lot of powdered milk, and are deep-fried dough balls soaked in a spiced syrup. Instead, this recipe blended cashews, water and white breadcrumbs to make a dough - I was sceptical, but they held together when frying and after soaking, kept their shape!

They also took less than an hour to prepare and cook, and then just need to be left in a homemade spiced syrup (which only took 10 minutes to make from start to finish) for a few hours before serving.

If you don't like cardamom, you could replace the spice with, for example, a cinnamon stick or ginger, or even something like rose water.

So this is my dairy-free vegan version of the dairy week on GBBO.

Makes 14 (serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

For the dough balls:
300g (around 8 slices) white bread, with crusts, removed
75g (1/2 cup) cashews
125ml (1/2 cup) water

For the syrup:
375ml water
300g caster sugar
1 heaped tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp lemon juice

Oil, for frying

Method:

1. Prepare the syrup by pouring the water, caster sugar, cardamom and lemon juice into a saucepan and bringing the mixture to a boil. Keep boiling for around 5 minutes, then take off the heat.

2. Make the dough balls by blending the cashews and water together to make a smooth paste. Blend the bread into fine breadcrumbs, and then add to the cashew paste mixture and bring the mixture together into a sticky ball of dough.

3. Divide the dough into 14 balls and roll between your hands until they are smooth.

4. Heat oil in a pan - I used a fairly large saucepan and poured in oil until it was about 2 inches high. Heat until the oil is 148c/300f.

5. Add the dough balls to the pan (4-6 at a time) carefully and fry, turning occasionally, until they are golden brown all over. Use a slotted to spoon to transfer the dough balls to drain on some kitchen paper.

6. When the syrup is warm (but not hot) add the dough balls to the syrup. Leave for at least three hours, turning the dough balls occasionally to ensure they have absorbed enough syrup.

7. Enjoy! These can be enjoyed if you heat the syrup up slightly before serving, but I think they're really nice eaten at room temperature as well!

GBBO 2019 Week 3 - Bread - Tear & Share Cinnamon, Apricot and Apple Rolls (Vegan)

I know...I'm quite late with this post. My defence is that I attempted the first batch of cinnamon rolls, which were a bit of a disaster, and then episode 4 of GBBO was on, and I got very annoyed with the theme (Dairy week for a vegan is NOT much fun!).
However, I picked myself up yesterday and had another go at some vegan cinnamon rolls. To the filling I added, as weird as it sounds, a small jar of apricot and apple puree (like that found in the baby food aisle). This gave the rolls a wonderful fruity flavour. Before placing the rolls in the tray I also poured in a simple vegan caramel. After baking, this leaves a gorgeous caramel stickiness to the bottom of each bun.

This is the jar of apricot and apple puree (125g) I used. It has no weird ingredients in it, just 60% apricot and 40% apple, so seemed perfect for this bake.

The dough was really easy, lightly spiced with cardamom, and I kneaded the dough using the dough hook in a stand mixer - you could knead by hand, but the dough is a sticky one, so if you can, I'd recommend following my method.

Makes 9 cinnamon rolls

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 475g strong white bread flour, plus an extra handful for dusting
• 25g cornflour
• 7g dried fast-action yeast
• 50g light soft brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 300ml soy milk
• 75g dairy-free (I used a soy-based) margarine

For the caramel:

• 45g golden syrup
• 45g light soft brown sugar
• 75g dairy-free margarine

For the filling:

• 2-3 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 30g light soft brown sugar
• 125g apricot and apple puree (you could blitz your own apricots and cooked down apples if needed)

Method:

1. Tip the bread flour and cornflour into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook. To one side of the bowl add the yeast, and to the other side add the sugar, cardamom and salt.

2. Heat the soy milk in the microwave for 30 seconds - 1 minute, until warm but not hot to the touch. Pour over the flour and add the margarine.

3. Turn on the stand mixer and leave to knead for around 8 minutes, until it is very soft.

4. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the dough has at least doubled in size.

5. Meanwhile, make the caramel by pouring the syrup, sugar and margarine into a small saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir whilst boiling for around a minute, then take off the heat.

6. Grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking parchment, then pour caramel into the base of this tin.

7. To make the filling, simply stir together the cinnamon, sugar and puree, and set aside.

8. Once the dough has at least doubled in size, tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to knock the air out. Roll to about 50 x 40 cm rectangle. Spread over the filling evenly. From a long end, roll the dough tightly.

9. Evenly slice into nine rolls, and then carefully place in the prepared tin, cut side facing up.

10. Cover the tin with clingfilm and then leave for around another 45 minutes, until well risen.

11. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180c (160c fan)/355f/gas mark 4.

12. Bake the cinnamon rolls for 25-30 minutes, until golden on top and firm to the touch. Check after around 20 minutes, and if they are browning too much, cover with foil.

13. Enjoy warm or at room temperature!