Monday, 14 November 2022

Mint Patties/Mint Slice Biscuits

These are very easy to make and you could make mint slice biscuits too by adding the chocolate biscuit component! Recipe from Vegan In The Freezer. I thought they could use a bit more peppermint flavour so next time I think maybe 6-8 drops.


Mint Patties

Ingredients

2 cup Powdered Sugar, vegan/organic
1/2 cup Coconut Oil (melted)
4 teaspoons Peppermint Extract (food grade)
2 cups chocolate of your choice for dipping.
2 tablespoon extra of coconut oil to mix in with the chocolate.


Method

Sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl.
Add the 1/4 cup melted oil and the peppermint extract.
Mix with a hand mixer until smooth.
Get a large container or tray and line with freezer paper.
Take 1 Tbls of mixture and form a ball and then press down to form your pattie shape.
Once all mixture is used put in the freezer for about 15-30 minutes or so until it hardens a bit.
Melt the chocolate over a double broiler (I just use a stainless steel bowl that fits over a saucepan of boiling water.
Stir in the 1 Tablespoon of extra oil for thinning the chocolate a bit.
Take the mint rounds out of the freezer.
Pop one mint at a time into the melted chocolate and use a fork (or two) to coat and then using the fork place on the parchment paper.
To avoid having extra chocolate form under the pattie you can place on a cookie rack.
Place all patties into the fridge for 30 minutes or until chocolate is hard.
You can then double dip them if you like.
Once they are all hard I place them in a container in the freezer.
They take hardly any time to defrost and frankly taste pretty good straight out of the freezer!

Hilton Chocolate Chip Cookies

This original Hilton DoubleTree recipe from the Hilton Hotel stories website. I change the ingredients to make it vegan and gluten free - delicious!!


Hilton Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients

½lb vegan butter, softened (2 sticks)
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon granulated vegan sugar
¾ cup packed vegan light brown sugar
2 egg replacers
1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 ¼ cups GF baking flour
• 1/2 cup rolled GF oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pinch cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cups chopped walnuts
• 2 2/3 cups vegan chocolate chips


Method
 
Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for
about 2 minutes.

Add egg replacers, vanilla and lemon juice, blending with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then
medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl.

With mixer on low speed, add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, blending for about
45 seconds. Don’t overmix.

Remove bowl from mixer and stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Portion dough with a scoop (about 3 tablespoons) onto a baking sheet lined with
parchment paper about 2 inches apart.

Preheat oven to 300°F. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and
center is still soft.

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for about 1 hour.


Cook’s Note
You can freeze the unbaked cookies, and there’s no need to thaw. Preheat oven to 300°F and
place frozen cookies on parchment paper-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden brown and center is still soft.




Petit Vour - A Perfect Vegan Gift!

 I have a very thoughtful brother and sister-in-law. They really take the time to send a gift that is so personal. My recent birthday gift was a 3 month subscription to Petit Vour a company that sends you out a box each month of mini vegan beauty products to try. I was really blown away by the quality of the products in the selection! So I will go through each box I received, what was in there and review them! :)












Monday, 7 November 2022

Spinach & "Cheese" Puffs

I made this up on the spot because I had people coming for dinner and had planned to do spaghetti but then accidentally had spaghetti the night before lol. This was super simple was definitely very well received by all the guests, even the fussy ones. I was so excited I finally found vegan GF puff pastry at Native Sun that I'd been dying to do something with it.



Spinach & "Cheese" Puffs

Ingredients

1 box Vegan GF puff pastry (I used Schär)

Filling;
1lb bag frozen, chopped spinach
6-10oz vegan Feta cheese (I used Follow Your Heart)
Miyoko's liquid mozzarella (1/2 bottle)
6oz Vegan Parmesan (I used Follow Your Heart)
2 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Garlic powder 

Olive oil for brushing


Method

Preheat oven to 400F or whatever is recommended on your puff pastry. 
Place your your ingredients in a bowl and mix well. 
Lay out your room temperature pastry on some non stick paper.
My pack only have two large sheets and GF is always tricky to work with so I put half the filling in one and folded over diagonally creating a large triangle and then pressing down the sides with a fork.
Repeat with the other sheet of pastry.
Transfer to baking tray with non-stick paper/silicone sheet etc.
I used olive oil spray but you can brush olive oil or vegan butter onto the top of the pastry to give it a golden brown finish.
Bake for 30mins then check and if browned on top and filling is spilling out a bit it should be ready!
Let cool for at least 10-15mins before carving up, I just cut in random triangles and served with salad.