Scary good Pumpkin Cupcakes

Scary good Pumpkin Cupcakes

This recipe is a true classic in our house, every year for Halloween. They are not scary or pretty, but taste great!
The recipe is pimped from on of my favourite cookbooks "Vegan Cupcakes - take over the  world" Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero. This book is truly well used. It got sugar stains and chocolate splatters all over the pages. But as always I have to change the recipes for a less sugar craving European pallet. So if you start now, you should have time to bake them for tonight. Get baking!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Mix all these wet ingredients together by hand :
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup cold pressed rapeseed oil
3/4 cup Xylitol or sugar
1/4 cup Soy milk
1 teaspoon good vanilla extract.

DON'T use electric mixer- it will get rubbery!
.
Now add all the the dry ingredients into the wets:
1 1/4 white flour or light brown self raising
1/2 tsp baking powder +1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda,
1 tsp Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp salt, little nutmeg and a little ground ginger.
Mix it all together with a fork.

Into 12 paper cases in a cupcake tin, 180 degrees in the oven for about 22 min.
Make sure they are cold before you add the frosting.


Cashew Butter frosting

I a food processors add :

1/3 cup cashew nut butter + 3 Tbsp soft non dairy spread. Mix for 1 min
Now add 1tsp vanilla extract, 1/3 Cup Maple syrup, 1/3 cup Soya milk powder and a small dash of cardamon.
Mix until soft and smooth.
Put in the fridge for at least 15 min, before frosting the cupcakes. Frost them with a knife and leave to set.

Hope you will enjoy these and a Happy Halloween to you all.

Greenwich Mess

On my walk with the dog through Greenwich marked this morning, I passed Rhodes Bakery. They had the most impressive and enormous meringues in their window. So trying to give the locale traders in Greenwich marked some business, I bought lots of meringues and lot of other goods. Every little helps!
I got inspired to make an old time English favourite dessert "Eton Mess".
Pimped by me to "Greenwich Mess".

So here is my dairy free, but for sure not sugar-free version.

Greenwich mess

Get out your most beautiful glasses and lets get messy! This is what you need :

• Meringue
• Fresh fruit - mine is strawberries and raspberries
• Soya yoghurt - with blueberries
• Soya cream
• Vanilla extract
• Real vanilla
• Dairy free custard

Mix up the Blueberry yoghurt with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, some real vanilla and a bit of soya cream

Smash the meringue with a rolling pin or your hands to small bits. This is good stress relief - you can pretend it is somebodies head!! 

Now start to build, in no particular order, in the glass : meringue - fruit - yoghurt - soya custard - repeat until the glass is full. Keep an berry for the top. 

So the weather might not be that brilliant, Greenwich park is closed (if you don't have a ticket), the traffic is up the creek and Greenwich is not quite is usual self. But this dessert will chase away the Olympic blues!

Dig in and enjoy - use your spoon as you eat, to make it even more messed up!

  

Flap Jacks - Pimped!

Coming out of a cookery hibernation - writers creative mind drought, call it what you want.
I want to share with you a totally foolproof Flap Jack recipe, I have pimped from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cookbook "River Cottage everyday".
I love his way of cooking and his philosophy about food.
When my Mother on law was still alive, we visited his "canteen" in Axmister many times. I can highly recommend it.

He call this recipe a Booster bar, but it is a good old fashion Flap Jack - just healthier.

Set the oven to 160 degrees and let start baking !! 

Ingredients 
125 gr vegetable spread or butter
125 gr brown muscovado sugar
125 gr no-sugar added smooth or crunchy peanut butter
75 gr of honey
grated zest of an organic lemon

Put these in to a pot and cook on low heat until it is all melted together. Keep an eye on this you don't want this to boil!

In another bowl :

200 gr Oat
150 gr dried fruits of your choice - I used dried cranberries and sour cherries in mine
150 gr Mixed seeds - Sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, poppy etc. Holland and |Barret got a premix called Omega sprinkle.
1 tsp w/top cinnamon - for the blood sugar
and some real vanilla powder or from a pod to bring the flavours out.

Mix the dries with the wets, and push it down with a spoon in a lined baking tray.
That is very important to line the tray, or you can't get it out afterwards. Been there - done that!

Into the oven for 30-35 min 160 degrees.
Allow it to cool before you cut it into squares. Please be patient and then enjoy!!