Ice-Cream and Giggles

These donuts were inspired by a trip I took to Melbourne about 6 months ago. I went to a vegan bakery and bought all these delicious vegan donuts, and one was a sausage style donut filled with mock cream and jam. So decadent, I just had to have a go at 1) making mock cream and 2) making donuts (again). Apart from brownies (i.e. chocolate) and ice cream, donuts have to be my favourite treat.

Prep: 60 minutes, Cooking: 20 minutes, Rising: 1 hour 15 minutes. Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes.

Makes 5 - 6 donuts.

You will need:

For the donuts (recipe altered from here):

1/2 tbsp natvia sugar
160-185 ml warm water
1 tsp dry yeast
1 tbsp melted vegan margarine
1 1/2 cup plain flour or bakers flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp natvia sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder

For the mock cream:

1/4 cup vegan margarine
65 g natvia icing sugar mix
approx. 1.5 tbsp boiling water
1 tsp ice cold water

Plus sugar free jam, for the filling and more icing sugar for dusting.

Method:

1. In a bowl or bread maker, add 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 tbsp natvia sugar, yeast and salt. Let rest for 5 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients. If too crumbly, add 1 tbsp of warm water at a time until a dough is formed (I added 4 tbsp more). Let the machine knead the dough for 30 minutes.
2. Remove the dough, place in a bowl, cover in plastic and let rise for an hour.
3. Cut the doughnuts into desired shape (e.g. circle, with hole, sausage). Place on a lined baking tray and let rise for 15 minutes.
4. While donuts are rising, slowly heat some vegetable oil in a deep saucepan. Once simmering, but not too hot (if too hot the doughnuts will burn on outside and won't cook the inside), add one doughnut at a time, cooking for approx. 3 minutes, making sure you flip the donut halfway.
5. Once they have been cooked, prep the mock cream. In a bowl, dissolve the icing sugar in some boiling water (1/2-1 tbsp). Mix. In another bowl, beat the vegan butter until creamy and almost white. Add the icing sugar mix slowly for around 10 minutes. Add 1 tsp boiling water, beat, then add 1 tsp ice cold water, and beat again.
6. Decorate your donuts! I sliced the sausage donuts and filled them with cream and jam, then dusted everything with icing sugar.

I have a confession to make. I have only tried creme brulee twice in my life. Once was homemade, and I did not like it. The other was a genuine French creme brulee in a small cafe in the back streets near Notre Dame that was quite nice. This was before my vegan days, of course. I thought, as an egg dominated dish, it would be difficult to make this vegan. I think of it more like a vanillary-coconut pudding or custard with a delicious caramelized top. I think the caramel top is my favourite part to be honest!

Recipe altered from here:

Serves 2.

Total Time: 2 hours

You will need:

150 g full fat coconut cream/milk
1/3 cup water
4 tbsp natvia baking sugar
1 1/2 tbsp egg replacer powder (e.g. Orgran)
1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 vanilla bean
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp salt
plus extra natvia sugar, for the caramelized top

Method:

1. Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender/food processor. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
2. Transfer mix to a saucepan, and slowly heat up until it starts to simmer and thicken. Once it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, transfer the mix to two small ramekins.
3. Place the ramekins in a water filled casserole dish (water should be about halfway up the side of a ramekin).
4. Bake for 25 minutes. It should jiggle. Set in the fridge for 2 hours.
5. Before serving, sprinkle around 1/2-1 tsp of natvia sugar on top of the creme brulee, and use a culinary torch to melt the sugar.

The traditional poached pear is a pear simmered in a sugar syrup. I personally think pears are sweet enough, but poaching is a good way to infuse the pear in various flavours, and to take your breakfast up a notch or two.

Cooking: 25 minutes.

Serves 1.

For the poached pear:

You will need:

1 pear
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tbsp natvia sugar free baking sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Method:

1. Bring the water, orange juice, sugar and cinnamon to boil in a small saucepan. Then turn down to medium/low heat, put in the pear and let simmer for around 20-25 minutes, turning the pear over occasionally.

For the breakfast oats:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp maple syrup (optional), or add a banana to sweeten.

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients and let soak. I like to let mine soak overnight.
2. If desired, warm up oats in a microwave or saucepan, and top with pear and other berries.

If there is one staple in my kitchen that I absolutely must make myself, it is coconut yogurt. It is ridiculously easy and cheap to make, and by making it yourself you can determine how much sugar etc goes into it! Here's to no longer buying $15 tubs of coyo!

Makes one 400 ml tub of coyo.

Prep: 10 minutes, plus 24 hours in oven and 12 in fridge. Total Time: 36 h 10 min.

You will need:

1 x 400 ml can full fat coconut cream, refridgerated overnight
1 vegan probiotic tablet
1 tbsp corn flour (optional)
1 tbsp natvia sugar (or other sugar replacement)

Method:

1. Put your oven on the lowest heat, around 40 degrees Celsius. Sterilize a glass ball jar by pouring boiling water in it and letting it sit for a few minutes, then pour out the water.
2. Scoop out the coconut cream, and put into a small saucepan on low heat. Discard water.
3. Once the cream has melted and is warm, add the corn flour and natvia sugar. Take off heat, then stir in the contents of a probiotic tablet.
4. Pour the yogurt into the sterilized jar (making sure the glass isn't too hot), put on the lid and place in the oven at 40 degrees. Leave for 24 hours, then let it set in the fridge for around 12 hours.

Makes 21-22 small circle biscuits.

Prep: 40 minutes, baking: 15-20 minutes. Total Time: 1 hour.

You will need:

For the biscuits:

125 g rice flour or all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp natvia baking sugar
45 g vegan margarine
70 ml unsweetened almond milk
1/4 tsp baking powder

For assemblage:

250 g vegan fondant icing (see previous post), plus corn flour
1-2 tbsp maple syrup or rice malt syrup
1/2 cup edible flowers, washed and dried

Method:

1. In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
2. Using a fork, cut in the vegan margarine until crumbly. Then using a spoon, mix in the almond milk until a dough is formed. Place in the fridge for at least an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the dough between two baking sheets, dust with flour as desired, roll out and cut with desired cookie cutter. Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Let cool.
4. Roll out the fondant icing between two baking sheets dusted with corn flour. Cut, brush each biscuit with maple syrup, then press the cut fondant icing on top. Top with edible flowers.

Recently, my mum has been a watcher of Rick Stein and his various escapades across Eastern Europe and Asia. One of the recipes he made as a "Dalmatian Fig Tart": probably one of the most un-vegan recipes you can think of: a pastry made with eggs and a filling made with mascarpone cheese and honey, plus figs. But damn, does this tart look delicious and beautiful! Is it just me or are figs one of the prettiest fruits out there? I was determined to have a hack at making this tart not only vegan, but also gluten free and (mostly) refined sugar free (tofutti cream cheese has sugar added to it).

Now, I have never ever tried mascarpone cheese before, so I have no idea what it tastes like. However, my old mate google informed me it is an Italian cheese made from cream that is coagulated with an acidic substance: like vinegar or lemon juice. So how did I attempt to make a vegan version? I just added lemon juice to vegan cream cheese. Probably not the same, but it does help to get that "tang" that I imagine the real mascarpone cheese has. I would probably view this as a glorified cheesecake that is super pretty!

Makes one large tart, serves 8.

Prep: 30 minutes, refrigeration: 1 hour 15 minute, cooking: 65 minutes. Total Time: 2 h 35 minutes.

You will need:

For the pastry (altered from Minimalist Baker):

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
6 tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp natvia sugar
4-6 tbsp ice cold water

For the filling (altered from Rick Stein):

450 g vegan cream cheese (tofutti)
juice of one lemon
1 tbsp lemon zest
6 tbsp rice malt syrup or vegan honee (or really any liquid sweetener!)

Plus 3 figs, halved.

Method:

1. For the pastry, sift all the flours together and then add the salt and sugar. Mix in, then "cut" in the vegan margarine. Then add the water until a pastry is formed. Roll into a ball and leave in the fridge for an hour or more.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Roll out the pastry, dust with gluten free flour as needed, and press into a spring-form tart pan. Pierce the pastry with a fork, cover with baking paper, then fill with baking beads. Blind bake this for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the pastry from the oven, take off the baking beads and baking paper, then place back in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove, then turn the oven down to 160 degrees.
4. For the filling: add the cream cheese, lemon juice, zest and rice malt syrup to a saucepan on low-medium heat. Whisk until the cheese softens and it becomes smooth.
5. Pour the filling onto the pastry base, top with the figs and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. You can either serve warm (letting cool for around 30 minutes) or let it set in the fridge overnight. Letting it set in the fridge overnight assists in cutting the tart, but it is delicious both ways, in my opinion!

Vegan white chocolate is one of those elusive commodities, rarely found and every more rarely, sugar free. This recipe is altered from Vegan Baking (my go-to site for all the how's/why's and vegan recipes), but I simply switched cacao butter for cocoa butter, and natvia sugar free icing sugar for icing sugar! 

Recipe altered from: Vegan Baking.

Makes 1 x 100 g block of chocolate

Prep: 30 minutes. Refrigeration: At least 1 hour. Total time: 1 h 30 mins.

You will need:

1 tsp soy milk powder
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp natvia sugar free icing sugar
60 g raw cacao butter
1 tsp vanilla essence or 1 vanilla bean, scraped out
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1. In a high speed blender, combine the soy milk powder, icing sugar and salt until a fine powder is reached.
2. In a double boiler on low heat, melted the cacao butter. Once melted, whisk in the vanilla, and then whisk in the icing sugar/soy milk mixture.
3. Temper the chocolate by heating the mixture up to 49 degrees, whisking all the time. Then place in the fridge, whisking occasionally, until it reaches 26 degrees. Then place back on heat, and heat up to 31 degrees. Then let the chocolate cool to room temperature and pour into chocolate mould.
4. Let chocolate sit in mould for around 10 minutes before placing in the fridge. Let harden.

Notes: I used this mould for the chocolate.