Ice-Cream and Giggles

Rocky Road used to be my favourite treat food, using Cadbury chocolate and Pascall marshmallows. I have put off making rocky road since going vegan, mostly because of the difficulty of finding good vegan marshmallows. That's where dandies air puffed marshmallows come in: the perfect vegan gluten free marshmallow that even non-vegans love! They are a match-made in heaven when it comes to rocky road, so please enjoy! When I made this my pa was staying over and he grabbed a piece without realising it was vegan: and he liked it! My pa is a bit skeptical of veganism (I am not even sure he fully comprehends what it entails), so for him to like it I think is a big deal!

Prep: 10 minutes, Refrigeration: 1 hour. Total time: 1 h 10 minutes.

Makes around 10 squares.

You will need:

100g of good quality vegan chocolate (I used Loving Earth Hazelnut Chocolate)
12 large Dandies marshmallows
1/4 cup shelled pistachios
1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave.
2. Pour a quarter of the chocolate into a small square lined tin (around 15 x 15 cm).
3. Layer your marshmallows with the pistachios with raspberries. The pour the rest of the chocolate on top.
4. Place in fridge and let set for around an hour, then cut up into squares. Serve with rose petals if you're feeling extra fancy.

I hope you're not sick of donuts! Cause I am NOT! After eating lots of deep fried donuts (but vegan) lately, I felt it was time I made some more homemade healthy-ish donuts! These are rose and pistachio, which actually go really well together? Who would have thought!

Makes 9 medium sized donuts.

Prep: 10 minutes, cooking 8 minutes. Icing: 10 minutes: Total time: 28 minutes.

You will need:

For the donuts:

1 tbsp ground flax seeds
2.5 tbsp water
2 tbsp vegan margarine (melted)
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
dash of salt
1 cup buckwheat flour (or use a GF mix if you don't like the taste of buckwheat)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

For the icing: 

2 tsp melted margarine
2 tbsp almond milk
1/2 cup natvia sugar free icing sugar
1 tsp rose essence
few drops of vegan red food colouring

Plus approx. 3 tbsp ground pistachios and 4 tbsp chopped pistachios.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Combine wet ingredients in a bowl with the flax seeds. Sift in the dry, hand mix.
2. Pour into a piping bag, and pipe into a donut tin to get even donuts. Smooth over the tops as necessary.
3. Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes. 
4. Mix all ingredients for icing in a bowl. Then using a spatula, carefully smooth icing over the donut. Due to the nature of natvia icing sugar, simply dipping the donut in the icing won't work. Sprinkle with a combination of ground and chopped pistachios.