Breakfasts

Cinnamon Buns

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Vegan cinnamon bun drizzled with icing on a blue and gold floral plate with a yellow and white mug behind.

Ingredients

2 cups of vegan milk (I use oat milk)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 5g packets of instant yeast
1/2 cup melted vegan butter (I melt the hard block rather than spread)
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 cups plain flour
90g softened vegan spread
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
A little extra flour for dusting the worktop

Method

Heat the milk to warm either in the microwave or on the stove and then add in the white sugar and yeast.
Leave this mix for 10 minutes to froth up and get active!
In a large bowl add your flour and salt then pour in the yeast mix and your melted butter.
Stir the mix, it will be very sticky!
Lightly dust your work top and scrap out the dough. Kneed the dough so it is smooth, it will come together but be a little sticky still don’t panic!
Pop your dough back in the bowl and cover with a tea towel. It now needs to prove. I like to prove it by heating up my oven then turning it off and leaving the bowl in the oven with the door open. If I haven’t used my oven I also pop it in the airing cupboard as we have a hot water tank that is always warm! Just pop it somewhere warm for an hour until it has doubled in size!
Once the dough has doubled you need to knock it back. Tip it out on to a floured work surface and start to roll it out in to a large rectangle.
It should be about 1cm thick once rolled out.
In a small bowl mix the brown sugar, spread and cinnamon together.
Spread the mix onto the rolled out dough leaving 1 edge with a inch gap.
Once the dough is evenly covered you are going to roll it up. Roll from the cinnamon edge towards the inch gap.
Now you can slice your buns! I like to cut them about 1inch thick.
Grease a backing tin, it needs to have sides.
Lay the buns into the tin with some space between then – about 2cm. (You might need 2 tins depending on their size)
Cover the buns and leave them to prove for another hour in a warm place. At this stage you can clingfilm and pop in the fridge to cook fresh the next morning. If you do this take them out of the fridge an hour before you want to cook them.
Heat your oven to gas mark 5 or 180c
Once your buns have proved pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are fluffy, golden brown and cooked. Depending on how thick you cut them the cooking time will vary slightly.
If you want to drizzle with icing mix 1 cup of icing sugar with some oat milk (add a little at a time to make a runny paste)
Drizzle and enjoy!!

Tips and Cheats

You can make these buns the night before and then take out and cook the next morning, They make the house smell amazing and I struggle to eat just one! I tend to make a batch for Sunday brunch and then store them in a tin for the week, the children heat then up each morning for a quick breakfast! I only ice the ones we are going to eat which makes for better storage! Enjoy!

Pizza Dough

September 4, 2022September 4, 2022 thelittleredpinnyLeave a comment

Picture of a cooked mini calzone on a cooling wrack. — Calzone

Ingredients

500ml of warm water
1 packet of instant dried yeast
1/4 tsp sugar
1tbsp salt
2tbsp olive oil
900g bread flour (we use white but you could use a mix of half and half)

Method

In a large bowl add the water, yeast and sugar.
Stir and leave it for 10 minutes until it is all frothy!
Add the remaining ingredients and bring it together into a dough. It will be a little sticky
Kneed the dough until it is smooth and has no lumpy bits. It shouldn’t take more than 8 minutes. I do it in the bowl as the bowl we have is huge but you can tip it on to your workbench. Just don’t add too much extra flour.
Put the ball of dough back into the bowl and cover with a damp tea towel or clingfilm.
Leave it somewhere warm for 3 hours.
Take the dough out of the bowl and kneed for 30 seconds to knock it back.
Cut the dough in to 8 balls (for large pizza/calzone) or 16 small balls for lunch box sized.
Oil a large tray and pop the balls on the tray with room for them to double in size.
Cover them with a damp towel or clingfilm and leave for 2-3 hours until they have doubled in size.
You can then roll them out and make either calzone or pizza.
For calzone you pop the filiing in the middle then fold over and twist the edge together. Pop on a tray in to a hot pre-heated oven (200c/gas mark 6) for 20 minutes until golden.
For pizza roll out your pizza and place on the tomato sauce. Pop into a hot oven (200c/gas mark 6) for 4 minutes then take out and add all your toppings. Pop it back into the oven for another 5 minutes or until it is the level of crispness you like!

Tips and Cheats

If you want to make the dough in advance you can freeze it before the second proving or pop it in the fridge overnight after the second proving. Just bring back to room temperature and carry on from where you left off. You can add so many different toppings and fillings from savory such as mushrooms, and sweetcorn through to sweet calzone with vegan chocolate spread and banana (these are addictive so be warned!) The cooked calzone will last 2 days in the fridge and are really good cold on a picnic! To make the sauce we use 1/2 vegan red pesto to half tomato ketchup or we just use vegan green pesto (my favourite!). Enjoy!

Cake · Little treats · Sweets

Lemon Cake Bars

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Ingredients

250g Self raising flour
150g Caster sugar (plus 2 tablespoons for glaze)
Zest and Juice of 2 lemons
1tsp Baking powder
70ml Sunflower or vegetable oil
200ml Oat milk (or any milk you fancy)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5/180c.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, lemon zest and juice of 1 of the lemons, baking powder, oil and milk.
Beat until smooth. I use a whisk but you can use a wooden spoon.
Line 2 loaf tins (or use the same tin twice!) with baking paper.
Pour half the mixture in to each tin. You can pour it all in to 1 tin if you want a thicker bar.
Place into the hot oven for 25- 30 minutes until golden brown on top.
Whilst the cake cooks mix 2 tbsp of caster sugar with the juice of 1 lemon.
Once the cakes come out of the oven, whilst still in their tins, prick all over the top with a cocktail stick (about 20 times).
Drizzle over the glaze (half over each cake or all over 1 cake).
Leave to cool in the tin and then remove and slice in to bars. You should get about 6 bar from each tin.

Tips and Cheats

You can make this mix any flavour you want. If you want chocolate remove 30g of flour and add in 30g of cocoa. Just mix the cocoa to a paste with some of the milk before adding to the cake and remove the lemon! You can swap the lemons out for 1 orange or you can use vanilla or almond essence instead of the lemon. You want about 1-2tsp of essence! I wrap the cakes in a little baking paper and pop them in the children’s lunch boxes. Enjoy!

Soups and lunches · Week Night Winners

Lemon Pasta

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Ingredients

200g dried pasta
4 tbsp lemon juice
Zest of 1 large lemon
4tbsp grated Violife Prosociano Wedge (or vegan Parmesan) (a little extra for presentation)
1.5tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp salt
5 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
200g chestnut mushrooms sliced
200g tender stem broccoli chopped into 1 inch chunks

Method

Boil the kettle.
Place the dried pasta in a large pan with a pinch of salt and cover with boiling water. Cook until tender or as packet suggests.
In a frying pan fry off the mushrooms then remove from the stoves. In the same pan add the broccoli and fry for a few minutes. Then add in a cup of boiling water and pop on a lid. Cook for a further 3 minutes until just cooked.
Drain the broccoli and put with the mushrooms on one side.
Meanwhile in a large jar add all of the other ingredients with 1 cup of the water the pasta was cooked in.
Pop the lid on the jar and give it a good shake!
Drain the pasta and return to the pan, add in the veggies and the contents of the jam jar.
Heat for a few minutes to bring it all up to temperature and then serve with a little more cheese on top and some nice crunchy salad.

Tips and cheats

I love this dish it is so light and its actually even better the next day cold for lunch like a pasta salad! You can add in any veggies you like but in this house mushrooms and broccoli rule. Its also a great dish in our camper van as it can be cooked on 2 gas hobs with limited pans!

Cake · Recipes · Sweets

Chocolate Cake

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Ingredients

220g self raising flour
30g cocoa powder
150g caster sugar
1tsp baking powder
70ml vegetable oil
200ml oat milk (or any dairy free milk)
1tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp white or cider vinegar

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/180c
Put all of the ingredients in to a large bowl and beat to a smooth batter. I always do this by hand.
If making cupcakes place 12 paper cases into a cupcake tin.
Split the mixture equally between the 12 cases.
Pop into the oven for 15 minutes.
Allow to cool before topping with chocolate buttercream!

Tips and Cheats

If you don’t fancy cute cupcakes you can split the mix between two 7inch cake tins and cook at the same temperature for 25 minutes. or you can pop in to a tray for a tray bake and cook for 40 minutes. It is so versatile! I like to chuck in cherries sometimes or nuts or even dark chocolate chips! As with all cake it is best served fresh!

Cake · Sweets

Cherry and Marzipan Cake

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Ingredients

250g self raising flour
150g sugar
1tsp baking powder
70ml vegetable oil
200ml oat milk (or other dairy free milk)
1tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp white or cider vinegar
200g marzipan
200g glace cherries

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/160c
In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, sugar, oil, milk, vanilla, and vinegar and beat into a smooth batter. It doesn’t take long so it is super easy by hand,
In an 8 inch tin add a layer of baking parchment to the bottom. The tin will need fairly deep sides.
Pour in about 1/2 of the cake batter.
Roll out the marzipan in a disc the size of your tin and lay over the cake batter .
Chop the cherries in half and add on top of the marzipan in an even layer.
Pour over the rest of the cake batter making sure all the cherries are covered.
Pop the cake into the oven and cook for 50 minutes. It may need a little longer if a skewer doesn’t come out clean.

Tips and Cheats

This cake is so good warm from the oven. It is also good a day old with lashings of custard! (Birds custard powder is vegan!) If you want a more almond taste, or don’t have marzipan you can either add almond essence in place of the vanilla, or you can swap out 1/2 of the flour for ground almonds. This does result in a heavier cake! However, you eat it enjoy it!

Recipes · Week Night Winners

Sticky Hoisin Tofu

January 9, 2020 thelittleredpinnyLeave a comment

Ingredients

1 XL pack of extra firm tofu (we like Tofoo Co)
4 tbsp Cornflour
Veg oil
2 small sachets of Hoisin sauce (Sainsbury’s is labeled vegan)
1 1/2 cups rice (this serves 4 of us easily)
1/2 pack beansprouts
1 cup peas
Spring onions and black sesame to garnish (not needed but adds flavour and extra calcium)

Method

Pop the rice on to cook. I like to pour in to a pan of boiling water and cook until just tender.
Open the tofu and drain the liquid. I give it a squeeze in my hands too but not too much.
Slice the tofu block in to 1/2 cm strips and then each block in to 4.
Sieve over the cornflour to coat the tofu.
Heat 1 cm of oil in a pan and when hot drop in the tofu. Turn it until each side is crispy but not burnt!
Drain the tofu by scooping out and laying in a bowl lined with a paper towel/muslin cloth.
Just before the rice is cooked chuck in the peas and bean sprouts (last 3 minutes of cooking).
Heat the hoisin sauce in pan and add in the cooked tofu coat the tofu in the sauce.
Drain the rice and serve. You can garnish if you wish!

Tips and Cheats

Tofu is a bit of a minefield for new vegans. Silken is great for sauces but for this dish you need firm or extra firm. I love the Tofoo Co one as it has a great texture and flavour but all firm tofu will work. You can cut it how you like. My children like sticks as they call them sticky ribs but squares work too! Please watch when heating oil I don’t want oil pan fires! If you are nervous you can do it on a lower heat and it still works. If you are dieting or wanting to be healthy you can spray the coated tofu with olive oil spray and bake it in the oven for 15 minutes until it starts to brown. The garnish is a lovely touch but not needed. I like to add sesame seeds as they are full of nutrients and add a little extra calcium. If you don’t like hoisin sauce then use black bean or sweet and sour or even sweet chili. It is okay to use packet mixes from time to time everything doesn’t have to be made from scratch.