Mushroom & Guinness Pie

I'm currently making and sharing lots of recipes inspired by the United Kingdom. As spring here has had plenty of chilly days and nights, the stodgy comfort food has been quite nice. I felt it was important to include an Irish inspired dish loaded with Guinness - so here it is. Unfortunately, Guinness itself is not actually vegan, so if you're making this dish and you're a vegan or a vegetarian you can just swap out the Guinness for a vegan/vegetarian friendly stout (such as Coopers).

I never do things by halves, so I've used almost a whole can of Guinness in my pie. This makes for a lovely strong Guinness flavour, which may not be for everyone. If you like it a bit milder, just substitute one of the cups of Guinness for some more beef stock (I've used Massel beef stock, which has no animal content).

Mushroom & Guinness Pie

Ingredients
2 onions, finely chopped
4 gloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 tbsp butter or margarine (vegan friendly)
500g large field (portobello) mushrooms, washed and cut into medium chunks
3/4 cup wholemeal flour
2 cups Guinness (or stout beer)
1/2 cup strong hot 'beef' stock (no animal content brand)
1 tbsp soy sauce
cracked pepper to taste
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
Sesame seeds, to sprinkle

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. 
2. Melt the butter in a frypan and cook the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the chopped  mushrooms and 1/2 cup Guinness and simmer until the mushrooms are cooked.
3. Add the flour and stir vigorously. Next, gradually add in the remaining Guinness and the beef stock, stirring continuously to make a gravy. Adding gradually and stirring lots should prevent it forming lumps and keep it nice and smooth. If it's looking a bit too dry, you can add a touch more stock or beer to slacken in a bit (this can vary, depending on how juicy your mushrooms were in the beginning). 
4. Season with soy sauce and plenty of cracked pepper.
5. Grease a pie dish and line the bottom with one of the sheets of puff pastry. Pour the filling in and top with the remaining sheet of pastry and crimp the edges firmly together using your fingers, or a fork. If you want to use cutouts, like I did, cut them out of the pastry before you put it on the pie. If not, just use a knife to make a few slits in the top to let the steam out while it cooks. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
6. Set your oven to the 'bottom only' setting and bake for 20 minutes (ensuring that the bottom is properly cooked) and then switch to the normal baking setting (top and bottom) and bake for another 10 minutes. It should be golden brown on top. 

Makes 1 pie, serves 4-6.

I'm featuring lots of recipes from the United Kingdom,

Check out my other recipe posts here:

Vegan Cauliflower Cheese

Summer Pudding

Treacle Tart

Vegan Bakewell Tart

Roasted Love Apple and Wine Soup

Cranachan (Whiskey Cream with Raspberries and Oats)

Orange and Lemon Vegetables

Scottish Vegan Oat Scones

Swede & Parsnip Mini Cottage Pies

Russian Blueberry Tartlets (Chernika Tartaletki)

Bite sized treats are always my favourite - they're no mess and easy to eat but most of all they just look super cute. I guess the only problem is they're too easy to eat - you just keep going back for another and another and....

These little cute blueberry tartlets were delicious. They could be made with other berries too, or a mixture. Whatever you like really. They're a Russian recipe, which means they're served with a very Russian little dollop of sweetened sour cream.

Chernika Tartaleki

Ingredients
Pastry:
2 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
2 tbsp. castor sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 cup nuttelex (or other vegan margarine)
2/3 cup icy water

Blueberry Filling:
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (unthawed)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tbsp. maple syrup

For serving;
1 cup vegan sour cream
2 tbsp. castor sugar

To Make:
1. To make the pastry, combine all the ingredients except the water in a food processor and blitz until you have a mixture which looks like fine breadcrumbs. Gradually add in the ice water until the mixture comes together to form a dough, it should be wet enough to hold together but not sticky enough to stick o your fingers as you form it into a ball (add more water or flour as needed t get it to the right consistency). Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
3. Combine the blueberries and corn-starch in a bowl and md until all the blueberries are coated. Add the maple syrup and stir through.
4. Take half the dough from the fridge and roll it out on a floured benchtop to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out as many 3 inch circles as you can and then re roll the scraps and cut again. Lightly grease a muffin pan and place a circle of dough in each one. Fill with as much blueberry filling as it will hold and bake for about 10 minutes, turning the tray around halfway through to ensure even cooking.
5. Repeat with all the remaining dough and filling. Cool the cooked tarts.
6. Combine the vegan sour cream with the sugar and keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
7. Just before serving, add a dollop of the sweetened sour cream to the top of each little tart.


Makes about 2 dozen.

Nigvzis Torti (Georgian Walnut Raisin Torte)

This dessert is translated as a torte, generally a torte is a multi layered cake, layered with icing or cream. This is a bit of a different type of torte! It's still multi layered.... but almost all the rest of it is different :) The layers instead of light sweet cake are made of a denser pastry type dough. It's rolled out and layered with crunchy walnuts and super sweet raisins tossed in sugar and cinnamon. The whole thing is wrapped up in the top later of dough like a pie and then glazed with a grape juice syrup. The result is a delicious, crumby tea-cake like dessert which is not too sweet but with bursts of sweetness from the raisins. It was unlike anything that I have ever made or eaten before, truly! Even after years of writing for this blog and experimenting with different cuisines from all over the world - I still stumble upon things which are unlike any other I've made. It's one of the things I love about blogging.

In the end I took to calling it a pie instead of a torte, because of the cute way it's all wrapped up in the pastry. The traditional recipes use green grape juice for sweetener, which is commonly used as a sweetener in Georgian cuisine. In Australia though, I wasn't able to find it. The only grape juice available was red grape juice, which would have had a very different taste and appearance. So, I just blended some green grapes and strained the skins out.

Unless you're a Georgian, this might be quite unlike any recipe you've ever made either - but it's worth it. I thought it was delicious and went a treat with a hot cup of tea. It makes quite a big pie so invite a group of friends around for afternoon tea, or else just halve the recipe :)

Nigvzis Torti (Georgian Walnut Raisin Torte....Pie)

Ingredients
225g vegan margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup plain or vanilla vegan yoghourt
3 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup green grape juice (I used fresh)

Filling:
2 cups shelled walnuts
2 cups raisins
1/2 cup of sugar
1 generous tsp ground cinnamon

To Make:
1. Cream together the margarine and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a bowl and then beat in the yoghourt. Add the flour and stir well. Form into a ball of firm dough and then chill for about 5 hours (or overnight).
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Toast the walnuts in the oven for 5-8 minutes, or until lightly browned (keep your eyes on them!), chop up the walnut and allow them to cool.
3. Toss the cooled walnuts with the remaining filling ingredients until the raisins and walnuts are coated in the cinnamon sugar.
4. Divide the dough into four even pieces (keeping the unused dough in the fridge until you're ready to use it). Roll the first piece into a disc about 20 inches in diameter and place it on a paper lined baking tray. Spread 1/3 of the filling mixture over it, leaving about an inch free around the edges.
5. Do the same with the next 2 portions of dough, and the remaining 2/3 of filling. When you roll out the last portion make it a little larger than the others, as it has to wrap around the whole thing. Place it over the top and tuck the edges in all around the pie, making a neat little dome. Cut five slits in the top to let the steam escape as it cooks. Cook the pie in the oven for 50 minutes. When done, remove from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes while you make the syrup.
6. Combine the grape juice and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan and place over a medium heat. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, until a thickish syrup forms. Brush all over the cooked pie and let the whole thing cool to room temperature. 

Makes 1 large pie. Serve with tea!

This month I'm featuring recipes from Georgia.

Check out my other Georgian recipe posts:

Lobio (Kidney Bean Salad)

Lobiani (Kidney Bean Bread)

Oyster Mushroom & Rice Pastries

Hearts of Palm & Olive Empadinhas (Brazilian Empadinhas de Palmito)

I've saved my favourite recipe until last this month, to end the year with a really awesome dish! Have you eaten empanadas before? They're pretty popular all over South America, and I made a couple of different types when I featured Argentinian food - Pumpkin Jalapeño Empanadas and Sweetcorn Empanadas, they were both amazing. These aren't empanadas though, they're Brazilian empadinhas. A bit like empanadas but they're in cut little pies which is even better because you can stuff more filling in!

I'm not even exaggerating when I tell you that these were to die for. So tasty!!! Make your new years resolution to make these in 2014! Happy new year everyone!

Hearts of Palm & Olive Empadinhas (Brazilian Empadinhas de Palmito)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 cup oat or soy milk

Filling:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, diced
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups oat or soy milk
1 can hearts of palm, drained and chopped
1/3 cup chopped black olives
Salt and pepper to taste


To Make
1. In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt for the dough. Melt the margarine and set aside to cool down a bit.
2. When cool, stir the melted margarine through the flour with a fork. Gradually add the oat milk until it all starts to come together in a dough. Get it to a consistency which holds together as a dough, but doesn't stick to your fingers when you knead it. You may need to add a little more flour or a little more milk to get it to this.
3. Knead the dough for a few minutes, until it is smooth and stretchy. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
4. Meanwhile you can make the filling. Heat the oil in a large pan and then add the diced onions. Sauté until they are soft and then sprinkle over the flour. Stir well to form a thick paste and cook this paste for about a minute. Gradually add the milk, stirring well each time, until all the milk has been added.
5. Add the chopped hearts of palm and the black olives and stir through. Remove from the heat and set aside.
6. Grease a muffin tin well. Roll out a piece of the dough nice and thin (it should be about 2-3mm) and use a glass to cut out 12 little lids (use a glass that is about the same size as the top of your muffin pans). Divide the  remaining dough into 12 equal pieces (approximately equal, don't get out your scales or anything). Roll out the pieces nice and thin into a circle and line the bottom and sides of the muffin tin. You're circle will fold up about around the sides of the tin, don't worry about that, it just makes it look lovely and rustic. Trim any edges that stick up too high and use the remaining pastry to patch any gaps that spring up.
7. Divide the filling evenly amongst the 12 pies and top each one with a lid. Use a fork to press the edges together around the top and then poke a couple of holes in the top so they don't explode when you cook them.
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 12 empadinhas.

This month I'm featuring lots of recipes from Brazil!

Check out my other Brazilian recipe posts:

Avocado Cream & Passion Fruit Mousse (Creme de Abacate & Mousse de Maracujá)

Bolinhos de Arroz (Brazillian Fried RiceBalls) with Orange, Olive & Brazil Nut Rice

Chocolate Coconut Kisses

Pizza de Brigadeiro (Chocolate Pizza) with Strawberries & Cream Cheese

Black Eyed Bean Acaraje

Hearts of Palm & Rocket Pizza

Gevulde Speculaas (Dutch Spiced Almond Pie)

This pie is one of the best things I've cooked all year - I can't recommend it enough! It's a great idea, the pastry is made from delicious spiced Speculaas dough and it's filled with gorgeous almonds. There isn't much else to say - just go and make it and you won't be sorry!

I've adapted this from a recipe on a great blog called The Dutch Table, which has loads of Dutch recipes. It's also run by a very nice person called Nicole who was more than helpful in advising me on my Dutch food month. It's so lovely to meet new and friendly people all over the world. Of course, being me - I have changed it up a bit to suit my personal taste! I just can't help myself.

Gevulde Speculaas
Adapted from The Dutch Table

Ingredients 
1 batch of Speculaas Dough (note: preferably needs to be made the night before)
1 cup blanched almonds
1 cup confectioners/icing sugar
1/3 cup water
1 pinch cinnamon

To Make
1. Hop over to this recipe and make the Speculaas dough the night before and leave it in the fridge overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Soak the blanched almonds in hot water for fifteen minutes.
3. Drain the almonds and set aside some for decorating (between 10-14 should do it). Place the remaining in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped, should only take a few pulses.
4. Tip the chopped almonds into a bowl and stir through the sugar, cinnamon and water.
5. Take the dough out of the fridge and cut in in half. Place on a floured bench space. Dust your rolling pin with flour and roll out half of the dough to a circle which will fit across the bottom of your pie dish (use a medium to large size shallow pie dish - preferably with a removable bottom!).
6. Transfer the rolled out pastry to the bottom of the dish. It might break up a bit as you move it, but just patch it up but pressing more dough into it (doesn't have to be neat, nobody will see it).
7. Spread the almond filling on top of the pie base. Roll out the top and place it on the top of the pie. Use any remaining pastry to decorate the top and press the almonds you set aside into the top.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden and cooked on top.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food from The Netherlands.

Check out my other Dutch recipe posts:

Lazybones Buns (Luilakbollen)

Naked Babies in the Grass

Speculaas (Spice Biscuits)

Hollandse Stroopkoek (Syrup & Beer Cake)

Peek-a-Pear Tart (Vegan & Sugar Free) PLUS Cookbook Giveaway

I've been featuring Dutch recipes this month (when I've managed to get around to it, as I've been a bit behind on posting this month!) and what I've found, apart from lots of delicious spiced cakes, biscuits and bread, is a whole list of dishes with adorably cute names. Like the other day I posted a dish called "Naked Babies in the Grass", a name which - quite frankly- made me insanely happy. I've also posted some Lazybones Buns, another great name! So, even though I invented this dish myself, I thought I'd have a go at giving it a cute name in honour of Dutch food month. You can keep your eye on the blog for the rest of the month too, as I have a couple of other Dutch dishes with lovely names to post as well.

This lovely dish came about when a patient of mine turned up to her appointment bearing a big bag of luscious pears from her tree, I love my job! I also love seasonal produce, which is the theme of this month's Sweet Adventure's Blog Hop. So I thought it would be a perfect time to share the pear tart which I made with my big bag of wonderful fresh pears. I made it sugar free, using a peach that I had lying around the house for extra sweetness (because I love experimenting with stuff that I find lying around). It was delicious and quite frankly I felt damn healthy and totally guilt free eating it!

But wait!!! There is actually more!

I'm giving away a shiny brand new copy of the Masterchef Australia Cookbook! This is the first volume of the book and is a fantastic book for cooks of all levels. It's perfect for beginner cooks, because it talks a lot about cooking techniques and how to hone your skills to perfection. But it's also great for accomplished cooks looking for a challenge. Including spectacular Adriano Zumbo recipes such as Chocolate Mousse cake, Vanilla Pannacotta and a superb croquembouche. Unbelievably delicious stuff! To enter the giveaway just checkout the details below.

Disclaimer - I'm sure somebody will come out with criticism because I've labelled this sugar free but obviously the fruit contains sugar. In my opinion a dish is sugar free if I haven't added any sugars myself (cane sugar, coconut sugar, rapidura sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar or any other type of sugar) but I'm simply relying on the natural sweetness of fruit.

And now... the actual tart!

Ingredients
4 dried dates
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup blanched almonds
2 tbsp self raising flour
1 ripe peach
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
500g ripe pears
1 tbsp lemon juice

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Soak the dried dates in 1-2 tbsp hot water for 5-10 minutes.
3. To make the base: Place the oats, almonds, flour and spices in a food processor and process to form a coarse meal. Drain the dates (keep the liquid aside).
4. Add the dates and the sliced peach to the food processor and process until well combined. It should form a thick ball of dough which is not too sticky to touch, but moist enough to stay together and not be crumbly. However, the actual consistency may vary depending on the juiciness of the peach you use.If it is too sticky, add a little more flour, if it is too crumbly and dry add a little of the date soaking water until you get the consistency just right.
5. Grease a tart tin with a removable base and line the bottom with baking paper. Press the base down in an even layer all over the bottom of the tart tin. Press it down and smooth it out with the back of a spoon and then bake it in the oven for 10 minutes (keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get brown on top).
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, meanwhile reduce the oven temperature to about 170. While it is cooling, take about 1/4 cup of chopped, peeled pear and place it in your food processor with 1 tsp water and the tbsp lemon juice. Purée until it is a smooth liquid. Set this aside and get slicing the rest of your pears (no need to remove the skin this time!).
7. Arrange the sliced pears over the base and brush the top with the pear and lemon puree. Put it back in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pears are tender to pierce with a knife.
8. Serve hot (preferably with a big scoop of vanilla soy ice cream - although that will negate the 'healthy' and 'sugar free' aspects of this dessert! Do it anyway though...)

Serves 6-8.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Samoan Pineapple Turnovers (Paifala)

You may have noticed things being a bit quiet around here lately, I took an unplanned two weeks off the blog at the start of the month. I've had a lot on my mind the last couple of weeks, I've been doing some heavy duty thinking and planning so I didn't quite have room for planning blog posts and typing up recipes. I've been looking for some extra work so that I can earn a bit more money, planning a big holiday overseas, discussing lots of things with my partner - such as whether or not we want to move away from where we are to another area, we've also both been trying to decide whether or not to do further study. It's all just a big jumble of thinking going on in my head at the moment!

In amongst all of this you may have thought I have forgotten to have a feature country this month, well don't fear! I haven't, I have had this all planned for a while but it had a bit of a set back. Firstly, I had to move my traditional start-of-the-month dinner party back into the second week of the month (this is the dinner party in which I make lots of experimental dishes from the featured country and force them upon my trusting friends), so I was a week behind. Then I was a bit slack with the photos at that dinner party so I had to spend some time re-photographing some of the dishes. But they're coming along and I'm happy to finally bring you one of them!

Firstly - let's talk Samoa.



Some of you who don't live in Australia might not know where Samoa is, well you can probably be forgiven because it's pretty tiny. This map comes from worldatlas.com. As you can see, Samoa is one of our neighbours (I live in Australia just in case you didn't know). So there are quite a few Samoans living in Australia; they're generally stereotyped as big scary guys who are good at rugby (mostly because they're so big). But just because there are plenty of Samoans living in Australia, it doesn't mean I have ever encountered any of their food! A quick google search revealed absolutely no Samoan restaurants in Sydney.

I was wary about taking on Samoa, because I've been burned by micronesian/pacific island countries before. I once tried to have a dinner party of foods from Palau. You know what the only  recipe I found on the internet was? This delicious looking fruit bat soup. Mmmmm...

So I did a quick google search on Samoan dishes before I accepted the request from a reader to feature Samoa. Luckily I found a bit more than I did for Palau, and it looked a lot more palatable! I still didn't find a lot so there may be fewer recipes than for some of my other months. I was basically relying on what information I could find on the internet - so if you have a Samoan recipe to share please email it to me at kbobo.contact@gmail.com.

So, enough chat! Before we get into the food, lets take a brief swim on this spectacular Samoan beach.

Image from www.tourist-destinations.com

Now we have worked up an appetite let me introduce my first Samoa month recipe - Paifala. I'm posting this one up first because one of my dinner guests texted me soon after to ask me for the recipe because she loved them so much, so I figured I'd better get it online quickly for her. These are a simple looking pastry turnover filled with pineapple custard, but the key is in the lovingly handmade pastry (don't worry, not as hard as it sounds!)

This recipe, which I found on Samoafood.com was already almost vegan so I didn't really need to change it much. I decided to try and keep it authentic and traditional, so I simply followed the recipe with a couple of substitutions and some minor changes. If I wasn't trying to make it traditional I would have used wholemeal flour - as I think it would be even tastier, and maybe added some mild spices to the pastry. But as is they are a delicious sweet treat.

The recipe says that it makes five, so I made a double batch because I was expecting 8 people for dinner. In the end though they turned out to be really big turnovers, so we only had half of one each at the dinner party and had lots of them leftover! So I'm giving you the original quantities to make 5 big paifala. You can double the recipe at your own discretion :)

Paifala - Samoan Pineapple Turnovers

Adapted from Samoafood.com

Ingredients

1 x 440g can of crushed pineapple in juice (not syrup!)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup rice or almond milk

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup of the juice from the can of pineapple

3 cups plain white flour (I recommend trying wholemeal instead, but probably less authentic)

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegan margarine

1 cup coconut milk (or 3/4 cup coconut cream plus 1/4 cup water)

To Make

1. Make the filling! Drain out 1/2 cup of juice from the can and set aside. Combine the pineapple (with remaining juice), sugar and milk in a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Bring to a simmer, uncovered. Stir the cornstarch into the juice you have set aside until dissolved.

2. Add the cornstarch juice to the saucepan and stir continuously over a low heat for a couple of minutes, until you see the mixture thicken. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

3. Make the pastry! First - preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Then, place the flour, baking powder and margarine in a bowl. Rub with your fingers until the mixture looks a bit like coarse bread crumbs. Then add the coconut milk and mix together to form a dough.

4. Turn out the dough into a floured surface. You don't need to knead it, but just press it together a bit so that it forms a smooth connected ball. 

5. Cut the dough into 5 equal pieces (or you could probably make 6 if you wanted, they'll just be slightly smaller). Roll each piece out into a 20cm circle.

6. Put about one fifth of the cooled pineapple filling over half of the pastry circle, leaving about 2-3 cm around the border so you can seal it properly.

7. Lightly brush the edge with water and fold the pastry over. Press the edge together with your fingers or with a fork. You can make whatever pattern you like with the edge (fork marks, folded over, thumb print waves), just make sure it's sealed well so that the custard doesn't spill out while it's baking.

8. Poke some holes in the top with a fork or knife, this is a bit tricky because the dough it quite soft - but persevere otherwise your turnovers will puff up big time in the oven.

9. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling and then bake the turnovers in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until just turning golden on top. Remove and cool before serving. If you like, you can dust them with icing sugar while they cool.

Makes 5 big paifala.

Keep your eye out this month for more tasty Samoan treats!

Also don't forget you can follow me on facebook if you want to get my posts all up in your newsfeed - just jump onto the page here and hit "Like".

Coming Soon:

How I lost 5kg in 9 days and gained so much more energy - my 9 day detox plan!

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food from Samoa.

Check out my other recipe posts:

Creamy Coconut Rice (Alaisa Fa'apopo)

Coconut Bread Rolls

Koko Rice

Sweet Potato in Creamy Coconut Sauce

Sapasui (Chop Suey)

Vegan Pecan & Molasses Pie with Spiced Pumpkin Whipped Cream

As soon as Southern USA was requested by a reader to be my featured cuisine for a month, I immediately knew I had a prime excuse to make pecan pie! I love pecans, but sadly they're so expensive that I don't get to use them very often in my cooking. But now I had an excuse - so I went out and loaded up on expensive delicious pecans! Nuts are also very festive, so pecan pie is a perfect Christmas dessert.

This pecan pie is a bit of an "adult" version - laden with rich sticky molasses instead of sweeter alternatives such as maple syrup. I did this because I love molasses and because blackstrap molasses is so good for you that I can almost convince myself that it's something healthy! 

The perfect accompaniment is this light pumpkin whipped cream. Made from whipped coconut cream and flavoured with pumpkin and Christmas spices. Santa will surely remember you favourably next year if you leave him out a slice of this pecan pie tonight!

Pecan & Molasses Pie

Ingredients
Crust:
100g plain biscuits
10 dates, soaked
1/4 cup date soaking water
2 cups almond meal
1 cup flaxseed meal (ground flaxseeds)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Filling:
250g raw pecans
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
2 tbsp arrowroot
1/2 cup soy milk
3 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Place the biscuits in a food processor and blend until reduced to crumbs. Remove and set aside.
3. Place the dates in the processor and puree until they form a smooth paste. You can add some of the soaking water in to help the process. Add the almond meal, flaxseed meal, cinnamon and biscuit crumbs and pulse a few times to combine. Then add the 1/4 cup of date soaking water and process until it comes together.
4. Grease a 22cm springform cake pan (or pie dish if you prefer) well and line the bottom with baking paper. Press the crust mixture into the sides and bottom of the pan. You don't need to go very far up the sides, as it is only a shallow pie. Even it out by pressing firmly with your fist or with the bottom of a tumbler.
5. Bake the pie crust for 10 minutes, then remove and set aside while you prepare the filling.
6. Spread the pecans out on a tray and lightly toast them in the oven - should take about 7-10 minutes (this varies, depending on how hot your oven is!).
7. Whisk together then soy milk, vanilla, salt and ground flaxseeds and set aside. Place the molasses and rice malt syrup in a small saucepan and place over a low heat, stirring often, until melted. Sprinkle the arrowroot over the top and whisk it into the hot molasses. Remove from the heat and whisk in the soy milk.
8. Transfer the pecans to a bowl and stir through the molasses mixture. Spread this over your crust and bake again for about 20 minutes. It'll be bubbling hot when you take it out of the oven, so allow it to cool completely before you add your pumpkin whipped cream (otherwise the cream will melt all over it).

Pumpkin Spice Whipped Cream

Ingredients
1 can coconut cream, refrigerated for at least 24 hours
3 tbsp pureed cooked pumpkin, cold
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

To Make
1. When you open the tin of coconut cream you will notice that the top is a very solid thick cream. Scoop out all of the solid thick cream on top (you can reserve the liquid to use in another meal – like a curry or a smoothie).

2. Put the thick cream into a bowl and mix well using a hand held electric mixer. Move the beaters up and down to try and get as much air into the cream as possible. Add the cold cooked pumpkin, vanilla and the spices and continue to beat until it forms a thick cream.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food from Southern USA!

Check out my other recipe posts:

Mint Julep

Peach and Bourbon Cobbler

Vegan Chili Pone (Chili Cornbread Casserole)

Succotash

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Mushroom and Bean Jambalaya

Vegan "Fried Chicken" and Waffles

Home Made Smoky BBQ Sauce

Choc Banana Ice Cream Pie (Vegan & Sugar Free!)

Today is the day they vegans have their picnic!

It's the Vegan Virtual Potluck today and I have been very excited about it ever since I signed up. I can't wait to see what everybody else is bringing to the potluck - 103 bloggers will be contributing this year. So sit back and work your way through them all. Each post is linked to the next post so you can start at appetisers and work your way through to dessert. To start from the beginning and work your way through head to veganbloggersunite.com for the host post (with the most). If you've already worked your way through all the recipes before me then you must already be very full, but I hope you left some room because this is worth it!

Cooking for an event with a whole host of other vegan cooks from around the world, I knew that I wanted to bring something special because every vegan blogger already knows how to make vegan chocolate cakes, vegan cupcakes of all varieties and all the more common forms of desserts. I also wanted to make it something a bit healthy, and preferably free from processed sugars. It's true that fruits and vegetables naturally contain sugar, so nothing with fruit or vegetables in it is ever completely sugar free.

I've been meaning to try the chocolate ice cream posted by JJ at 84th & 3rd for the Death By Chocolate Blog hop for some time, so I decided to use it as the ice cream layer for my pie. It's made from avocado, banana and cocoa and that is it. So elegant that I had to try it. She calls it chocolate ice cream - but I've called mine chocolate banana ice cream because I can tell you that you can definitely taste the banana! You can't taste the avocado though, so no worries there!

You need to be a little bit organised and have a bit of time to prepare this - but the great thing about it is that it lives in the freezer. So you can make it as far in advance as you like and it keeps forever in the freezer. The first step you need to do it to freeze your bananas. Quick tip - peel the bananas first! It's perfect for using up the super brown bananas that you sometimes discover in your fruit bowl!

Ingredients

1 large ripe avocado (but not over ripe!)

2 frozen bananas

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1-2 tbsp kahlua (optional, contains sugar)

1 cup pitted dates, chopped

1/3 cup macadamia nuts

1/4 cup rolled oats

1 tbsp cocoa

To Make

1. Place the avocado, banana and cocoa in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Add the kahlua to taste (if using).

2. Transfer to a dish (a loaf tin is a good size and shape for the smallish amount of ice cream that this makes) and place in the freezer. Set your oven timer for half an hour and when it beeps get the ice cream out and give it a good stir, make sure you break up all the ice crystals that are forming at the edges. Do this every half hour 3 times.

3. While your ice cream is chilling, you can make the base. If you have a really good food processor then you can just put the dates in whole and add the nuts, oats and cocoa all at the same time. Because my food processor is a bit old and crap I started with the oats, nuts and cocoa and then I added the chopped dates a few at a time so that it didn't get overloaded. Process all 4 ingredients until fairly fine.

4. Grab a 19-20cm diameter spring form cake tin. Pour out your processed base and use your hands or the back of a spoon to press it down firmly and evenly all over the bottom of the tin. Place the base in the fridge now until  your ice cream is done (it should be in there at least half an hour).

5. After you've taken out and stirred the ice cream 3-4 times, pour it over the base and smooth over the top. Place back in the freezer and leave in the freezer for at least 2-3 hours (easiest just to leave overnight!).

Serving Tips

~Just before serving, take out of the freezer and leave to sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes (10 minutes in cold weather) to let it soften slightly

~ To ensure easier cutting and neat slices, heat the knife under hot water and then dry it with a tea towel just before cutting. If you are cutting lots of slices, you may have to do this several times.

~If you like, you can decorate with dark chocolate shavings - however, unless you have sugar free chocolate it may then cease to be sugar free :) Healthier garnishes would include fresh or frozen berries or cherries. Or maybe even some slices of banana.

Makes 1 x small pie. 

~If you want to make a bigger one, double the recipe and use a 23cm springform cake pan.

What's next for dessert? Time to move on to the next Potluck Offering. 

Hit this button to go to the previous post (Super Vegan Crepes by Bacon is Not an Herb) or click here:

Hit this button to go to the next post (Delectable Date Squares by In Fine Balance) or click here:

Now I'm going to sit back with a glass of wine and work my way through the 102 other dishes at this potluck! It's going to be a big night, I hope you'll join me!

Vegan Zwiebelkuchen (German Onion Pie)

Zwiebelkuchen is not the most vegan friendly of foods! It's a single crust German pie filled with onions, cream, bacon and caraway. It's more of an egg-less quiche, I think. Despite it's very non vegan nature, I thought it looked like a dish with delicious potential, so I decided to give it a try as part of my German food month. This recipe is my own vegan version, which turned out even better than I had hoped!

Ingredients

The Pastry Base

1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp cornstarch

9 tbsp vegan margarine

1 1/2 tsp canola oil

4 tbsp soy milk

The Filling

5 big onions, peeled and sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup cashews, soaked on cold water for an hour or more

300g silken tofu

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tbsp arrowroot

1 tbsp chopped oregano (or thyme)

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tbsp flour

To Make

To make the pastry: 

1. Combine the flour, salt and cornstarch in a food processor and pulse once or twice to mix. Add the margarine a couple of tablespoons at a time and process until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs. Then add the canola oil and soy milk (1 tbsp at a time) until the mixture clumps together as you process it (you may need to add more soy milk if this consistency isn't reached). If you don't have a food processor: combine the dry ingredients and then rub the margarine through the dry ingredients with your finger tips until it reaches a breadcrumbs consistency. Add the wet ingredients and knead with your hands until  the dough sticks together in a ball, but doesn't stick to your fingers.

2. Flatten the dough out into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.

4. Roll out the pastry (it is a fairly crumbly pastry so it is a little difficult to work with, but don't worry you can patch it up very easily) about 1/2 cm thick and lay it out on a greased pie or quiche dish. Patch up any gaps or holes by pressing pieces of rolled dough into it. Don't worry, it doesn't need to look pretty!

5. Prick the base with a fork and bake for 20 minutes.

NOTE: After you remove the crust from the oven increase the temperature to 180 degrees.

To make the filling:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and sauté the onions until lightly golden and cooked. Place in a mixing bowl.

2. Drain the cashews (which have been soaking) and place in a food processor with the lemon juice (a small one will work best - if you have a mini one like a magic bullet then use this and then transfer to a larger processor for the rest of the filling ingredients) and process until they form a smooth paste (you will likely need to scrape the sides a lot.

3. Add the tofu, garlic and arrowroot to the filling and process until all smooth.

4. Add this mixture to the bowl with the onions in it along with the oregano, caraway seeds, flour and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

5. Pour the filling into the baked pie crust and smooth the top over as much as you can.

6. Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serves 6. 

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Germany!

Check out my other German recipe posts:

German Apple Pancakes

Rohkostsalat (Cabbage and Fruit Salad)

Deconstructed Black Forest Cake Parfait

Rosenkohl in Bier (Brussels Sprouts in Beer)

Frankfurter Kranz (Bundt Cake Layered with Cherry Jam & Rum Buttercream)

German Potato Salad

Kaiserschmarrn (Torn Pancakes with Apple)

Rote (und grün) Grütze (German Fruit Jelly)

The Easiest, Stickiest and Yummiest Banana Rum Pie Ever!

This delicious homely sticky mess is part of the "Sweet as Pie" Sweet Adventures Blog Hop - this month hosted by a blogger who I'm very fond of and who I'm exited to hear is making a fabulous and exciting move to a beautiful new place - Heather at The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader. Best of luck to you!

I've been pretty busy myself lately, planning and organising a trip overseas which we are embarking on in about 11 days! It's super exciting, but the result is that I'm often not in the mood to cook up elaborate and fiddly dishes after a long day out doing shopping and an evening spent on the phone trying to book accommodation across a language barrier. Of course, saving money to spend on our trip also means that I'm not keen on spending too much money on fancy ingredients as well! I always try and pull something out for the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop though, as the Hostesses are some of my favourite bloggers. 

So, I wanted the easiest, yummiest pie I could whip up in about 10 minutes and not have to buy too many ingredients for. It turns out that the quickest, yummiest and easiest pie here is also probably the best comfort food I've ever invented. Here are my rules of comfort food: 

1) It has to be really quick and easy - because nobody wants to be cooking for ages and doing something hard when they're feeling down, it's just not going to happen

2) If it's sweet then it should also be messy. Nothing makes you feel better than making a bit of mess while you eat something amazing

3) It should involve some kind of alcohol

4) It has to be slightly healthy, but not feel too healthy. Now, I know that a lot of people might disagree with me on this one but really it is true. If you eat something laden with fat and cream and all sorts you will end up feeling worse when you have eaten it then you did before - both physically and mentally. Comfort sweets should be sweet and delicious but not a total binge.

This pie fulfils all these requirements perfectly! It's made of only 4 ingredients and they're ones that you're likely to have around in your freezer/pantry/fruit bowl/booze cupboard anyway. It took be about 5-10 minutes to put together and then baked for 20 while I watched a show on my laptop. Perfect.

I was going for super quick and rustic - so I didn't trim my puff pastry square into a circle which would have made a neater pie. If neatness is important then you may want to do this, but I don't like to waste the pastry and I though it looked fine.

Ingredients

1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry (cheaper brands are generally vegan friendly)

2 tbsp dark rum (I used vanilla rum, but any will do)

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 ripe bananas, peeled and thinly sliced (do this just before putting them on the pie so they don't go brown)

To Make
1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Thaw your pastry completely and then place it on a baking tray lined with non stick baking paper.
3. Set aside 2 tsp of the brown sugar and mix the rest with the rum to make a thick paste.
4. Spread the sugar paste over the pastry - you don't have to go all the way to the edges though as you will fold these over.
5. Layer the slices of banana over the pastry, leaving a small amount of space around the edges to fold over. One you have filled up the pastry sheet you will still have about half a banana left so just add a second layer around the middle of the pie.
6. Fold the edges over the top of the banana layer, you'll have to fold them over themselves a bit too so that the square sheet becomes a round pie. Sprinkle the brown sugar that you set aside over the top.
7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. I recommend that if your oven as a "bottom only" setting, that you use this setting for the last 5-8 minutes to make sure that the pastry cooks on the bottom as well.
8. When you pull it out the sugary rum paste will have melted everywhere, so spoon any syrup that has run out of the pie back on to the top and then let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
9. Cut and serve warm.

Serves two, perfect with vanilla ice cream or just as it is!