Queen Bee Allergy Free

Cranberry Jelly Trifles with Coconut Milk Yoghurt

2012-02-14T14:58:00.002+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free vegan

Last Christmas, I made a festive trifle with an Italian twist - cranberry jelly layered with marsala-soaked pandoro slices and a lightly-whipped mascarpone. Not much of that was suitable for my allergic girl of course, so I made a kid-friendly version also, featuring the new love of my life: Coyo Natural Coconut Milk Yoghurt.

Coyo is made from organic coconut milk, is lusciously creamy and smooth, and has a mildly sour tang - just as a natural yoghurt should. Natural yoghurt is so much more useful in cooking and baking than the sweetened stuff. Often the only non-dairy varieties available are soy-based and let's face it, soy yoghurt has that indomitable soy taste.

(Next stop: make my own once I've found a dairy-free yoghurt starter/probiotic...)

Serves about 8

Sponge cake slices, broken up in small pieces (I made one pack of Deliciously Good Moist Golden Butter Cake Mix which is gluten, dairy, egg, nut free)
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 tub Coyo Natural Coconut Milk Yoghurt
Mixed berries to serve

Cranberry Jelly

3 teaspoons powdered gelatine (or agar agar powder if vegan)

1/4 cup cold water

600ml cranberry juice

To make the jelly, place water in a small bowl and sprinkle over gelatine. Set aside for a couple of minutes or until firm. Bring the cranberry juice to the boil in a saucepan then reduce the heat to low. Add the gelatine mixture and stir until it has dissolved completely. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Pour into individual glasses for the first trifle layer (pour to just a third of glass). Refrigerate until set (at least a few hours).

To assemble the remainder of the trifles, soak pieces of sponge in orange juice (or alcohol such as marsala or cointreau if you can tolerate) and layer on top of jelly. Spoon over coconut yoghurt. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, or overnight to set, then top with berries just before serving.

Wattleseed & Banana Bread

2012-01-25T23:01:00.005+11:00

gluten free dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Wattleseed is a native Australian seed from the Acacia tree. (I remember collecting the pods as a child and once took a deep sniff from a bunch of wattle flowers and have been afflicted by hay fever ever since.) Wattleseeds were a main part of the diet of indigenous Australians for thousands of years being a rich source of protein and carbohydrate. Because the acacia tree has hard husks, when they fall to the ground, they last for up to 20 years (!) in their natural environment, apparently only germinating after bush fires. The wattle flower is also, of course, Australia's floral emblem.

When I asked my seven year old daughter to guess the aroma of the ground seeds, she replied 'chocolate? coffee?'. Top of the class darling! Roasted ground wattle seed is known for its nutty, chocolatey and coffee-like flavour. It pairs very well with cakes, cookies, bread and desserts.

This rustic banana bread has a firm yet tender crumb - it's gluten-free AND vegan. Woo!

1/2 cup agave syrup (honey or golden syrup if you don't have it)
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup lemon juice
220g gluten-free plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
1 tsp xantham gum
1 tbs ground wattleseed (purchased online from Outback Chef)

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and line a medium-sized loaf pan.

Whisk oil, vanilla, salt, lemon juice and agave syrup, then add mashed banana and mix well. Sift together flour, wattle seed, anthem gum, baking powder and bicarb soda. Gently fold in banana mixture until well combined then pour batter into loaf pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, or toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in tin for 10 mins then transfer to wire rack.

Lemon Myrtle Shortbread

2012-01-25T22:59:00.005+11:00

gluten free dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Backhousia citriodora, otherwise known as lemon myrtle, was named after James Backhouse, an English botany collector. It's a flowering rainforest tree, usually growing to around 8m tall, with the leaves prized for their lemony essential oils. It is the highest natural source of citral, beating even lemongrass. The leaves can be used fresh or dried, and in both savoury and sweet dishes - fish, chicken, vegetables as well as tea, biscuits or cakes.

Now, I take kitchen failures very personally, so I'm persisting with gluten-free + vegan here. This is because just last week I was forced to admit defeat with a gluten-free cake that looked like a wet sponge sitting in a puddle of oil. And my most recent cookie attempt at Christmas time was a gingerbread so terrifyingly brittle I had to check my tooth repeatedly for cracks.

Thankfully, these shortbread cookies have a buttery, soft bite. That makes me happy.

100g brown rice flour
50g cornflour
50g coconut flour
1 tsp xantham gum
150g dairy-free margarine
80g caster sugar
1 tsp lemon myrtle (purchased online from Outback Chef)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170 C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

In a bowl, sift together flours, gum and sugar. Add vanilla extract then add pieces of cold margarine and rub into flours. Combine and bring together into a dough ball. Roll dough into a log, wrap tightly in cling wrap and put into freezer for 1/2 hour to firm up. Unwrap and slice into 1.5 cm discs, place on tray and bake for about 10mins. They should be just golden. Let cool on wire rack.

Quandong Tea

2012-01-25T22:58:00.002+11:00

Need a laxative? Try a quandong. The berries of this native Australian fruit tree (also referred to as wild or desert peach) were much valued by indigenous Australians for their medicinal purposes and often drunk as a tea for a bowel-cleansing effect. Quandong fruit can be eaten raw or dried, but mostly it is available in jars of dried quandong halves. You can rehydrate them in boiling water, and then cook until soft to make jam, or use in pies, cakes and tarts. Purchase online at Outback Chef - I've also seen them in Oxfam shops.

To make a mildly sweet and earthy quandong tea, steep 3 quandong halves in boiling water per cup.

And because that is surely the tiniest recipe I ever did blog, don't leave just yet. Enjoy these quirky quandong facts courtesy of Nullabornet.com.au:

1. Fossilised Quandongs have been discovered in the coal seams of Southern Victoria. Apparently these fossils date from 40 million years ago - a time when Australia was still linked to the Antarctic continent.
2. Quandongs have a vitamin C content higher than oranges and and almost certainly saved many early Australian explorers from scurvy.
3. Quandong fruit can be dried and frozen for 8 years or more, without losing any flavour whatsoever.
4. Quandong trees possess an aromatic wood that was traditionally used by aboriginal people in "smoking ceremonies".
5. Rural Australian children often used Quandong seeds as Chinese Checker pieces.

Cherry Sorbet

2012-01-17T20:05:00.003+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

Makes 7 cups

1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup water
1.4kg pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup lemon juice

Bring sugar and water to a boil over medium heat in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium and cook until sugar is dissolved and texture is syrupy. It should reduce to about 2/3 cup of syrup. Transfer to a bowl and cool.

Blend the cherries in a food processor until finely pureed. Stir in lemon juice and cooled syrup. Cover and chill for a couple of hours.

Turn on the icecream maker and pour the mixture into the freezer bowl and let churn for approximately 25 minutes. Transfer the sorbet to an airtight container and place in freezer for a couple of hours to set a little firmer if desired. Remove from freezer for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream

2012-01-17T19:46:00.003+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

An ice cream machine is a very useful thing in the kitchen for those with dairy and egg allergies. Not least because the range of allergy-friendly ice creams and sorbets is fairly limited in Australia when you throw in the need to be nut-free as well. So I was pleased to road-test the Cuisinart Ice-Cream, Yoghurt & Sorbet maker and resolved not to use any soy. Enter coconut (of course).

What a luscious and rich vanilla ice cream it makes! You need to freeze the bowl before churning, which a) takes a bit of planning, and b) doesn't leave much room in a freezer if yours is stocked to the brim like mine. Still, with a few simple ingredients, it's an immensely satisfying kitchen experience. Feel free to add melted dark chocolate or cocoa powder for a choc coconut version, pureed berries or throw in some nuts if you can handle them.

Makes approximately 7 cups

1.5 cups rice milk
1/2 cup raw sugar
3 cups coconut cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Use a hand mixer to beat together the rice milk and raw sugar for a minute or so, until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the cream and vanilla.

Turn the ice cream machine on, and pour in the mixture, letting churn for about 25 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft serve consistency. Transfer mixture to an air tight container and freeze for a couple of hours to firm if desired. Remove from freezer 5-10 minutes before serving.

Ginger Treacle Loaf with Lemon Icing

2011-10-10T19:12:00.002+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

This splendid loaf is an allergy-friendly triumph - a soft, light vegan cake using regular flour, which then translates beautifully to gluten free (as long as you incorporate the egg back in if you tolerate them.) Ok, so not a complete success - I'm still experimenting with a version for both gluten free and vegan - but still, the result from a commercial gluten-free flour mix was pretty impressive. Dead easy to make, this is now a market bake-stall favourite. Four tins ready for the oven in 10 minutes!

See both recipes below:

Gluten free & dairy free (using egg)

175g gluten-free plain flour mix

1 tbsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp soda bicarbonate

125g treacle

80ml vegetable oil

75g brown sugar

2 eggs

100ml rice or soy milk

1 cup sifted icing sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 150 C and grease and line a small-to-medium loaf tin.

Sift the plain flour, ginger and bicarb into a bowl and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, mix together treacle, oil, brown sugar, egg and milk until combined. Bit by bit, pour the wet mixture in to the dry, and whisk very gently to ensure you combine it well without lumps forming. Don't pour it in all at once!

Pour batter into loaf tin and bake for approx 40-45 mins.

Cool in tin while you prepare the icing. Add lemon juice to sifted icing sugar and mix until a smooth glaze. Turn out onto wire rack and drizzle lemon icing over the cake. Zest some lemon and sprinkle on top.

Dairy free & egg free (using regular flour)

175g plain flour

1 tbsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp soda bicarbonate

125g treacle

80ml vegetable oil

75g brown sugar

1 egg replacer

100ml rice or soy milk

1 cup sifted icing sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 150 C and grease and line a small-to-medium loaf tin.

Sift the plain flour, ginger and bicarb into a bowl and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, mix together treacle, oil, brown sugar, egg replacer and milk until combined. Bit by bit, pour the wet mixture in to the dry, and whisk very gently to ensure you combine it well without lumps forming. Don't pour it in all at once!

Pour batter into loaf tin and bake for approx 40-45 mins.

Moroccan Seafood Soup

2011-10-02T14:23:00.001+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free

We enjoyed this heavenly soup the day after too - the left-over stock went gangbusters in a seafood risotto!

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, finely sliced

1 celery stalk, sliced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tbs ground coriander

1 tbs harissa*

3 tbs chopped parsley

2 tomatoes, chopped

500ml water

1kg fish, firm such as snapper, cut into chunks

8 prawns, peeled and deveined

8 mussels, cleaned and de-bearded

juice of 1 lemon

*You can buy harissa paste or make your own by processing some roasted red peppers with garlic, chilli, salt, cumin and coriander.

Heat oil in a stockpot and sauté onion, celery and garlic until soft. Add ginger, both fresh & dried coriander, harissa and parsley and cook for a few minutes, stirring. Season generously with salt and pepper, then add tomatoes and cook for another few minutes. Add water and bring to boil, then lower heat and simmer on very low heat, lid on for around half an hour.

Add seafood and cook for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Squeeze lemon juice then ladle into bowls.

Pork & Fennel Bolognese

2011-08-20T12:35:00.001+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free

Pork is the meat of choice in our house when making bolognese. And while there are as many variations of bolognese as there are types of pasta, this version is my hands-down favourite. Fennel replaces the soffritto (carrot, onion, celery) lending a satisfying sweetness, and the hint of bay gives it depth. My mother's sugo is legendary for its simplicity and restraint and I can happily report that when I serve this one up, my daughter asks "Is this Nonna's?" even though fennel doesn't feature in her version.

(Apparently, 6 out of 10 Australian chefs prefer pork in their bolognese according to 2009 edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller. If you're still making bolognese with beef, it may be time for a change.)

I would think that the only way to improve on this excellent sauce, would be to add some white wine just after adding the meat. We tend not to use much wine in cooking these days as most are processed with egg and milk products. But next time I come across an organic/vegan wine, I might just try it...

500g pork mince
1 large fennel bulb, chopped into 1cm pieces
1 large red onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 bottle tomato passata/puree
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
olive oil

Heat a large saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, gently fry onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add chopped fennel and fry on low-medium heat for about 15 minutes or until soft and golden. Turn heat to medium-high and add pork mince, breaking it up with your spoon and fry until cooked. Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped tomatoes, passata and bay leaf and bring to the boil, then reduce to low heat, simmering for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

Stir through cooked pasta and serve.

Braised Artichokes

2011-08-01T21:34:00.003+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

Artichokes are my vegetable love crush. If I were asked to choose my last meal on earth, I'd be tempted to eschew the foie gras and truffles, and accept a plate of delicately braised artichokes instead (maybe a few deep-fried ones thrown in.)

They're a robust and tricky vegetable to prepare, but all the more satisfying for having made the effort. The pile of waste can be a little alarming once you're done peeling away the tough outer leaves, and removing the top third of the flower. Artichokes are a member of the thistle family, so most of it is inedible anyway. Leave some of the tougher leaves intact so that once cooked you can scrape out their tender flesh between your teeth and discard the skin. This is an integral and rewarding part of the journey towards the prized, heartbreakingly-tender inner petals.

Finally, it's important to leave a decent portion of the stem attached - the flavour there is the absolute essence of artichoke.

4 globe artichokes
juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Remove the outer leaves of the artichokes and cut off all but a few centimetres of the stems. Peel away the hard remnants of the base and the outer fibrous layers of the stems until you get to the pale green. Cut off the tops, about a third of the way down. Slice in half lengthways right through to the stem. Dig out the furry choke with a teaspoon. After you've prepared each artichoke to this stage, place them in a large bowl of water with the lemon juice added - you need to do this to prevent them from discolouring.

Heat the garlic and olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and add the drained artichokes in a single layer cut side down. Cook over low-medium heat until garlic is aromatic. Add the parsley, turn over and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a few more minutes then turn them back over so they are face down again. Add 1/2 cup water, cover the pan and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes. Take off lid and turn up the heat a bit and simmer for another 10 minutes until all the water has evaporated and you are left with some juice at the bottom of the pan like a sauce. Remove from pan to a serving platter, cut sides up, sprinkle more parsley, drizzle sauce from the pan with a squeeze of lemon juice and a grinding of black pepper.

You can also cut the artichokes in quarters, just reduce the cooking time.

Focaccia with Green Olives & Thyme

2011-07-24T15:31:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

If you're not a bread baker, now's the time to learn. It's quite easily the most satisfying skill to have in the kitchen.

I normally stud the olives on top, but this version with the olives mixed into the dough is even more appealing.

7g sachet instant yeast

300g strong flour (tipo 00)

75g semolina (or more flour if you don't have it)

1 cup green olives, pitted

250ml lukewarm water

1 tbsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in a quarter of the water and let sit for a few minutes. Gradually mix in the flour and water (as well as salt and oil) until you have a decent dough, then knead for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and elasticky. Let prove in an oiled and covered bowl in a warm place for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Stretch onto a tray in a rough rectangle shape, sprinkle with olives, roll up lengthways into a sausage shape then bring together into a ring (so there's not much of a hole) and join the ends firmly. Take a rolling pin (or you can do this with your hands) and roll the dough back out to a rectangle. Let prove for another 20 minutes while you preheat oven to 220 C. Dig your fingers into the dough to make the indentations, sprinkle with thyme leaves, drizzle more olive oil and sea salt, then bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Minestrone with Chickpeas & Farro

2011-07-19T21:09:00.003+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Ancient grains and seeds like farro and quinoa have had a renaissance in the last few years. Farro in particular is an Italian grain that was in danger of vanishing from production due to its strong husk that needed complex dehulling and milling machinery. Thankfully, the boom in organic produce and growing interest in wholefoods means we get better access to less processed, more nutritionally sound foods. Farro is similar to pearl barley, but with a nuttier bite. It does contain gluten, though it is more easily digestible than most wheat grains. If you're gluten intolerant, you could substitute brown rice.

If you don't soak the farro first (overnight preferably), it will still cook in the recommended cooking time, though it will benefit from resting for a few hours to allow it to swell and absorb more liquid.

couple of tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1/2 can crushed tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
1 bay leaf
1 cup farro, rinsed (otherwise soaked overnight)
6 cups of veg/chicken stock or plain water

Fry onion, garlic, celery and carrots over medium heat until soft and browned slightly, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and cook for a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes, bay, stock/water and bring to boil, then add chickpeas and farro, stirring well. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30-40 minutes until farro is tender.

Chocolate Hedgehog with Cranberries

2011-06-19T16:30:00.001+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Mmmm. Just love biscuity chocolate goodness that is classic hedgehog, and you get a nice flavour kick with the cranberries. McVitie's Digestives is a great vegan biscuit (though package states they're made on a production line handling milk. We take the risk on these occasionally because they're so nice). Eskal and Freedom Foods make gluten-free biscuits so you could make these gluten-free also.

125g dairy-free margarine

100g dairy/egg/nut free chocolate

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1 egg replacer (Orgran)

220g McVitie's Digestives or other dairy/egg/nut free biscuits, broken into small pieces

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup cranberries

Chocolate topping

200g dairy/egg/nut free chocolate

50g vegetable oil or dairy/egg/nut free margarine

Grease a slice pan (17cm x 27cm) and line with baking paper, allowing some to overhang at long ends.

Place margarine, chocolate and syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Cook gently stirring for a few minutes or until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Whisk in egg replacer.

Meanwhile, place biscuits, coconut, sugar, cocoa and cranberries in a bowl. Stir to combine, then add chocolate mixture, mixing gently. Transfer to prepared pan and press mixture evenly using the back of a fork. Cover and refrigerate until firm.

To make chocolate topping, place chocolate and margarine/oil in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. Spread over slice and refrigerate for a couple of hours until set.

Using a hot knife, cut slice into 24 pieces.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-06-18T12:31:00.001+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free vegan

Recently at Elwood Market, a new mum joined the ranks with gluten-free baked goods on our allergy-friendly baking table. I was so enamoured with her chocolate chip cookies that I hounded her for the recipe and then made them vegan. They are very very good!

She used a commercial gluten-free flour mix but because I'd run out, I subbed in a mix of brown rice flour and coconut flour. And instead of using egg replacer, I just added 1/4 cup rice milk. It probably accounts for the slightly crackled appearance that weren't a feature of her cookies, but they weren't crumbly upon eating. The Sweet William choc chips tend to melt somewhat on baking, but it all still makes for an incredibly tasty (and rich) cookie.

250g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup caster sugar

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup rice milk

1 1/4 cups brown rice flour + 1 cup coconut flour

or 2 1/4 cups gluten-free plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 cups dairy/egg/nut free chocolate chips (I used Sweet William)

Beat margarine and sugars in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add in rice milk and extract and beat until well combined. Transfer to large bowl. Stir combined sifted flour and soda into mixture, in two batches.

Stir in chocolate, cover, refrigerate 1 hour. Preheat oven to moderate (180 degrees/160 degrees fan forced). Grease oven trays. Roll dessertspoons of the dough into balls; place 3cm apart on trays. Bake, uncovered, about 12 minutes. Cool completely on trays.

Chorizo & Lentil Stew

2011-06-08T15:14:00.003+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free

I'm suffering through the blast of icy Melbourne weather and craving one-bowl comfort food, so this is just the thing. Tuck in with crusty bread, or for something a bit fancy, the artichoke farinata I just made (which is gluten-free).

1 chorizo sausage, sliced
1 cup dried lentils, soaked overnight (or 1 can of lentils)
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
bay leaf
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bunch baby spinach leaves
1 can diced tomatoes

Fry the sliced chorizo in a frypan with a tablespoon of olive oil until browned. Remove and set aside in a bowl. In the same pan with the remaining chorizo-flavoured oil, gently saute onion, garlic and carrots, until soft.

Add lentils, stock, tomatoes and bay leaf and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add spinach and chorizo and warm through for a couple of minutes, until spinach is wilted.

Serve in bowls.

Farinata (Chickpea Flatbread)

2011-06-08T15:08:00.002+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

This recipe is from the River Cafe's Green cookbook, one of very few Italian cookbooks I treasure. It is divided into seasonal fruit and vegetables and features interesting produce with inspiring recipes. (eg. who knew Italians had even heard of ginger, let alone willingly cooked with it in both savoury and sweet dishes?!)

Because I am embracing all things gluten-free at the moment, it must be said that the farinata, a traditional Ligurian street food, is an ideal gluten-free pizza or flatbread.

Make sure the oiled pan is smoking hot before you pour in the batter or you won't get a crispy base. And the batter should only be 1cm thick (reserve the rest for another tray if need be) or you'll get a pancake rather than a pizza. I suspect it should be browner and crunchier than it looks in my picture but I was in a (hungry) hurry. In fact, if you squint, it almost passes for an omelette. Which gets me thinking that a bit of chickpea batter, liberally seasoned and poured into a pan with vegetables might make for a tasty egg-free frittata...

250g chickpea flour
750ml warm water
salt
75ml olive oil

*You can add any flavourings you like - strong herbs like rosemary, marjoram, thyme or sage. I sliced up some artichokes as per the original recipe and scattered fresh marjoram.

Add chickpea flour to the warm water in a bowl. If you can be bothered, sieve it first, but I didn't and given it sits for a couple of hours while it absorbs the water - it's not really necessary. Whisk it well to get rid of any lumps, add a tablespoon of salt, cover the bowl and set aside for at least 2 hours in a warm place.

Remove the foam that forms at the top of the batter and stir in the olive oil, mixing well. Pour a tablespoon of oil into your largest baking tray or pizza tray (around 40cm is best) and put into the oven until the oil starts to smoke. Remove the pan from the oven and quickly pour in the batter. It's supposed to be thin and not more than 1cm deep. Scatter over the artichoke slices and/or herbs, salt and a drizzling of olive oil. Place back in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Surface is supposed to bubble and the edges will crisp up.

Slice up and serve immediately.

Nuts

2011-05-27T12:35:00.006+10:00

For those with nut allergies, it can be challenging to replicate that nutty flavour or crunch. But it can be done! If you're seed-allergic or gluten-intolerant as well, there are a number of options to help you replace nuts in recipes.

Whole or chopped for extra crunch
These are generally included for extra texture and flavor so they either can be omitted entirely or replaced with:

Roasted chickpeas or soybeans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower kernels or sesame seeds
Crispy rice cereal, puffed rice, rolled oats, crushed corn or rice chips/crackers, granola or other nut-free toasted muesli mixes
Seeds (if you’re not allergic) are a healthy substitute: pumpkin and sunflower kernels can be a great alternative when you want texture or need to ground them to make your own nut-free butters or pastes (eg. pesto)

Ground nuts or nut meals
If a recipe calls for substitution of an almond or hazelnut meal, try some of the following options on their own or as a combination:

Finely dessicated coconut
Roasted and ground sunflower or pumpkin seeds
Plain or gluten-free flour
Breadcrumbs (gluten-free if required)
Oat or wheat bran

Try my nut-free recipes:

Italian Panforte

Sunflower Seed Butter

Rhuburb Tarts with Coconut Frangipane

Freenut Butter Cookies

Mock Satay Skewers

Nut-free Pesto

Sunflower Seed Butter

2011-05-18T14:35:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

I'm a fan of Eskal's Freenut Butter - a nut-free substitute for peanut butter. But it's quite sweet and has emulsifiers. Turns out it's dead easy to make yourself!

1 cup sunflower kernels
a few teaspoons sunflower oil or light olive oil

Roast sunflower kernels in a dry saucepan on low-medium to heat for about 5 minutes. Don't leave the stove, and turn them frequently so they don't burn.

Once they've cooled a bit, blitz them in a food processor. You'll need to add a little oil to help the binding process, but do this a little bit at a time.

You can add seasoning to taste (1/4 teaspoon of salt and/or 1/2 teaspoon of honey or golden syrup). It's delicious just on its own though.

Keep refrigerated in an airtight container. It might separate from the oil but just mix again before using.

Gluten-free Orange Poppyseed Cake

2011-05-15T13:33:00.008+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

I'll admit to being a little cocky these days when it comes to vegan baking. After 6 long years, I reckon I could tackle just about anything. But recently, vegan combined with gluten-free baking, has reduced me to a blubbering mess in the kitchen! Gummy muffins, boulder breads and chewy cakes - I've baked and binned them all.

Now I'm happy to report that gluten-free disasters are happening less frequently for me (though I suspect they'll continue in the future). I'm also going through different brands of gluten-free flour mixes at a rate of knots. After countless hours of google research as well as investing in a growing library of gluten-free cookbooks, it seems the best cake and cookie mix is one which predominantly features fine brown rice flour. So my next challenge will be to make my own flour mix. However if you're up for baking a lovely cake such as this one, (adapted from Cybele Pascal) use a commercial mix, and I'll be back very soon with a DIY version.

This cake is best eaten on the same day, but you can refresh in the microwave for a good pudding-style treat. Zap for about 20 seconds per piece and serve with dairy-free vanilla ice cream.

2 cups caster sugar
1 tablespoon No Egg replacer mixed with 1/4 cup rice or soy milk
1 cup orange juice
zest of 1 orange, finely chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups gluten-free flour mix
3/4 teaspoon xantham gum
4 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup poppy seeds

Orange Syrup
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
1 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease a 20 cm bundt pan and dust with cornflour.

Combine the sugar and egg replacer mix and beat in a mixer for about a minute. Add orange juice, zest and oil and mix for another minute or so.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour mix, xantham gum, baking powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet in three batches, beating after each addition. Mix in the poppy seeds.

Pour batter into the pan and bake for between 30-40 minutes.

To make the syrup, whisk together sugar and cornflour in a small saucepan. Whisk in the juice and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring continuously until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.

Once the cake has cooled in the tin for 5 minutes, turn onto wire rack. Pierce holes in the top of the cake with a skewer (about 20 times) and then pour over the syrup.

Gluten-free Anzac Biscuits

2011-04-26T16:21:00.003+10:00

I like the addition of quinoa flakes here - it makes them slightly more nutritious! If you're a coeliac and can tolerate certified gluten-free oats, try asking at your local health food store. Bob's Red Mill is now being imported from the US and their range of gluten-free oats and flour mixes is excellent.

(If you're watching your weight, my healthier version is available at www.weighitup.com.au)

1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup gluten-free cornflakes
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1 cup gluten-free plain flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
1/4 cup golden syrup
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
2 tablespoons hot water

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Place flour, cornflakes, quinoa flakes and sugar in a bowl, mixing well.

Melt margarine and golden syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Mix water and bicarb then add to saucepan.

Add liquid to dry ingredients and combine very well, with hands if you have to. Place tablespoons of mixture onto a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes. If you like your Anzacs chewy, reduce baking time by a few minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-21T22:39:00.002+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

About this time last year, I made at least two attempts at hot cross buns. I tried a version where the butter is melted, and another where it is rubbed into the flour. One made for a very dense bun, almost scone-like. Did I say scones? More like bricks. The other was a vast improvement though the recipe required four proving times. Four!

I only let the dough rise twice because I figured I'd mastered enough yeast cookery to know when to cut corners.

All was going pretty well until I left them in the oven 3 minutes too long. Wahhh.

very hot, very cross buns

Later, I wondered why I didn't just make buns out of the Stollen recipe I had tried at Christmas. After sitting in my hall of shame for a full year, I'm ready to tackle them again this Easter weekend (despite the calamity that was the gluten-free experiment a few weeks ago, but I'll spare you the horror for now.)

So here's the adapted Stollen recipe for perfect hot cross buns, just in time for Good Friday.

Pretty pictures to follow soon...

3 cups plain flour

2 tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

7g sachet dried yeast

1 1/2 cup dried mixed fruit

grated zest of 1 orange

150ml soy or rice milk, warmed

100gm dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex), melted

1 egg replacer

Crosses

50g plain flour

1/4 cup water

Glaze

2 tablespoons apricot jam

Place flour, sugar, spices, yeast, dried fruits, citrus zest and a pinch of salt in a large bowl, stirring well to combine. Whisk milk, Nuttelex and egg replacer together, then stir into flour mixture to form a soft dough. Knead dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes until smooth, dusting with more flour if too sticky.

Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, turning to grease on all sides. Cover and set aside in a warm place to rise for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 200 C and grease a baking tray or line with baking paper.

Punch down dough, turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Divide the dough into approximately 12 pieces and knead each piece into even-sized balls. Place in rows on the tray, cover with a tea towel and stand in a warm place for about half an hour until risen slightly.

Combine flour and water for the crosses and stir to a smooth paste. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle (or a plastic bag with corner snipped off). Pipe lines down each row to form crosses. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden.

Cool on tray for a few minutes while you dilute the jam with a teaspoon of boiling water, then brush over warm buns.

Nut-free Baklava

2011-04-02T15:40:00.003+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

This recipe makes an enormous slab of baklava. It's a special event dish, so you'll need more than a few friends to help eat it. Toasting the sunflower kernels brings out their nutty flavour making them an ideal nut substitute.

If you are gluten-free, you could try layering with just a few sheets of Pastry Pantry's Rough Puff Pastry which is also vegan, preservative-free and trans-fat free.

750g fillo pastry (Antoniou)

2 cups sunflower kernels, lightly toasted in oven

300g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1tsp cloves

Syrup

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup honey or golden syrup

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

TIP: When using fillo pastry, ensure you bring the unopened packets to room temperature for a couple of hours prior to using. Use fresh (refrigerated) fillo rather than frozen. Always keep the unused pastry covered while you're layering or it will dry out and crack, making it difficult to handle.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Melt margarine and lightly grease 25 x 43cm baking tray. Trim pastry to size of tray and keep trimmings. Layer one packet of pastry, brushing with margarine after every second or third sheet of pastry.

Roughly process toasted sunflower kernels in a food processor, then combine with sugar, cinnamon and cloves in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over top layer. Place the trimmed pieces of pastry from both packets on top of the nut mixture before continuing to layer the remaining pastry.

Cut into diamond or square shapes, making sure to cut right through to the base. You may want to refrigerate for half an hour as it makes cutting the fine pastry a little easier.

Pour remaining margarine (if any left) over the baklava and it will be absorbed by the pastry.

Bake for about 1 hour or until golden brown. Make the syrup while it's cooling - combine all the ingredients, bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes.

Pour hot syrup over baklava and sprinkle with kernels.

Icings, Frostings, Glazes & Ganaches

2011-02-20T10:08:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

If you bake as often as I do, then these are recipe essentials.

You can do a very respectable job of icing your cupcakes and cakes and staying dairy-free. But you need to observe two rules:

1. Never allow your dairy-free margarine to 'soften' before using, like you would with butter. Due to its higher water and lower fat content, it seems to break down and you will run into problems mixing it with other ingredients and it won't hold its shape.

2. Always chill your icing before using.

This is as comprehensive a list as I can manage - but if you have an icing recipe that just must be shared, please drop me a note!

Dairy free Vanilla Frosting
125g dairy-free margarine
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract (or other flavourings)

Beat margarine in small bowl with electric mixer until as white as possible - then beat in sifted icing sugar. You can replace vanilla with lemon juice or other juice if you want a flavoured frosting - you might want to increase it to 1tbsp.

Makes 1 3/4 cups

Dairy free Chocolate Frosting
100g dairy free margarine
4 tbsp water
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
4 tbsp cocoa powder

Combine margarine, water and caster sugar in small saucepan; stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.

Combine sifted icing sugar and cocoa in medium bowl; gradually stir in hot spread mixture until smooth. Cover; refrigerate 20 minutes. Using wooden spoon, beat frosting until spreadable.

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Dairy free Cream Cheese Icing
60g dairy-free margarine
160g dairy-free cream cheese
3 cups icing sugar

Beat margarine and cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy; gradually beat in sifted icing sugar.

Makes 2 1/2 cups

Fluffy Mock Cream
2 tbsp rice/soy milk
1/3 cup water
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon gelatine
2 tbsp water, extra
250g dairy free margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine milk, water and sugar in small saucepan; stir over low heat, without boiling, until sugar is disolved. Sprinkle gelatine over extra water in cup, add to pan; stir syrup until gelativne is dissolved. Cool to room temperature.

Beat butter and extract in small bowl with electric mixer, until as white as possible. While motor is operating, gradually pour in cold syrup; beat until light and fluffy. Mixture will thicken on standing.

Makes 2 cups

Glace Icing
4 cups icing sugar
2 tsp dairy free margarine
4 tbsp hot water, approximately

Sift icing sugar into small heatproof bowl; stir in margarine and enough of the hot water to make a thick paste. Place bowl over small saucepan of simmering water; stir until icing is spreadable.

Makes 2 cups

Glaze
2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice (approx) or other flavoured juice

Sift icing sugar into small heatproof bowl, stir in enough strained juice to give a thick pouring consistency. Stir over small saucepan of simmering water until thin enough to make a spreadable opaque glaze.

Makes 1 cup

Chocolate Ganache (dairy free, vegan)
You can make an excellent ganache by first finding a dairy/egg/nut free chocolate (Kinnerton Luxury Chocolate Bar is my favourite). Ganache is fantastic for drizzling over a cake and letting harden, or allowing to cool slightly before icing and a filling a cake (goes well under fondant when decorating). You can also let it cool and then whip into a frenzy and use to pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

Rice or soy milk is fine to use, but lately I've been trialling coconut cream which results in a richer taste and more luscious texture.

1 cup rice/soy milk or coconut cream
400g dairy-free chocolate, chopped coarsely

Bring milk or cream to boil in small saucepan; remove from heat. Add chocolate immediately and stir until melted and smooth.

Use while still warm and pourable, or cool and then beat with a wooden spoon until spreadable.

Makes 2 cups

Chocolate Mousse Frosting (dairy free, vegan)
Sometimes, you just want to give the Nuttelex a break. Using tofu makes a nice change, as long as you sweeten and flavour it well.
350g silken tofu
1/4 cup rice or soy milk
2 tablespoons honey or golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
350g dairy-free choc chips

Blend tofu, milk, vanilla and golden syrup in a blender and mix. Melt choc chips over a double boiler or in the microwave, allow to cool slightly then add to blender and mix with the tofu. Refrigerate in covered bowl for at least an hour before using.

Ready to roll Fondant Icing (dairy free, vegan)
This is what you use when you want to try a fancily decorated cake. I wouldn't dream of making my own, though there are recipes out there for home-made fondant and marshmallow versions. Luckily, most commercial varieties are dairy/egg/nut free (eg Orchard available at most supermarkets).

Baby Octopus & Chickpea Salad

2011-01-29T13:30:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free

"But where's the chorizo?" asked the husband.

Not the first time he's uttered these words, mind. (I once dared make a seafood-only paella - apparently one of the great culinary sins of our time, judging from the look on his face.)

Men and meat! They wish it could adorn every meal, don't they? And I think they particularly love Spanish food because it's the one cuisine that legitimises the use of seafood and meat in the same dish - a culturally acceptable version of 'surf 'n' turf'.

Feel free to enjoy this recipe with or without the chorizo. (Though I suggest adding it for the sake of domestic harmony - or just because it's also very tasty.)

1kg baby octopus, cleaned (ask your fishmonger)
1 can organic chickpeas
handful of rocket leaves
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh oregano, chopped
1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 punnet of very sweet cherry or grape tomatoes
1/4 red onion, very finely sliced
1 chorizo sausage, sliced and pan fried

Slice the chorizo and pan fry pieces in a dry pan (no need for oil). Set aside. Preheat bbq or griddle pan. Wash octopus and pat dry with paper towel. Slice each octopus in half lengthways and toss in a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper and the finely chopped garlic. Cook octopus on grill or bbq for a minute on each side (possibly even less - be mindful, overcooked octopus is inedible!)

Combine herbs, rocket, tomatoes, chorizo and chickpeas in a bowl and toss with some olive oil, salt, pepper and juice of half a lemon. Add cooked octopus and chorizo and mix together, drizzling with some more olive oil.

Vegan Palak Paneer

2011-01-18T22:19:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free vegan

I did promise a nut-free chicken korma recipe a while ago except I'm still experimenting (last attempt yielded an inexplicably fluorescent yellow hue!)

In the meantime, here's a vegetarian contribution - a classic Indian spinach curry. If you can eat dairy, go ahead and cube up some paneer. To keep it vegan, you can add some lightly fried tofu pieces. But if that's not your thing (and quite frankly, it wasn't ours - it makes the photo look more authentic but we enjoyed the curry far more without it), steamed/boiled waxy potatoes cut into cubes would also be delicious.

1 block of firm tofu, cubed and lightly pan-fried in oil OR 2 cups of steamed waxy potato, cut into cubes
1 large bunch of spinach, washed
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
piece of ginger, about 1/2 inch, grated
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
3/4 cup tomato puree
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water
salt to taste

Blanch spinach in a large pot of boiling water. Drain then blend in a food processor to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in pan and fry onions until translucent.

Add the garlic, ginger, green chillies and turmeric and fry for about a minute.

Add the tomato puree and fry for another minute.

Add spinach paste, tofu or potatoes, garam masala, salt and water then bring to the boil.

Serve hot with steamed basmati rice.

Grilled Radicchio

2011-01-03T21:56:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free gluten free vegan

I'm afraid my new year's resolution to eat more seasonally, and therefore sustainably, is off to a shaky start. Radicchio is normally harvested in winter, however given the unusually cool start to our Melbourne summer (it even snowed, you know!) I declared its discovery at the grocer this afternoon "unseasonably sustainable".

It was a head of very pretty radicchio and I immediately thought of grilling it on the bbq, something I have never tried. I think the Treviso variety is more suited to grilling, though it was delicious all the same - the bitterness mellowed by the chargrill and the final dressing.

But I promise to wait until winter before buying it again.

1 head of radicchio
2-3 cloves finely chopped garlic
a few tablespoons of olive oil then more for drizzling
1/4 cup chopped parsley
lemon juice or some good quality balsamic vinegar to finish
salt & pepper to season

Cut the radicchio into quarters or wedges, depending on the size of the head. For the Treviso variety (elongated), cut them lengthwise. Brush all over with a mixture of olive oil and finely chopped garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place on a medium-hot grill or bbq. Grill for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a serving platter. Drizzle olive oil, sprinkle parsley and finish with fresh lemon juice or balsamic vinegar.

Chocolate & Raspberry Brownies (vegan, gluten free)

2010-12-18T21:38:00.000+11:00

dairy free, egg free, nut free, vegan, gluten free

Gooey and intense and very chocolatey, with a hint of tartness via the raspberries. The perfect brownie, really. Vegan and gluten-free too! Beware though - without the addition of a couple of binding eggs, they're in danger of complete collapse. Best kept refrigerated and you must have cooled the pan for a good hour or two in the fridge before attempting to cut them. They would definitely improve their shape-holding capacity if you cooked them 5-10 minutes longer...but as most of us know, an overcooked brownie is a travesty, so don't even think it.

175g dairy-free margarine
200g dairy/nut-free chocolate (eg. Kinnerton), in pieces
1/3 cup organic cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup apple puree or 2 egg replacers
3/4 cup plain flour or gluten-free flour, sifted
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 160 C. Lightly grease an 18cm square cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

Put margarine and chocolate into a saucepan over low heat and stir until the butter and chocolate have melted. Remove and set aside to cool slightly. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add cocoa, brown sugar and vanilla and mix to combine. Stir in apple puree/egg replacers and flour. Gently fold in raspberries.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for approx 40-45 minutes or until the cake starts to come away from the sides of the tin. Cool in the tin and then in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before cutting into squares. Dust with pure icing sugar before serving.

Gluten-free Shortbread

2010-12-10T09:55:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan gluten free

Gluten-free! What a minefield. The growing interest in the allergy-friendly baking section at Elwood Market meant that sooner rather than later, I had to cater for our coeliac friends. I'll admit to feeling a bit apprehensive. Apparently gluten works in mysterious ways so while one substitution can work perfectly in a recipe, it will fail dismally in another. Luckily shortbread is practically gluten-free anyway....so this turned out very nicely without much effort. Phew!

1/2 cup maize cornflour (some cornflours are wheaten so check ingredients)

1/2 cup pure icing sugar

1 cup rice flour

180g dairy-free margarine, chopped

Sift the cornflour, icing sugar and rice flour together. Add chopped margarine, and mix with hands until a soft dough forms. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180 C and line two baking trays. Roll out dough to 5mm thick, sprinkling lightly with cornflour (it's quite a wet mixture, so I also rolled out onto baking paper to prevent it sticking to the board). Cut into desired shapes and bake for approximately 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before storing.

Election Cupcakes

2010-12-07T16:34:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Gloat post alert:

AS SEEN ON ABC TV!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2010/11/27/3078260.htm

My home-made, wish-i'd-spent-a-bit-more-time-on-them cupcakes got their 15 milliseconds of fame. I made a hurried batch for the Elwood Primary School fundraiser during election day recently in Victoria. So hurried in fact that when the usual issue arose of red icing refusing to budge darker than pink, I decided to add a drop of black colouring. You can't make red out of pink. If you add black to pink, you just get darker pink. I already knew this. And still, in my bleary-eyed state, I did it.

Early indicator to the result of the election, I believe.

Never mind, I thought - no-one will notice, or care, right? Well who should be skulking around the school doing vox pops at the polling booth but ABC TV. After a few encouraging words to the cameraman by my husband, they took some footage. Unbelievably, it didn't end up on the cutting room floor - but closed the community piece on the 6pm news!

The winning cupcake

Rocky Road

2010-11-27T20:36:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

This is delectably simple - and your only real challenge is to find a dairy and nut free chocolate (with no traces).

I have a pathological aversion to glace cherries (slimey, squelchy things), so I replaced them with the new Natural Confectionery Company Berry Bursts... all the better I say. These were very popular at the last Elwood Community Market so I'll be making an extra slab or so again for the big Christmas market next Saturday. Who knew the blessed thing only takes 5 minutes to put together? For those who want a nut-free crunch, you can add roasted soy beans, but they are perfectly delicious as is.

And to the vegans who couldn't partake at the last market - apologies - but check out Angel Food, you can make your own gelatine-free marshmallows here

500g dairy free nut free chocolate
(I used Sweet William plain chocolate and white delight here but my favourite version so far has been Sweet William white delight and Kinnerton dark luxury chocolate bar)
250g pink and white marshmallows (use Pascal, no traces)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
200g Red Berry Bursts (by Natural Confectionery Company)
1/2 cup roasted soy beans (optional)
extra coconut to sprinkle

Melt chocolate in microwave (on high for a minute, then in 20 second bursts until melted) and stir to combine. Add coconut, red lollies and marshmallows and mix thoroughly. Pour into a lined lamington/rectangular pan, sprinkle with coconut and refrigerate until set.

Remove from pan and slice into squares or bars.

Lemon Coconut Bundt cake - part two

2010-11-24T13:49:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Bundt, be gone.

Though this post is part 2, it's actually my third attempt at this cake, and I didn't dare risk the conundrum that is lining a bundt tin. So a plain round cake tin just had to do this time around. No matter - this is simple, light and moist - a perfect afternoon tea cake. Because it rises so well, I think you could easily make cupcakes with this recipe, adding a swirl of lemony frosting, and a sprinkling of coconut.

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup caster sugar
125g dairy-free margarine, melted
2 egg replacers
1 cup coconut milk
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and line a deep 20cm round cake tin.

Combine dry ingredients, then wet ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon until mixture is smooth. It will be runny.

Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted into centre of cake.

Leave cake to cool slightly before removing from tin on wire rack. Cool completely.

Sprinkle with icing sugar, coconut or desired icing.

Choc Chip Banana & Coconut Muffins (dairy free, egg free, nut free)

2010-11-10T11:58:00.000+11:00

Another muffin. Well what can I say, kids love them, and they fill up a corner of the lunchbox!

125g dairy-free margarine, melted
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 egg replacers
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup dairy/nut free choc chips

Preheat oven to 200 C and fill a 12 hole muffin pan with muffin or cupcake liners. Beat melted margarine, sugar, banana, egg replacers and vanilla until well combined. Place flour, coconut and choc chips in a large bowl, then fold in banana mixture. Fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until risen and golden. Cool slightly in pan then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Moroccan Sausage Rolls (dairy free, egg free, nut free)

2010-11-08T19:11:00.000+11:00

I'm very partial to a sausage roll. Though if, like me, you are more than a little suspicious of supermarket sausage meat (what IS it?), then you need to make your own. Crucial to any sausage roll filling is the fine processing of the raw mince - you want a very fine texture and regular minced meat doesn't do the job. Whack it in the food processor and blitz it with your choice of flavourings.

These Moroccan-spiced ones were gobbled up by both my girls - spices, herbs and all. Delicious!

Makes 40 mini size, approx

500g lamb mince
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 brown or red onion, chopped
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp each ground coriander
½ tsp each ground ginger
½ tsp each ground cinnamon
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
1/4 cup fresh chopped coriander
4-5 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed (non-butter Pampas version and some supermarket-brand varieties are dairy/egg/nut free)
rice milk or water for the "egg" wash
sesame seeds

Preheat oven 200c. Line baking trays with baking paper.

Place the garlic, onion, ground spices and herbs in a food processor with sea salt & pepper. Pulse to chop the onion and garlic and combine. Add lamb and process until smooth.
Cut each pastry sheet in half lengthways and then across, making 4 sheets. Place one piece of filling on edge of each pastry square in a long sausage shape, then roll up to enclose. Turn rolls seam-side down and cut each roll into 3-4 pieces, trimming the ends.

Place on the lined baking trays, brush with rice milk and sprinkle sesame seeds. Cook in the oven for 10 – 12 mins until puffed and golden.

Halloween Cupcakes (dairy free, egg free, nut free)

2010-10-26T22:12:00.001+11:00

I made these last year for kinder class - the ghost cupcakes in particular were a huge hit. The eyes! Such expression! We fell in love.

Happy Halloween :)

Chocolate Cupcakes
makes approx 24 standard cupcakes

300g plain flour
400g caster sugar
100g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp soda bicarbonate
450ml rice or soy milk
100ml vegetable oil
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 C. Fill two cupcake/muffin pans with cupcake liners.
Sift together in a large bowl the flour, sugar, soda bicarb, cocoa and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla and add to the dry ingredients, mixing well until smooth.

Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until risen and firm to touch. Cool in trays for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

Chocolate Frosting
100g dairy free margarine
4 tbsp water
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
4 tbsp cocoa powder

Combine margarine, water and caster sugar in small saucepan; stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.
Combine sifted icing sugar and cocoa in medium bowl; gradually stir in hot spread mixture until smooth. Cover; refrigerate for at least half an hour, until thoroughly cool. Using wooden spoon, beat frosting until spreadable.

Ghosts
White ready to roll fondant, 1/4-1/2 packet
Marshmallows (one per ghost cupcake)
Using white ready to roll fondant, roll out to 1/2 cm thickness and use a round cookie cutter (slightly larger than the circumference of the cupcake, so it overlaps by about 1cm). Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting and secure a marshmallow in the centre. Ensure you sit the marshmallow on its side so the rounded part is at the top. Drape fondant circles over the marshmallows, covering the cupcakes. Using the blunt end of a toothpick or skewer, make two holes for the eyes (until you reach the marshmallow underneath) then fill with a dot of black gel decorating pen. So cute!

Tombstone Cookies
This is a good standard cut-out cookie recipe. Roll these out relatively thinly (1/2 cm) before baking or they'll be too thick to wedge into the cupcake.

125g dairy-free margarine, softened
1/2 cup (115g) caster sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) rice/soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
1/2 cup (70g) plain flour
black and green Queen food gel writing pens

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Use an electric beater to beat the margarine and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in milk and vanilla extract. Fold in the flours.

Press the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to rest.

Roll out one portion of dough on a sheet of non-stick baking paper to about 1/2cm thick. Cut out tombstone shapes (freehand) and place on the trays.
Bake for 5-8 minutes or until light golden.
Cool for 5 minutes on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Repeat with remaining dough (or freeze for more cookies another day).

Pipe RIP on tombstones then insert into cupcakes. Add some green grass to the edges of the tombstone.

Enjoy!

Lemon Coconut Bundt Cake - part one

2010-10-25T19:45:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

It's important to remember that baking is a science.

For example, you might get impatient and want to turn out a cake before it has cooled in the tin.
You mustn't.

Or perhaps the original recipe insists you line the base of the tin with baking paper but because you decided to change the tin shape from loaf to bundt, you sort of forgot that bit...(though how do you line a bundt tin anyway?)

So out it fell - broken, stuck, ruined.

Then my taste tester tells me, scraping the bits of cake from the tin, that it's the best cake he ever ate.

So it's back to the kitchen for take 2 - I don't mind - it's beautifully lemony and moist. Even on second attempt though, this cake doesn't rise. It sinks in the middle, quite spectacularly. I must tweak the recipe - it seems the coconut cream is too heavy and might need replacing with coconut milk. But my third attempt will have to wait until after I return from a child-free holiday to Port Douglas later in the week (yay!). Plus I want to share some cute cupcakes in time for Halloween before I go.

So until then - feast your eyes on this disaster, and stay tuned...

(original sinking recipe - though if eggs aren't an issue for you, this should work spectacularly!)
125g dairy-free margarine, softened

125g caster sugar

2 x egg replacers

1 cup self raising flour, sifted

½ cup dessicated coconut

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 x 270g coconut cream
icing sugar, dusting

Method

Preheat oven 175 C. Lightly grease and line a loaf pan with baking paper.

Beat margarine and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg replacers and beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl combine flour, cocount and lemon zest. Add half of this mixture and coconut cream into the mixing bowl and mix well.

Repeat with remaining flour and coconut cream. Add lemon juice and mix until well combined.

Pour cake mixture into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 - 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Dust with icing sugar.

Quest for the Holy Grail: Egg-free Meringue

2010-10-14T12:43:00.003+11:00

Sometimes - just for fun - I google 'vegan meringue'.

Ok admittedly, it's not fun anymore, it's become an obsession. I am a relentless researcher if nothing else. I have been searching in the hope that somewhere in the world, someone has discovered how to make an egg-less substitute to this holy grail of vegan cooking. It usually leads to a depressing read of world wide lamentations, e-how dead-ends and bloggy disasters.

Then one day I stumbled across something called Vegan Meringue Cookies by AngelFood.

Inconceivable!

Immediately went shopped online (Vegan Perfection in this case) and next day (or so) delivery, it arrived.

I am a sucker for a pretty package, and she is very pretty indeed. I had zero expectation though - other than to produce something that quite possibly resembled a chewy meringue with a crispy outer layer. Which very probably can only be achieved by using real eggs. Yep - zero expectation.

The package claims it makes 'crisp' cookies. With two sachets in the box - once mixed and beaten together, it was looking really good: glossy and stiff, just like beaten egg whites should look...

I piped onto tray (oh but they are darling!)

Baking in the oven (bit annoyed I lost the little peaks in the cooking process)

Crispy yes they are!

Sandwiched together with some Sweet William chocolate spread (dairy/egg/nut free), they are not bad. Quite tasty in fact (thanks to the chocolate I suspect).

So here they are - a very crispy, aerated version of meringue kisses...though won't be attempting a pavlova any time soon.

Crispy Pork Belly with Fennel & Apple Coleslaw

2010-10-09T19:10:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

We all love crackling (vegetarians/vegans look away). But it is rarely accompanied by a moist, tender roast pork meat. Dry and a bit bland, I end up suffering through it. (Unless of course it's porchetta served in a crusty bread roll from a roadside stall in Italy...)

I first saw Rick Stein make this dish, and I probably won't ever serve up a roast pork any other way. Pork belly - slow cooked so the meat underneath is tender and melting away, with crisp and crunchy crackling that never fails. Hallelujah.

Beware though - it's rich. Pork belly boasts a considerable amount of fat (hence the moistness) but for a once-in-a-while dish (as roast pork should be), it's worth it. I think you could also experiment with the seasonings (I might try rosemary & sage next).

Rick Stein originally served this with plain rice and steamed Asian greens, but because it's spring and the sun is finally shining, I opted for an Italian twist on coleslaw. Baby fennel, savoy cabbage and Pink Lady apple, all finely sliced and tossed with lemon, olive oil and parsley.

Oh my. Marriage made in heaven!

Crispy Roast Pork Belly
Serves 4-6
1 x 1.5kg piece of thick belly pork with the rind
1 tablespoon Sichuan pepper*
1 teaspoon black pepper*
2 tablespoons sea salt
2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
2 teaspoons caster sugar

Spike the skin of the pork with a fine skewer le as many times as you can, going through into the fat but not so deep that you go into the flesh. Then pour a kettle full of boiling water over the skin, leave it to drain and then dry it off well.

In a small bowl, combine the peppers, sea salt, five spice powder and sugar.

Turn the pork flesh-side up on a tray and rub the flesh all over with the spice mixture. Set it aside somewhere cool to marinate for 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Turn the pork skin-side up and place it on a rack resting on top of a roasting tin of water. Roast the pork for 15 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 180˚C and roast it for a further 2 hours, topping up the water in the roasting tin now and then when necessary.

Increase the oven temperature once more to 230˚C and continue to roast the pork for a further 15 minutes. Then remove it from the oven and leave it to rest for 5-10 mins.
Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces and arrange them on a warmed platter.

*Rick Stein's recipe has the peppercorns whole and dry-fried in a pan, then ground in a spice grinder. I've adapted the recipe for the short-on-time cook - I suspect it doesn't make a huge difference to the final result.

Fennel & Apple Coleslaw

Serves 4-6

1/4 Savoy cabbage
3 baby fennel bulbs
1 Pink Lady apple
3 tbsp fennel fronds, chopped
1/2 cup continental parsley, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
sea salt
lemon juice to taste

Finely slice the cabbage and fennel. Add fennel fronds and parsley and mix together well. Just before serving, halve and core the apples, then finely slice across, then into matchsticks. Add to cabbage and fennel, then dress salad with oil, salt and lemon juice, mixing well.

Gingerbread Cookies

2010-09-30T19:04:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

This is based on Delia Smith's recipe from Delia Online.

I omitted the orange rind as I had some very impatient 6 year olds waiting to get started...

Makes about 20

75 g soft brown sugar, sieved

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 tablespoon black treacle

1 level teaspoon cinnamon

1 level teaspoon ginger

1 pinch ground cloves

finely grated rind ½ orange (optional)

95 g dairy-free margarine
½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

225 g plain flour

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.

Put the sugar, syrup, treacle, 1 tablespoon of water, spices and rind together in a large saucepan.

Then bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time. Now remove the pan from the heat and stir in the dairy-free and the bicarbonate of soda.

Next stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth manageable dough – add a little more flour, if you think it needs it.

Now leave the dough – covered – in a cool place to become firm, approximately 30 minutes. Now roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick and cut out the gingerbread men.

Arrange them on the lightly greased baking sheets and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the biscuits feel firm when lightly pressed with a fingertip.

Leave the biscuits to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

Lamb & Leek Stew

2010-09-29T13:41:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Spring may have sprung, but it's still freezing in Melbourne! I think this is essentially a Lancashire Hotpot, and very tasty.

50g dairy-free margarine, plus extra to grease

2 leeks, white part only, thinly sliced

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 tbs olive oil

1kg diced lamb leg or shoulder

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbs pearl barley

800g waxy potatoes (such as kipflers), peeled, thinly sliced

300ml lamb, chicken or beef stock

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

a few tablespoons of olive oil or melted margarine

3 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 170 C. Grease an ovenproof casserole dish.

Place half the margarine in a large frypan over low heat and cook leek and onion for 5 minutes or until softened. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Add oil to pan, increase heat to high. When oil is hot, add lamb and brown in batches, then transfer to a separate plate. Add garlic and barley to pan, season with salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute, then return lamb to pan and stir to combine. Place half the potatoes in base of casserole. Layer meat over top followed by leek mixture. Use back of a spoon to flatten contents of casserole, then overlap remaining potatoes on top. Pour in stock and sprinkle with thyme. Cover with a lid or a layer of foil and bake in oven for 2 hours. Brush potatoes with olive oil or melted margarine. Return to oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until potatoes are golden.

Serve from dish, sprinkled with parsley.

Orange & Polenta Loaf

2010-09-16T12:57:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Thanks to a morning spent with my school mums, I was inspired to make an allergy-friendly version of this lovely citrus polenta cake.

2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup polenta
250g dairy-free margarine, melted
1 orange, grated rind and juice
1/2 cup rice/soy milk
3 egg replacers (Orgran)

Glaze
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup caster sugar

Combine flour, sugar and polenta in a bowl and mix well. Add melted margarine, grated rind, juice, milk and finally egg replacers and mix gently until well combined.

Pour into loaf tin lined with baking paper, smoothing the top, and bake in 180 C oven for 50-55 minutes.

Combine the extra orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently until sugar is dissolved.

Once ready, cool cake in tin for 10 minutes then remove to rack. While still warm to the touch, brush the glaze over the top of the cake.

Can also be made in a round cake tin.

FreeNut Butter Cookies

2010-09-02T14:48:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Who says you can't make a peanut butter cookie without peanuts?

As long as you use FreeNut Butter made from sunflower seeds. Either the smooth or crunchy version does just nicely, and I made a second batch with Sweet William choc chips thrown in.

Makes 20 approx

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup melted dairy-free margarine
1/2 cup FreeNut Butter(smooth or crunchy)
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 egg replacer
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Sweet William dairy/nut free choc chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Sift flour and sugars, then combine the rest of the ingredients, mixing very well.

Drop tablespoons of mixture onto lined baking tray, pressing down slightly with back of a fork. Make sure you space them as they will spread during cooking. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Remove and cool on rack.

Nasi Goreng

2010-09-01T12:57:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free

My life changed for the better when a friend introduced me to kecap manis: a sweet and syrupy Indonesian soy sauce. I tend to leave the regular soy aside more often than not these days, because kecap manis elevates my stirfries to a higher plane. Truly!

I love this dish because it combines rice with Chinese cabbage (I admit to a soft spot for all things cabbage), and the kids always seem to want more. No need for egg - kecap manis is the hero here.You can adjust the ingredients to your taste, adding more vegies if you prefer.

Because we can all safely eat shellfish now, we particularly love prawns in this dish.

Serves 4

2 cups pre-cooked long grain or basmati rice
1/4 Chinese cabbage (wombok), shredded
300g chicken thighs, diced
10 cooked prawns
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 chilli, finely sliced (optional)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce or fish sauce (or both quite frankly!)
1/4 cup kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
1/2 cup fresh coriander, chopped (optional)
a handful of crispy fried spring onions to sprinkle on top

Heat oil in a wok or large saucepan over medium to high heat and cook onion, garlic and chilli (if using) until softened.

Add chicken pieces and stirfry until brown and just cooked through. Add fish and oyster sauces, then cabbage and rice, stirfrying for a few minutes until rice is well coated and cabbage is wilted. Add kecap manis, stirring well, then add the cooked prawns until heated through.

Mix in coriander before serving with fried spring onions.

Lemon Coconut Slice

2010-08-18T21:01:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free

This is old, OLD school lemon slice. The one that sits next to the chocolate hedgehog in cafes (though not necessarily hip inner-city ones). It's pure Aussie, and I love it. While strolling the aisles of Sunnybrook recently, I discovered that someone finally got their act together - in this case, the Brazilians - by making a dairy-free sweetened condensed milk.

(For those living outside of Melbourne, doesn't look like the product is listed in Sunnybrook's online shop yet - try Cruelty Free Shop)

Or you could try making your own here.

Makes about 18 pieces

80g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
250g (3/4 cup) soy sweetened condensed milk
250g plain sweet dairy/egg/nut free biscuits*
85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
1 tablespoon (20ml) fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
extra desiccated coconut, for sprinkling on top of slice

Lemon Icing
250g (1 3/4 cups) icing sugar
2 tablespoons (40ml) fresh lemon juice

* McVities Digestives are dairy/egg/nut free though they are made on a production line handling milk. Arnotts Nice biscuits (and some other varieties) are also fine, but have traces of nut/dairy/egg/seed. Here I have used both plain and cocoa flavoured Kedem Tea Biscuits available at Coles - they are dairy/egg free and made in a nut-free facility - no traces. Orgran vanilla animal cookies might also make a reasonable substitute.

Grease an 18cm by 28cm slice pan or baking dish and line pan/dish with baking paper.

Place dairy-free margarine and soy condensed milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat when margarine has melted and mixture is smooth.

Finely crush biscuits using a blender or food processor. Stir crushed biscuits, coconut and lemon zest together in a large bowl until well combined. Stir lemon juice into condensed milk mixture.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Press mixture very firmly into the prepared pan using the base of a flat-bottomed glass if necessary. Refrigerate.

To prepare icing, combine icing sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until mixture is warm to the touch and completely smooth. Remove from heat and spread over slice, sprinkling with extra coconut.

Refrigerate slice until cold and firm then remove from the pan and cut into pieces. Store slice in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Celebration Paella

2010-08-18T14:14:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free

If your child has ever had the good fortune of successfully passing a food challenge, you'll know the word 'celebration' is practically an understatement.

My eldest had a mild allergy to shellfish until an SPT (skin prick test) came up negative near the end of 2009. It took her a few months to work up the courage to embark on a food challenge. Her reluctance was understandable after recently discovering a kiwi fruit allergy by eating a whole one, then vomiting and huskily coughing for half an hour. Out came the Zyrtec - though thankfully, the Epipen stayed in its case. Phew. Once she got over the trauma of that experience, we encouraged her to try a prawn: first rubbing on the inside of her lip, then a quarter portion, increasing to half - then a whole prawn over a number of hours/days and checking for any reactions.

She passed. And we felt like all our Christmases had come at once.

Not only does passing the shellfish challenge mean an abundance of prawns and calamari (though the latter technically a mollusc); but suddenly, oyster sauces, curry pastes containing shrimp and even products containing traces of crustacea all become available to our hungry gourmand.

A paella is traditionally a Spanish peasant dish where a variety of meats and/or seafood or whatever you have on hand can be added. It doesn't require stirring like a risotto - so you want a nice gentle crust to form on the bottom.

I have a 6 year old shellfish addict now, who wonders why we can't eat prawns every day...

Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 large tomato, chopped
300g chicken thigh, diced (or 1 chorizo sausage, sliced)
10 green prawns
1 large squid hood, sliced into 1cm thick rings
1 cup calasparra or arborio rice
2 cups hot vegetable or fish stock
2/3 cup cooked peas
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
10 saffron strands (optional)
lemon wedges

Heat oil in a paella pan or large flat frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, capsicum, tomato and garlic - stir until soft. Add chorizo/chicken until cooked. Add rice and stir to combine. Stir in stock, saffron (if using) and paprika. Ensure the mixture is spread evenly over the pan.

When the stock is boiling, cover and cook over low to medium heat for about 10 minutes until the stock has reduced and the rice is almost cooked. Push the prawns and calamari into the rice and cover for a further 5 minutes. Finally add the peas and parsley and leave it for five more minutes on low heat.

Serve with lemon wedges.

Tips:
- Do not stir the paella during main cooking
- The perfect time to add seafood is when the stock is reduced enough for the rice to be seen. This is near the end of the cooking time and will allow for delicately steamed and very tender seafood.

Raspberry & Coconut Muffins

2010-08-15T19:56:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free

I am possibly the world's worst blogger.

It has been months since my last post. Forgive me, dear blog, for I have been very neglectful.

But I am back on the horse! And these delicious muffins are going straight to the lunchbox.

200g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
100g soft brown sugar
200ml coconut milk (or you can substitute rice/soy milk)
50g dessicated coconut
1 egg replacer
100g melted dairy-free margarine
100g fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 180 C and line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake/muffin liners.

Sift together the flour and baking powder then combine rest of ingredients, folding in the raspberries last.

Divide the batter between the liners and bake for approximately 20 - 25 minutes.

Dust with icing sugar.

Rhubarb & Coconut Frangipane Tarts

2010-05-19T14:23:00.000+10:00

I've made these tarts a few times now - individually sized as well as a large one. No need to pre-cook the rhubarb, and the sweet 'frangipane' balances the tartness.

(frangipane is originally a butter, sugar and ground almond mixture - coconut substitute works a treat.)

The best thing about these tarts is that they make a quick and easy dinner party dessert - so if you have slaved all day on preparing and cooking the first two courses, these take about 5 minutes to make and not much longer to cook. I like!

Makes 4
One sheet of puff pastry, cut into 4 squares (most commercial puff pastries are dairy/egg/nut free, except for Pampas butter version)
3-4 sticks of rhubarb, washed and cut to fit squares
75g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex), softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
90g dessicated coconut
1 tbsp cornflour
1 egg replacer

Cut puff pastry sheet into 4 squares. Score the edges to leave a 2cm border.

Beat butter, extract and caster sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg replacer, beat until combined. Fold in coconut and cornflour.

Spread frangipane keeping within the score marks of the pastry, about 1/2 cm thick. Lay rhubarb sticks over the mixture, and bake in preheated 180 C oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately. Can be eaten plain or with dairy-free ice cream.

Carrot & Banana Cake

2010-05-18T19:17:00.000+10:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Before Gina came to the rescue, I trialled carrot cakes that didn't rise much, and banana muffins that were nice enough, but for some reason didn't translate very well into a cake. The combination of the two means this cake rises beautifully and keeps very moist. I think this was Gina's recipe prior to having a dairy and egg allergic son - after which she made it allergy-friendly, and it rocks. Thanks a million Gina! We love it. Works perfectly as muffins, round cake or in a loaf tin as I have done here.

225g self raising flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g brown sugar
1 cup grated carrot
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
150ml vegetable oil
2 egg replacers

Preheat oven to 180 C. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, spices and mix well. Add carrot, bananas, vegetable oil and egg replacers and mix until well combined. Grease a pan and line the bottom of square, round or loaf tin - pour in combined mixture and bake for approx 25-35 minutes.

Lemon Icing
55g dairy-free margarine, softened
250g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)

Beat margarine with icing sugar, then add lemon juice/zest. Make double quantity if you are layering and filling a round cake.

Blueberry Pikelets

2010-03-16T13:14:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Hmm, possibly more a panklet than a pikelet! Make them however big or small you like. This is a great standard pancake recipe.

Makes about 10 pikelets

1 cup self-raising flour
1 tablespoon castor sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup rice or soy milk
1 egg replacer
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen)
melted dairy-free margarine for frying

Sift flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Whisk milk, egg replacer and vanilla together, then pour over dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Gently stir blueberries through the batter.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and brush with melted margarine. Drop tablespoons of mixture into pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn pikelets over and cook other side until golden.

Serve plain, or dust with icing sugar.

Apricot & Cranberry Cookies

2010-03-11T12:09:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Lovely oaty biscuits for the lunchbox. If sesame seeds are an issue, you can leave them out, they still taste great. I think this recipe originally came from Women's Weekly.

Makes 20

100g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
2 tbs golden syrup
2 tbs water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
115g (1 1/4 cups) rolled oats
150g (1 cup) plain flour
40g (1/4 cup) sesame seeds (optional, or you could substitute linseeds)
110g (2/3 cup) chopped dried apricots
100g (2/3 cup) craisins (dried cranberries)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until the butter melts. Remove from heat. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

Combine the oats, flour and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Add the butter mixture, apricots and craisins, and stir until well combined.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Place 5cm apart on the lined trays. Use a fork to flatten slightly. Bake in oven for 8 minutes or until light golden. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Corn & Dill Muffins

2010-03-07T18:32:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

I'm not one for savoury muffins usually, and most of the recipes are loaded with grated cheese or fetta. But these are tasty morsels using a mini muffin pan. You can use the Tofutti dairy-free sour cream or the less processed Kingland cream cheese might be good too. Substituting the dill for chives is perfectly acceptable also.

Makes approx 24 mini

2 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup Tofutti dairy-free sour cream or Kingland dairy-free cream cheese
1 cup corn kernels
1/4 cup chopped dill (or chives)
equivalent 2 eggs using Orgran egg replacer

Preheat oven to 180 C. Mix flour, oil, dairy-free cream, corn kernels until lightly combined then add egg replacer. Spoon into mini muffin holes 2/3 full. Bake for...to be honest, I cannot remember - try 8 minutes or until golden!

Lunch Box Muesli Bars

2010-03-01T14:01:00.000+11:00

Yep, I'm now a school mum trying to come up with different ideas for the lunchbox. Though things were awfully different in my day. I'm pretty sure I got a sandwich and one piece of fruit to last me all day. Sometimes a biscuit as a special treat (but only because the packet had been opened for visitors the day before). Now if there aren't at least 4 different items in the lunchbox, it's considered 'boring'. Variety is good I suppose, as long as you are not filling up the lunchbox with processed foods. Always check your ingredient labels - a seemingly inoffensive cracker can boast a long list of refined carbs and sugars.

Home-made muesli bars are excellent because you can load them up with interesting seeds full of omega 3 essential acids (assuming you are not seed-allergic). I had to make this twice due to not pressing down the mixture firmly enough in the pan the first time around. Though it did make for a delicious breakfast of toasted muesli and rice milk!

2 cups rolled oats
1.5 cups puffed rice
1 cup sultanas (I only had half a cup left so also added half a cup of craisins)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup linseeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
200g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
1/3 cup caster sugar (or raw sugar)
3/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and line a 20x30cm slice pan.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Simmer margarine, sugar and honey for at least 5 minutes until thickened. Add to the dry ingredients and combine well.

With wet hands, press very firmly into pan and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in tin for 10 minutes then cut into bars.

Red Velvet Valentine Cupcakes

2010-02-13T20:43:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

I have a number of cake recipes on this blog that can be easily substituted for cupcakes (Perfect Chocolate Cake and the Lamington sponge) but I must confess: I am still not completely satisfied with the vanilla versions. While I continue to battle the kitchen for a moist vanilla version that rises and STAYS RISEN, my chocolate cake recipe is, luckily, ideal for these cupcakes.

Red velvet cake is an American tradition - vanilla sponge with a dash of cocoa and red food colouring. They possibly originally used beetroot juice which would be the more natural option, and better for those with sensitivities to artificial colours. Red velvet cake goes very nicely with cream cheese frosting and a sprinkling of coconut (I bought some organic and preservative-free shredded coconut - I thought preservative-free coconut was a myth to be honest, it's virtually impossible to find!)

And yes, it's also Valentine's Day. If you give a damn, these are perfect.

Makes 12 (at least)

Cupcakes
170g plain flour
200g caster sugar
30g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
225ml rice or soy milk
50ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
4-5 drops of red food colouring (natural or otherwise!)

Dairy free 'cream cheese' icing
65g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
125g Tofutti cream cheese (dairy free), softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups icing sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a 12 hole muffin/cupcake tray with cupcake liners.

Sift together in a large bowl the flour, sugar, soda bicarb, cocoa and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla and add to the dry ingredients, mixing well until smooth. Add red food colouring and mix again until all combined.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, until risen and firm to touch. Cool in tray for 10 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate with dairy-free cream cheese icing and sprinkle with shredded coconut.

Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Green Olives

2010-02-08T20:40:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

I am currently fortunate enough to have a jar of home-made preserved lemons given to me by the lovely Sheena, as well as a monster barrel of Spanish green olives. This means I have made this dish twice now and I look forward to enjoying plenty more! I don't have a tagine, but a Le Creuset dutch oven or any heavy bottomed stove top pot is perfectly acceptable. This is truly a delicious combination and is considered to be Morocco's national dish.

It's so damn good, even the baby was smacking her lips!

Serves 6

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 cup coriander, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp saffron threads (or if you don't have them, turmeric)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large chicken jointed, or 8 chicken thigh fillets
2 onions, thinly sliced
juice of 2 lemons
1 preserved lemon, cut into strips
20 green olives
(I peeled the olives - you could leave them whole if you don't mind navigating the pips while eating, or you could use pipped olives)
To serve: steamed couscous

Place garlic, parsley, coriander, cumin, ginger, ground coriander, saffron/turmeric and half the oil in a large bowl and combine well. Add chicken and coat with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat remaining oil over medium heat in a tagine or large dutch oven/casserole dish, add onion and lemon juice and saute for 5-7 minutes or until softened. Transfer to a bowl. Remove chicken from marinade and saute for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Return onions and remaining marinade to pot, cover with 200ml water. Bring to boil then simmer over low heat for 50-60 minutes. Stir in preserved lemon and olives and simmer for another 15 minutes or until sauce thickens and chicken is tender.

Serve with couscous.

Recipe courtesy of Gourmet Traveller.

Beef Stroganoff

2010-02-06T21:14:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Do we look down on Beef Stroganoff? Maybe if it wasn't synonymous with packet mixes and food court bain maries, some of us might be more inclined to recreate this 19th century Russian dish. It may not be in vogue, but when you are allergic to dairy, the desire for 'creamy' dishes can verge on the obsessive.

To make this super delicious, ensure you flour and paprika the beef pieces well and sear them in a very hot frying pan for about 15 seconds each side and set aside. They should still be pink inside when you take them out - so given they are sliced thinly, they do only need about 15 seconds. If that!

For the sour cream, you can experiment with two versions - one using Tofutti sour cream which is very tasty and I don't think anyone eating it would know you were using a soy-based substitute. If however you want the less processed version (we try to eat Tofutti sparingly), you can substitute with coconut cream. You will however need to add a bit of tang or saltiness via a couple of tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce or even Thai fish sauce. Don't worry, it won't end up tasting like any of those things.

(Another option might be to add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of coconut cream. I read somewhere recently that this is how you would make your own buttermilk - which is a sour version of regular milk and used in baking - but it might have the same effect. If anyone is game to try it, please let me know!)

This recipe was originally adapted from Delicious magazine. Some versions do include tomato paste and the traditional way to eat Stroganoff is with dill pickles and boiled potatoes. I went the Westernised version (rice) so as not to scare anyone off.

600g fillet steak, thinly sliced
3 tbsp flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 tbsp paprika (to be honest, I went a little heavy handed on the paprika and I think it is the better for it - go 2 tbsps!)
2 1/2 tbsps olive oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp chopped thyme
250g button mushrooms, sliced (or about 4-5 large field mushrooms)
1/4 cup brandy or dry sherry (optional)
300ml coconut milk
1-2 tbsp fish sauce

Toss meat in a bowl with flour and paprika to coat. Heat oil in a large frypan over high heat and fry steak quickly in batches for 1 minute or until seared on all sides. Remove and set aside. (This part is really important, especially if you have gone to the effort of buying fillet steak - you do not want chewy meat!)

Reduce heat to medium high, add a bit more oil and onion and cook for a minute until the onion starts to soften and colour. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then thyme and mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add brandy and allow to bubble for a further minute (optional). Stir in coconut milk and fish sauce and allow to simmer for 10 or so minutes. Add steak and any meat juices, simmer on low for a further minute.

Serve with rice.

Mock Satay Skewers

2010-01-29T22:10:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

If peanuts are an issue for anyone you know, then I sincerely hope they have discovered Eskal's FreeNut Buttter. It is a brilliant substitute spread for peanut butter, made from ground sunflower seeds (make sure you are not allergic to sunflower seeds!). It is slightly sweeter than the regular stuff, but delicious just the same. Now that most schools aim to be nut-free, make sure you tell all your mummy friends. Readily available at Coles.

There is also a 'crunchy' version made from roasted pieces of honey (though this version is obviously not vegan). You can make 'peanut butter' cookies too - they are damn tasty.

I noticed recently that Trialia Foods have produced a satay substitute mix - BUT you can easily make your own. If you like to have a bit of extra sauce to spoon over when serving, reserve some marinade (before adding to the chicken please), and let it simmer and reduce a bit on the stove for 5 minutes before using.

These are so good, they almost made me cry!

Makes about 8-10 skewers

4 chicken thigh fillets, cut into even pieces
2 tbsp FreeNut Butter (smooth)
1 tbsp soy sauce (if you are soy-free, you could just add extra salt or stock powder)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric
pinch of salt

Mix well the FreeNut Butter, soy sauce, coconut milk, spices and salt - add chicken pieces and leave to marinate for at least an hour. Thread chicken pieces onto pre-soaked bamboo skewers and grill or bbq. Eat, then wish you had made double the quantity.

Replacing Dairy

2010-01-29T21:18:00.000+11:00

Dairy is relatively easy to substitute, thanks to the ever-growing array of non-dairy products available. You don't even need to visit your specialty health food store, as many are available at your regular supermarket.

Milk
Replace same quantities in a recipe with any of the following milks:
Soy
Rice
Oat
Coconut
Personally I like to stick to rice milk as it is much more palateable, although when baking, there is no discernible difference.

You can also replace liquid quantities with either fruit juice or water, but overall result might be a little on the bland side.

Butter/Margarine
Most commercial margarines contain milk solids, so Nuttelex is by far the best non-dairy margarine available. It is also soy-free and the only non-dairy margarine I have come across with no preservatives. Tablelands make a dairy-free spread, and there is also an unsalted kosher margarine called Migdal made in the US and available here in some shops. Loaded with preservatives though, hence I steer clear. Would be lovely if Nuttelex made a salt-free version which would work perfectly in your 'buttercream' frostings.

Cheese
Soy is pretty much the only non-dairy cheese substitute available. Please remember to check labels as some soy cheeses actually have casein in them (dairy protein). Kingland International make a block of soy cheese, Redwood's Cheezly is sometimes available at healthfood stores, but Tofutti is really the only brand readily available in Coles/Woolworths. They come in very convenient plastic-wrapped individual slices (both American-style cheddar and mozzarella for melting). Beware though that Tofutti generally (being American) is uber-processed so occasional use is ok - but I wouldn't go serving it on every sandwich if you can help it.

You can use Parmazano as a parmesan replacement to sprinkle on pasta - it is made predominantly from seasoned soy powder - you could feasibly make your own if you visited your local health food store and sourced the individual ingredients.

Cream Cheese
Soy - both Kingland and Tofutti produce this - good for any replacements, the consistency is identical to dairy cream cheese. (I have served smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese sandwiches before and no-one could tell the difference). Also good for cream cheese icing on carrot cakes but make sure you use a recipe that includes some shortening like butter or margarine (use Nuttelex obviously). Combining it with icing sugar seems to highlight the high water content and goes very sloppy.

Sour Cream
Tofutti again - also a good substitute for yoghurt in cooking (rather than yoghurt for eating).

Yoghurt
Kingland make a good fruit soy yoghurt in packs of four and individual larger tubs also. Available from Coles - there are some other soy yoghurts on the market but check ingredients always - some have traces of dairy or nuts.

Cream
Coconut cream can be used if your sweet recipe lends itself to a coconut taste.

Soyatoo make two versions of soy cream - one for whipping and one for cooking. If you don't mind the soy taste, it can make an ok substitute. I have seen some rice-based creams in shops like Sunnybrook but they stock it sporadically. It's called BioAvena, comes in UHT pack and is purely vegetable based (soy-free too). Works well in creamy pasta sauces.

Until it's readily available though, we tend to adjust our menu so it's not necessary.

Condensed Milk
I have attempted this once, when I was desperate to make a lemon slice. It took the better part of a morning to bubble away on the stove and reduce to the proper consistency, so be prepared to hang around. If you make a big batch, it might well be freezable - though I haven't tried it.

3 cups soy or rice milk
½ cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Add the soy or rice milk and the sugar to a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until volume is reduced to 1 cup. Add a few drops of vanilla to taste, and a pinch of salt. Cool before using. May be stored in the refrigerator.

Replacing Eggs

2010-01-29T21:16:00.000+11:00

Eggs perform different functions depending on what you're cooking. In baking, they are usually used for either leavening or binding purposes. You can't replicate a pavlova (that I know of), but you can, with a little egg replacer know-how, manage to adapt most recipes successfully. Try to stick to recipes that require substituting no more than 2 eggs - things just don't seem to work otherwise!

Allergy-conscious/vegan bakers can use any one of the following methods. All quantities specified equal 1 egg..

Commercial Egg Replacer (eg Orgran No-Egg)
This is a good allround egg replacer staple to keep in the pantry. Good for biscuits, cookies, scones, light cakes, pastry and anything that requires a bit of binding (this includes savoury things such as meatballs and burgers though if you omit altogether the meat still keeps firm). It's made from a combination of tapioca and potato starch powders and is beaten together with water. Follow instructions on the packet but usually is 1 teaspoon of No-Egg with 2 tablespoons of water. Beat vigorously, you want it foamy.

Bananas/Apple Puree
1/4-1/2 cup mashed banana
or
1/2 cup apple puree (or pear)

Good binder/thickener for fruity cakes like carrot or banana, muffins and brownies - anything where the sweetness of the banana or apple won't affect the taste. Usually requires a little baking powder in the recipe or self-raising flour to aid the rising if this is required.

Silken Tofu
1/2 pack of silken tofu, whipped/beaten

Can be used for cakes (dense ones rather than light sponges) and brownies or uncooked in things like chocolate mousse and fluffy cake frostings. Though in the latter, sweeteners like honey, sugar or maple/golden syrup are essential to disguise the soy taste.

Flaxseed
Many vegan bakers use this and it also happens to be a great source of fibre, essential omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Best to buy them whole and ground them yourself though the ground seeds should be stored in fridge or freezer. Good for baked goods where a bit of graininess doesn't detract from the taste eg. muffins, biscuits, cookies, breads or pancakes.

1 tbsp of ground flaxseeds and 1/4 cup water, whisked very well

DIY egg replacer
When you have none of the above in your kitchen and you're desperate, you can use the following:
1 teaspoon baking powder + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil + 2 tablespoons water mixed together = 1 egg

Australia Day Lamingtons

2010-01-26T21:01:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

To jam or not to jam?

Wikipedia tells me that the original lamington, served up to Queensland Premier Lord Lamington around 1900, was created by chef Armand Gallad who was called upon to supply some unexpected guests with a sweet treat. He had some French vanilla sponge lying around and got creative with what he had. There was no jam in the original version - so I committed to staying true to the history of this Aussie treasure (as well as possibly being very tired and not bothering with it all).

Sadly, Lord Lamington allegedly hated his namesake cake, calling them "those bloody poofy woolly biscuits". Silly old coot!

Lamingtons also gave me the opportunity to experiment with the elusive fluffy white sponge. This sponge recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World - their golden vanilla cupcake recipe works quite nicely here. You could also use the vanilla version of my Perfect Chocolate Cake by omitting the cocoa powder and replacing with same amount of flour. They rise beautifully as a cupcake and would do same in a cake tin, but I find the taste and texture to not be as 'buttery' due to the absence of margarine.

Anyhoo, happy Straya Day!

Vanilla Sponge
240ml rice or soy milk
1 tbsp white or apple cider vinegar
150g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 tsp salt
120g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
150g sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups dessicated coconut

Chocolate Icing
2 cups sifted icing sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup rice or soy milk
1/4 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 180 C. Whisk milk and vinegar and set aside.

Sift flours and mix together. Cream margarine, sugar and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add the milk and flours in alternate batches until combined well. Pour batter into greased and lined 20cm square cake pan for approx 25 mins (a lamington pan is too big for this mixture, and since it doesn't rise too much, the square will condense it nicely).

Turn out and cool on wire rack. Cut into squares (makes about 16).

To make the icing, mix icing sugar, cocoa powder, milk and then add boiling water and mix well until combined. Set aside another bowl for the coconut.

Dip cake pieces into chocolate by using two forks, then roll in coconut before setting aside on wire rack to set.

Melting Moments with Passionfruit Icing

2010-01-21T14:09:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Those of my vintage might still have this cookbook on their bookshelves. It was first published in 1966 and it was the official text for my home economics classes in high school. I will admit to guffawing at the recipes for devilled eggs, hawaiian steak, apricot chicken and something called dried vegetable soup (on closer inspection, is essentially just a split pea soup...geez, way to make it sound appetising!).

But bless its cotton socks, I now consult it regularly for the wonderful array of old-school sweets, cakes, slices and cookies so that I can take to them with my dairy/egg/nut free wand.

Cookery the Australian Way, I love you!

These melting moments are as short and 'buttery' as they can be, without the butter. Yummy.

(Not sure where most of the passionfruit went as all I see is a lone passionfruit pip in the photo. Note to self: Must.not.eat.recipe.ingredients.before.using.them.)

Makes 24 (ie. 12 joined biscuits)

1/2 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup cornflour
125g dairy free margarine (Nuttelex)
2 tablespoons icing sugar

Preheat oven to 160 C.

Sift flour and cornflour, and cream margarine and sugar. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Place tablespoonfuls on tray, or pipe onto tray with a star pipe and bag.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden.

Cool on cake cooler and then join with passionfruit icing.

Passionfruit icing

1 cup icing sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
4 tablespoons passionfruit pulp

Cream icing sugar and margarine until pale and fluffy then mix in passionfruit pulp.

German Stollen

2009-12-31T21:37:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

I did technically bake this on Christmas Eve, but only just managed to find the time to post the results!

Took me a while to choose the right recipe for adaption - many have the traditional layer of marzipan through the middle but I finally stumbled upon the delicious magazine version - by which stage I had about 15 packets of various dried fruits open so I just used what I had left. Again, probably not the most authentic replica of this German Christmas staple, but I tried to follow the original method as best as I could (milk, yeast, flour etc) and I think it turned out beautifully.

I actually would probably double the quantity of mixed fruit for it to look a little more authentic - I don't know why this particular recipe had so little. Still, it was lovely and spicy fresh, with a real brioche taste (minus the egg), and wouldn't you know it, toasts up beautifully also for an aromatic fruit toast breakfast.

Makes 1 loaf

3 cups plain flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp mixed spice
7g sachet dried yeast
1/2 cup mixed fruits (although making this again, I would at least double this quantity)
2 tbsp cranberries
2 tbsp dried diced apricots
grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
150ml soy or rice milk
100gm dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex), melted
1 egg replacer
1/3 cup brandy (or more rice/soy milk if going alcohol-free)

Place flour, sugar, spices, yeast, dried fruits, citrus zest and a pinch of salt in a large bowl, stirring well to combine. Whisk milk, butter, egg replacer and brandy together, then stir into flour mixture to form a soft dough. Knead dough on a floured surface for 5 minutes until smooth, dusting with more flour if it's too sticky.

Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, turning to grease on all sides. Cover and set aside in a warm place to rise for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease a baking tray.

Punch down dough, turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Roll into a rectangle shape and fold both sides into the centre lengthways, then turn over and shape into a long oval loaf shape. Bake for 40 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then place onto a wire rack to cool completely. Brush top with melted margarine and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Italian Panforte

2009-12-20T13:36:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

I'm not even going to pretend this is close to the original panforte from Siena. My aunt has lived there for most of her life and she would probably be horrified at the state of this recipe. Mainly due to two things: 1) Italians are not known for being very adventurous with their traditional recipes, and 2) to be fair, most panforte in Italy is bought, not made (much like panettone and pandoro, no one I know goes around baking the things). I'm pretty sure that chocolate was not an original feature of panforte, but since everyone's a gourmand these days, there are plenty of versions floating around if you care to google.

Nevertheless - a challenge is a challenge and here it is.

While you can fare quite well by omitting nuts altogether in many sweet recipes, it is a key feature of panforte - whole nuts, not chopped or ground. I recently came across a thing called Chic Nuts - roasted chickpeas made by Partner Foods. The blessed things look exactly like hazelnuts = brainwave. They do have garlic powder added and while it wasn't overly strong, I did shake them about in a sieve to remove any excess. Though once added to the panforte and combined with the chocolate and figs and spices, it really is a non-issue. Roasted chickpeas also have a more brittle texture than nuts, and a crispier bite. It does the job pretty damn well.

The other thing to note is that you need to make the sugar syrup/caramel to a certain temperature before mixing it in - this is usually done with a sugar thermometer. I have no such thing, so I just waited until I thought it bubbled appropriately (do not stir it once the sugar is dissolved or it will crystallize) and then added it. Tricky to mix as the mixture is very stiff and the syrup makes it even more so. It reminds me of my mother making torrone (Italian nougat) - the liquid glucose is mixed in and requires two people to finish the job - one to hold the bowl and the other to mix the concrete-like mixture before it sets! (Brainwave #2: "chickpea" nougat hmm....)

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I'm quite pleased with this :)

Serves 10

1 sheet of confectioner's rice paper (not Asian rice paper)
85gm plain flour
1 tbsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground ginger
190gm dried figs, stalk removed, cut in half
200gm roasted chickpeas (or Chic Nuts) - on reflection, I would halve the amount of chickpeas because of their slightly unusual texture, so add only 100gm and check oven times as it may need a little more.
100gm dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (most 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate is dairy free but the majority have nut traces - so I use Kinnerton Luxury Dark Chocolate Bar)
1 orange, coarsely chopped zested rind only
150gm caster sugar
150gm honey
Icing sugar to dust

Preheat oven to 150 C. Lightly grease a 20cm cake pan and line the base with overlapping sheets of rice paper, trimming to fit. Sift flour and spices into a bowl, add figs, chickpeas, chocolate, rind and toss to combine well.

Heat sugar, honey and 2 tbsp water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Do not stir again as it may crystallise. Bring to the boil and cook until mixture reaches 115 C on a sugar thermometer (essentially at liquid caramel stage). Using a lightly oiled spoon and working quickly, pour caramel over nut mixture and mix well. Spoon mixture into prepared cake pan and smooth top with a spatula. Bake for 15 minutes, cool and dust liberally with icing sugar. Cut into wedges and serve.

NB: This recipe was adapted from Gourmet Traveller. If you want to make the original nut-laden version, substitute the chickpeas for 100gm roasted hazelnuts and 100gm roasted almonds.

English Mince Pies

2009-12-14T14:09:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Probably more a tartlet than a pie! I made half the recipe using a tiny muffin pan, and the other half using a small patty pan. They turned out to be a delicious morsel of 'buttery' pastry and rich fruity filling. You could serve these at a cocktail Christmas party as a sweet canape - or just make them the standard size (using a regular 12 cup muffin pan) and gorge yourself.

The original recipe I used included finely chopped slivered almonds for which I substituted coconut, but you could omit this entirely.

Makes 20 using regular muffin pan, or 40 using mini muffin pan

Filling
2 cups dried mixed fruit
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
50g dessicated coconut (optional)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and coarsely grated
40g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex), melted
2 tbsp brandy (optional)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Icing sugar to dust

Pastry
2 cups plain flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
160g chilled dairy-free margarine, chopped
1 egg replacer
2 tbsp cold water

Finely chop half the mixed fruit. Place in large bowl and add brown sugar, coconut, apple, margarine, brandy, lemon juice, all the spices and the remaining mixed fruit. Stir until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside overnight (or at least 6 hours), stirring occasionally, to macerate.

Transfer the fruit mixture to a fine sieve over a bowl and stir to remove excess liquid.

To make the pastry, place flour, sugar and margarine in the bowl of a food processor and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg replacer, water and process until mixture just comes together. Turn onto a clean work surface and shape into a disc. Cover with plastic and rest in fridge for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 C. Roll out pastry on lightly floured surface until 5mm thick. Use a round pastry cutter to cut discs from the pastry. Use a smaller star shaped pastry cutter to cut stars from the remaining pastry.

Line muffin pans with pastry discs and divide the fruit mince among the cases. Top with pastry stars. Bake for 20-25mins (about 12 if making the small ones) or until lightly golden. Set aside in pans for 5 minutes to cool before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar.

Scottish Shortbread

2009-12-11T13:42:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

I requested an authentic recipe from the only Scotswoman I know and she sent me a recipe for Petticoat Tails. I'm like "dude, where's the shortbread?!" Then I had to go and convert the quantities to the metric system. Sheesh, the effort! I probably could have cooked these a smidge longer but my oven is fanforce only and I was worried about them getting too much colour and well, as you do, you end up going the other way. My fork markings don't much look like a petticoat but once they're eaten, it's all the same, aye?

Thanks Sheeny :)

225g plain flour
115g rice flour
115g icing sugar
225g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)

Preheat oven to 170 C. Grease baking tray. Cream margarine and icing sugar. Sift in flours and work into smooth dough - if dough is too dry add a little water can be added to moisten. Turn onto floured board, make desired shapes (either a round or oblong) and prick all over with a fork mark. You can score (mark out) the pieces now or just cut into them when still warm after baking. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden in colour and sprinkle with caster sugar while still warm. Cut into the triangles or rectangular pieces and cool on a wire rack.

Greek Kourambiethes

2009-12-11T13:07:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

I have delicious memories of one of my best friend's mothers making these for Christmas. They were buttery, almondy and totally divine! They translate very nicely when made allergy-friendly, substituting the nuts for coconut. Winner.

Makes 26 (depending on the size, I went rather large)

250g softened dairy-free margarine
110g icing sugar, sifted, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg replacer (Orgran)
300g plain flour, sifted with 1/2 tsp baking powder
90g finely dessicated coconut
1 tbsp brandy (optional)

Beat margarine until pale and creamy, then add icing sugar, vanilla, egg replacer and beat until well combined. Fold in flour and then add coconut and stir to combine.

Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls then roll into 5cm lengths and form into crescents. Place on baking paper-lined oven trays and bake at 160 C for 15-20 minutes or until just starting to colour.

Transfer cookies to wire racks and while still warm, dust generously with icing sugar, then leave to colour. When completely cool, dust again with icing sugar. Should keep in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Round the world Christmas baking challenge

2009-12-05T14:31:00.000+11:00

It's relatively easy to eat allergy-free at Christmas except when it comes to sweet things - which is when it can get awfully tricky. Christmas is a time for lots of nutty treats, full of eggs, butter and dried fruits (which, wouldn't you know it, often have traces of nuts).

I'm not a fan of pudding - but I do love the variety of Christmas baking from all around the world. So I'm donning the apron and going about the task of vegan-ising and de-nuttifying all sorts of delectable Christmas treasures...

English Mince Pies - should be a cinch
Scottish Shortbread - pfft, hardly a challenge
Greek Kourambiethes - hello coconut
Italian Panforte - impossible you say? So many nuts - but I have a trick up my sleeve and I hope to hell it works!
German Stollen - if I get this far...I may have eaten my body weight in dried fruit by then

Stay tuned! Christmas is only 3 weeks away, I better get cracking...

Jam & Coconut Cookies

2009-11-30T19:55:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Aren't these the prettiest things!?

I really had my photography mojo the day I made these cookies. I would have started my blog with this recipe if I hadn't gone and misplaced the printout (which has been mocking me in the background of the next pic for sometime...)

Found it! This recipe is similar to the Linzer cookie, adapted from the famous Austrian Linzertorte - I've replaced the almond meal with coconut to keep it nut free.

Enjoy - they taste as good as they look!

1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour

3/4 cup (85g) dessicated coconut

1/3 cup (60g) icing sugar

125g chilled dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex), chopped

1 egg replacer

1 tbsp rice or soy milk

1 cup raspberry jam (or any really)

2 tbsp water

icing sugar, extra to dust

Preheat oven to 180 C. Line 2 trays with baking paper. Place flour, coconut, icing sugar and margarine in food processor and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add egg replacer and milk and process until just combined. Gently knead until mixture just comes together. Shape into disc, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins to rest.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 3mmm thick disk. Use a 7cm shape pastry cutter to cut out shapes and place on trays. Use a 4cm pastry cutter to cut out shapes from half the biscuits. Place on lined trays. Bake in oven swapping trays halfway through cooking until golden, about 8-10 minutes. Cool.

Combine jam and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook stirring for 5 minutes until jam is smooth. Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve. Discard seeds. Use a small palette knife to spread a little of the jam over the solid biscuits. Dust the cut-out biscuits with icing sugar and place over the ones topped with jam. Set aside for 30 mins to set. Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 16.

Spanakopita

2009-11-24T20:32:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free vegan

Not everyone likes tofu. Fair enough. Though you probably quite like it drenched in hoi-sin sauce in a stirfry, or don't mind a few little silken cubes in your miso soup. At some point however, dairy-allergics who can tolerate soy should embrace the mighty soybean in its various forms. (NOT however, the uber-processed soy protein - I'll save that rant for another day...)

For all those vegan Greeks out there (hellooooo......?) or for those who like a cheese and spinach pie but alas, dairy is off limits - this is a reduced-fat, damn healthy and quite flavoursome substitute. No really! The thing to remember when cooking with tofu is that it absorbs flavours extremely well so you need to be liberal with the seasoning.

I didn't have alot of filo pastry left but it still fit a tray, and the ratio of filling to pastry is perfect for this tofu version. Thin, delicate and tasty.

1 packet of frozen spinach or a bunch of fresh spinach
1 x 250g packet of organic tofu (firm not silken)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2-3 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
2 tbsp freshly chopped mint
olive oil (quite a bit, see below)
salt & pepper
about 10 sheets of filo pastry, cut in half so they roughly fit a rectangular tray
grating of fresh nutmeg
1 tbsp vegetable stock powder (Massel is dairy/egg/nut free)
splash of soy sauce
sesame seeds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Make sure you squeeze as much water out of the spinach as you can (both fresh or frozen) before adding to the pan. Saute the onion in the oil until softened. Add spring onion, spinach, herbs and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until any remaining liquid evaporates. Season with salt and pepper.

Crumble the tofu with a fork and mix in the stock powder and soy sauce (or you can blitz together in food processor). Mix into the spinach.

Brush a rectangular baking dish with olive oil. Then brush 10 sheets of filo pastry with olive oil to fit just wider than the dish. Spoon in spinach and tofu mix. Put a further 10 sheets (also brushed with olive oil) over the top and tuck in any overlap down the sides. Score the top of the pie if you like but do not cut through to the bottom. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown.

NB: if you think there is an awful lot of olive oil brushing going on, you're right. But filo pastry is really tricky to handle as it dries very quickly and sticks together and then is virtually impossible to separate without tearing. So brushing individual sheets with oil can be even more difficult than it sounds. Apparently a damp tea towel over the sheets while you're working prevents the drying out but I can never be bothered with it. I usually only oil every few sheets - and it still turns out delicious (and healthier).

Butterscotch Self-Saucing Pudding

2009-11-20T15:31:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free

Pudding recipes are generally very good to adapt because many of them only require one egg to bind, so using an egg replacer is a cinch. This one though is from the RPA's cookbook Friendly Food and is delicious.

I'm very sad to report however that I did not manage to get a photo of it served up showing the lovely gooey butterscotch sauce with some dairy-free vanilla icecream. You'll just have to imagine it, or better yet, get cooking!

Serves 4-6

dairy-free margarine for greasing
190g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
80g soft brown sugar
160ml rice or soy milk
60g dairy-free margarine, melted and cooled
1 egg replacer
1 tbsp golden syrup
160g soft brown sugar (extra)
2 tbsp golden syrup (extra)
410ml boiling water

Preheat oven to 170 C. Lightly grease a 1.25 litre ovenproof dish with margarine.

Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, margarine, egg replacer and golden syrup together. Pour into the flour mixture and whisk until a smooth batter forms. Pour into the prepared dish. Place dish on a baking tray.

Sprinkle the extra brown sugar over the batter. Combine the extra golden syrup and boiling water and carefully pour over the batter. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted halfway comes out clean.

Set pudding aside for 5-10 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken slightly before serving.

Nut-free pesto

2009-11-16T19:58:00.000+11:00

Technically, pine nuts are 'seeds', but plenty of people who are allergic to treenuts are also allergic to pine nuts. We haven't yet been tested for pine nuts so until then, we'll use this recipe. And it's unbelievably tasty!

You can even omit the "parmesan" if you like or can't find the Parmazano that we use, because in my opinion the pesto-y flavour comes from the garlic and the ground up sunflower kernels. Courtesy of Alice Sherwood's Allergy-friendly Cookbook.

Not so great for the seed-allergic, but if you can tolerate them, go "nuts"!!

Basil "Pesto"

nut-free

50g fresh basil leaves
45g sunflower kernels
2 garlic cloves
25g dairy-free Parmazano
240ml extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, blitz all the ingredients except the oil to form a rough paste. Add the oil in a thin stream or a little at a time until it forms a thick paste. Stir through hot pasta. Remember to add a layer of extra virgin olive oil to the container when storing so that the paste is completely covered or it will go rancid very quickly. Not sure how long this keeps - doesn't last more than a few days in our house - but I'd suggest no longer than a week, just to be on the safe side.

Sun-dried Tomato "Pesto"

nut-free

I experimented with this the other day, and was just as delicious. Using the same recipe, substitute sundried or semi-sundried tomatoes for the basil. To be honest, I can't remember the exact quantities so start with about half a cup of the tomatoes and then blitz away until you're happy with the consistency and taste.

You can also add some freshly chopped parsley to liven things up....

Oops, chef forgot to wipe the plate....

Sour Cherry & Coconut cake

2009-11-16T14:30:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free nut free

Coconut is a nut-allergic person's best friend. (That is, unless you're allergic to coconut. But most people seem to be able to tolerate it). I de-nuttified this lovely recipe from the Sweet Food cookbook by Murdoch Books - which originally had almond meal. It's a delicious afternoon tea cake, or morning tea, or just standing over the kitchen sink and cramming a piece in your mouth kind of occasion...

125g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
185g caster sugar
2 egg replacers
95g dessicated coconut
125g self-raising flour
60g plain flour
125ml rice or soy milk
680g jar pitted morello cherries, well drained

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and flour a 23cm fluted baba tin.

Beat Nuttelex and sugar until pale but not creamy. Add the egg replacers gradually, beating well after each addition.

Stir in the coconut, then fold in the sifted flours alternately with the milk. Gently fold in the cherries, and then spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the surface.

Bake for 50mins, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in tin for 10 mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Pizza, Focaccia and all things doughy

2009-11-14T21:09:00.000+11:00

Well, sure, most pizza doughs have neither dairy nor egg. But we don't normally get to buy anything from bakeries because of the risk of cross-contamination from other eggy, milky and nutty products. After being scared of yeast cookery for so long and daunted by the prospect of managing huge quantities of flour, I flicked through my Marcella Hazan cook book about a year ago, and discovered a very manageable pizza dough recipe.

Makes a ripper pizza base (about 3 medium), and a gorgeous focaccia!

Preheat oven ....I put mine on maximum.

375g strong plain flour (tipo 00)
250ml lukewarm water
1/2 tbsp salt
glug of olive oil
1 1/2 tsp of instant dried yeast

Dissolve the yeast in a quarter of the water and let sit for a few minutes. Gradually mix in the flour and water (as well as salt and oil) until you have a decent dough, then knead for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and elasticky. Let prove in an oiled and covered bowl in a warm place for at least an hour or until doubled in size.

Stretch onto trays and top with your favourite toppings for yummy pizza - our favourite at the moment is the French pissaladiere with caramelised onions, black olives and anchovies. YUM!

If you're making focaccia, stretch onto a tray, sprinkle with sea salt, chopped fresh rosemary and more olive oil, let prove for another 20 minutes, dig your fingers in to make the indentations, then put in the oven until cooked, about 10-15mins.

La Crostata (jam tart)

2009-11-14T20:47:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free

This is my mother's recipe, gone dairy/egg free. A classic Italian cake at our house (and there aren't too many admittedly as mum doesn't have a large sweet repertoire, but what she does, she does beautifully). I'm somewhat bemused by the unconventional pastry method - it's essentially a shortcrust base, but instead of flour and butter rubbed together, the butter is melted. Weird, ma! But who am I to argue when it tastes so good...

Pastry
300gr self-raising flour
1 egg replacer (Orgran)
1 tbsp rice or soy milk
100gr dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
100gr sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 tbsp rum (optional)

Filling
300gr plum or quince jam
1 tbsp cocoa

Melt the margarine and let cool slightly while you beat the flour, egg replacer, milk, rum, sugar and salt. Pour in the margarine and mix until a dough forms. Remove 1/3 of the dough and set aside for the strips. Press the remainder into a greased 20cm loose-bottom tart pan ensuring the dough comes up the sides. Trim off any excess. The base does not need to be blind-baked but because it uses self raising flour, it should be pressed to no more than half a centimetre thickness.

Mix the cocoa into your jam and spread onto tart base. With the dough you set aside, break small pieces and roll them into long threads, criss crossing your tart. Bake in 180 C pre-heated oven for about 20-25 minutes. Please check it regularly - mum's original recipe says 30 minutes but with my oven it needed much less.

If it's slightly burnt, you can always dust with icing sugar ;)

The Perfect Chocolate Cake

2009-11-13T14:07:00.000+11:00

dairy free egg free

There are a few dairy and egg free chocolate cake versions around but I think the vegans do it best.

Forget the creaming of your Nuttelex and sugar and faffing about with egg replacers. If you google vegan chocolate cake, this version comes up time and again....and for good reason. It is dense, moist, not too crumbly, and also works brilliantly as a base for decorated cakes. I've increased the cocoa content to make it even more chocolatey.

Incredibly, the magical thing manages to improve each day, with the chocolate intensifying. It's a wonder!

150g plain flour
200g caster sugar
50g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp soda bicarbonate
225ml rice or soy milk
50ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease a 20cm round tin and line with baking paper

Sift together in a large bowl the flour, sugar, soda bicarb, cocoa and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla and add to the dry ingredients, mixing well until smooth.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, until risen and firm to touch. Cool in tins for 10 minutes then turn onto a wire rack. Remove baking paper and let cool completely.

nb. the cake in the picture is a double layer sandwiched with chocolate icing, so double the recipe for two layers.