FRUIT SODA BREAD WITH OLIVE OIL - IN THE OVEN IN 6 MINUTES!

Fruity - and spicy!

We had some friends call round this afternoon, and I wanted to make them a loaf to take away with them.

This calls for soda bread, so I quickly knocked up a fruit soda bread with olive oil. The olive oil really softens and rounds the crust - which can often be quite hard on a soda bread.

Ingredients:
250g self raising flour
2 dessertspoons sugar
1 dessertspoon mixed spice
150g sultanas
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
155g water
45g extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Line a baking tray with some silicon paper and turn on the oven
2. Into a bowl place the dry ingredients and mix to distribute the spices evenly.
3. Add the water and pour in the olive oil.
4. Mix quickly into a dough (I managed in in 90 seconds today)
5. Tip out onto the worktop, without adding flour  - instead, drizzle with olive oil and knead for several moments.
6. Then firmly mould it into a round flat loaf, about 3cm thick and place it on your prepared baking sheet. (With practice you can get the mixing and shaping done in less than two minutes.) To allow the heat of the oven to reach the centre of the dough more easily, cut a deep cross into the top of the loaf with a sharp knife.
7. Bake in the centre of the oven at 220C (or 200C for a fan oven) for 25-30 minutes.

The loaf is ready when it has a good colour underneath and a skewer comes out clean. You may need to put it back in, upside down, for a few more minutes. Place to cool on a wire rack and – for a softer crust – wrap the bread in a tea cloth.

This loaf took 32 minutes from thinking about it - to admiring it!

RHUBARB PIE - with the simplest pastry ever! (Vegan)

Who would have thought that a pie could be simpler than a crumble? Yet that's the case here!

Pastry too thick? Not so sure.The filling is just tart enough, and the pastry is almost cake-like!

500g of rhubarb, with 100g of sugar, encased in a sweetened bread dough. Sounds simple, and it is - but it's oh, so flavoursome!

Here's a savoury pie, made the same way, with the method of assembly shown in pics. I used 200g of self raising flour, with 25g of sugar, and my wife maintains the pastry is too thick. So I was thinking that next time I'll use 150g of flour and roll the dough out thinner. But then again, I'm sitting here munching a slice of cold pie (and trying to leave some for tomorrow!), and the proportions seem just right. The pastry, bread, call it what you will, is almost cake-like - it's absolutely gorgeous!

BREADMAKING WORKSHOP AT WELLS

Breadmaking Made Easy Workshop, 10.00am - 4.30pm 

12th March 2016 Portway, Portway Ave, Wells BA5 2QF

Dear Student,

This letter sets out what I intend will happen on the day and includes a list of ingredients and utensils which you will need to bring. If you are new to breadmaking, let me reassure you that it is much easier than you have been led to believe.

The session will begin in a relaxed fashion – the first thing you need to do is to find somewhere to park all the stuff that I ask you to bring, get yourself a drink and somewhere to sit down. 

Then there is a little paperwork we need to complete – I’ll guide you through that, if you can bring a pen that would come in handy.

Before we start breadmaking I’d like to spend some time finding out what you expect to get out of the day’s session so that I can hopefully meet all your requirements.

The breads we will be making will include 2 types of soda bread, fancy dinner rolls, bread wraps (which we’ll have for lunch), fruited bread from which we’ll make hot cross buns and Chelsea buns, loaf of bread, focaccia and pizza.

My aim is to turn you into a competent home baker (if you’re not already!) able to bake any bread you fancy.

The kettle is always on for a mug of tea or coffee (cost 20p). For lunch we’ll have a couple of the cheesey wraps.

Bring a large basket or cardboard box to carry all your equipment and ingredients - and the finished products to take home with you!

I want to reassure all those students new to breadmaking that my first aim for this workshop is for everyone to enjoy their learning – I always delight in these sessions, and it’s my job to see that everyone else does. Breadmaking is an easy, everyday craft – as you’ll come to realise!

If you have a particular variety of bread you'd like to make instead of one of the breads on offer, I'd be very happy for you to do that. Get in touch if this idea appeals to you and we will see how we could fit it in to the programme. Or if you have any questions, doubts, suggestions at all, please don’t hesitate to ring or email me.

I have a blog - part bread making, part vegan cookery - in which I detail all my breadmaking activities. Here's the post I've opened about this workshop.

Finally, I’d like to draw your attention to the word ‘Companion’. The ‘com’ part means together – as in community – and the ‘pan’ part of the word means bread. So the word ‘Companion’ can be taken to mean, ‘Someone who makes bread with his or her friends’. Which is exactly what we shall be doing!

I look forward to meeting you and welcoming you on the course.

Paul 

Ps. I’ve just heard there are 11 students signed up, so this is going to be a really busy workshop. We’ve reached this number due to the cancellation of a planned workshop in Frome. So, welcome to the Frome students - I’ll do my best to make sure that you find your journey worthwhile.

There are a couple of things I’d like to draw your attention to (I’ll mention these again in the session, of course):

Because it is such a big group, I’m going to be more dependent than usual on student cooperation. I’ll be giving everyone as much attention as I can, but if I’m occupied elsewhere, and you can help your fellow students, that would be a huge benefit. Bread making lends itself to co-operative endeavour in my opinion.

I’ll be bringing my own ovens, which are small (but very efficient), about the size of a microwave, with 3 shelves. To fit 3 trays in the ovens, we don’t want the bread to rise too high. So, flat(ish) breads are the order of the day. The ovens are very good, with 2 elements - the top element bakes the top of the bread, whilst the bottom element bakes the underneath. So, the trays need to be circulated - top to bottom to middle, etc. Timing is very important, so please bring a kitchen timer if you can - I wish to avoid any burnt bread if at all possible.

Ingredients:

Flour. Don't forget to specify strong flour, as this is sold especially for breadmaking. Own-brand flours are fine.

Yeast. The most convenient for our purposes is fresh baker’s yeast – if you can’t get hold of any, I’ll have enough for everyone.

Olive oil. This is much cheaper these days, and it does improve the bread. Once again, buy the cheapest you can - £1.99 (I think!) for 750ml at Lidl!

Shopping list:

2 bags strong flour – one white and one wholemeal, or 2 white

Baking powder

250ml olive oil

100g sugar

Salt

50g fresh yeast if you can get some – or I'll have some for 10p

Sesame/poppy seeds

200g sultanas or any dried fruit 

Mixed spice/cinnamon/nutmeg

150g grated Cheddar

Tomato sauce of your choice for the pizza

Dried oregano if you have it

Rosemary – fresh or dried

Black pepper

Some tomatoes/mushrooms/onions/peppers for the wraps and pizza

You will also need to bring:

An apron

A couple of tea towels, both to cover your dough whilst it's proving and to wrap any warm bread in to take home.

Baking parchment or paper (this is unlike greaseproof paper as it contains silicon)

Something to carry away the finished products (a large basket or cardboard box lined with tea towels would be ideal)

Sharp knife

Mug for hot drink

ON A TIGHT BUDGET? MAKE YOUR OWN BREAD!

Making your own bread is one of the easiest and most satisfying things you can do when money is short. And, if you have your children to help you, it’s also a great deal of fun!

The cheapest bread you can make is a soda bread - just s/raising flour, salt and water. But there are many things that can be made with just those cheap ingredients.

On to yeast-risen bread. Contrary to what you may have heard, making your own bread is actually one of the easiest things you can do in your kitchen! It's also healthy, cheap, and a great deal of fun!

With own brand white bread flour at between 75p-£1.10 for a 1.5kg bag, three large (800g) loaves can be made for less than £1, depending on how your oven is heated:

"If you are considering buying a new cooker, remember that a gas main oven costs around 5p an hour to run, compared to an electric main oven, which costs about 17p per hour."   

Here are three ways of making your own loaves – one method takes an hour, hour and a half, or so; one will take you several hours; and the other, left to mature overnight, will take about ten minutes in the evening and the same in the morning – dead easy!

But it’s not just that you’ll save making your own loaves:

A decent-sized cheese and tomato pizza can be made for less than 80p!

A batch of hot cross buns for less than 30p! (Once you've made these buns, here you'll find the recipes for half a dozen or so varieties of fruit breads you can make - all delicious, and cheap!)

You’re a family of four with one banana – but you’d like a pudding. With a little chocolate spread, make a chocolate and banana loaf! It’ll cost you pennies. Check out the Banoffee bread variation, using a Mars bar – it really does taste like banoffee pie!

Anything made with pastry can be made using bread dough – containing no expensive fats, it’s both cheaper and healthier!

Got a jar of jam in your fridge? Then make some jam tarts, large or small – or make some healthy jam doughnuts. Perhaps you’ve some leftover mincemeat to use up – mincemeat doughnuts are wonderful!

Make a small bar of chocolate last all day by making a batch of pain au chocolat – chocolate rolls.

What about these apple and marzipan tartlets? Mouthwateringly good - and so simple to make! You only need an apple and some ground cinnamon and a little marzipan

While you’re making your pizza, double up the amount of dough and make four cheese and tomato/mushroom sizzlers (small bread wraps) as well – these are great for lunch boxes! (As is a slice of pizza – keeps fresher than a sandwich!)

There's more - much more - but I wanted to get this up and posted. Have a look around the blog and see what takes your fancy. Remember, you'll save money everytime you make something at home, rather than buying the finished product!

Have fun!

Ingredients:
Yeast - fresh yeast (the best sort, IMO) can be obtained from any small baker (who bakes on the premises) or from a couple of supermarkets at the bakery counter:
Asda give it away 

Sainsbury's will charge I think it's 19p for 50g/60 for 200g
Morrison's will tell you it's in the chiller counters (it never is!), and,
Tesco's generally don't want to know!

However, all these supermarkets sell 125g of dried active yeast - Allinson's, in a yellow tin - for 64p, currently. For small batches of dough, use the same amount of dried as fresh - for larger amounts, use half the amount of dried to fresh.

Sachets of fast-action yeast can come in handy sometimes, but be aware it isn't 100% yeast, there are additives in there. Plus it's about 3 times the cost of the dried active. If you do need to buy some, get the own-brand version.

Flour. You'll get better results from strong, or bread flour, than you will from plain, although half and half works fine. I use own-brand white bread flour but I go for Doves organic wholemeal bread flour at £1.99 a bag. It's a very tasty flour.

Olive oil, if you can afford it, helps to improve the quality and keeping property of your bread. Lidl and Aldi basic brands score highly in tests and a 750g bottle will only set you back £2.20 or so and it lasts for ages.

I use basic ingredients - dried fruits, jam, cheapo grated cheese (I've never understood why this is cheaper than blocks of cheese - but it is!) and get fantastic results. Bread seems to bring out the best in other ingredients, somehow.

Maybe I'm biased! :)

(If you'd prefer, here's a 'Breadmaking for beginners' post to start you off.)

DIARY OF AN INTERMITTENT FASTER

22nd February 2016
Bingeing - we've all done it!

You know the feeling you get when you've had a biscuit, or a piece of chocolate - your taste buds tell you, "That was nice, I'd like some more, please." Then before you know it, you're halfway down the packet of biscuits, or the bar of chocolate has gone!

As a vegan, I have a sure-fire way to halt a binge in its tracks - a teaspoon of 'nooch'.

That's nutritional yeast to the uninitiated - made by Marigold Engevita, it's £2.99 in my local HFS. (I use the version fortified with B12.)

It has many other uses, it's full of flavour and is low on calories - a heaped dessertspoon is only 17 cals. I use it on a bolognaise sauce instead of parmesan - I sprinkle it on pizzas instead of cheese. It's very versatile.

Back to bingeing on sweet stuff - if you've had one chocolate or the whole bar, one biscuit or half a packet, a teaspoon of nooch will reset your tastebuds instantly. 

I don't always, but I have in the past, taken one biscuit out of the packet, put the tub of nooch close to hand, had the biscuit, then straightaway had a teaspoon of nooch.

I'm posting about this today since this morning my daughter confirmed everything I've said about its binge-halting properties.

BTW, to halt a binge on savoury stuff, I've found half a square of dark chocolate does the trick - but I have no independent confirmation of this! 


9th January 2016

I've said elsewhere on these threads that fasting has made me pretty zen when it comes to food - and I proved it again today.

It was the monthly meeting of Taunton Humanists - 2nd Saturday in the month at 12.00 midday - in the Winchester Arms, Taunton. We hadn't been here for a while, and the pub was under new ownership.

I would have liked something to eat, but, despite having 5 choices of soup, none of them were vegan! They all had either cream, or, bizarrely, honey, in them. My goto meal in the average British pub is generally chips, mushrooms and beans, but the pub didn't have any of these! They had sweet potato chips, but I decided eating could wait until I got home.

For a late lunch I fried up a field mushroom and made an omelette from gram flour, spread with hummus and with the mushrooms. Simple, quick and absolutely gorgeous!

Dinner was homemade pizza (dough made with hot paprika) spread with Pateole mushroom spread and either pesto or hummus - plus sliced m/rooms, tomatoes, roasted red peppers and sun dried tomatoes. I had this with curried potato wedges.

While the oven was on I made a fruit loaf a la Swedish tea ring, but instead of spreading the rolled out dough with oil and sugar, I mixed some apple puree with leftover mincemeat and spread that over the dough. Rather than roll it round into a ring, I left it in a log shape, just tucking the ends in.

7th January 2016

I began IFing almost 4 years ago - after losing 24lbs in weight practicing 5:2 (eating normally for 5 days and fasting on the other 2).  I've now been maintaining my weight by using 6:1 - and on the day I fast I generally don't eat for 24 hours.

Today was a fast day (FD) - I ate last yesterday at 6pm and I've just had black coffee and water today. We're going out to dinner with some friends very shortly, so I won't eat until the starter arrives, which will be around 7.30 or so.

From the beginning I've considered myself very lucky in that I don't get hungry on these fasts - not at all. In fact I have in the past fasted for 48 hours and still didn't feel any pangs of hunger. Of course I drink a fair amount of water to keep myself hydrated.

I've had a great day - I always have so much energy generally, and even more so on FDs. I teach breadmaking, and this morning I had a Family Learning class with 11 families, in a lovely school in Bridgwater -Hamp Primary School.  12 children made pain au chocolat, mincemeat doughnuts and fancy dinner rolls. Then, this afternoon, I had a couple of students making de luxe Chelsea buns - de luxe in that, when the dough is rolled out, it was spread with mincemeat instead of oil and sugar, before being rolled up and cut into buns.

I then followed this session with a visit to my garage, then I did some food shopping for the weekend, returning home about 5pm.

After only 6 hours sleep last night, I was now knackered - and, since I wasn't going to be eating for another 2 hours or so - I did what any sensible person would do, and had a short nap.

To the pub about 6.30, and I ended my fast, and quenched my thirst with a pint of real ale - Barnsey, made in Bath.

Had a couple of pints+1/3rd of a bottle of Merlot with my risotto - which was OK.

On return home I treated myself to a couple of Crepe Suzette with a dash of Tia Maria.

I reported this on the latest Mumsnet 5:2 thread and received this advice:

Alcohol during / right after a fast removes health benefits

...which I wasn't aware of! :(

I'll know better next time.

BREAD IN 8 MINUTES - USING A GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL

Wednesday 10th Feb 2016

Wholemeal flatbread

I'd run out of wholemeal - but, rather than make a loaf as I usually do I thought I'd make a batch of rolls. I wanted some to give to a friend of mine who was always searching out vegan things for me to eat. At the same time, I thought I'd use the sandwich grill idea to make some yeast-risen bread for my lunch.

So I made the dough, kneaded it, and weighed off 200g. This I rolled out to the size of the grill and placed it on there with the heat on - just for a minute to help with the rising. I didn't put the lid down at this stage. I left it for about 30 minutes before putting the grill on to warm up. After a couple of minutes I put the bread in for 4 minutes - and the above pic is the result, half of which I had for lunch. Very acceptable.

The rest of the dough I made into a dozen rolls, placed them on a baking sheet and covered them with an upturned roasting tin. These were to be baked using the undercover, or 'cloche' method.

18th January 2016

Fruit soda bread

I'd been meaning to try this out for a while - so when my wife wanted something to eat with her afternoon coffee, I swung into action:

Switch on the grill.

Measure ingredients:
50g s/r flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tsp mixed spice
50g sultanas
30+g water

Mix into a dough, turn out on worktop, knead for about 5 seconds, flatten out into a disc about 15cm across, place in grill.

This took about 3-4 minutes. Put timer on for 3 minutes.

After 3 minutes turn over for one further minute.

Serve!

This method would also work for other flatbreads. I could imagine knocking out 4 naan breads in about 20 minutes, for instance.

Cost:
Flour - 1.5p
Sugar - 1p?
Spice - 1p?
Sultanas - 8p

Total - say 12p

DRIED RED KIDNEY BEANS - I love 'em

I cooked 500g of dried r-k beans today, for the freezer.

They looked so lovely, whilst they were drying out prior to freezing them, I just had to share them with you!

1.171kg of pure wholesomeness! They not only taste good - but they look good as well!

I prefer to used dried pulses for several reasons:
Firstly, the cost. At £1.09 in the supermarket, these are great value for money.
Secondly, the quality is always consistent. That is, provided you turn over your stock so that you're always using 'fresh' beans.
Thirdly, you can use as many or as few as you wish. I tend to just grab a handful from the freezer and add them to whatever veg stew I'm cooking at the time.
Fourthly, they're environmentally friendly. Instead of approximately 5 tin cans, only one plastic bag is needed to package them. So there is less transport cost involved - 500g in the packet as against 2.4kg in the tins.
Fifthly, they are possibly healthier - although the jury's still out on whether tinned foods pose any health risks.

These instructions are specific for r-k-beans (no other beans need ten minutes vigorous boiling to remove the toxins).

Soaking, cooking and freezing:
Use a large saucepan to cook the beans. Cover with water and soak overnight - or at least 8 hours.
Refresh the water and bring to a rolling boil for 10 minutes, then reduce to a simmer until the beans are cooked. How long to let them simmer depends very much on how fresh the beans are. I've had beans that have been cooked after the initial ten minutes - others have taken 20 minutes or more - so I keep checking every few minutes.

When the beans are cooked, drain them and spread them out on a tea towel as per the above pic. If you do it while they are still warm, they dry off quicker. Transfer the beans into a freezer bag and freeze.  Whilst the beans are in the plastic bag, I spread them loosely over an oven tray to freeze them. Check after an hour and shuffle the beans before replacing them in the freezer. If you don't do this, the beans could clump together - but, freezing them spread out over the tray avoids this. I'm aiming to have them loose enough so that I can just grab a handful whenever I wish.

Sounds a bit of a faff, but it becomes routine after a few times.

JAM DOUGHNUTS AND PETIT PAIN AU CHOCOLAT

(Makes 6-8 doughnuts and up to 10 chocolate rolls)

Ingredients:

2 mugs (or 400g) strong white flour

2 dessertspoons sugar

2/3rds of a mug (or 250ml) lukewarm water

1 rounded teaspoon fresh yeast

Splash of olive oil (optional)

Plus:

A jar of jam (the thicker, the better) and 10 or so squares of decent eating chocolate

Sugar glaze

Sugar for sprinkling

Method:

1. Measure the water and stir in the yeast. Place the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl and pour in the yeast liquid. Add the oil if using.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with a knife (starting with the yeast first, to dissolve it properly), cutting through the dough. When it gets too stiff for the knife, use your hand to squeeze the mixture together. As it forms into a solid mass, keep turning it over and pressing it down to pick up the flour at the bottom of the bowl – but make sure it stays soft. Don’t be afraid to add more water to keep it soft! When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by stretching the dough out, folding it over, stretching it out and so on and so forth. Do this until it is smooth – and stop before you get fed up!

4. Doughnuts: Form the dough into a cob shape. Have plenty of flour to hand and scatter flour over the dough and worktop. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a large circle. Using pastry cutters, cut out 16 circles. Place 8 circles on a prepared baking sheet.  Place half a teaspoon of jam in the centre of each circle (not too much or the jam will leak out). Now cover the jam with the other circles, pressing down all round the edges . To seal properly, pick up the doughnut and squidge the edges together firmly – as if you were feeling your earlobe!

5. Pain au chocolat. Knead the scraps of dough back together (add a teaspoon of water if it looks too dry – you need the dough soft to keep the chocolate in!) Divide the dough into 10 pieces and press the chocolate gently into the middle of each piece. Squidge and pinch the dough together around the chocolate checking for any gaps. Place smooth side up on the baking tray.

6. Cover and leave to prove until they have grown appreciably in size. Bake at 220C, 425F or gas mark 7, for about 15 minutes.

7. Whilst these are baking, make a sugar glaze with a dessertspoon of sugar and two dsps of boiling water. When the rolls are done (look for colour underneath) brush them with the glaze straightaway. With the doughnuts, sprinkle with sugar while the glaze is still wet.

VEGAN PANCAKES WITH ONLY TWO INGREDIENTS

(Not be confused with these.)

No, these are your traditional Shrove Tuesday pancakes, mostly sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice.

[I've put my latest, thoroughly tested, recipe in a separate post.]

I first made these a couple of years ago, and now they’re a firm family favourite every Pancake Tuesday – and occasionally, in between!

The recipe I initially followed I found on this thread on the BBC Food boards, but I’ve played about with it a little, since:

Ingredients:

200g self raising flour

30g sugar

100ml soya milk

250ml water

These are every bit as good as the traditional ones which contain eggs.

It’s another illustration of how we are often in the grip of traditional recipes handed down by our forebears. My mother certainly always used eggs in pancakes, just as she always used eggs in sponge cakes.

I never imagined you could make pancakes without eggs – until I made one. Similarly I never thought sponge cakes could be made without eggs – until I began making them.

As a vegan I’m very happy to spread the word that you can dispense with eggs in these recipes – it’s not just the animal cruelty issues (male chicks are gassed at birth, for example), but for those on a restricted income, with the price of eggs these days, it’s a huge saving. 

Tuesday evening, 21st Feb.
Update:

I've been away for a couple of days and only just got back a couple of hours ago. I wanted to do an experiment - I hadn't made these since last year and I remembered I'd simplified the recipe, but I couldn't find anything written down.

So I made them to the above recipe - and they turned out fine. The mixture was a little thick, so I added a little water to get it to the consistency I wanted.

Then I made another batch leaving out the soya milk - but increasing the water. Once again the batter was thicker than I wanted, so I added more water.

And again, they were fine! I had them with sugar and lemon juice and they tasted just as I remembered pancakes tasting.

I'd need to have a side-by-side tasting to see if they're as good as the traditional recipe - but, without that, they were excellent.

So here's my amended recipe:

200g self raising flour

30g sugar

380ml water

Whisk together and start frying over a medium heat with a little oil. Adjust with extra water or flour if the batter is too thick or too thin. Makes about 10.

Wednesday 22nd Feb.
Felt the need to make another batch today - I wanted to be more accurate with the liquid.

I initially increased the water to 400ml (which pleased me, since this gave a ratio of 2:1 water to flour), but still found that a little thick - so I increased it again, this time to 440g.

And this was just about right. These pancakes are gorgeous, IMO, but I needed a second opinion so I popped one over the fence to see what the neighbours thought.

5 minutes later there was a knock on the window to hand the plate back and give me a report. The mother and two sons both thought they were 'real' pancakes and thoroughly enjoyed them. The mother was very surprised to learn it was basically flour and water - and summed up her impression of them by telling me I should get a patent on them, they were that good!

Friday 24th Feb.
I've now tried them without the sugar - makes no difference that I could see.

So we're left with only two ingredients - flour and water!

Tuesday 28th Feb.
Been making these for the past week, and I've decided that the batter could be a little thinner - so I now make them using:

200g self raising flour
600ml water

A VEGAN CHRISTMAS

[This is a work in progress - but I'd better hurry up, 'cos Xmas is coming fast! :(]

Vegans obviously have different requirements at Christmas, and, in my experience, have rather unconventional Christmases. The big difference, of course, is the content of the Christmas  roast dinner. Not for us the turkey, gravy, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire puddings, etc, so we look for alternatives for these things.

Being vegans, we’re well used to thinking outside of the box, and we can ring the changes ad infinitum on our Xmas dinner. The last couple of years I’ve made a vegan haggis Wellington – and this year I’m contemplating stuffed mushroom en croute, in a brioche crust. There are many other delicious alternatives, of course. Nut roast often figures – for those not keen on nuts, sunflower or other seeds can be substituted. Enrich the dish with mushrooms, sweet chestnuts, sun-dried tomatoes, etc. I’m not a fan of gravy, so instead I make a rich, spicy tomato sauce (using sun-dried tomato paste).

It’s possible – and, indeed, very easy - to make a vegan Xmas cake. But, in our house, even before I become vegan, this cake would still be hanging around until well into January – partly because everyone has had a surfeit of goodies over the festive period, and partly because it’s not very interesting, IMO.

However, this Christmas loaf, made with a bread dough, is not only delicious and easy to prepare, it’s festive to boot!

There’s also the issue of chocolates and sweets at Christmas time. We don’t want to miss out when these are handed around, so we hunt them out – and when we (I) find them, we (I) put them to one side (hoard them).

ATM, Lidl has several goodies on sale, but these will disappear after Xmas - so I'm busily hoarding these to have in the New Year.

Dark Chocolate Gingers
Chocolate Kegs (liqueurs, with brandy, not Advocaat, obviously)
Dark chocolate covered marzipan with pineapple
There are other goodies - spicy biscuits, etc, but these all contain palm oil, which I avoid where possible.
Year round they sell 100g bars of Fairtrade vegan dark chocolate - 70% cocoa content.

Another chocolate which is both vegan and Fairtrade is Co-op brand dark chocolate - £1.00 for 150g - but this is only 52% cocoa content.

The only sweet biscuit I've come across recently that is both vegan and doesn't contain palm oil (that isn't from a sustainable source), is Nairn's dark chocolate chip oat biscuits - which are not too sweet. They also make a very nice ginger biscuit.

Both of these lend themselves very well to be half coated in melted dark chocolate. As a treat, at Christmas, I love 'em!