Cooking With Dia

Who loves bread and butter pudding? Who hasn’t been able to eat it since becoming vegan? Who hasn’t been able to eat it since starting the gluten free diet? Would you believe me if I told you this pudding could be good for you?
Did you know you could make banana marmalade? OK, I will stop asking questions.

There isn’t any butter in this bread and butter pudding, and you won’t even miss it. Because the banana marmalade is thick and rich, there was no need for me to use any kind of vegan spread. For the custard I used a tub of organic soy yogurt, vanilla extract and lemon juice. I sprinkled a mixture of nutmeg, cinnamon and light muscovado sugar on top and I had the banana marmalade do the rest.

I’ve been going marmalade crazy the past fortnight. I made Seville orange marmalade, grapefruit marmalade and this banana marmalade which is the easiest to make of the lot.

Banana Marmalade (Makes approx 1.5 lbs)
1.5 lbs ripe bananas
1 juiced lemon
2 cups preserving sugar
1 sachet of pectin

Peel and slice bananas and put in a preserving pan.
Pour in the lemon juice and stir over a low heat for 5 minutes.
Slowly pour in the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Pour in the pectin.
Bring marmalade to a rolling boil and check temperature with a sugar thermometer to see if it has hit 220°F (105°C), setting point.
Once setting point is reached, take off of heat and cool down for 20 minutes.
Take out 2 jars and pour the banana marmalade in.

Banana Marmalade Bread and Butter Pudding
1 lb banana marmalade
8 slices gluten free white bread
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tablespoons light muscovado sugar
250g organic soy yogurt (please make sure yogurt only consists of soybeans and water and selected live cultures)
2 tsp vanilla extract
splash of lemon juice

Cut crusts off bread.
Take four slices and place on the bottom of a square lasagna dish.
Spread some banana marmalade on top of each slice.
Mix the muscovado sugar with cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl.
Sprinkle over the first layer of bread.
Cut the next four slices in half to make triangles.
Spread marmalade generously over each triangle.
Layer triangles on top of first bread layer.
Sprinkle the rest of the sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg mix over the top.
Make the custard by whipping the soy yogurt with the vanilla essence and lemon juice.
Pour custard over the top of bread and leave it to sit for 30 minutes.
Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 40 minutes.
The smell of this while it is baking is wonderful, and the taste of it when it is baked is even better.
If you have any feedback, I’d love to read your comments. Feel free to comment on my posts.

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Tomorrow night is Burns Night, and many a Scot will be sitting down for a Burns Night Supper to celebrate the birthday of poet, Robert Burns. Traditionally a Burns night supper consists of cock-a-leekie soup, haggis and tatties and then either clootie dumpling or tipsy laird to close the meal. But I’ve changed that all around and upside down to suit me and my vegan and gluten free friends.

So for my all gluten free and vegan Burns Night Supper the menu is as follows:

Tattie-a-leekie Soup
Giant Vegan Haggis Samosas
Tipsy Laird

Tattie-a-leekie Soup
2 large leeks
2 large potatoes
6 cups of vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons safflower oil

Clean and slice the leeks.
Peel and dice the potatoes.
Saute’ them in a frying pan for fifteen minutes with the safflower oil.
Bring the stock to a boil and add the leeks and potatoes.
Add in the salt and pepper.
Simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour out into bowls and serve.

Giant Vegan Haggis Samosas

1 Vegan Haggis, but if you can’t find this use the same recipe I made for my vegan sausage rolls.
Ready Made gluten free and vegan flaky pastry sheet. If you aren’t on a gluten free diet you can use regular filo pastry.
2 tablespoons rice milk
Deep fat fryer or Sauce pan filled with 2 pints of vegetable oil

Take the flaky pastry sheet and roll out until as thin as filo pastry.
Cut into 5×7″ sheets.
For each sheet put one scoop of haggis.
Fold over the top right corner to the bottom and then fold the bottom right corner to the top. Seal by brushing rice milk onto the left flap and closing the flap to the right.
Should be able to make 4 or 5 very large samosas with this method.
Deep fry samosas for 5 minutes, make sure they are fully immersed in the oil.
Take out and pat down with paper towels to get the excess grease off.

I can’t describe how delicious this is, you need to taste it for yourself.
If you are using the filling recipe from the vegan sausage rolls, it really comes out a treat.

Tipsy Laird
1 bottle of cream sherry
1 bottle of scotch or Drambuie if you can find it
500ml of vegan custard
1 lb fresh raspberries
12 oz Raspberry Jam
caster sugar
1 gluten free and vegan sponge cake cut into slices
Whipped soy cream

I know Tipsy Laird or trifle usually calls for toasted almonds, but as I have a slight food allergy to them, I’ve left them out.

Take your trifle dish or large glass bowl and place the sponge cake slices on the bottom.

On top of the sponge cake pour out a layer of raspberry jam.

Spread out a handful of raspberries on top of the jam, and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Pour in as much sherry and scotch as you like. I used quite a bit…which is probably why I’m giggling right now.
Pour in a layer of vegan custard
Put another handful of raspberries on top of the custard.

Let trifle set for a while in fridge.
Once set put on another layer of sponge cake.
Then tip in some more sherry and scotch. I know, I’m bad.
Now top with whipped cream. Loads of it.

On top the cream put some more fresh raspberries. I also used red currants, but you don’t have to.
Put in fridge to set some more, and take out at the end of dinner and dig in!

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I know many blogs as well as websites have been raising money to help the relief effort in Haiti. But for those of you who would really like to donate, but can’t afford to, there is another option–Oxfam. Oxfam is a wonderful confederation dedicated to relieving famine in all parts of the world. It has over 15,000 stores and shops worldwide, where people can go to donate just about anything–Books, clothing, old records, tableware, crockery, curtains, etc. If you are wanting to help those affected by the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, check to see if there is an Oxfam shop near you, and all of those books or clothes you don’t know what to do with, you can give away for a great cause. The money raised from the sale of these items goes straight to helping in their relief efforts.

Oxfam was one of the first charities there on the ground straight after this horrible disaster occurred. So far they have flown in over ten tonnes of water, sanitation, health and shelter equipment. They have also teamed up with the UN and other aid organizations to prevent more and more people from spending the night out in the open. Because of this multiple camps have now been set up around Port-au-Prince to give people somewhere to sleep.

The devastation is vast, there are no words really to paint a proper picture. If you are feeling helpless because you are not able to donate an enormous amount of money, sift through some of your things and pop down to your local Oxfam shop.

The volunteers working in these shops are some of the nicest individuals you may ever meet. If you want to know anything in greater detail, just ask, and they will explain everything.

A few days ago I made about 4 lbs of strawberry jam. It wasn’t meant to be that much originally, but as the kind grocer gave me 2 boxes of free strawberries, I thought, “Why not make a big ol bunch of jam?” I have been having crumpet after crumpet with this wonderful strawberry jam spread on top, but wanted another way to showcase it. What better way than to make a Victoria Sponge Cake, or as some call it, Victoria Sandwich.

There’s a rumor going around that Victoria Sponge is traditionally sandwiched together with cream and jam, but no siree this is a myth! Victoria Sponge is traditionally sandwiched together with only jam! I think we’ve got a little greedy over the centuries and added the cream in just because we could! Honestly I think it is better without it, the strawberry jam needs to be the dominate force in this cake, and cream would just take away from it! That’s just me standing on my jam box.
Victoria Sponge is often based around the weight of the eggs, but as I am vegan-well, no eggs for me! Usually, I never bake with the egg replacers you find in powdered form-I tend to use cider vinegar instead. But as the eggs are the center of this cake, I thought I’d better try it with a powdered form of egg replacer. I used the brand ‘Allergycare’, and it worked very well!

4oz vegan spread
4oz gluten free self raising flour (if you only have all purpose flour on hand, just add 1 tsp of gluten free baking powder)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg replacers (read back of box for instructions)
4oz unrefined caster sugar
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
icing sugar

Cream the vegan spread, extract and caster sugar together.
Slowly add in the egg replacers and mix in with the vegan spread and sugar.
Meanwhile sift the flour twice and slowly fold into the mixture.
Stir together until nice and creamy.
Split the batter evenly between to 6″ sandwich tins.
Bake at 180°C (356°F) for 20 minutes.
Turn out on cooling rack.

Once cooled down sandwich together with the strawberry jam.

Sprinkle generously with icing sugar.

Non vegans will probably scoff at my recipe, but having tasted many Victoria Sponges, I have to say you would never notice the difference. Even as it was baking the smell was the same as if I was using eggs and butter. Really this recipe is perfect-it tasted wonderful!! I know some vegans make sponge cake with vegetable oil instead of the vegan spread, but give this recipe a go, the cake turns out much fluffier.

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For all of you stuck inside because of the snow outside, here is something to keep you busy. Dig around your cupboards and try to find these ingredients:

2 pears
1 cup vanilla soy yogurt (approx. half a pot)
1 vegan white chocolate bar (approx. 150g)
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 sweet pastry tart case
(If you want to make your own follow this recipe:
Sweet Pastry Tart Case
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup vegan spread
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cider vinegar
Mix all ingredients together and form a dough. Knead the dough for a few minutes to combine everything well. Place the dough in a 10″ tart tin, and press down with your fingers. Bake at 375°F for approximately 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. )

Vanilla and Pear Tart
Melt the chocolate in the microwave and mix it together with the soy vanilla yogurt.
Peel, core and slice the pears and place them inside the pastry case.
Sprinkle the vanilla sugar and cinnamon on top of the pears.
Pour the yogurt/white chocolate mixture around the pears.
Stick in fridge overnight or for a few hours to set.
No need to bake.

Take out from fridge once set, and slice to serve.
This is probably the easiest thing you will find on Cooking With Dia. To me it tasted a bit like cheesecake or a white chocolate mousse tart. The pears were nice and juicy and just blended together well with the vanilla.

Enjoy the snow while it lasts! I will be snuggling up with my cute little dogs. Here is a new shot of me and Desdemona, my crazy border terrier who likes to destroy whatever she can get her hands on. Don’t let her adorable little fuzzy face fool ya!

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If you are like me, you are constantly trying to veganize dishes you remember from your pre-vegan life. I for one have been obsessing on how to make the perfect vegan mozzarella. I’m pleased to say I’ve finally cracked the code, and I will be sharing that recipe with you soon. While obsessing on things like that, I forget that the best part of being vegan is staring right in front of me-All the wonderful fruit and veg I get every week. So, today it’s back to basics with this very simple, spicy risotto. If you’ve never made risotto before, this is a good starter recipe. As you get more confident, you can add whatever you wish.

This winter so far has been very cold. After a walk around the park with three dogs, a cane and a camera-I get tired. The best thing to come home to is a nice warm comforting meal. This is that meal!

1 Cup risotto rice (Remember the nifty converter to your right if you don’t measure in cups.)
Olive oil
2 tsp Crushed chili
3-4 tsp Crushed garlic
Pinch of wild oregano
Pinch of basil
1 Wild bay leaf
1/4 Cup passata
1 Cup white wine
2 Spring onions or leeks chopped
Few drops of chili sauce
1 Romano pepper seeded and chopped
1 Sweet red pepper seeded and chopped
1 Chili pepper seeded and chopped
2 Cups vegetable stock
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 cup Soft vegan spread

Splash some olive oil in your pan and swirl around.
When heated add the onions (or leeks), crushed garlic, crushed chili and rice.
Fry until rice has soaked in the oil a bit.
Add in the Romano pepper, bay leaf, sweet red pepper and chili pepper and stir.
Next pour in the white wine, and let it sit over the rice for a few minutes.
Once the rice has soaked in the white wine, pour in the vegetable stock and passata.
Sprinkle in the oregano, sugar and basil.
Stir as much as possible throughout the entire process. Risottos need a lot of stirring.
When the rice is almost cooked, scoop in the vegan spread. This gives it the creamy texture the risotto needs.
Stir until cooked and serve.
This is a risotto for two.
[The 'ott' in risotto is pronounced ott as in 'hot' or 'otter', not 'o' as in 'oat' or 'boat'.]
Pronunciation of risotto
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You can bet your bottom dollar that the Scots are still partying it up for Hogmanay today and probably well into tomorrow, as it is a bank holiday in Scotland. What better way to continue the celebration than with my Clementine Chocolate Cake? The flavor of clementine goes so well with chocolate and topped with my brandy cream icing, this cake is to die for.

You can either do one 10″ cake or two 5″ layers.

For the cake
200g Dark chocolate
1/2 cup Clementine juice (made by juicing approximately 4 clementines)
3/4 cup vegan spread
1/4 cup rice milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 clementine
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 + 3/4 cup self raising flour
1 cup unrefined caster sugar

For the brandy cream icing
2 tablespoons soy cream
splash of brandy
1 cup icing sugar

Melt chocolate in the microwave.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, caster sugar, cinnamon and ginger.
Add in the clementine juice, milk, vegan spread, cider vinegar, vanilla essence and melted chocolate.
Grease either one 10″ sandwich tin or two 5″ sandwich tins.
Fill with cake mix.
Bake for 25 minutes at 355°F (180°C).
Cool for 10 minutes before turning over on a plate.

To make the brandy cream icing:
Take the soy cream, icing sugar and brandy and whisk together in a bowl until nice and thick.

If layering the cake, take the first 5″ layer and spoon over a generous amount of icing and spread with a butter knife.
Put the top cake on.
Spread more icing on the top.
If you’re only doing one 10″ cake, spoon icing over top and spread with knife.
Slice the clementine and place slices around the top of the cake.

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I wanted to do something for Hogmanay because the Scottish over here are the most like Philadelphians as far as I can see. In Philadelphia New Year’s Day is a huge celebration, in fact even more so than Christmas. Philadelphia has the Mummers Parade, which I grew up with. It is a day long celebration that goes late into the night. It starts out in South Philly with the Comics and String Bands and ends in Center City with the Fancy Brigade competition. People don’t realize that this Mummers Parade is serious business! The different bands and brigades work on their routines and costumes for an entire year–everything has to be perfect. If anyone is interested in seeing a glimpse of our interesting tradition click here.
When I first came to the UK, New Year’s day wasn’t really celebrated, until I met the Scots! They sure know how to party, and sometimes Hogmanay goes on for 2 or 3 days. In honor of their brilliant tradition, I have made Seven Mug Pudding or as some call it 7 Cup Pudding.
1 cup raisins
1 cup gluten free self raising flour (If you aren’t on the gluten free diet, you can always substitute this with self raising flour.)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup vegan spread
1 cup fresh gluten free breadcrumbs
1 cup oat milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger

Line up seven mugs and fill one with raisins, one with self raising flour, one with light brown sugar, one with dark brown sugar, one with vegan spread, one with breadcrumbs and one with oat milk.
Take out a huge bowl and one by one pour in the mugs.
Mix everything together with a wooden spoon.
Add in the cinnamon, ginger and cider vinegar.
Mix well.
Take out individual pudding basins. I used mini bundt pans as well.
Pour the pudding mixture into the individual basins, and cover each one with tin foil.
Place them inside of a steamer and steam for 1 hour.

Take out and cool for 10 minutes.

Turn out over plate and either sprinkle with icing sugar or douse with brandy.

The taste is very similar to Christmas pudding, but better!
Happy Hogmanay!!
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This morning I woke up earlier than usual to make sure I made it down to the Christmas market in town. You see I was on the hunt for some fresh raspberries, a proper trifle dish and some Drambuie. I didn’t find any of that, until I went to Tesco. Even there, I only found 1 out of 3-fresh raspberries, but it was enough to make me happy. I had to settle for the Famous Grouse and have located an old glass bowl in my attic to use for the dish…it all worked out in the end…or did it? On the twelfth day of Christmas I give to you Tipsy Laird, or as some spell it Typsy Laird, or as the Englishmen and Americans call it Sherry Trifle.

What is a trifle really without custard? For us vegans, custard is hard to come by. I went over it a million times in my head last night, and even woke up at 1 am to experiment with different ingredients on the hob, but nothing seemed to work quite right. There is no replacement for egg yolks, the egg replacing powder is great for vegan omelets, but a disaster for trifle. I finally found a solution: “All Natural Custard Powder” by just wholefoods. It didn’t set as much as I would have liked, and by the time I tipped all the booze in, well, you won’t exactly see all the layers of my trifle in the pictures.

1 bottle of cream sherry
1 bottle of scotch or Drambuie if you can find it
500ml of vegan custard
1 lb fresh raspberries
12 oz Raspberry Jam
caster sugar
1 vegan sponge cake cut into slices
Whipped soy cream

I know Tipsy Laird or trifle usually calls for toasted almonds, but as I have a slight food allergy to them, I’ve left them out.

Take your trifle dish or large glass bowl and place the sponge cake slices on the bottom.

On top of the sponge cake pour out a layer of raspberry jam.

Spread out a handful of raspberries on top of the jam, and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Pour in as much sherry and scotch as you like. I used quite a bit…which is probably why I’m giggling right now.
Pour in a layer of vegan custard
Put another handful of raspberries on top of the custard.

Let trifle set for a while in fridge.
Once set put on another layer of sponge cake.
Then tip in some more sherry and scotch. I know, I’m bad.
Now top with whipped cream. Loads of it.

On top the cream put some more fresh raspberries. I also used red currants, but you don’t have to.
Put in fridge to set some more, and take out on Christmas day and dig in!

You can even make mini Tipsy Lairds if you wish. The possibilities are endless. If you want to use strawberries instead of raspberries then you won’t be making a Tipsy Laird, you’ll be making a boring ol’ Englishmen trifle. But it’s allowed I suppose.

Ah, well, I’m finished the twelve days of Christmas! I’ll miss cooking everyday now, it was a nice distraction from another family-less Christmas again this year. At the risk of sounding corny–cherish those family moments because you never know when they will be some of your last. I was hoping to be at home with my family this year, but it didn’t work out. Hopefully next year! Merry Christmas!!!
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I’m putting two recipes together here because I’m afraid I’m going to need a day off tomorrow from cooking and photographing food. I don’t usually talk about my health problems on here, and I’d hate to start, but I’m feeling really dizzy again, and I’m sure it is just exhaustion. So, a day off is needed. This post is jammed pack full of pictures and recipes for vegan banana bread and vegan apple and raisin bread. Yum!
For both recipes preheat oven to 356°F (180°C)

Banana Bread

3 mashed bananas
2 cups self raising flour
1 cup oat milk
3/4 cup vegan spread
handful of oats
3/4 cup unrefined caster sugar
icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Mix everything together in a bowl. I’m just kidding, don’t do that!

Mix the vegan spread with the milk, vanilla extract and cider vinegar.
In a separate bowl mix together the bananas with the flour, oats and caster sugar.
Combine the two bowls and mix with a wooden spoon.
Fill up a loaf tin with the batter and bake for 25 minutes.
Turn out onto a cake stand and sprinkle with icing sugar if you wish.

Apple and Raisin Bread

2 cups self raising flour
1 cup oat milk
3/4 cup vegan spread
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
3/4 cup unrefined caster sugar
icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 apples peeled, cored and chopped
handful of raisins

Mix the vegan spread with the milk, vanilla extract and cider vinegar.
In a separate bowl mix together the apples and raisins with the flour, oats, cinnamon, ginger and caster sugar.
Combine the two bowls and mix with a wooden spoon.
Fill up a loaf tin with the batter and bake for 25 minutes.
Turn out onto a cake stand and sprinkle with icing sugar if you wish.

Slice both breads and serve with strawberry jam.

© 2009 Cooking With Dia. Designed by Dia Designs for Cooking With Dia

All recipes and photographs are the property of Dia DiCristino. Do not copy without written permission.

Wow, already day nine of this mad experiment. Didn’t think I’d get this far, eh? Well, I did. Now, finally for you I made something savory. For my American friends, a sausage roll is something the British snack on. At parties here in jolly ol’ England, there is usually a mountain of mini sausage rolls. I was thinking how funny it would be to veganize them and not tell anyone, to see if they could taste the difference. For the ninth day of Christmas Dia makes for you…something savory-vegan sausage rolls!!!!!!
1 Vegan puff pastry sheet or to make your own:
The Vegan Puff Pastry
2 cups flour
1.5 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of cold water
8 oz of soft vegan spread (Pure, Earth Balance)

Sift the flour twice and form it into a well on top of a large wooden board..
Add the salt, water and melted vegan spread into the well.
Mix with fingers until the salt has dissolved and the vegan spread has turned into tiny pieces.
Slowly work the pastry into the well until it forms a sticky ball.
Wrap the ball of pastry dough into greaseproof paper or saran wrap and place in fridge for about 25 minutes.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 min while forming a rectangle.
Roll out the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width.
It is OK for there to be vegan spread streaks, it should have a marbled effect.
Fold one side over to the other and then the top to the bottom and roll out again. Do this twice.
Fold again and wrap in cling film.
Store in fridge until ready to use. Take out 10 minutes before rolling out.
400g can chickpeas
400g can haricot beans
1 cup rice flour
1 handful spinach
2 or 3 (if you dare) chili peppers
1 orange pepper
1 green pepper
1 veggie stock cube
2 spring onions

Take the chickpeas and haricot beans and drain them.
In a food processor mix the chickpeas, haricot beans, spinach, peppers, onions, stock cube and rice flour.

You now have made what I call vegan sausage meat.
Roll out your puff pastry or take out your ready made sheet and divide it into four vertical pieces.

Take a bit of vegan sausage meat and roll it in the palm of your hands and gently place it onto the puff pastry piece.
Roll the pastry over and tuck in at the bottom so the meat doesn’t fall out.

Take a fork and prick holes on the top of the sausage roll.

Slice each piece into 3 or 4 little pieces.

Glaze the top of each mini sausage roll with safflower oil.
Bake on a baking tray at 392°F (200°C) for 25 minutes.
Serve your mountain of mini vegan sausage rolls on Christmas or even New Year’s Eve.

If you have any vegan sausage meat left over, just freeze it until the next time you need it.
© 2009 Cooking With Dia. Designed by Dia Designs for Cooking With Dia

All recipes and photographs are the property of Dia DiCristino. Do not copy without written permission.

OK so I guess technically these aren’t mini danish, but the flavor is so similar, I didn’t want to name them tartlets. Again, this is another very simple recipe, that is unless you are making your own vegan puff pastry. Had a weird day: I slipped on the icy footpath near my house, right onto my bad knee and my cane broke. Then I came home to find Brittany Murphy died of a heart attack at 32 years old. She was one of those actresses I liked, part of my generation and all that. I loved her in Girl Interrupted and always felt her acting skills went overlooked by her peers. I’m also still a bit sad that Terry Wogan retired…so yeah, easy recipe for today. On the eighth day of Christmas Dia gives to you Vegan Mini Danish, well, sort of.

1 Vegan puff pastry sheet or to make your own:
The Vegan Puff Pastry
2 cups flour
1.5 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of cold water
8 oz of soft vegan spread (Pure, Earth Balance)

Sift the flour twice and form it into a well on top of a large wooden board..
Add the salt, water and melted vegan spread into the well.
Mix with fingers until the salt has dissolved and the vegan spread has turned into tiny pieces.
Slowly work the pastry into the well until it forms a sticky ball.
Wrap the ball of pastry dough into greaseproof paper or saran wrap and place in fridge for about 25 minutes.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 min while forming a rectangle.
Roll out the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width.
It is OK for there to be vegan spread streaks, it should have a marbled effect.
Fold one side over to the other and then the top to the bottom and roll out again. Do this twice.
Fold again and wrap in cling film.
Store in fridge until ready to use. Take out 10 minutes before rolling out.

1 apple
icing sugar

Roll out your puff pastry or take out your ready made sheet.

With a knife cut it into small squares.
Take a fork and prick holes into all of them.

Core an apple, but don’t bother peeling it.
Slice it into very small thin pieces.

Place one or two pieces of apple onto each puff pastry square.

Put it all on a baking sheet covered with greaseproof paper.
Bake for 15 minutes at 392°F (200°C)

Sprinkle icing sugar on top.
Serve on a cake stand.
They do taste delicious!!

© 2009 Cooking With Dia. Designed by Dia Designs for Cooking With Dia

All recipes and photographs are the property of Dia DiCristino. Do not copy without written permission.

If you are a new visitor to my blog, you may think this is a candy blog! I’ve been doing a lot of candy making this past week because I think it’s important to get all of the gift ideas out of the way before it gets too close to Christmas. I promise I will start posting proper dishes soon. This recipe is probably the easiest so far. They are getting easier and easier, but that’s because at this point all of you are cooking your arses off. On the seventh day of Christmas Dia brings to you her Giant Figgy Pudding Truffles!

1 Vegan Figgy Pudding (any size) (Most Figgy and Christmas puddings come vegan without them advertising them as vegan. They don’t contain eggs, dairy or honey. Some even come vegan and gluten free.)
150g bar of vegan milk chocolate
1 cup of mixed nuts

Chop the nuts in a food processor or blender.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave in short bursts of 20 seconds on a low heat.
Take the Figgy pudding and break up into pieces.

Roll pieces to make giant truffle sized balls.
Dip the balls into the melted chocolate and then into the chopped nuts.

Leave to set in fridge for an hour.

Put in tiny Christmas boxes and tie with ribbon if giving away as a gift.

If you are looking for any vegan related Christmas gifts, please feel free to check out my zazzle shop which includes an all vegan recipe calendar.

http://zazzle.com/idasings

create & buy custom products at Zazzle

© 2009 Cooking With Dia. Designed by Dia Designs for Cooking With Dia

All recipes and photographs are the property of Dia DiCristino. Do not copy without written permission.

Ever wonder what to do with leftover cookie dough? Maybe you ran out of room on a baking tray while making chocolate chip cookies, or perhaps you thought about saving a bit of gingerbread for later in the week. Whatever the case I have an idea-why not make cookie dough lollies? On the sixth day of Christmas Dia gives to you her recipe for Cookie Dough Lollies.

Any left over cookie dough you may have (can be any kind of vegan cookie dough in any amount)
150g bar of the chocolate of your choice (in my case I used vegan milk chocolate)
Lollipop sticks (make sure to have plenty)

Take out your leftover cookie dough(in my case I used the rest of my gingerbread from my post earlier this week) and pat it down with your hand until it is about an inch off your work surface.
Cut into even pieces.

Roll each piece between your hands and set them aside.
When finished rolling, take your lollipop sticks and place one in each ball.

Melt your 150g bar of vegan chocolate in the microwave to save time, and slowly dip each cookie dough lollipop into the chocolate.

Place each one upside down on a baking sheet covered with greaseproof paper.
Stick in the fridge for an hour to set.

Take out and place head first into mini-muffin cases, and serve on a cake stand.
These will go down a treat at any holiday party!
If you have any gingerbread dough left from my previous post, why not give it a go?

If you are looking for any vegan related Christmas gifts, please feel free to check out my zazzle shop which includes an all vegan recipe calendar.

http://zazzle.com/idasings

create & buy custom products at Zazzle

© 2009 Cooking With Dia. Designed by Dia Designs for Cooking With Dia

All recipes and photographs are the property of Dia DiCristino. Do not copy without written permission.