Chocolate and Beyond

Guest Post: Vegan Christmas (and Thanksgiving!) Tips from Karin Ridgers of VeggieVisionTV

Today I have a guest post from vegan Karin Ridgers, founder of the VeggieVisionTV site, on how to have a vegan Christmas, including a great recipe for a Vegan Christmas Strudel. Karin has also produced the resource 'The VeggieVision Essential Guide to Surviving and Loving your Vegetarian Christmas'.  With Thanksgiving around the corner too though, I think the post is perfectly apt for that holiday, as well!

How to Have a Merry Vegan Christmas

I can't even remember a non veggie Christmas, we vegans don’t miss out at all. Christmas is the time for celebration – although it ain’t much for turkeys. 

We enjoy everything that everyone else has – just a animal free version. Maybe a fry up for breakfast – mushrooms, hash browns, veggie sausages, toast, a soya latte. And maybe some naughty but dairy-free choccie nibbles during the day. Well, it is Christmas.

Recipes: Brandy 'Bounty' Truffles

I recently made some gorgeous choccies after I'd seen the Cherry Ripe Truffles recipe on The Kind Cook, and they were so incredibly easy and delectable, that when it came to thinking of something to add to my friend's birthday present to take to her last weekend, I decided to come up with a version of my own.

As I was creating these for my friend's birthday, I felt booze needed to be included in my own take on the truffles. Hehe. But then, I'd find it very easy to look for an excuse to use booze, anyhow :) I am a sucker for boozy chocs I have to admit, and I love brandy and chocolate as well, so I pretty much decided on the alcohol in a snap decision.

Recipes: Spiced Pumpkin Flaky Pastry Pie

Are you looking for a more creative way of using up your pumpkins these season than a bog standard pumpkin soup? If so, then this recipe is for you. And absolutely scrumptious it is. Although very sadly, I just couldn't seem to get the 'right' photo even after taking many, so I know the pictures here do not do this pie justice, on any level. It's one of those where you will just have to take my word for it.

My boyfriend also thought this Spiced Pumpkin Flaky Pastry Pie was once of the most delicious things he has tasted yet from my kitchen, and it certainly ticks all the boxes for me. It's filling, it's comforting, it's pastry (which I love!), it's spicy and it's full of tender, wholesome, roasted pumpkin. I'm sure the layers of pastry out-do the 'wholesome-ness', but hey ho.

Recipes: Traditional Bonfire Night Yorkshire Parkin

First things first - if you want this to be properly sticky for Bonfire Night - get baking it right away! Secondly, it's probably best not to look at the rest of this recipe if sugar horrifies you. And now we have that out of the way, the rest!...

When I started exploring how to make a 'vegan version' of this delicious sugar-laden, spicy, gingery and sticky cake that we northern Brits all associate with Bonfire Night and autumn, I realised it is one of those recipes that doesn't even "need" eggs or an 'official' binder that much at all (since the non-vegan recipes have eggs in them).

There is soooo much sugar and goo and syrupy naughtiness in Parkin, that you're pretty much guaranteed it is going to glue itself together of its own accord. So, to say this is a 'vegan version' of the cake sort of gives the wrong impression. It's just the same, but without the eggs, which weren't needed anyhow.

Hosting a Vegan Vampire Halloween Party - Ideas for Food & Decor

 

Serving up 'human victim' fingers at a vegan Halloween party? As someone else said, "Oh the irony"! Yes for sure! However, if you're looking for a gruesome but effective addition to your party table, then these definitely make the grade. And the beauty is, their 'vegan-ness' means no actual harm caused to anyone. Surprisingly, they all got eaten too!

Last weekend I hosted a small (pre-Halloween) party for some of my friends. It wasn't a huge family event or anything, but just a few peeps with a vampire gothic/glamour theme, for which I enthusiastically spent a couple of weeks putting decorations together and considering what I would serve up on the table.

How to Make Traditional Lancashire Bonfire Black Peas

We're a few weeks off from November the 5th and therefore Bonfire Night yet, but I was so excited to find dried black peas - aka maple peas - at the stall of the man who sells herbs, spices and dried foods in my local town. I had been on the hunt for them in order to have a go at making traditional Lancashire Bonfire Black Peas - a dish which is particular to the North West of England, and is eaten on Guy Fawkes Night, the 5th November.

My memories of eating black peas involve me trying to stay warm on Bonfire Night, slathering them in vinegar then scooping them out of a small tub with my mittens on, while watching fireworks clash and burst in the sky. They conjure up wonderful childhood times for me.

For those outside of the UK - Bonfire Night is the same as Guy Fawkes Night - when we morbidly mark the occasion of when a man named Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up parliament with a gunpowder plot, and was burnt for committing treason. We have bonfire parties and fireworks, and sometimes burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes, when people can be bothered making one. Although black peas are also often served on Halloween, too, nowadays.

How to Make a Basic Dairy-Free Pouring Cream for Desserts

If you are looking for a vegan pouring cream, reminiscent of a 'single' cream or a pouring 'double' cream, that you can whip up in a jiffy for desserts and big, stodgy puds, then look no further than this really simple recipe.

I developed this recipe after having bought a commercial almond cream which was very tasty and that I wanted to be able to make for myself. Looking at the ingredients on the pack, I felt it was something that should be fairly easy to replicate. I think I did pretty well with this, and it went well too with the Orange & Spice Gluten Free Pudding you see in the lead photograph (recipe to follow!).

In a similar way to dairy cream, this cream is not very strongly flavoured - it is very subtle, with a delicate hint of almond, and it acts simply as a dessert cream is meant to act - to 'wet' the pudding while complimenting it, rather than overpowering it.