Vegan Coconut Cream Chia Seed Pudding + Recipe

I'm on my vacation from work now, and my sleep cycle is completely out of sync. I've had runs of two to three days of sleeplessness followed by a full day of sleeping. I put it down to the fact that I'm barely challenging my brain, and been moving at sloth-like pace when I can actually bring myself to move.

I had to meet a friend this evening, however I know his schedule is constantly moving, so I gave myself a 30-minute buffer and wandered around the shopping centre at Liljehomen. Weeeell, this was a ruse; I actually wanted to go into the larger ICA there for as I genuinely enjoy strolling through big supermarkets. When I first moved to Stockholm, I had to pass the centre on my commute to work so was a little bit spoiled by the choice - NOT the price - that was there. If I'd known I would never live near a supermarket like that again, I'd have probably indulged in the wider variety that was there more often.

Today, wandering round wasn't as exciting as I wanted it to be, but I did manage to pick up some Taylor & Jones  sausages, a nice self-serve salad, a small frying pan, and some chia seeds. I was in disbelief that my small basket cost me nearly 500 SEK, and actually became one of those customers I used to roll my eyes at in my own supermarket cashier days, and scrutinised the receipt visibly in front of the cashier before I shuffled off. Horrifying.

By the time I got home it was quite late, and although it would probably be better in the long run, I thought it would be weird to go to bed after only being up for five hours. Which is why I am writing this now.

While I'm waiting for a 'decent' time to sleep, I decided to make a gluten free coconut chia seed pudding I'd seen on Pinterest. It called for sweetened coconut so I was desperately searching for my coconut flakes to sugar up, only to realise I'd used them for the Coconut Maple Bites a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, my compulsive grocery purchasing often means I buy ingredients that I have plans for, I then forget what plans they are yet the ingredients remain; however this meant I was certain that I had a bag of dessicated coconut somewhere, which I was able to locate fairly easily.

I sweetened the coconut in a simple sugar syrup that I gently boiled over the stove, then added it to the coconut cream and milk mixture that I had. The recipe calls for coconut milk, however I only had a can of coconut cream, so I added ordinary milk to thin it out (this version wasn't quite vegan, but it is lactose free!).

I changed the ratios of sweetened coconut and honey as I prefer a sweeter taste; after a quick taste of the mixture, I felt it was nice, but it still needed something. That something, ladies and gentlemen, was sea salt. I crumbled some over it, mixed it in, and my goodness... It was elevated!

Groupie Selfie!

It's currently setting in the refrigerator, but I'll update once it's done. Cannot wait!

All done, topped with some frozen blueberries
quickly defrosted under the cold tap

This was a fairly full teacup portion, and I would actually recommend a marginally smaller serving, especially if you use coconut cream as the dessert is surprisingly filling.

Here's the recipe, heavily adapted from Eazy Peazy Mealz

Vegan Coconut Cream Chia Seed Pudding

Time: 10 minutes preparation + minimum 6 hours chilling time

Yield: Serves 4

Storage: in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sweetened coconut*
• 400-500 ml coconut cream (substitute some or all coconut milk for a lower fat version)
• 1-3 tbsp runny honey
• 4 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract (can be substituted for equivalent of vanilla alternative)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• Fresh and/or dried fruit and nuts to top when serving

Method

1. If you have to sweeten the coconut*, start that off while you get on with step 2
2. If using coconut cream, mix it in a medium size tub to ensure any coconut water is reabsorbed by the solid cream, and you have a smooth consistency. I recommend topping up a 400 ml can of coconut cream with 100 ml of coconut milk, however if you're not using coconut cream, 400 ml of coconut milk is fine.
3. Add the remaining ingredients except the honey and salt, and mix thoroughly
4. Add the honey, one tablespoon at a time, testing after each addition until it suits your taste
5. Crush a small pinchful of salt between your fingers over the mixture. Mix, taste, and adjust, if necessary.
6. Give it a final mix. If desired, separate into individual portions and cover with clingfilm - or simply cover the tub - and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
7. When serving, give it a quick stir, and if desired, top with dried or fresh fruit, and or nuts

Serving suggestion: top with Berry Fruit Sauce

*see post to see how to sweeten coconut

Sweetened Coconut Recipe

I haven't ever bought sweetened coconut, and I'm not even sure if it is widely available in Stockholm, or indeed London. I do remember avoiding a Nigella Lawson recipe after it called for shredded coconut (not sure if it needed to be sweetened), as I couldn't find it back in London. Or perhaps I didn't look. Who knows?!

Anyhoo, when I made coconut macaroons a while back, I needed sweetened coconut flakes, and as I had specifically bought coconut flakes, I was unwilling to find and buy new ingredients, so found out how to sweeten coconut myself. I misread the recipe, but the ratio is simple to remember for the future...

Sweetened Coconut Flakes or Shreds

Time: 10 minutes (+ optional 30-60 minutes drying time)

Yield: Ratios specified below yield 1 cup coconut

Storage: keep in an airtight container out of direct sunlight for up to 1 week.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry natural coconut flakes or dessicated coconut
• 4 tbsp water
• 4 tsp sugar

Method

1. Heat the water and sugar in a small saucepan on medium high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar dissolves, wait until the simple syrup comes to the boil.
2. Turn the heat off and remove the saucepan from the hot hob on to a heat resistant surface (e.g. a trivet).
3. Add the dried coconut and stir until the syrup is absorbed evenly and all the coconut is moistened.
4. If you can use them moist (e.g. you are adding the sweetened coconut to a wet  mixture, use them straightaway; otherwise, spread the sweetened pieces out on a baking tray or some baking paper to dry for at least an hour.

You can store them for two weeks in an airtight container in a cool, dark area.

Did you spot the ratio?

If you consider 1 cup to be 4 x 1/4 cups, you have a 4 tsp: 4 tbsp: 4 x 1/4 cup of sugar: water: dried coconut.

That's how I remember it anyhow! Knowing this, you can adjust how much sweetened coconut you make accordingly!

Rice Pudding + Recipe

Rice pudding was one of desserts that I imagine brought tears to my mother's eyes when I first tried it. She knew that with my sweet tooth, and preference to soft textures that I would be undone.

I don't remember the specific time I first had it, probably school dinners, and I must have avoided that horrible gluey yet burnt bottom layer. I vaguely remember having a brief spat of making it for myself from scratch, but by then I must have developed the social consciousness that eating too many sweet things was not a good thing (seriously?!), so I imagine I somewhat kerbed that habit.

Sugar Photobomb (no sugar required)

There was a comeback when I went to university, and discovered that noone was judging my eating habits - out loud, at least - so I indulged in a can of Ambrosia Rice Pudding every three months or so... ok, ok, so it was probably more, but time is a healer, and I genuinely don't remember.

A-ny-way, I should have probably prefaced this post with the fact that I am a Bah Humbug at Christmas. For some reason, the trauma of my mood swinging adolescence yet immense pressure to 'be happy' has stamped a muddy Hunter boot in my mind's eye. So I don't celebrate.

This was my first year not spending Christmas in England, and seeing as I had made precisely zero plans here in Stockholm, I was quite content. Until the phone calls started. How did this happen?! I had wriggled out of Family Time and therefore I should be exempt from those calls, right?! No. Whilst it was every pleasure to catch up with friends I hadn't spoken to in a while, coupled with the messy nest I had created in my apartment - everywhere but the kitchen! - plus having actually forgotten to eat anything whatsoever, I could see the pathetic picture I was presenting to my friends. Pity was written painfully clearly across their faces. I would have that expression too, but I've been feeling a bit delirious what with erratic sleeping times and a persistent migraine that were both plotting away at destroying any activity whatsoever... and I looked that way.

I love my semi-old-fashioned can opener.
It deserves a picture

Hmmm, I'm sure I will look back at this again during the summer and think what a loser I am being... then I'll read it again at Christmas and nod knowingly... "hello again... back here, are we?!'.

Anyway, enough! Food! This was a nutshell of a conversation I had today with a Danish friend who I mentioned my rice pudding hankerings to, and apparently, Rice Pudding, is a typical Christmas dessert in the Nordics. A Finnish friend had already 'pre-confirmed' this. Whilst my research consisted of just two individuals, I have decided I have licence to magnanimously paint Finland, Denmark, and Sweden with the same brush. It. Just. Works. It may apply in England too, but mince pies and Christmas pudding is what pops into my mind!

Boiling with milk and cinnamon sticks

I was dropping off an order to a colleague client, and after another sleepless night - literally! - I thought I'd come home and crash on the sofa. Unfortunately I have been on my sofa for a few days now, and the novelty has worn off. I had a pre-incepted idea of making rice pudding that occurred to me during one of my phone calls, so decided to put it into action. The friend who I was speaking to at the time was somewhat appalled that I couldn't bear the thought of standing up for 40 minutes to make it. "And you say, she likes baking??!?". Yes, I DO, but I feel that when I am the only benefactor of my cooking, it should not take long at all. Preferably less than 10 minutes, which includes waiting time; if a takeout meal would add more than that to my Work-to-Home time, I will not be getting takeout. My lack of patience for my own food is apparent, methinks.

That peach-y hue is from the Amarula

So where were we... YES! I'm bored. So I decided to make rice pudding. Good comforting food that I mistakenly believed to be healthy as it was rice. Plus I couldn't actually see the sugar as it was cleverly disguised as sweetened condensed milk, so let's all pretend we didn't add sugar. To be honest, this version is far less sugary and sweet than any shop-bought version I've tried, but the taste can be altered using salt, jam, honey, fruit sauces, caramel, you name it! The recipe gives you an awesome base, and it can be chilled for a cold dessert later, even frozen, and then reheated gently over the stove, or for the more microwave-savvy amongst us, in the zapper.

I had the end of a bottle of Amarula hanging around that was bothering me, so I slung it in... didn't hurt!

All done with my extra milk

Here we go... but not before a disclaimer! I am NOT claiming this is an original recipe. I just think this is how you make it.

Now all I need to do is find a recipe to use up the rest of the condensed milk...

Rice Pudding

Time: 40-50 minutes

Yield: serves 3-8 (depending on how refined your portions are)

Storage: store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days

Ingredients

2 cups water
1 cup rice (preferably pudding rice)
good pinch sea salt
2 cups milk
1/4 cup condensed milk
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp vanilla extract/paste or 1/2 tsp vanilla powder (not vanilla sugar)
OPTIONAL
2 tbsp Malibu/Amarula/Baileys, or similar

Method

[NOTE: my stove range is from 1-12 heat ascending, and I will refer to the levels I used in square brackets]

1. Boil the water in a medium saucepan on the stove [12]
2. Add the rice and salt and bring to the boil. Once the water is boiling again, lower the heat to low [4]
3. Cover the saucepan leaving a small gap between the lid and the saucepan (you can use a wooden spoon handle to prop it open). Cook the rice for around 20 minutes until the water has been absorbed.
4. Add the milk and cinnamon to the rice, and bring the mixture to the boil over a medium-high heat [7]. Reduce the temperature to low [4], stirring occasionally and removing the milk skin as and when it forms.
5. When the mixture has thickened and become creamy, stir in the condensed milk and vanilla extract.
6. Cook at this temperature for 5-10 minutes (I went for 7 minutes, but it was ready after 5)
7. OPTIONAL: add the alcohol and stir it in just before serving.
8. Serve warm or chilled with your favourite seasoning or topping(s).

TIP: if the pudding will be eaten on the same day, however not immediately after cooking, place a damp paper kitchen towel on the surface of the pudding in the pan (OFF the stove) as it's cooling to prevent a milk skin forming.

I happen to like my rice pudding fairly thin, so I added more milk. 

Feel free to play around with it, use milk substitutes and sugars to make it vegan. There're no rules!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Microwave Pudding + Recipe

Hello!

So I'm evidently riding a bit of a sweet-craving wave at the moment, and felt backed into a corner. I had a decision to make. Make a microwave treat and relinquish the right to dismiss them ever again, or use one of my precious and so recently made Double Choco Fudge Cookies that were posing as Emergency Freezer Cookies? Choices, choices. I decided to save my energy and not fight against the force of The Microwave, thus surrendering what little dignity I had left.

If you don't mind raw yolk, the mixture is good enough to eat!

I didn't want the mighty chocolate-y overload of the Chocolate Surprise Microwave Brownie Cake, so whipped up this warm cookie-style pudding instead. I have to say I have a certain satisfaction of using my nice ingredients for me, but this recipe is way too good not to share. I didn't 'taste the microwave' on this at all, and trust me I was looking, or rather, tasting for it.

Out of the oven

The texture was spongey, and I probably overcooked it by 10 seconds, but it worked. I'm feeling good.

Spoonful

I do urge you to try this recipe, even if you are a hardened cynic like me... this is one recipe that might sway you!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Microwave Pudding

Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 1 serving in a large microwave safe mug that can hold 12 fl ozStorage: batter can be stored covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, pudding can be stored covered in the fridge for up to 2 days. Best for a few seconds before serving.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter or mild flavoured oil, such as rapeseed
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 drops vanilla extract (can be substituted for a pinch of vanillinpulver, or scant 1/4 teaspoon of vanillijnsocker)
• 1 egg yolk (the white will not be used, so either reserve for up to 24 hours in an airtight container in the fridge or discard)
• pinch of sea salt (or any salt!)
• 1/4 cup baking flour (self-raising or plain are both fine)
• 2 tbsp chocolate chips (any type)

Method

1. Melt the butter in your mug in the microwave (should take less than 50 seconds on Medium power if the butter is cold). If using oil, simply add it to your mug.
2. Mix the sugars and vanilla into the butter/oil followed by the egg yolk and salt. Stir again.
3. Add the flour, and mix thoroughly until combined.
4. Add the chocolate chips, and stir to distribute.
5. Heat in the microwave on Medium power for 40 seconds.
6. Check the texture. Continue to heat in 10 second-intervals until you reach the consistency you like. I wanted a fairly firm pudding, so heated for 1.5 minutes.
7. The chocolate retains heat, so eat with caution, it's hot!

Cakey

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

Recipe base here. This was not the actual link I used, however I remember the one I did use say that Ina Garten was the delightful culprit, and it does look similar to what I remember.

Cinnamon is one of my preferred spices... in bread, however I find it rather banal in cakes and confectionery.

Trying to transport my memory back to that point in time, I remember that the donuts stuck to the pan more so than when I made the VanVan ones. Perhaps because of the temperature difference, perhaps because of the batter itself. 

They truly were beautiful

Anyhoo, any little bumps, cuts and bruises were cleverly disguised by the cinnamon sugar coating. I wanted to indulge my lazier side and just coat one side, but then decided that would be half-arsed, so coated both sides.

I was making these the same day as I was making Choco Donuts, so wasn't thrilled by the prospect of immediately cleaning donut tins - which is surprisingly tricky - so that they were ready for next use. For that reason, I made two trays' worth (12 donuts), and made muffins out of the remaining batter. Whilst the batter is not offensive when baked in muffin form, I find it a bit tougher than I would like, so this is purely a last resort.

Once I am certain of whether I will stay in Sweden, I will decide whether to invest in two more tins, as this will better suit the quantities I must make.

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Maple Coconut Caramel Bites

Recipe base from Not Quite Nigella

Mrs NQN has many ideas and gives many inspirations. My one issue is that I feel that prior knowledge is required for a few recipes, and therefore vital pointers are omitted in the instructions.

I felt that this recipe was one such case.

I was so excited that I had all the ingredients and also an opportunity to use my new cooking thermometer, that I did not do my usual sense check when I was reading the recipe, so did not realise until the crucial moment that I did not know what the final tinder toffee, perhaps(?) was meant to be like either in appearance or texture.

Bubbling away

I ended up with a bit of a roue after adding the final ingredients that somehow devolved into a granular breadcrumb like mixture that in no way resembled caramel or toffee or indeed gel or liquid like.

Baked Caramel

I was not willing to go through this process of getting the syrup to 150°C again so grabbed the last of my homemade caramel from the fridge and my jar of Dulce de Leche and added enough to spread it over my tin, baked it for just under 10 minutes, and ended up with a chewy coconut-ty mess. I could see that this would never harden to be able to be broken into the signature brittle pieces, so I went through the sticky procedure of rolling clumps up into balls or bites.

Jar o' Poo? Sorry, maple coconut bites

I have since written to Lorraine of NQN, and I am hoping that she updates her instructions so I can try it again with more confidence!

Double Chocolate Fudge Cake Cookies

Recipe Base from Baker by Nature

I have some left over cream cheese that I want to use, and was certain I had saved a recipe on Pinterest that made some sort of black and white cookie that needed cream cheese. I had a look for it, but instead found a black and white cookie recipe that did not need cream cheese and a recipe for blueberry cheesecake cookies that I am figuring I confused in my mind.

In the oven. Magical

Although the black and white recipe seemed fairly simple, the ratios for both sides of the biscuit were not clear and I did not want to end up baking 70 biscuits.

I did a bit of browsing on my Biscuits, Cookies, and Pretzels board, and found an exciting recipe for quadruple chocolate pudding cookies, however the ingredients included cake mix that I did not have (and to be honest, would be reluctant to buy), so opted for this recipe base instead.

Hot Cake... Cookies!

The author is very particular about her methods but after a disaster attempt with coconut brittle this same day, I was grateful for her level of detail as it gave me the option to ignore or follow what I wanted to.

First Bite

The biscuits have a lovely cakey texture, and are so stuffed with chocolate and cocoa flavour that one is easily a dessert in its own right. I will be adding these to the store, post-haste!

Two bites!

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

BluBlu Cheesecake

Recipe base from The Hummingbird Bakery Book.

One of the things that I really appreciate about living in Sweden, is the having the option to pick your own fruit in the beautiful forests.

I have determinedly partaking in this activity since I moved here, and whilst I am not as skilled as others at picking a huge quantity, I am nevertheless always excited to have enough to do something with other than through a bunch into yoghurt.

Fresh from the forest

Swedish blueberries are so beautiful: unlike the American varieties (that I believe are not technically blueberries, but a relative of them), they have as dark purple flesh as their skin.

Having been disappointed with my Blueberry Cake, I was reluctant to make another with my handpicked fruit, so went with a recipe base that I felt was more reliable: cheesecake.

Gorgeous

The base cheesecake mixture was beautiful, and I must be sounding like a broken record where cheesecakes are concerned, as this was another mixture that I truly felt sad about baking.

In they go!

I had washed and frozen my blueberries on the day they were picked, and found that the water on them made them clump together slightly. Nothing too dramatic, but after a conversation with a colleague, I tried washing then air-drying the fruit overnight before freezing and this made a much 'looser' and easier-to-manipulate batch.

From the oven

I appreciate that the appearance is aesthetically pleasing as when you have the fruit and its sauce over the top, however I have never truly appreciated that style in terms of taste. Then again, I have only had shop bought versions, and I like very few mass-produced cheesecakes.

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Cheesy Onion Donuts

Recipe base from The Kitchy Kitchen, link here

It's been a while since I made these so I'm going by my memory here.

I was thoroughly enjoying my donut adventure, and was quite intrigued by this recipe for savoury donuts I came across. I am trying to work out how I did, as it isn't on my Pinterest, but I imagine that app had something to do with it.

The flavours included in the recipe were sound: jalapeno, nice: green onion, good; cheese, jackpot!

I started to think something had gone awry when half of the cheese was left unaccounted for, and there were general grey areas in some parts of the method.

Not a spicy in the donut as I would have liked

I plugged through, and got as frustrated as I ever have been trying to make a suitable batter and then transferring it to the tins. Manage it I did, and everything was more or less ok... until I tried to remove them from the tins to cool completely. The cheese topping made this a real challenge, and as recommended by the recipe I returned them to the oven to melt the cheese further.

It was a massacre, cap'n!

This just resulted in 'plasticising' the cheese, into a texture that I didn't much appreciate.

I was quite annoyed at the whole exercise, and was ready to write it off... until I tasted the most mangled donut. It. Tasted. Amazing. The flavours were on point, and can even be ramped up a notch for more Oomph. The method just wasn't quite right, and I am sure a few personal flourishes were omitted, unknowingly confusing the instructions.

This definitely is a recipe I need to work on, as it has great potential.

Caramel Toffee Cheesecake

Recipe base here

Although I am a cheesecake novice, I HAD to try this from one of my favourite recipe blogs: yammiesnoshery.com

I love Yammie's style, It's effortlessly beautiful and her photos are inspiring. She embraces the 'nobbly', homemade look, yet her creations are ones you would pay top dollar for. Plus like my baking muse, Nigella Lawson, she doesn't shy away from using the ingredients that without, would compromise the flavour. I'm not used to using cup measurements, but I bought a fun set of cups that I am only hoping are the same size as their American counterparts - it's all about ratio, anyway - and I just convert the butter measurement into grams so I can use my scales.

This was a recipe that had a five components: the toffee biscuity base, melted chocolate topping for said base, the cheesecake mix, of course, toffee topping, and cream decoration. The ingredients list consisted of 13 or so items.

Daim and the Gang!

Just taking a photo of the ingredients all together was a challenge! I rarely do such a stunt, let alone even take all my ingredients out as I dislike being surrounded by anything other than my duvet, but I felt this one was special. And indeed it was,

That would usually be enough to put me off, but I had a guest coming that I wanted to impress. So much so that I KNEW this had to be the recipe, as much I also knew I had to do a test run, such was my lack of confidence in my cheesecake making abilities. This would be the second one I had ever made.

Buttery Biscuit Base
(Masterchef UK fans might get that reference)

Lining the tin! Oh my goodness, what a kerfuffle! That was arduous.
Then I got on with the biscuit base with crushed toffee bits. Once I worked out what Heath bars were, I realised they were similar to Daim bars (or Dime bars, as I'm old skool, innit!).
Simple enough... but it later turned out that I have poor depth perception and made the base way too thick. I improved this for the 'real thing', but I think I need to be governed by the needs of the cake rather than the prescribed amounts of the recipe.

Then we melt the chocolate. I won't lie: it pained me to use so many of my precious chocolate chips just to melt them. Yes, yes, I could have chopped or grated a bar of chocolate, but who has the time?! Chocolate chips are only just becoming a bit more common in supermarkets in Stockholm, Sweden, in the last 15 or so months, and as is so often my complaint, prices for them are not low. I buy them in a suspicious bulk pattern and then hoard them like a dragon over its... erm... loot. I didn't want to say 'hoard' again!

The Hoard! It's melted, melted!
What a cruel, cruel, world!

A-ny-way, Then the caramel... again fairly straightforward American style with cream, very yummy. The knee weakening moment was actually when that caramel was mixed in with the cheesecake mixture. Oh. My. Goodness. If I was more dramatic, which is hard to believe, I would have sat down. That mixture was to die for. Soooooo gooooood. I almost didn't want to bake it. I did, though.

That mixture! Wooh!

Wrapped in damp dishcloths as I have no
tray large enough to hold it

Bekked

The decoration. Oh la la, I royally messed this one up. I didn't read the instructions properly so I mixed the caramel with some whipped cream and made... what?! I'll settle with caramel cream. I cheated and used a spray can for the whipped cream topping, and yes, it was impressive. I learned the hard way that whipped cream sinks, so had to re-spray the next day.

Decorated with erroneous caramel cream

2nd attempt

The sheer weight of it plus the stickiness from the fat in the base made it difficult remove from the base of the tin, so I had to just sit by and cry into my lap whilst my colleagues cut on my tin. With metal knives!!! Oh, the agony! The base was too thick on both occasions to cut through with plastic utensils, so it was an unfortunate necessity.

Attempt #1. The assault weapons, your Honour

Attempt #1 Slice.
Doesn't do her justice, really.

Whilst this is most certainly a show stopper and has had repeated requests for a return, I feel overwhelmed by this cake and it had better be a very special occasion for me to make it again.

Thank you all, and good night!

Filled and Rolled Loaf

I'm not even sure if this is already in my To Blog list as I have made a bread a few times that this recipe has evolved from. Nevertheless, I had to write about it. As I am wont to do, I was ogling a few of my recent baking snaps, and my greedy eyes rested on the pictures of the filled and rolled loaves that I made a couple of weeks ago.

Having never made two loaves in one day, which obviously involved four sets of hand kneading, I had some tired memories from that experience and was reluctant to do it again. But I'm huuuuuuungry! I decided to do some cursory research on cold proving dough overnight in the fridge as a friend has actually claimed that it produced a better loaf, Naturally I was going down this route. Fresh bread in the morning within an hour of waking?! Yes, please!


Unfortunately my plans were scuppered after I forgot to add sugar to my fresh yeast, which already doesn't seem as enthusiastic as the cakes I have seen in London. Oh well. I shall have to talk about my last bake.

Prior to this point, I had only ever made a bacon and cheese version, and still hadn't settled on a winning cheese combination. Well, this was the time I had to step up to the plate as it were, as a vegetarian cheese-only version had to be produced as well.

I have never used fresh yeast before, however I firmly believe that fresh is always best where possible, so decided to give it a go. Now I have to say that on my previous yeast attempts I used the instant variety, and whilst the bread proved nicely on all occasions, the actual activation was somewhat lacklustre. I should specify that I did not know the difference between dried and instant, and now that I do, the inactivation makes more sense.

Anyhoo, the fresh yeast activation was also marvellously underwhelming. From all the images I had seen, it should produce a glutinous beige semi-paste semi-liquid, however mine was the beige coloured water with some sad bubbles on top. I kept it in a corner in my bedroom that I believe is the warmest, least draughty place in my apartment, and made sure the temperature of the water was optimal, etc, etc,. I suspect the amount of fluid I am using for activation is a bit more than usual, and also the yeast here is just less assuming.

Pre first-prove hand kneaded dough

Aside from the physical workout of kneading the dough (I ought to invest in a stand mixer), the hardest part of this process is retaining the bacon that is used to fill the loaf. It's far too tempting!
The cheese... hmmm, I mentioned earlier how I had some pressure to produce a tasty cheese combination, and a common one that I was finding was parmesan and mozzarella. Now I wasn't so sure about mozzarella, as it is a lovely albeit gentle cheese, that I favour more for its texture than its taste. Well, I decided that I wasn't one to judge on cheeses, not being too well versed in them, so decided on Grana Padano and mozzarella (I couldn't find parmesan). i also had a random half bag of grated Tex Mex cheese, so I threw that in too. I found a nifty trick to grating mozzarella was to freeze it for 30 minutes. Shrewd! I ground black pepper over the vegetarian version, and would have done so for the bacon one, however I forgot. Meh! There was bacon in there!

Mmm bacon

Fromage!

The bacon and cheese bread came out well, a bit of oozing from the criss cross slashing, but I actually found that particular ooze rather charming.

After second prove

Baked!

The cheese version came out of the oven well, but because I'm a doofus, I cooled the bread upside down, hence squashing the poor loaf. Still tasty, but it looked like it was sat on.

Squashed vegetarian version

Bacon & Cheese slice

Available at Samara's Baked Goods.

I have still not settled on this cheese combination, so will work on it further. Perhaps blue cheese? Opinions, as always, are welcome. Relevant to this post, of course!

Available at Samara's Baked Goods.

Vegan Banana Cookies

Recipe based on Yammie's Noshery: LINK

I'm not sure how it somehow became a mild expectation, however my second year students seem to believe that at some magical point of the year I will bake something for them.

Last academic year (2014/15), I had a particularly lovely bunch of students in my second year classes, and decided to treat them the smaller class. Not out of favouritism, just unfortunate timing. I knew one of the students is a vegan, so I in order to include her, I had to ensure I made a 'young person appealing' biscuit or something that didn't include eggs.

I found a recipe on one of my favourite haunts at Yammie's, and made a few tweaks to make sure it stayed vegan, and also nut-free. I had attempted a recipe a few days earllier earlier for flourless brownie cookies, hence they were gluten free, and after attempting a vegan version of them, namely replacing eggs with bananas, I was rewarded with flat, unappealing, yet extremely yummy... things.

This time the result was a very soft, squidgy cookie. In hindsight, they were perhaps too soft and squidgy, so I will probably increase the flour content next time.

After all that, the vegan student was absent that day. Pity.

Curious little chappies

Cheeky stowaway emergency freezer cookie

Squidge!

Two different types of dark chocolate

10th December-15

I made these again for one of my smaller classes, and tried to juzz them up by adding a dollop of my homemade caramel... Before baking. As expected, it melted, making them quite unappealing appearance-wise. They tasted amazing though so I'm not abandoning the idea or these actual specimens. I consulted my ...Domestic Goddess bible by Nigella Lawson, and tried making an indent so I could fill the biscuits post-bake, but they smoothed out in the oven, so I decided to skip that extra flourish.

The taste was lovely, definitely one for the recipe collection.

Melted dark chocolate

In the tin

Fresh out of the oven

The stack

Available at Samara's Baked Goods