Well this was my first easter being vegan and I have to say it breezed past. I used to love tucking into cadburys easter eggs and dreaded what would happen this year but thanks to some fabulous shop brought dairy free eggs and making lots of goodies myself I can honestly say I LOVE BEING VEGAN
Now hubby wanted to make some eggs at home but we wanted something a bit more special than just shells, so thanks to a slightly adapted caramel recipe in the cake angels book, our caramel eggs were born, and my god were they good. A little bit fiddly to make but they were so yummy they didn't hang around for long. I also made some with marzipan in the middle but forgot to take photos.
VEGAN GLUTEN FREE CARAMEL EGGS
Make the shells first. Use whatever vegan dark chocolate you prefer. I used tesco 74% dark chocolate as it has a really nice flavour. To make 10 whole eggs you will need 2 egg trays that will make 10 half eggs. I used the sainsbugs silicon ones although I am sure plastic ones would work just aswell. You will need about 200gm - 300gm of chocolate depending on how thick you want your eggs. Melt 1/3 of the chocolate in the microwave and use a pastry brush to paint it into the moulds. Chill for 20 minutes, and repeat twice more so your egg shells are 3 layers thick. Once you have done this leave them in the moulds in the fridge while you make the caramel.
Caramel
- Melt 1oz of dairy free spread in the microwave then pour into a food processor.
- Add 55ml of boiling water, almost 3oz of caster sugar and just over 2oz of dried soya milk powder.
- Blend until all ingredients are combined, transfer into a container and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Melt just over 2oz of dairy free spread in a saucepan on a low heat.
- Add just over 2oz of caster sugar, 1oz of agave syrup and your chilled mix.
- Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Make sure you keep stirring continuously. This will take around 10 minutes
- Simmer for around 5 - 10 minutes still stirring continuously until the mixture goes nice and thick. (if you take off the heat too early it won't set properly)
Let the caramel cool for a few minutes then pour into your egg moulds. Pop back into the fridge to set.
Once the caramel has set, carefully remove your chocolate egg halves from their moulds and use a little bit of melted chocolate to stick them together.
Last but not least..........ENJOY!!!
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Now I also had one of those moments when I raided my cupboard to find the coconut sugar I purchased a few weeks ago. Coconut sugar is much better for you than regular sugar and having not used it before I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It has a caramel type taste and colour so these little delights were born.
VEGAN GLUTEN FREE EASTER MUFFINS
Ingredients
- 100gm gluten free self raising flour
- 100gm dairy free spread
- 100gm coconut sugar
- 2tbsp fine milled flax seed
- 1tsp of baking powder
- a splash of soya milk
- a couple of handfulls of raisins
- some marzipan
Method
- Mix the flax seed with 6 tbsp of boiling water and leave to cool.
- Cream the spread and sugar until soft and fluffy
- Add the flax mix a bit at a time and mix thoroughly
- Add the baking powder to the flour and gently fold into the mixture.
- Fold in the raisins and a splash of soya milk
- Divide the mix between 6 muffin cases
- roll some marzipan into 6 little balls and push into the muffins.
- Bake at 180 degrees c for around 15 minutes or until they look cooked
