Gluten Free Xmas Pudding Ice Cream

The night before the potluck, I got the strongest urge to make ice cream, even though I had already started on the brownies. I decided to veganise xmas pudding ice cream, its strange because I don't even like xmas pudding, but everything tastes better in ice cream form!


Christmas Pudding Ice Cream inspired by bbc goodfoood recipe

 Fruit:

• 200g dried cherries, chopped (or sub raisins etc)
• 6 tbsp brandy
• 2 tbsp brown sugar

Ice Cream:

• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 cloves
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 1 t vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 gingernut biscuits, broken into chunks (I used the leda gf ones)
• zest ½ lemon and ½ an orange 
•  2 teaspoons arrowroot

1. Mix all of the boozy fruit ingredients together in a bowl, then microwave or cook on stovetop for 3 mins. Stir, then leave to cool completely, for a few hours to overnight.
2. For the ice cream, put the spices in a saucepan and gently heat for 3 mins or so, stirring once or twice, until fragrant. Tip in the coconut milk (reserving 1/4 cup) and sugar and bring to the boil. Bring to boil. 
3. Pass the mix through a sieve and add in the vanilla extra, arrowroot mixture and zest. Place in fridge for a few hours until completly cold. 
4. Follow ice cream machine instructions. Place mix the cherries and ginger nut in last few minutes. 
5. Freeze til desired texture.

I had this great plan to give everyone small little tubs of this for xmas gifts which they could take home. Unfortunately it doesn't make a lot so ended up just serving it at the potluck. If you plan on serving it to several people, I recommend doubling the recipe. Despite not being a fan of xmas pudding, I still enjoyed this recipe, I think it had a good combination of fruit, booze and spices. Although I have to admit that I am a huge fan of the ginger biscuits which do have a strong flavour. So ginger fans stay away. I certainly think it is a better alternative for those us who celebration xmas in the southern hemisphere. The best thing about ice cream is you can make this well in advance too!

The potluck was great and included amazing things like vegan and gluten free prawn toast, ferrero rochers and lots more.

For other xmas dessert ideas, check out previously made candy cane ice cream,  candy cane fudge, and candy cane cookies (not gf) and xmas pudding bites.

Thinking I might try to fit in one more xmas ice cream flavour this year, any suggestions?

The night before the potluck, I got the strongest urge to make ice cream, even though I had already started on the brownies. I decided to veganise xmas pudding ice cream, its strange because I don't even like xmas pudding, but everything tastes better in ice cream form!


Christmas Pudding Ice Cream inspired by bbc goodfoood recipe

 Fruit:

• 200g dried cherries, chopped (or sub raisins etc)
• 6 tbsp brandy
• 2 tbsp brown sugar

Ice Cream:

• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 4 cloves
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 1 t vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 gingernut biscuits, broken into chunks (I used the leda gf ones)
• zest ½ lemon and ½ an orange 
•  2 teaspoons arrowroot

1. Mix all of the boozy fruit ingredients together in a bowl, then microwave or cook on stovetop for 3 mins. Stir, then leave to cool completely, for a few hours to overnight.
2. For the ice cream, put the spices in a saucepan and gently heat for 3 mins or so, stirring once or twice, until fragrant. Tip in the coconut milk (reserving 1/4 cup) and sugar and bring to the boil. Bring to boil. 
3. Pass the mix through a sieve and add in the vanilla extra, arrowroot mixture and zest. Place in fridge for a few hours until completly cold. 
4. Follow ice cream machine instructions. Place mix the cherries and ginger nut in last few minutes. 
5. Freeze til desired texture.

I had this great plan to give everyone small little tubs of this for xmas gifts which they could take home. Unfortunately it doesn't make a lot so ended up just serving it at the potluck. If you plan on serving it to several people, I recommend doubling the recipe. Despite not being a fan of xmas pudding, I still enjoyed this recipe, I think it had a good combination of fruit, booze and spices. Although I have to admit that I am a huge fan of the ginger biscuits which do have a strong flavour. So ginger fans stay away. I certainly think it is a better alternative for those us who celebration xmas in the southern hemisphere. The best thing about ice cream is you can make this well in advance too!

The potluck was great and included amazing things like vegan and gluten free prawn toast, ferrero rochers and lots more.

For other xmas dessert ideas, check out previously made candy cane ice cream,  candy cane fudge, and candy cane cookies (not gf) and xmas pudding bites.

Thinking I might try to fit in one more xmas ice cream flavour this year, any suggestions?

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

2010 in Review and Xmas Dishes

It's been both a  great year and a hard year in many ways personally:

• I finished my thesis and studying finally and started working in my field
• I got an article published in a journal
• Toby become injured, had an operation and spent some time in hospital. He is thankfully ok but will never be able to do martial arts or contact sport again.
• Between the two of us we lost 3 grand parents this year.
• I paid off my car loan
• I spent most of the year with some sort of minor illness or just feeling really blah.
• I started jogging and yoga and ended up stopping due to the above.
• It was recently Toby's 5 year anniversary of moving to Australia, it's gone so quickly!

Food wise:

• I spent most of the year trying to figure out whether I had coeliac disease and alternating between being g/f and eating gluten and then finally found out that I had it.
• Tart N Round- g/f vegan restaurant closed and while i've managed to find lots of g/f options I still miss having a place where I can eat everything. 
• There was several new vegan or vegan friendly restaurants open including my fav disco beans cafe. As well as Mamasita, Chan house, Yong's green foods,  Gasometer,  and New Day Rising.
• Toby managed to veganise chinese radish cake and a few other Chinese favourites.
• My two favourite potlucks were the ice cream potluck and the g/f picnic potluck.
• We had a fun Sydney holiday that centered solely around eating and rocked my world.
• I paired up with Cindy and cooked/baked some incredible tasty and pretty dishes like the penguin love cake.
• We blogged everyday for a whole month for vegan mofo in November.
• My fav meal out this year has to be the incredible french toast at monk bodhi dharma and fav dish at home was probably the vegan vanilla slice.
• Toby's fav meal out was the artichoke dish at Movida Aqui and fav dish at home was the  frozen margarita pie.

We are planning on eating out less next year and looking forward to making lots more yummy meals and conquering some g/f adjustments to my favourite dishes.

--------------

Here's what we made for xmas this year:

After sampling the little fruit fudge puddings that Cindy made, I decided straight away that I had to make them for my family on xmas day because they were both cute and delicious.

I made a few adjustments by accident that ended up working quite well. I added a more orange juice and I used a combination of the gingernut biscuits and the orgran itsy bitsy bear biscuits. This resulted in some of them being more fudge like and they had slightly less ginger flavour. Also I skipped the cherries and oil and only used currants.They were gobbled down quite quickly by family on xmas day and I don't think any of my dark chocolate hating family detected the dark chocolate.

Xmas pudding bites (which were originally sourced from here)


1 cup raisins, chopped (I used more currants)
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup of orange juice or rum (I used orange juice)
1/2 cup dry roasted almonds
300g vegan and gluten free cookies
200g dark chocolate
100g white chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil(I skipped this)
pistachios and cherries  to garnish

In a small saucepan, stir together the raisins, currants, brown sugar and orange juice.  Simmer the fruit for 3 minutes, then set it aside to cool.

Blend the almonds to a coarse meal in a food processor.  Mix them together with the biscuit crumbs in a large bowl, then stir through the cooled fruit mixture.  Gently melt the dark chocolate and add it to the bowl, stirring to combine.  The mixture should have formed a firm and slightly crumbly dough.

Roll inch-diameter balls from the pudding mixture, place them on a lined tray and refrigerate until firm. (I skipped this and just added more orange juice til they held together a little better)

Finely chop the red and green garnishes.  Gently melt the white chocolate and oil together so that they're silky and quite liquid.  Drizzle the white chocolate over the pudding balls and sprinkle over the garnish.  Refrigerate until the chocolate has set, and continue to store them there until serving. 

And I made a g/f free version of our family Vegemite Gravy recipe, I found a similar looking recipe here which I copied.


    2 tbsp margarine
    2 tbsp plain flour (I used orgran gluten free flour)
    500 ml stock, heated (I think I may have used a little less)
    1 Tbsp Aussie mite (g/f version of vegemite) (start with 1 teaspoon and taste)
  
   1.  Start your gravy in a saucepan by melting the margarine. Sprinkle margarine with flour, and stir over a gentle heat to colour it, but be careful of burning. When it is really grungy-looking, after about five minutes, add the hot stock slowly, stirring quickly to incorporate the cooked flour.
   3. Add the Aussie Mite and stir well. If it's too thin, continue to simmer and reduce in volume. If it's too thick, add more stock or water. At this point, taste for salt and pepper. If it's just right, strain and serve in a warmed sauce boat.

I had issues with lumps as you can see but the flavour was pretty similar. Don't be deceived by the aussie mite (or vegemite) it adds a depth of flavour without being obvious.

It's been both a  great year and a hard year in many ways personally:

• I finished my thesis and studying finally and started working in my field
• I got an article published in a journal
• Toby become injured, had an operation and spent some time in hospital. He is thankfully ok but will never be able to do martial arts or contact sport again.
• Between the two of us we lost 3 grand parents this year.
• I paid off my car loan
• I spent most of the year with some sort of minor illness or just feeling really blah.
• I started jogging and yoga and ended up stopping due to the above.
• It was recently Toby's 5 year anniversary of moving to Australia, it's gone so quickly!

Food wise:

• I spent most of the year trying to figure out whether I had coeliac disease and alternating between being g/f and eating gluten and then finally found out that I had it.
• Tart N Round- g/f vegan restaurant closed and while i've managed to find lots of g/f options I still miss having a place where I can eat everything. 
• There was several new vegan or vegan friendly restaurants open including my fav disco beans cafe. As well as Mamasita, Chan house, Yong's green foods,  Gasometer,  and New Day Rising.
• Toby managed to veganise chinese radish cake and a few other Chinese favourites.
• My two favourite potlucks were the ice cream potluck and the g/f picnic potluck.
• We had a fun Sydney holiday that centered solely around eating and rocked my world.
• I paired up with Cindy and cooked/baked some incredible tasty and pretty dishes like the penguin love cake.
• We blogged everyday for a whole month for vegan mofo in November.
• My fav meal out this year has to be the incredible french toast at monk bodhi dharma and fav dish at home was probably the vegan vanilla slice.
• Toby's fav meal out was the artichoke dish at Movida Aqui and fav dish at home was the  frozen margarita pie.

We are planning on eating out less next year and looking forward to making lots more yummy meals and conquering some g/f adjustments to my favourite dishes.

--------------

Here's what we made for xmas this year:

After sampling the little fruit fudge puddings that Cindy made, I decided straight away that I had to make them for my family on xmas day because they were both cute and delicious.

I made a few adjustments by accident that ended up working quite well. I added a more orange juice and I used a combination of the gingernut biscuits and the orgran itsy bitsy bear biscuits. This resulted in some of them being more fudge like and they had slightly less ginger flavour. Also I skipped the cherries and oil and only used currants.They were gobbled down quite quickly by family on xmas day and I don't think any of my dark chocolate hating family detected the dark chocolate.

Xmas pudding bites (which were originally sourced from here)


1 cup raisins, chopped (I used more currants)
1/2 cup currants
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup of orange juice or rum (I used orange juice)
1/2 cup dry roasted almonds
300g vegan and gluten free cookies
200g dark chocolate
100g white chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil(I skipped this)
pistachios and cherries  to garnish

In a small saucepan, stir together the raisins, currants, brown sugar and orange juice.  Simmer the fruit for 3 minutes, then set it aside to cool.

Blend the almonds to a coarse meal in a food processor.  Mix them together with the biscuit crumbs in a large bowl, then stir through the cooled fruit mixture.  Gently melt the dark chocolate and add it to the bowl, stirring to combine.  The mixture should have formed a firm and slightly crumbly dough.

Roll inch-diameter balls from the pudding mixture, place them on a lined tray and refrigerate until firm. (I skipped this and just added more orange juice til they held together a little better)

Finely chop the red and green garnishes.  Gently melt the white chocolate and oil together so that they're silky and quite liquid.  Drizzle the white chocolate over the pudding balls and sprinkle over the garnish.  Refrigerate until the chocolate has set, and continue to store them there until serving. 

And I made a g/f free version of our family Vegemite Gravy recipe, I found a similar looking recipe here which I copied.


    2 tbsp margarine
    2 tbsp plain flour (I used orgran gluten free flour)
    500 ml stock, heated (I think I may have used a little less)
    1 Tbsp Aussie mite (g/f version of vegemite) (start with 1 teaspoon and taste)
  
   1.  Start your gravy in a saucepan by melting the margarine. Sprinkle margarine with flour, and stir over a gentle heat to colour it, but be careful of burning. When it is really grungy-looking, after about five minutes, add the hot stock slowly, stirring quickly to incorporate the cooked flour.
   3. Add the Aussie Mite and stir well. If it's too thin, continue to simmer and reduce in volume. If it's too thick, add more stock or water. At this point, taste for salt and pepper. If it's just right, strain and serve in a warmed sauce boat.

I had issues with lumps as you can see but the flavour was pretty similar. Don't be deceived by the aussie mite (or vegemite) it adds a depth of flavour without being obvious.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Candy Cane Fudge and Mushroom Tarragon Pate

So it turns out we don't have any pictures of Toby's ice cream dish or his xmas potluck dish. Yes we had two potlucks this weekend! A ice cream one on Saturday and xmas themed potluck on Sunday. For the ice cream potluck Toby made a super alcoholic large version of the frozen margarita pie that I made last time. Except this time he made the ice cream using the lime recipe from vegan scoop. For the xmas potluck he made this:

 Mushroom and Tarragon Pate using this recipe from BBC.

• 50g margarine
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 leek finely chopped (he used a regular onion)
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 100g chestnut mushrooms , finely chopped (he used button mushrooms)
• 100g shiitake mushrooms , finely chopped
• 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp crème fraîche (see vegan version below)
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon plus extra to garnish(he used dried)

1. Heat butter in a large frying pan. Add shallots, leek and garlic, then gently fry for 7 mins until softened.
2. Increase the heat, add the chestnut and the shiitake mushrooms, then cook for 10 mins, stirring, until the juices have evaporated and the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the mustard and crème fraîche, then season well. Cook for a further 2 mins then stir in the chopped tarragon.

Almond Creme Fraiche loosely based on recipe for cashew cream fraiche from Vegan Epicurean.

Makes approximately 20 tablespoons (he made much less)

Ingredients:

1 cup almond meal
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (start with half)
1 pinch of salt (optional)
approximately ½ cup of water to process

Directions:

Place the almond meal,  half the apple cider vinegar and salt in your blender and turn the machine in. Add water slowly until the cashews have just been liquefied. Stop the machine and taste the mixture and adjust the flavors to your taste. Refrigerate until needed.

I quite liked the pate despite my mushroom texture issues and Toby loved it.

I was exhausted by Sunday so I opted to make something which I thought was easy and quick for the Xmas potluck. This Candy Cane Fudge from A profound Hatred of Meat.



 I loved the simple idea of adding crushed candy canes on top. I had all sorts of issues with the fudge though. First, I almost the burnt the coconut milk, then had to use the kitchen aid to mix it together but it was still too dry. So I ended up adding more and more coconut milk and then in the end you couldn't get it out of the pan. It also results in way too many dishes for such a simple dish. I think next time I would opt to make the five minute fudge from my sweet vegan and just add the candy canes to that.

Check out what fat fueled vegan made for the ice cream potluck, and Lisa's post about the her dish at the xmas potluck and hopefully there will be more recipes posted online!  

So it turns out we don't have any pictures of Toby's ice cream dish or his xmas potluck dish. Yes we had two potlucks this weekend! A ice cream one on Saturday and xmas themed potluck on Sunday. For the ice cream potluck Toby made a super alcoholic large version of the frozen margarita pie that I made last time. Except this time he made the ice cream using the lime recipe from vegan scoop. For the xmas potluck he made this:

 Mushroom and Tarragon Pate using this recipe from BBC.

• 50g margarine
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 leek finely chopped (he used a regular onion)
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 100g chestnut mushrooms , finely chopped (he used button mushrooms)
• 100g shiitake mushrooms , finely chopped
• 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp crème fraîche (see vegan version below)
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon plus extra to garnish(he used dried)

1. Heat butter in a large frying pan. Add shallots, leek and garlic, then gently fry for 7 mins until softened.
2. Increase the heat, add the chestnut and the shiitake mushrooms, then cook for 10 mins, stirring, until the juices have evaporated and the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the mustard and crème fraîche, then season well. Cook for a further 2 mins then stir in the chopped tarragon.

Almond Creme Fraiche loosely based on recipe for cashew cream fraiche from Vegan Epicurean.

Makes approximately 20 tablespoons (he made much less)

Ingredients:

1 cup almond meal
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (start with half)
1 pinch of salt (optional)
approximately ½ cup of water to process

Directions:

Place the almond meal,  half the apple cider vinegar and salt in your blender and turn the machine in. Add water slowly until the cashews have just been liquefied. Stop the machine and taste the mixture and adjust the flavors to your taste. Refrigerate until needed.

I quite liked the pate despite my mushroom texture issues and Toby loved it.

I was exhausted by Sunday so I opted to make something which I thought was easy and quick for the Xmas potluck. This Candy Cane Fudge from A profound Hatred of Meat.



 I loved the simple idea of adding crushed candy canes on top. I had all sorts of issues with the fudge though. First, I almost the burnt the coconut milk, then had to use the kitchen aid to mix it together but it was still too dry. So I ended up adding more and more coconut milk and then in the end you couldn't get it out of the pan. It also results in way too many dishes for such a simple dish. I think next time I would opt to make the five minute fudge from my sweet vegan and just add the candy canes to that.

Check out what fat fueled vegan made for the ice cream potluck, and Lisa's post about the her dish at the xmas potluck and hopefully there will be more recipes posted online!  

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Chocolate Candy Cane Ice Cream- Vegan Mofo Day 25

I got really excited the other day when I saw vegan candy canes at Coles. I love candy canes because they are edible decorations which I think is incredibly cool. I made candy cane cookies for a xmas potluck a few years ago and so was thinking I need to find something else to do with them.

I stood in the supermarket with my phone and searched for vegan candy cane ice cream recipes, vegan ice cream paradise blog popped up straight away.  If you haven't already checked out her incredible blog I strongly recommend it. She hasn't posted as regularly for a few years due to health reasons but has so many great looking vegan ice cream recipes which everyone can access for free. I've also made and enjoyed the blueberry 'cheesecake' ice cream from her blog before.

2 c. soy creamer (or any non-dairy milk- I used soy milk)
1 c. soy milk (or any non-dairy milk)
¾ c. sugar
1½ c. chocolate chips (i used good quality bitter dark chocolate chips)
2 T. arrowroot
1 t. vanilla extract (i forgot this)
2 t. peppermint extract (i only used 1 teaspoon)
1 c. chopped candy canes (I used about 12 candy canes which was a little under a cup)

Mix ¼ cup of soy milk with the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot and set aside.

Mix the soy creamer, soy milk, sugar, and chocolate chips together in a saucepan. Heat gently until the chocolate melts, then bring to a boil. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and immediately stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).

Add the vanilla and peppermint extracts.

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Add the chopped candy canes in the last 5 minutes of freezing.

I wasn't sure what would happen to the texture of the candy canes when frozen, but they appeared to maintain their nice crunchy texture which is great because I prefer some crunchy bits in ice cream. I halved the amount of peppermint extract because last time I made peppermint choc chip ice cream, I thought 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract was enough but the chocolate flavour is incredibly rich and slightly bitter which overpowers the peppermint flavour in the ice cream base. I think it really works though because the candy canes have a strong peppermint flavour which provides a nice contrast of flavours and textures. This was super delicious so I will have to make it again closer to xmas time.

I got really excited the other day when I saw vegan candy canes at Coles. I love candy canes because they are edible decorations which I think is incredibly cool. I made candy cane cookies for a xmas potluck a few years ago and so was thinking I need to find something else to do with them.

I stood in the supermarket with my phone and searched for vegan candy cane ice cream recipes, vegan ice cream paradise blog popped up straight away.  If you haven't already checked out her incredible blog I strongly recommend it. She hasn't posted as regularly for a few years due to health reasons but has so many great looking vegan ice cream recipes which everyone can access for free. I've also made and enjoyed the blueberry 'cheesecake' ice cream from her blog before.

2 c. soy creamer (or any non-dairy milk- I used soy milk)
1 c. soy milk (or any non-dairy milk)
¾ c. sugar
1½ c. chocolate chips (i used good quality bitter dark chocolate chips)
2 T. arrowroot
1 t. vanilla extract (i forgot this)
2 t. peppermint extract (i only used 1 teaspoon)
1 c. chopped candy canes (I used about 12 candy canes which was a little under a cup)

Mix ¼ cup of soy milk with the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot and set aside.

Mix the soy creamer, soy milk, sugar, and chocolate chips together in a saucepan. Heat gently until the chocolate melts, then bring to a boil. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and immediately stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).

Add the vanilla and peppermint extracts.

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. Add the chopped candy canes in the last 5 minutes of freezing.

I wasn't sure what would happen to the texture of the candy canes when frozen, but they appeared to maintain their nice crunchy texture which is great because I prefer some crunchy bits in ice cream. I halved the amount of peppermint extract because last time I made peppermint choc chip ice cream, I thought 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract was enough but the chocolate flavour is incredibly rich and slightly bitter which overpowers the peppermint flavour in the ice cream base. I think it really works though because the candy canes have a strong peppermint flavour which provides a nice contrast of flavours and textures. This was super delicious so I will have to make it again closer to xmas time.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Gingerbread cookies and xmas lunch

For xmas, we decided to make gingerbread people and animals, I used the colourful choc chips, white icing and a black icing pen to decorate them in all sorts of way. I used this recipe from post punk kitchen but I halved the amount of ginger and I still think they may have been a tiny bit too gingery and added only a pinch of cloves and I used golden syrup instead of molasses:

Gingerbread cutout cookies
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup plain soymilk (I used rice milk)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour (I just used white)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

spice blend:
1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

Directions
In a large bowl beat together oil and sugar for about 3 minutes. Add molasses and soymilk. The molasses and soymilk won't really blend with the oil but that's ok.

In a separate bowl, sift together all the other ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches. Mix together with a firm spoon or spatula until well combined. You should have a pretty stiff dough. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or up to 3 days in advance. (If you chill longer than an hour you may want to let it sit for 10 minutes to loosen up a bit before proceeding).


Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease your cookie sheets.

On a floured surface roll you dough out to a little less than 1/4 inch thick. You can do this in 2 batches if you don't have the space. Cut out your shapes with your cookie cutters and gently place on cookie sheets (if you are using them to decorate with remember to cut a hole with a straw or something before baking). Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack. Wait until they are completely cool before icing.

The icing was following was made using the suggestion from PPK of mixing icing sugar with a tiny bit of wter until you get the right consistency, it was so simple.

It was lots of fun cutting out the gingerbread shapes, and it made me realise that I want to make more cut out type cookies, however I found that the dough cracked quite a lot when I baked them as you can probably tell from the santa looking one here:

we also made vegan caramelised onion quiche from vegan brunch and my mother provided the rest of our yummy lunch, which consisted of roasted vegetables, corn and peas cooked with Nuttelex and cheezy broccoli/cauliflower with our family's Vegemite gravy, it doesn't actually taste like Vegemite just adds a depth of flavour.

For xmas, we decided to make gingerbread people and animals, I used the colourful choc chips, white icing and a black icing pen to decorate them in all sorts of way. I used this recipe from post punk kitchen but I halved the amount of ginger and I still think they may have been a tiny bit too gingery and added only a pinch of cloves and I used golden syrup instead of molasses:

Gingerbread cutout cookies
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup plain soymilk (I used rice milk)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour (I just used white)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

spice blend:
1/2 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

Directions
In a large bowl beat together oil and sugar for about 3 minutes. Add molasses and soymilk. The molasses and soymilk won't really blend with the oil but that's ok.

In a separate bowl, sift together all the other ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches. Mix together with a firm spoon or spatula until well combined. You should have a pretty stiff dough. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour or up to 3 days in advance. (If you chill longer than an hour you may want to let it sit for 10 minutes to loosen up a bit before proceeding).


Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease your cookie sheets.

On a floured surface roll you dough out to a little less than 1/4 inch thick. You can do this in 2 batches if you don't have the space. Cut out your shapes with your cookie cutters and gently place on cookie sheets (if you are using them to decorate with remember to cut a hole with a straw or something before baking). Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and let them cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack. Wait until they are completely cool before icing.

The icing was following was made using the suggestion from PPK of mixing icing sugar with a tiny bit of wter until you get the right consistency, it was so simple.

It was lots of fun cutting out the gingerbread shapes, and it made me realise that I want to make more cut out type cookies, however I found that the dough cracked quite a lot when I baked them as you can probably tell from the santa looking one here:

we also made vegan caramelised onion quiche from vegan brunch and my mother provided the rest of our yummy lunch, which consisted of roasted vegetables, corn and peas cooked with Nuttelex and cheezy broccoli/cauliflower with our family's Vegemite gravy, it doesn't actually taste like Vegemite just adds a depth of flavour.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad