White Chocolate Biscoff Cookies

When I first posted these on my instagram, everyone loved them! I promised that I would write up the recipe –  so here it is!

These cookies are white chocolate chip – but with a hidden surprise…

They’re stuffed with a biscoff spread filling!

The cookies themselves are pretty big, so make sure when you bake them you leave plenty of space on the tray for them – else you end up with several cookies stuck together.

• Servings: 12 cookies
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Ingredients

For the cookies
• 100g vegan white chocolate chips (or chop up a white chocolate bar into chunks)
• 140g vegan butter
• 150g brown sugar
• 100g white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp water
• 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 275g plain flour

For the filling

• 125g biscuit spread
• 40g icing sugar (powdered sugar)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 175C/350F
1. Begin by combining the butter, sugars, and vanilla in a bowl and mixing unitil smooth and creamy.
2. Add the oil, baking powder, and water, and stir until combined.
3. Mix in the bicarbonate of soda.
4. Stir through the flour until a firm dough forms. Mix in the chocolate chips.
5. In a separate bowl, mix together the biscuit spread and icing sugar until the mixture is able to be formed into balls with your hand.
6. Form the cookie dough into twelve large cookie sized balls (or more/less if you would rather) and set them aside.
7. Take one of the cookie dough balls, break it in half, and flatten each half slightly.
8. Add a teaspoon sized amount of the biscoff mixture in the middle of one of the halves, and cover with the other half – making sure to seal well. Don’t worry about flattening the dough, it’ll do that in the oven.
9. Repeat until all the cookie dough is used up.
10. Place on a lined baking tray, and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden.
11. Enjoy!

Biscoff Rocky Road – VeganMoFo 2019

Are you ready for a brand new recipe? Of course it’s a sweet one – I’m always on the lookout for new sweet recipe ideas! One of my favourite recipes to make is my rocky road, and so I decided to adapt it a bit and use another of my favourite flavours…Biscoff!

This bar has all the textures of a rocky road, but with the flavour of biscoff cookies and spread. If you can’t get biscoff spread, you can look and see if you can find other “biscuit spread” – it may be labelled as speculoos or just “spiced biscuit spread”, and check the ingredients to make sure it’s vegan. It’s delicious!

Biscoff Rocky Road

• Servings: makes 28 squares
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Ingredients

• 150g lotus biscuits
• 100g rich tea (or other mild) biscuits
• 300g vegan chocolate
• 75g vegan butter
• 200g biscoff cookie spread
• 50g vegan mini marshmallows
To top
• 100g biscoff cookie spread
• 50g lotus biscuits
• mini marshmallows

Directions

1. In a food processor, blend the lotus biscuits and rich teas until they are mostly crumbs.
2. In a heat proof bowl, combine the chocolate, butter, and cookie spread, and melt (either in the microwave or over a double boiler).
3. Once melted, stir in the biscuit crumbs and mini marshmallows and mix until well combined.
4. Press into a lined tin, making sure to compress it well so it doesn’t fall apart.
5. Melt the remaining cookie spread (from the “to top” section) and drizzle over the large bar.
6. Break up the biscuits and press on to the melted spread. Sprinkle the marshmallows on top.
7. Place in the fridge and leave to set for at least 2 hours, until firm.
8. Slice into bars. Store in the fridge.

VeganMoFo 2019!

Hey everyone, and welcome to VeganMoFo 2019! This year is my sixth year taking part in VeganMoFo and I have decided to do a bit of a “Past and Present” theme. This means I’m not going to be publishing constant new recipes this month – sadly I hit a bit of a creative block with that! – but I’ll post some new recipes, and also highlight old recipes I have made throughout past VeganMoFos.

Throughout the month, I’ll be updating my instagram, and this post with links to each recipe I upload photos of. Check back to see pictures and links to anything you would like to make!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies were the first recipe I posted on this blog – so it feels apt to make them the first post of VeganMoFo 2019! While this recipe isn’t that one, it’s my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. Find it here.

Chilli Cheese Nachos

Something savoury for the weekend! These nachos have a homemade cheese sauce which is one of my absolute favourites to make (and easy too!) and it would also work great as a dip too to share with friends! Find the recipe here.

Bourbon Biscuit Brownies

Another sweet recipe today (I have a very sweet tooth!). These Bourbon Biscuit Brownies are a favourite in this house – and you don’t necessarily have to use bourbon biscuits, I like to make them with oreos too! Any vegan biscuit will work well. Find the recipe here.

Nut Roast Burgers

I will admit, I’ve never been the best at taking pictures of burgers. I can make them taste good, but they’re difficult to photograph! These are no different – delicious but not the prettiest! These Nut Roast Burgers are packed full of nuts and herbs and are really great in cobs/buns or with a salad. Find the recipe here.

Bolognese Fries

In this recipe, potatoes are cut into wedges, roasted in the oven, and then topped with a bolognese mixture and grated vegan cheese which then gets melted on top. Delicious! Find the recipe here.

Roasted Butternut Squash & Chickpea Salad

Yes, vegans do also eat salad. But tasty salad! This salad roasts up butternut squash with chickpeas (which go lovely and crispy!), and is served with rocket (or arugula if you’re American) and a simple but tasty tahini dressing. Salads don’t have to be sad! Find the recipe here.

Brookies

When you hear “brookies” do you think of brownies with cookie dough? Or of cookies that are brownie like? These are the latter – based off my brownie recipe, but made into cookies. Rich and gooey, but less messy than a brownie, these are some of my most requested cookies! Find the recipe here.

Creamy Courgette Pasta

This is a recipe from waaaay back in the archives, but it’s simple and tasty, so give it a go! Soya cream (or whatever type of single cream you prefer) mixed with pasta and sauteed onion, garlic, and courgette. Find the recipe here!

Carrot and Butterbean Soup

On a rainy day like today, some hot thick soup is perfect, and this carrot and butterbean soup fits the bill! Packed full of carrots and beans, it is great served with warm bread or pitta. Find the recipe here.

Chocolate Crumbed Banana Muffins

Do you ever find yourself with slightly sad bananas that you never got round to eating? Don’t fancy making a whole loaf of banana bread? These banana muffins are just what you need! Dotted with chocolate chips, and topped with a crunchy cocoa crumb topping, they are a great way to use up overripe bananas. Find the recipe here.

Biscoff Rocky Road

A new recipe?! Yes that’s right, the first one of VeganMoFo 2019! I’m not completely out of ideas. This recipe is for rocky road bars that are packed full of biscoff cookie spread. Yum! Find the recipe here.

Pea Pesto Pasta

Ok, so how GREEN is this plate? Practically exudes health, doesn’t it? Well, it’s actually very tasty. Another recipe from a while back on the blog, this pasta uses peas as the base of a pesto sauce, with nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and olive oil. Find the recipe here.

Mediterranean Baked Butter Beans

Butter beans are one of my favourite beans – how about you? This meal is a thick stew, with soft butter beans, sweet carrots, and herby tomatoes. It’s baked in the oven to allow the flavours to meld, and is perfect on a chilly rainy day. Find the recipe here.

Best Seitan Burgers

These burgers take a little more effort to make, as they need steaming before they are fried, but they are SO worth it. Made with a mix of seitan and TVP mince, they have the perfect bite, and work perfectly to be barbecued (or grilled, if you’re American). Find the recipe here.

Pasta with White Bean & Rosemary Sauce

Also known as “hidden veg sauce” as this pasta sauce looks like a creamy tomato sauce but is also packed full of carrots and beans! The rosemary gives it a lovely hearty flavour too. Find the recipe here.

Borlotti Bean Soup

This is perhaps our favourite soup to make – delicious and full of pasta and beans making it a great meal. Find the recipe here!

Pizza Sticks

Bank holiday weekend, so what’s better than pizza? Well, these are pizza made into breadstick form, snackable and delicious! Find the recipe here.

Vegan Meringues

It’s a pretty sunny day and these meringues make the perfect light sweet snack! They go great with summer berries too. I used to think you could never make vegan meringues – but you can! Find out how here.

White Chocolate Biscoff Cookies

Another biscoff recipe? Yes, maybe I’m in a bit of a phase, but it’s tasty! I first posted these on my instagram a while back and they went down really well, so here’s the recipe!

Cheese Stuffed Bean Burgers

The final recipe of VeganMoFo 2019! Where has it gone? These burgers work great with your favourite melting cheese – which is cubed and stuffed into the centre of the burgers before they’re cooked, letting you bite into a gooey melty cheese filled burger, delicious! Find the recipe here.

 

Thank you to everyone who joined me for VeganMoFo 2019, it’s always so lovely seeing the new creations everyone comes up with!

Cherry and Almond Biscuits

What’s this? A blog post? Outside of VeganMoFo?! Yep, that’s right. I’m as shocked as you. I made these biscuits and thought, hey, why not blog them! They came about quite by accident – I made a Bakewell tart and had leftover glace cherries and ground almonds, and thought I’d use those Bakewell flavours and make biscuits!

They’re pretty simple to make, with ground almonds and almond extract in the dough giving it that Bakewell flavour, and chopped up glace cherries folded through. Glace cherries are a little sticky to chop, but they are worth it!

The dough can be made in advance – it needs to chill for at least an hour, but will be happy left overnight if you like! This means you can just bake them at your leisure and have freshly baked biscuits ready for you. These are perfect with a hot cup of tea.

Cherry & Almond Biscuits

• Servings: 20 biscuits
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Ingredients

• 125g vegan butter
• 150g white sugar
• 50g brown sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 tbsp non-dairy milk
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g glace cherries, roughly chopped

Directions

1. Begin by creaming the butter and sugars in a bowl until light and fluffy.
2. Add in the almond extract, ground almonds, and milk, and mix well.
3. Stir through the flour and baking powder to form a dough.
4. Gently fold in the chopped cherries, making sure to distribute them evenly through the dough.
5. Place in the fridge for at least an hour to chill.
6. Preheat the oven to 180C/355F
7. Roll the dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet, giving room for expansion.
8. Place in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are golden at the edges.
9. Leave to cool on the baking tray, then eat!

 

Chickpea Scramble – VeganMoFo Day 29

It’s the penultimate day of VeganMoFo 2018! Has September flown by, or crawled? A bit of both to be honest! Today’s prompt is “Brunch” – now, I love the kind of foods you have at brunch! Anything from pancakes to sausages are great with me. For this meal, I made scramble…not from eggs (of course) or tofu (though that is tasty) but chickpea flour!

I’ve already got a recipe for chickpea flour scramble on here, but it’s Indian spiced and has vegetables in. It’s really tasty, but this one is a basic one which goes really well with other brunch flavours – I had it here with bagels, fried tomatoes, and avocado.

Chickpea flour is a great source of protein and really good for making things like scrambles, pancakes, and fritters with.

Chickpea Scramble

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 250g chickpea flour
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 500ml cold water

Directions

1. Begin by frying the onion and garlic in the oil in a large pan, until softened.
2. Mix the chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, stock powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt together in a bowl.
3. Very gradually stir in the cold water, mixing constantly to avoid lumps.
4. Pour the chickpea flour mixture over the onions and garlic and leave for a couple of minutes, until the edges start to set.
5. Next, with a spatula, scramble the mixture for approximately five minutes until well scrambled and cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
6. Serve immediately.

Cheese & Marmite Pinwheels – VeganMoFo Day 28

When I posted a picture of these on my Instagram stories a while back, I got so many messages from people saying they liked the look of them! And to be honest, they are pretty great. Today’s VeganMoFo prompt is about making picnic food – and these would make you the star of a picnic for sure!

Now, marmite is a bit of a “love or hate” flavour, and apparently a lot of foreigners react negatively to it on their first try. I’m of the opinion that this is because they use too much.  They think of it like chocolate spread, or peanut butter, and put a huge layer of it on their toast/sandwich/whatever. And, of course, the flavour ends up being overpowering. Marmite is pretty strong, but it has such a lovely savoury flavour that it works really well in a lot of applications. Here, it’s balanced by the creaminess of the cheese, and makes a tasty picnic snack. Just don’t put an inch thick of it (or do, if that’s your thing)!

In the UK, a lot of puff pastry is “accidentally vegan”  – I used Morrison’s own brand for this, but the jus-rol brand is readily available. Check the ingredients first, of course, but most don’t actually use dairy butter and so are fine!

For the cheese, I used Violife cheese slices – I felt like slices were easier to layer over the pastry than grated cheese, but grated cheese would also work well, you could use your favourite vegan cheese.

Cheese & Marmite Pinwheels

• Servings: 20 pinwheels
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Ingredients

• 1 pack of rolled puff pastry, approx 400g
• 1 packet of vegan cheese slices OR grated vegan cheese, approx 200g
• 1 tbsp marmite

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180C/355F
1. Begin by mixing your marmite in a bowl with a little warm water – just a few drops, enough to thin the marmite until it’s spreadable on your pastry.
2. Roll out your pastry to a big rectangle, long side towards you.
3. Spread the thinned marmite evenly over the pastry, making sure to reach the edges.
4. Top the marmite with the cheese slices, once again trying to cover the pastry evenly.
5. Roll the pastry tightly starting from the bottom. The cheese may crack slightly as you roll, this is ok.
6. Once completely rolled, slice into twenty pinwheels and place on a lined baking tray (you’ll need more than one tray, as they puff in the oven).
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until pastry is golden brown.
8. Leave to cool on trays, if they last that long!

Pizza Toasties! – VeganMoFo Day 27

Today’s recipe, if you can call it that, is simple and straightforward, for a simple straightforward prompt – the TV Dinner! I mean, we don’t have a dining space so we eat on the sofa every day anyway, but sometimes you want something comforting, easy to eat, and tasty for watching your favourite show.

Enter the Pizza Toastie!

I’m not going to post an actual “recipe” for this, as it’ll depend a lot on what you use yourself – but I’ll describe how I made it.

I made a batch of my gooey cheese sauce – which is really delicious and works great as a melty cheese for sandwiches – and used that as the cheese filling. I used Asda’s free from red pesto as a sauce, and added chopped up sundried tomatoes as well. You could add different flavours if you like – grilled mushrooms, sausages, basil, fresh tomatoes. I pressed these in my panini grill for about five minutes, until nicely golden.

Brussels & “Bacon” Pasta – VeganMoFo Day 26

Today’s VeganMoFo prompt is about holidays, so I chose a holiday I love to make food for – Christmas! Now, it’s a bit early for me to be making mince pies or Christmas pudding truffles, so I chose to use the flavours of Christmas to make an everyday meal.

Brussels sprouts are an integral part of Christmas dinner, and if you cook them right (roast or fry – don’t just boil!) they are delicious. I often have a bag of frozen brussels in my freezer which I use year round. For this meal, I used those (defrosted first), but you could use leftover ones from Christmas too!

I used vegan bacon in this recipe too – yes, two days running with vegan bacon, but the recipe I use for seitan bacon makes enough for more than one lot, so I use the rest! It’s a great recipe and one I make regularly. Saves having to buy premade stuff (plus you get more to snack on here!)

Brussels & Bacon Pasta

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

• Enough pasta for two
• 400g frozen brussels, defrosted and chopped up (or use leftovers)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pack vegan bacon, sliced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt & pepper

Directions

1. Begin by frying the onion and garlic in the oil until translucent.
2. Add the brussels, bacon, and seasoning, and fry over a medium heat until the brussels begin to caramelise and go brown.
3. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper if necessary.
4. Serve with your cooked pasta!

Homemade Baked Beans with Vegan Bacon – VeganMoFo Day 24

Today’s VeganMoFo prompt is about food to bring to a Pot Luck. Now I have never been to a pot luck, and I don’t even know if they’re a thing here in the UK, but from what I’ve seen, it’s a bit like a buffet only more hot food. People bring their own food and everyone helps themselves. Stews and casseroles seem to be a common thing. I wanted to inject a bit of a British flavour to it, so I made baked beans.

This may be a shocking turn of events, but I don’t actually like canned baked beans. I know, revoke my British citizenship (go for it, I don’t mind). But homemade ones are different. I added vegan bacon to these beans – I actually made my own using this recipe, which is my favourite, but shop bought vegan bacon also works well!

You could serve this as part of a breakfast, or on the side of a roast, or just like me have it on bagels. I’ll be honest, I think everything is better on bagels!

Baked Beans and Vegan Bacon

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 packet of vegan bacon, diced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 tin white kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• salt + pepper

Directions

1. Begin by frying the onion and garlic in a little oil until translucent.
2. Add the diced bacon, and fry for a few minutes more until starting to brown.
3. Add the paprika, herbs, and tomato puree and stir through.
4. Stir in the kidney beans, stock, and chopped tomatoes, and bring to a simmer.
5. Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. Season to taste!

 

Mince & Potato Pie – VeganMoFo Day 23

From the title of this blog post, you may think I have gone Christmassy, and indeed despite it being still September, you can already find vegan Christmas mince pies in shops (Asda’s own are registered with the Vegan Society!). However, I haven’t started on Christmas quite yet, and this meal is of the savoury nature! The prompt for today’s VeganMoFo is “Sunday Dinner”, and whilst we don’t have a Sunday dinner tradition, if we did, this pie would be on it!

This pie is a proper pie, with a pastry top and bottom, which does come with a bit more work (you have to blind bake the bottom) but it’s definitely worth it for a good roast dinner. Use whatever size pie pots you have, or even smaller ramekins – mine are quite big so it made two pies, but smaller pots would make more.

The filling is a mix of mince – here in the UK, you can get frozen mince from the supermarkets that is vegan – and potatoes and is lovely and hearty!

Mince & Potato Pies

• Servings: 2 pies
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Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp vegan worcester sauce
• 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
• 500g potatoes, diced
• 300g vegan mince
• 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in the US)
• 1 packet puff pastry (500g)
• 2 tbsp non-dairy milk of choice

Directions

1. Begin by frying the onion and garlic in a little oil until softened. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the worcester sauce, stock powder, potatoes, mince, and 500ml water.
3. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes until the potatoes are softened.
4. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp cold water, and then stir it into the potato mix, mixing until thickened.
5. Set aside and leave to cool.
6. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
7. Meanwhile, blind bake the bottom of the pies. Roll your pastry out to fit the pie dishes (with a little overhang), and top with baking paper and baking beans. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
8. Trim the edges of the pies, and then add the cooled filling mixture.
9. Roll out the remaining pastry and place on top of the filling. Seal the edges with a little milk.
10. Brush the top of the pies with the remaining soy milk (this helps the pastry to go golden).
11. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.
12. Serve hot!