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This is a simple recipe which is easy to prepare and looks impressive – always a good combination!
For this recipe you will need an 8″ / 20 cm diameter sandwich tin and a food processor. The tin needs to be at least 1½” / 3 cm deep to give you a reasonable depth of filling.
Summary: All the yum of cheesecake, without the cheese. Magic!
Ingredients
- 300g firm silken tofu (one box, actual weights seem to vary from box to box!)
- 250ml Soya Dream
- 3 heaped dsp golden syrup
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 170g Co-op country crunch/ginger thin biscuits (or whatever you can lay your hands on that comes dairy-free in your neck of the woods)
- ½ cup melted dairy-free spread
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F
- Crush biscuits.
- Blend with melted spread and use to line greased tin.
- Put remaining ingredients in food processor and “whizz” on medium speed until smooth.
- Check that the syrup has been properly mixed in and isn’t just lurking at the bottom, then pour onto the biscuit base.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 1 hour. Do NOT test the surface with your fingers: it will just come off on them, tell you nothing and leave the top looking pock-marked. The top should go a pale gold colour, but it may well not look cooked when it is. Believe me, an hour is enough. If small cracks start to form in the top, turn it off immediately: it’s more than done.
- DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE OVEN. Turn the oven off and open the door just a little bit, then leave until it is completely cold. This helps to prevent the top from cracking which happens if it cools too quickly.
- To serve, scatter what tends to be called a fruits of the forest mix (strawberries, raspberries and blackberries) over the top. That way, even if you do have some cracks, no-one can see them!
Variations
If you double this one up, it makes a stunning centrepiece for a party in an 11″ / 28cm loose bottomed flan tin. Line the tin with foil to prevent any leaks and to serve, just remove the side ring and as much of the foil as comes off easily, then leave it on the tin base and put the lot onto a serving plate.
Preparation time (duration): 15 minutes
Cooking time (duration): 1 hour + about 2 hours cooling time
Diet type: dairy-free and vegan
Number of servings (yield): 12
Meal type: dessert
Microformatting by hRecipe.
This cake makes a great Christmas cake alternative for people who don’t like dried fruit. If, as in our family, you end up doing both fruit and madeira, try making this one square for a different look:
For this recipe there are two alternative methods: with and without a food processor. Both ways give good results. Either way you will need an 8″ / 20cm round or a 7″ / 18cm square cake tin, some greaseproof paper and a wire cooling rack. Without a food processor, you will also need a large mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer. If you need a different size from this, go here for scaled versions of the recipe
Summary: Perfect for icing
Ingredients
- 8oz / 225g plain flour (sifted)
- 1 very heaped tsp baking powder
- 6oz / 175g softened dairy-free spread
- 6oz / 175g caster sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 1½ tsp vanilla essence
- 2 tbsp soya milk/rice milk/oat milk
- grated zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
By hand
- Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 3 / 170°C / 325°F
- Line and grease an 8″ / 20cm round cake tin or 7″ / 18cm square one.
- Sift together the flour and baking powder.
- Cream together the spread and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat the eggs together in a dish and add the vanilla essence
- Add the egg mixture to the spread and sugar a little at a time, adding about a dessertspoonful of flour with each addition of egg to prevent curdling. Blend each addition thoroughly.
- Add the milk and lemon zest. Mix thoroughly.
- Pour into the prepared tin and level the top with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 1h30 to 1h45. Test whether or not the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean the cake is cooked.
- After removing the cake from the oven, leave it to cool in its tin for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack. Remove all greaseproof paper and leave to cool.
In a processor
- Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 3 / 170°C / 325°F
- Line and grease an 8″ / 20cm round cake tin or 7″ / 18cm square one.
- Put everything into the food processor and “whizz” until the mixture is smooth and looks very creamy. I tend to use the medium speed.
- Pour into the tin and cook as for the hand made version.
Quick Notes
We tend to split this cake and fill it with a layer of “butter icing”, then marzipan and ice it with roll-out icing which can be decorated with marzipan, holly leaves and berries, bells etc..
 A madeira Christmas cake!
Variations
As with all the other cake recipes in this collection, I have made this very successfully with 81% Stone Ground flour. As before, I would advise using self-raising flour and still adding the baking powder. I put a dessertspoonful of water in with the eggs when I mix them up, to compensate for the extra absorbency of the bran content.
Preparation time (duration): 15 minutes
Cooking time (duration): 1 hour 30 – 1 hour 45 minutes
Diet type: dairy-free
Number of servings (yield): 12
Meal type: dessert
Microformatting by hRecipe.
This is every bit as delicious as the original (indeed, the original swiss roll is fat free in the first place). The icing is the adjusted part.
You must be organised to make a good swiss roll. Don’t start this recipe without reading it all the way through first. You must have everything you need on hand and within reach before you start, as this is a recipe which has to go quickly once you have started.
For this recipe you will need a swiss roll tin, two large mixing bowls, a pyrex glass dish, an electric hand mixer (by hand is feasible but very hard work), an old newspaper, some silicone baking paper, a wire cooling rack, a rectangular cake board and a mug of boiling water.
The keys to success with this cake are to do the beating hard and everything else gently! Although the list of instructions below seems formidable, it’s much easier than it sounds.
Summary: Traditional chocolate Swiss Roll
Ingredients
For the cake
- 3 medium eggs
- 4oz / 110g caster sugar
- 2oz / 50g sifted self-raising flour
- 0.5oz / 10g cocoa powder
- a little flavourless vegetable oil
For the icing
- 8oz / 225g icing sugar
- 3.5 oz / 85g softened Tomor
- 3tbsps sweetened soya milk
- a couple of drops of vanilla extract (not essence, tastes bitter)
- about 1oz / 25g sifted cocoa powder
Instructions
- Remove the Tomor from the fridge several hours before you wish to cook so that it is soft enough to use for the icing. If you have forgotten, you can heat the desired quantity in the microwave for a few seconds, but do remember to put it in a dish of some sort rather than on a plate (melted Tomor can go everywhere) and zap it only in very small amounts at a time as you don’t want it liquid!
- Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 7 / 220°C / 400°F.
- Grease a swiss roll tin with a little flavourless vegetable oil and line it with silicone baking paper.
- Sieve the flour and cocoa powder together.
- Put the sugar in a pyrex glass dish and heat it in the oven for about 2 minutes.
- Meanwhile, break the eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat with mixer on high speed.
- Add the hot sugar while the mixer is still going and beat the mixture until it has doubled in size and is pale and fluffy.
- Gently fold in the flour/cocoa mixture using a metal spatula or spoon.
- Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and spread it out gently until it is evenly distributed.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 8 minutes. Do not open the oven in less than 7 minutes. When you do open the door do so gently and keep it open only wide enough to reach in without burning yourself. Test the cake lightly with your fingertips and, if it is not quite ready, shut the door as gently as possible. When it is ready the cake should just be very slightly springy to the touch and should be just starting to come away from the sides.
- While the cake is in the oven, you need to clear yourself a patch of table/worktop for the rolling process. You also need to make up the icing.
- Put the softened Tomor in a large mixing bowl and beat it either with a wooden spoon or with an electric mixer on medium speed until the Tomor is light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar. I add a small amount of soya milk at this stage to start the icing sugar off, but you don’t have to. With the hand mixer on slow, blend the ingredients together, adding the soya milk a little at a time until the consistency is right. Icing is a tricky creature to get to grips with. No matter how carefully I measure things out it always comes down to adding a bit more sugar and then a bit more soya milk until I have the consistency I want, so be prepared to fiddle around with this stage.
- When the icing is smoothly blended, beat in the vanilla essence, then put about a third of it into a second mixing bowl. This will form the filling for the log. You want it a little softer than you would for icing to coat a cake, so add a little more soya milk at this stage. Aim for a consistency that will stretch smoothly off a spoon when you lift up a dollop, but is not runny. If you have this too thick, it will never spread over your swiss roll and you will tear up the surface of the cake as you attempt to cover it.
- The remaining two thirds of the icing is for the outside, so you need to add the cocoa powder to it. This should be done by sieving the cocoa, as cocoa powder always has lumps and they won’t just beat out. Push the cocoa through the sieve with a spoon rather than shaking it or you’ll end up with a fine layer of cocoa all over the kitchen. Remember that from the moment you add the cocoa, the more you beat it the paler it will go. To avoid having a pale beige log, add a little soya milk to the mixture before you add the cocoa. When the milk is blended in and the mixture has softened just a bit, start adding the cocoa. Keep adding cocoa until the icing is the colour you would like and beat it just enough to make the colour even throughout.
- When the cake is ready to come out of the oven, spread out the old newspaper, full thickness, on the table. On top of that, lay a sheet of baking paper which is about 8″ / 20cm longer than your swiss roll tin and at least as wide as it. Put the cake still in its tin onto the cooling rack and leave to cool for about 5 minutes.
- This is the first tricky bit. You need to put the cake upside down onto the baking paper. You also want to position it so that at least 4″ / 10cm of one of the narrow ends of the baking paper is left free: you’re going to need to hold on to this bit. It sounds impossible, but I’ve never yet managed to drop one even though I keep thinking I’m going to! Holding the tin with a cloth, as it will still be a bit too warm for bare hands, position it along one of its long sides on the baking paper strip. Slide your hand in the cloth under the tin until it is in about the middle of the tin’s base and flip it down on its face onto the paper.
- While you are congratulating yourself on achieving this feat, lift off the tin, carefully peel off the baking paper from the bottom of the cake and allow it to cool for a couple of minutes. You do not want the cake to be completely cool before the next bit as it rolls more easily while it is still slightly flexible.
- Trim just a sliver of cake off each of the long sides (this is to remove any crispy bits which make rolling the cake a real challenge) and put on the filling icing. I use a spoon for dolloping the icing and a knife dipped in a mug of boiling water to spread it out. Put small dollops of icing all over the cake and spread them out very gently. If you are rough with this stage you will end up with a ploughed field effect, so take care. Beware of being over-generous with the icing or the cake won’t roll: try to keep to a limit of about ¼” / 5mm.
- Have the bowl containing the covering icing within easy reach of where you are going to roll the cake, along with a knife and a fork standing in a mug of hot water. You will also need to have the cake board ready and within reach.
- Now for the second tricky bit. You need to have faith with this. Line up the cake so that the narrow end with the extra greaseproof paper is facing you. Gently ease up the end of the cake closest to you and crease it in to start the roll. Next catch hold of the end of the greaseproof paper closest to you. You will need to scrunch the paper up in your hands a bit to keep some tension on the cake. Keeping both of your hands moving at the same speed, slowly but steadily tow the paper over the cake away from you. The cake should roll up like magic.
- If disaster strikes and it cracks or splits, don’t panic, just hold it together on the paper with one hand (and forearm sometimes!) and with the other hand use the greaseproof paper as a sling to lift the cake onto its board. Keep hold of the cake and use the covering icing to “glue” it together! Incredibly, you can end up with a respectable log even after an apparent disaster.
- When you have the cake covered in icing, make sure that you have sealed it to the board as this ensures that the cake will stay fresh over the Christmas period. Using the heated fork, make bark patterns along the log, not forgetting to include the occasional “knot” in the decoration.
Variations
This recipe works just as well with 81% Stone Ground self-raising flour, but you need to add a mountainously heaped teaspoon of baking powder to the flour/cocoa mixture to make it rise and a tablespoon of water to the eggs to compensate for the extra absorbency of the flour.
Preparation time (duration): 60 minutes
Cooking time (duration): 8 minutes
Diet type: dairy free
Number of servings (yield): 12
Meal type: dessert
Microformatting by hRecipe.
“Achieving dairy-free custard which will pass muster in comparison with the real thing is possible. It’s taken me about four years of tweaking to get the recipe right, but now I have something which even sceptical non-dairy-free relations have to admit tastes very much like proper custard. ”
That’s what I said about four years ago. Since then soya milk and cream have come a long way and my recipe has evolved alongside them. So here is the current version for achieving a satisfying bowl of custard.
For those of you with the time, no young children in the family and no pregnant women or elderly people who will be eating your efforts, there is always the ‘real’ option. Yes, it does work dairy free and is no more effort than the original. Sadly it is no less effort either! Therefore, for a day-to-day custard here is how to make scrummy instant custard.
These quantities will make a pint, partly on the “is it possible to have too much custard?” principle and partly because custard tends not to be something you make just for one person (there again, one person, one pint of custard – it’s up to you). I measure out the quantities of liquid in a pint jug , that way getting the proportions right is easy.
Summary: Dairy-free instant custard
Ingredients
- 2 tbsps (scant tbsps for metric) Bird’s Traditional Custard Powder (seems to taste better than own brands) – NOT the Instant Custard Powder packets as they contain milk.
- 1½ tbsp (scant tbsps for metric) demerara sugar (MUCH better than granulated sugar)
- 8 floz (200 mls) Alpro Soya Dream (shake well)
- 12 floz (300mls) Tesco Own Brand Sweetened Soya Milk
- 2 tsps ( 1½ tsps for metric) vanilla extract
Instructions
For anything more than a pint, I use a saucepan on the hob. For anything up to a pint I tend to use the microwave. For small quantities like ¼ pint for the children, I mix it all in the jug and cook it in it: less washing up! Both methods are given here.
Hob Method
I always use a saucepan which is NOT non-stick: that way I can use a spiral/balloon whisk to beat the living daylights out of any incipient lumps! I keep the Soya Milk box by the cooker while I make the custard just in case it decides to go very thick for some unfathomable reason. If it does, I can add a little more milk as soon as it starts without having to stop stirring to fetch the milk box – which can be disastrous.
- Measure 8 floz cream into a pint jug then top up to 1 pint with soya milk and add the vanilla extract. Stir well to mix them together. Extract is much nicer than the cheap and nasty flavouring. Lakeland, Waitrose and some Tesco and Sainsbury’s sell a very good one at about £5 for a 118ml bottle. Yes, it’s expensive but it goes on for quite a while as you only use it in small amounts and it doesn’t go off.
- Put the custard powder and the sugar in the pan and mix them together thoroughly with a spoon.This is your chance to get rid of most of the lumps in the custard powder. The granular nature of the sugar helps to break them down quite easily.
- Add about 3-4 tablespoons of the milk/cream mixture. Don’t be tempted to pour all the milk mixture in at once, as it won’t then blend properly with the custard powder and you’ll struggle to save it.
- Swirl the pan without stirring until the custard powder has dissolved and you have no lumps left. You may need to add a little more milk from the jug to achieve a smooth result. Don’t worry if the mixture tries to go solid, it’s just the way the cornflour in the custard powder behaves: adding a small amount more of the milk mixture will solve the problem.
- Add the rest of the milk mixture in small quantities. Stir in each addition until smooth before adding any more. Rush this bit and you’ll guarantee lumps.
- Put the pan on a low heat and stir constantly with a spoon or whisk. You don’t have to beat it hard right from the start, but you do need to keep it all moving and heat it gently. There are two reasons for this: 1. custard is sugary and therefore has a tendency to stick and burn, so keep it gentle and keep it moving. 2. non-dairy milks are not all totally heat-stable and believe me you don’t want it splitting (lumpy gravy texture crossed with runny scrambled egg! YUK!).
- As the custard starts to heat up, increase the vigour of your stirring or whisking. If you choose to whisk throughout you’ll get some froth on the top to which purists may object, but you shouldn’t have lumps. Take your pick: froth or lumps. I know which I prefer! If you opt to start off with a spoon, I would still have a whisk within easy reach for those days when it just decides to go lumpy. If you get in there with a whisk as soon as you notice it starting to lump, then it can easily be saved. Be brave and beat it, but do be careful: the custard will be almost boiling by this time and you don’t want to burn yourself by splashing it on your hands or your front.
- When the custard finally boils, check it for thickness and taste it to see if you have added enough vanilla. Adjust according to personal taste. When it has boiled for about 30 seconds to cook out the cornflour in the custard powder, taste again, serve and enjoy.
Microwave Method
For anything under a pint there are two good reasons for using the microwave: it’s quicker and there’s no custard saucepan to wash. Custard comes off glass much more easily than it does off metal.
- For this method you will need a large glass bowl. Always opt for a bowl which seems a good bit too big for the job. That way you should avoid the one hazard of making custard in the microwave: a custard volcano! This occurs when your bowl is too small for the boiling volume of the custard and it all erupts and spills out all over the inside of the microwave. Not fun to clean. Not as bad as a porridge volcano…quite…but not good. You have to remember that things expand as they get hot and that hot milk expands a LOT!
- Measure your liquids as before in the jug, keeping the proportions the same if you are reducing the quantity. It really isn’t better made with more cream. The flavour isn’t quite as good once you get up to half milk and half cream.
- Place the custard powder and sugar in your bowl and mix as before.
- Add a little of the milk mixture and swirl as before.
- Add the rest of the milk mixture a little at a time, stirring in each addition before adding any more.
- Put the bowl in the microwave and cook on high for 1 minute. (If you’re making very small quantities in a jug it’s usually safer to start with 30 seconds)
- Remove the bowl and stir well.
- Replace and cook for 30 seconds at a time, stirring well between each cooking period.
- When the custard looks as though it has boiled, try tasting it. I do this with a cold teaspoon NOT with the spoon you’ve just stirred it with. This isn’t for hygiene reasons particularly, though of course it’s better for that too, but by using a cold teaspoon you stand less chance of burning your tongue and not being able to taste the lovely custard you’ve just made! Adjust the vanilla if necessary and cook for short bursts of 10 or 20 seconds at a time to cook out the cornflour, tasting frequently. Serve and enjoy.
Quick Notes
And there you go: perfect custard! It works very well cold too, for example on trifle. If you do want to use it on trifle, make it thicker than you would for normal use. Add 3 tbsps of custard powder for 1 pint of liquid, and remember to leave it to cool with a greaseproof paper lid sitting right on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming before you can get it on the trifle.
Cooking time (duration): 10
Diet type: dairy free and vegan
Number of servings (yield): 4
Meal type: dessert
Microformatting by hRecipe.
I have to confess to being rather proud of this one. I’ve fed it to friends without any indication that it was dairy-free, and they couldn’t tell. So, if you’ve been hankering after the indulgent creaminess of this dessert, you need hanker no longer!
For this recipe you will need a small dish/bowl, a medium/large mixing bowl, a saucepan which is not non-stick, a spiral/balloon whisk, an electric hand mixer and a decorative glass serving dish with an internal diameter of c. 7″/17.5cm and an internal depth of c. 3″/7.5cm.
Serves about 6 (fewer if you’re feeling greedy, more if you want to save some for later!). The instructions below look long and complicated, but they aren’t: I’ve just been careful to spell out every step exactly as this dish is worth getting perfect!
Summary: Dairy-free tiramisu. Can’t get better than that!
Ingredients
- About ¾ of an 8″ / 20.5 cm diameter sponge cake roughly 5 oz / 150 g (or a pack of sponge fingers)
- 6 tbsp very strong filter/espresso coffee
- 2 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
- 4 tbsp Tia Maria liqueur
- 1 tsp coffee extract (Lakeland do one called Coffee Drop – not cheap, but very good)
- 5 tbsp icing sugar
- 11½ oz / 297 g (1 box) Soft Morinu Silken Tofu
- 1 heaped tbsp custard powder
- 2 tbsp demerara sugar
- 4 floz /110 ml Provamel Soya Dream
- 6 floz /110 ml soya milk/rice milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsps lemon juice
- 2 tbsps cocoa powder
- 1 tsp icing sugar
Instructions
- In a small dish/bowl, mix the coffee, Amaretto, Tia Maria and coffee extract.
- Split the sponge in half widthways as though you were going to fill it like a classic sponge cake.
- Slice both halves into fingers about ½” / 1 cm wide. Do not cut off the curved edges as these help you to cover the bottom of a circular dish neatly. Cut the fingers into lengths of about 2½” / 6 cm. The longer fingers from the middle of the round of cake will go into three, while the fingers from the edge of the round will only make two.
- Lay enough of the fingers in the serving dish to cover the bottom, trimming as necessary to fit the gaps.
- Spoon ½ of the coffee mixture (about 3tbsps) over the layer of sponge in the serving dish and leave to soak while you prepare the rest of the dish.
- Put the custard powder and the Demerara sugar into a saucepan and mix with a spiral whisk or a wooden spoon.
- In a jug, measure and mix the Soya Dream and the soya/rice milk.
- Pour a little of the milk mixture onto the custard powder and sugar and blend until smooth and lump-free.
- Add the rest of the milk mixture a little at a time, making sure that each addition is fully incorporated before you add any more. Don’t rush this bit or you’ll end up with lumps.
- Add the vanilla extract and, whisking gently, heat the mixture over a low heat. You need to keep a close eye on this as it burns very easily, so don’t leave it to heat while you do something else; keep stirring gently but continuously.
- When the custard thickens, allow it to simmer, stirring constantly for 30-40 seconds to cook out the taste of the cornflour. Taste it to check that it is ready. (I dip a cold teaspoon into the custard to avoid burning myself.)
- Allow the custard to cool while you prepare the tofu mixture, but remember to keep stirring it every minute or so to prevent a skin from forming. If you wish, you can cover the surface with clingfilm, but this slows down the cooling process quite considerably, so I’d only do that if you’re making the custard in advance of preparing the rest of the dish.
- Meanwhile, in a medium/large mixing bowl, beat the tofu with the icing sugar using an electric hand mixer. Start with the mixer on slow and, when you run less risk of covering the kitchen in icing sugar, turn it up to high speed and blend until the tofu is completely smooth and creamy.
- Add the lemon juice and beat in.
- Add the cooled custard and beat until evenly blended.
- Put of the custard/tofu mixture onto the layer of soaked sponge in your serving dish and spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon. Try not to smear it up the sides of the dish as the layers look really good in a glass dish when the dish is complete.
- Cover the layer of custard/tofu mixture with another one of sponge fingers. Cut them to fit as before and place them in position gently not pressing them down into the layer below.
- Spoon over the remaining coffee mixture, taking care to “dose” all of the fingers.
- Cover the sponge layer with the rest of the custard/tofu mixture and spread it out evenly as before.
- Cover the dish with clingfilm and chill overnight.
- Just before serving, dust all over the surface with the cocoa powder and then dust the centre of the dessert with icing sugar so that roughly the middle half of the surface is covered with both cocoa and icing sugar, while the outer half has just cocoa on it.
Cooking time (duration): 10 minutes + overnight chilling
Preparation time (duration): 60 minutes
Diet type: dairy free and vegan
Number of servings (yield): 6
Meal type: dessert
Culinary tradition: Italian
Microformatting by hRecipe.
There are some ready-made versions which are dairy-free, but if you have a food processor pastry is so easy that there is really no excuse. Without the processor it takes longer, but tastes exactly the same.
For making pastry you need cold ingredients. It does work with dairy-free spread, but the texture can be more difficult to perfect because of the softness of the spread.
Summary: Shortcrust pastry for pies, pasties and treats
Ingredients
- 8oz / 225g plain flour
- a pinch of salt
- 2oz / 50g lard, diced
- 2oz / 50g hard margarine, diced
- a small amount of very cold water
Instructions
In a processor
- Put the flour, salt, lard and margarine into the processor and “whizz” on high speed for 8 seconds. Do not allow yourself to lose track of how long this stage has been “whizzing” or you will have tough pastry. Guaranteed: been there, done that! You want to catch it just as it has turned into “breadcrumbs” and stop the machine.
- Put the machine on slow and trickle in a tablespoonful of cold water while the motor is running. Let it mix briefly, watching the consistency. Add a little more, pausing after each addition to allow it to be blended in. You will see the pastry start to clump together and begin to form a ball. As it does so, switch off and tip out the pastry onto a floured surface. Bring the pastry together with your hands. If it is still very crumbly and dry, add a small amount more water, but beware of making it sticky.
- Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This makes it much easier to roll out.
By hand
- Blend the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the cold, diced lard and margarine. Rub in the fat with your fingers until the texture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add some of the water in very small quantities and cut it in with a knife at first, then with your hands. Beware of adding too much water. The pastry should be just tacky enough to leave the bowl pretty clean, but you don’t want it sticky.
- Leave to rest as above.
Variations
This also works well with 81% Stone Ground flour. You will need to add slightly more water to make it bind and you have to accept that it is fragile, so handle with care as it will crumble very easily and will not stretch in the way that white flour does.
Preparation time (duration): 5 minutes
Diet type: dairy free
Microformatting by hRecipe.
Of all the day to day foods which are hard to find dairy-free, bread is probably top of our list. We were reduced to just one (other than speciality breads) which was readily available near us and would keep for more than 24 hours. As a result, we bought a bread machine and I can honestly say that it was an extremely good investment. This recipe is in two versions: one for a bread machine and one for making by hand. I enjoy making bread by hand, but doing it almost every day simply took up too much time to be practical. The machines all come with recipe booklets, but they all require skimmed milk powder because of the problem of leaving fresh milk out of the fridge. The adjusted versions work well and have the added advantage that you can leave rice milk, oat milk or soya milk in the machine overnight on the timer without it going stale whereas dairy milk would probably be starting to turn after 8 hours un-refrigerated.
Making bread by hand requires a 2lb loaf tin (or 2 1lb tins), a large mixing bowl, some cling film/a clean tea towel and a wire cooling rack.
Summary: Hand-made white bread
Ingredients
- 1lb 8oz / 700g strong white bread flour
- 1tsp granulated sugar
- 1tsp salt
- 10g / ½oz hard margarine, cold and diced
- 1 sachet easy-bake yeast
- 15floz / 425ml hand hot water (1 part boiling to 2 parts cold)
Instructions
- Making bread needs warm containers, so warm a mixing bowl before you start work and get a tin ready by greasing it thoroughly with dairy-free spread and setting that to warm too.
- In your bowl mix up the flour, sugar and salt.
- Rub in the fat as you would when making pastry. This can be done either by hand or in a food processor (8 seconds on high speed).
- When you have the fat evenly distributed, stir in the yeast.
- Add the water and mix everything into a soft dough. Turn it out onto a floured board/work surface and kneed it for 10 minutes.
- Pat the dough into the tin(s), making sure that it fits the bottom of the tin without any big air pockets.
- Cover the bread generously with oiled clingfilm or a clean tea towel, and put it in a warm, draught-free place to rise for about 30 minutes. In this time, the dough should have more or less doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 9 / 240°C / 475°F.
- Put the bread in the oven and turn the temperature down to Gas Mark 8 / 230°C / 450°F. Bake for 30-35 minutes. To check if the bread is cooked, carefully tip out the loaf onto a rack or an oven-mitt-clad hand and tap the bottom with a knuckle: when cooked your loaf will sound hollow.
Variations
The identical recipe works just as well for making rolls. Simply divide the dough after kneading into balls weighing roughly 2-3oz / 50-75g and lay them on a well-greased baking tray. Place to rise as for a loaf, then bake at the same temperature as before, but only for about 15 minutes. As with a loaf, the rolls will sound hollow when they are cooked.
Preparation time (duration): 75 minutes
Cooking time (duration): 15 – 20 minutes
Diet type: dairy free
Summary: White bread in a bread machine
Ingredients
- 6 floz / 170ml water (warm if making immediately, cold if on timer)
- 3 floz / 90ml rice milk/soya milk/oat milk
- 2½ tbsp sugar
- 1½ tsp salt
- 2½ tbsp dairy-free spread
- 15oz / 425g strong white bread flour
- 1½ tsp traditional dried yeast (NOT easy-bake yeast)
Instructions
- N.B. Always put the ingredients in the pan in the order given in the recipe. Use setting on your bread machine for a large white loaf. This is not a “fast bake” recipe.
Cooking time (duration): as per your bread machine
Diet type: dairy free and vegan
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This is a lovely way of serving parsnips for a winter dinner party.
For this recipe you will need a heavy bottomed frying pan, a food processor (or a lot of patience and a grater) and an ovenproof dish.
Summary: An excellent side dish for a casserole
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 2 / 150°C / 300°F
- Coarsely grate parsnips – easiest in a food processor.
- Melt a knob of dairy-free spread in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and stir fry the parsnip for about 2 minutes until it starts to look less raw.
- Transfer to a bowl and blend with just enough of the milk/Soya Dream mixture (roughly 50/50) to bind it together.
- Season with salt and a generous sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.
- Put the mixture in a fairly shallow ovenproof dish (about 2in / 5cm deep)
- Scrunch up the toasted flaked almonds into little pieces. You can either drop them into the food processor and “whizz” them briefly, or put them in a bag and break them up as you would biscuits.
- Mix the crushed almonds with the breadcrumbs and scatter evenly over the parsnip mixture.
- Bake for about 1 hour until the top is crispy and golden brown.
Preparation time (duration): 10 minutes
Cooking time (duration): 1 hour
Diet type: dairy-free and vegan
Number of servings (yield): 6
Meal type: dinner
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This traditional Belgian dish makes a very satisfying winter meal. It is good served with crispy baked potatoes and either green beans or broccoli.
To make this dish you will need either a flameproof casserole (e.g. le Creuset) or both a frying pan and an ovenproof casserole. It is easier in the flameproof version since then everything happens in one pot.
Summary: A warming winter beef casserole
Ingredients
- 1lb/450g chuck/braising steak or shin of beef (see quick notes below)
- 4 large onions
- 1lb / 450g carrots
- 2oz / 50g dairy-free spread
- scant 4oz / 100g soft dark brown sugar
- 1 can Guinness/dark bitter
- 2 tsp malt vinegar
- 2 level tsps plain flour
- a little cold water
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200°C/400°F.
- Peel the onions and slice into half moons.
- Melt the dairy-free spread and soften the onions in it for about 20 minutes over a low heat.
- Meanwhile, trim off any excess fat and chop the steak into roughly 1″/2.5cm cubes.
- When the onions are soft and golden add the steak, turn up the heat to medium and fry until the steak is all lightly browned.
- Peel and slice the carrots into rings not dice or batons.
- Add to the steak and onions, stir well to mix.
- Stir in the sugar.
- Add enough Guinness to cover the mixture.
- Bring to the boil, cover and put it in the oven.
- Cook for 10 minutes at Gas Mark 6/200°C/400°F, then turn the oven down to Gas Mark 4/180°C/350°F for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes check the liquid levels in the casserole and stir gently. You may need to add a little more Guinness at this point.
- Turn the oven down to Gas Mark 3/170°C/325°F for the last 30 minutes. By this time the steak should be very tender. If necessary, this meal will cook for longer providing that the temperature of the oven is kept low and the liquid levels are checked from time to time.
- Just before serving, remove the casserole from the oven and place on the hob without turning on the heat.
- Mix the flour with the vinegar and enough cold water to form a free-running suspension. When the casserole has cooled slightly, add the flour and water mixture, stirring constantly. If you add the mixture directly the casserole has come out of the oven, the flour tends to cook as it hits the hot sauce, forming little lumps instead of blending in smoothly.
- Return to the boil and simmer, stirring gently for about 5 minutes to cook out the flour
Quick Notes
This is a dish that actually benefits from freezing and re-heating: it tastes even richer and more delicious afterwards. As a result, I always make more than I need for one meal in order to have some to freeze for a day when I don’t feel like cooking.
If using shin of beef I cook the dish at Gas Mark 3/170°C/325°F for about 3 hours. You need the slower, gentler cooking for this cut of meat, but the flavour is superb. If you feel that the carrot dissolves too much, you can always add some of it about half way through the cooking time. Check the guinness levels at intervals as before. If you are fairly generous with the liquid at the start and keep the temperature low, this becomes a dish which can be cooking itself quietly for hours while you are busy doing other things.
Preparation time (duration): 20 minutes
Cooking time (duration): about 2 hours for chuck/braising steak, about 3 hours for shin
Diet type: dairy-free
Number of servings (yield): 4 – 6
Meal type: dinner
Culinary tradition: French
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This is not a vegan/vegetarian lasagne since our main interest is in replacing the dairy content of meals whilst retaining as much as possible of the original dishes. However, if you replace the meat sauce part with a lentil or Quorn based tomato sauce, the end result will be as good as your sauce is and the nutritional content will still be good.
Lasagne recipes all seem to have their own variations and everyone has their own perfect ragu. This is ours!
Note that this recipe uses our cheese sauce: don’t forget to grab the details for it!
Summary: Dairy-free cheesy lasagne
Ingredients
- Packet of lasagne sheets – use the sort which do not need pre-cooking for ease.
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped
- 1 lb/450g steak mince (MUCH better tasting than regular mince) or lean regular mince
- ½ lb/225g mushrooms, chopped fairly small
- 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
- 2 x 14 oz (400g) tins tomatoes (if not chopped, break up in casserole)
- salt and pepper to season
- 2 generous tsps ‘herbes de Provence’ or mixed herbs
- 2 pinches of sugar (necessary if using tinned tomatoes, not if using fresh, very ripe ones)
- 1 pint of chicken or vegetable stock or 1 good quality chicken/vegetable stock cube (Kallo Organic is very good) dissolved in 1 pint/500ml hot water
- 1 quantity of Dairy-free cheese sauce
Instructions
- The ragu needs to be prepared first.
- Peel and finely chop the onions. Put a large flameproof casserole (Le Creuset ware is superb for this: expensive but worth it) on a medium heat until hot, add the oil, add the onions, turn down the heat and fry gently for about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and herbs. Cook for a further 10 minutes on a low heat until the onions are soft and golden.
- Add the steak mince, stirring it through the onion mix in the casserole. Turn the heat up to medium and cook until none of the mince is pink (about 5-6 minutes). You will need to stir fairly frequently to prevent burning. The big advantage of steak mince, apart from the flavour, is that usually very little fat comes off it, so you don’t have to drain it. Should you use ordinary mince you’ll need to drain off the excess fat: it can be easier in that case to cook the mince separately and drain it before adding to the onion mixture.
- Add the tomatoes and break them up if necessary. Stir through evenly.
- Add the mushrooms and celery. Stir again.
- Add the sugar.
- Pour in the stock and stir, then return to the boil.
- Turn the heat down and simmer the sauce for about half an hour to allow the flavour to develop. Stir at regular intervals to prevent it from burning on the bottom. Before assembling the lasagne, taste and season the ragu.
When the ragu has been simmering for about twenty minutes, turn the oven on to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Now prepare the cheese sauce according to our recipe. Now that you have your component parts it is time to assemble the finished dish. You will need a deep ovenproof dish: either pyrex or ceramic will do. It is much easier to put together if you have a rectangular dish, but it is possible to fiddle around and get it into an oval one without too much hassle.
- Put a layer of ragu into the bottom of the dish.
- Cover with a layer of lasagne sheets. You will probably need to snap some of the sheets to fit the dish.
- Place a layer of cheese sauce on top.
- Repeat the layers until you have filled the dish, ending with a cheese sauce layer.
- Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes then turn the oven up to Gas Mark 6 / 200°C / 400°F for 10 minutes to brown the top.
Quick Notes
This lasagne is really good served with a mixed green salad, dressed with olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
Preparation time (duration): about 45 mins
Cooking time (duration): 2 hours
Diet type: dairy-free
Number of servings (yield): 6
Meal type: dinner
Culinary tradition: Italian
Microformatting by hRecipe.
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