Category: Dessert

It’s December now, and I’m starting to feel the Christmas spirit with these Vegan Cranberry & Orange Rolls. All throughout the autumn I was making batches of cinnamon rolls to keep my soul happy, but since the yule tide is just around the corner, I wanted to spice things up a little and give my usual cinnamon rolls a Christmas twist. These cranberry and orange rolls are just the thing to do it! The dough is soft, fluffy, and zesty with the scent and taste of fresh oranges. The filling is sweet, tart, sticky, and all things cranberry. I absolutely adore this flavour combination and these rolls are just PERFECT for breakfast time over the holiday season.

For once, I’m making rolls WITHOUT using sourdough starter. You heard it straight from me: when it comes to Christmas, I like things to be ASAP (as simple as possible). That’s why I created my ebook ‘A Simple Christmas’. A Simple Christmas is a collection of vegan recipes for the holiday season. This ebook is full to the brim with rich, warming, and simple foods to help you enjoy Christmas in a kind and stress-free way. In 70+ pages, I share with you my favourite recipes to celebrate the yule tide and all of its flavours. You can look forward to simple and delicious recipes such as Cosy Gingerbread Waffles, Frozen Berry Cinnamon Rolls, Winter Vegetable Wellington, Stollen for Snowy Days, and so much more!

Shop Our Latest Ebook

A Simple Christmas is a collection of vegan recipes for the holiday season. This e-book is full of rich, warming, and simple foods to help you enjoy Christmas in a kind and stress-free way.

In 70+ pages, Katherine shares with you her favourite recipes to celebrate the yule tide and all of its flavours. This e-book takes your average recipe book and gives it a vegan twist, with a multitude of recipes ranging from traditional Christmas favourites to new seasonal dishes. You can look forward to simple and delicious recipes such as: Cosy Gingerbread Waffles, Frozen Berry Cinnamon Rolls, Winter Vegetable Wellington, Stollen for Snowy Days, and so much more!

It is my hope that, within these pages, I can help you to celebrate the holiday season in a simple and exciting way. Whether you’re completely new to the plant based world, have been here for a long time, or just want to try your hand at something different in the kitchen, this ebook is here to supply you with a multitude of vegan recipes to enjoy this winter. Hearty, warming, and simple foods are the focus of this ebook. A Simple Christmas has been curated and developed to encourage new and already vegans to try their hands at vegan festive foods this holiday season. It is our belief that nothing is better than homemade. All of the recipes in our ebook have been well tested, so you can be sure of great results in the kitchen!

Okay, onto the recipe!

If you’ve never had orange and cranberry as a flavour combination before, then baby you’re in for a treat! I know a lot of Christmas recipes contain chocolate or gingerbread or other, but I absolutely love a good fruity recipe splashed in here and there throughout the holidays. For this recipe, we’re using instant dried yeast to make a super quick, super fluffy dough. With these rolls, I wanted to make sure that you could get the best of both flavours, so I split up the flavours for different components of the rolls. We’ve got all that orange goodness in the dough, and that sticky sweet cranberry in the filling.

First things first, let’s talk produce. At this time of year, I like to use produce that’s genuinely IN SEASON. You won’t find me using fresh blueberries or otherwise over Christmastime, because those types of goodies just aren’t naturally in season where I live. As well as in season, I also make sure that as much as the food I buy is grown organically. The best way, I’ve found, to get my hands on ORGANIC, IN SEASON, LOCALLY GROWN fruits and vegetables is via a veg box. I love Riverford Organic Farms for this very reason and I make sure to get a good load of fresh fruits and vegetables from them each week (not sponsored). Riverford Organic Farms grow 100% organic (as it says on the tin). Their produce is slow grown (aka NATURALLY), their packaging is home compostable, their chefs share cooking inspiration so you never run out of ideas when it comes to cooking healthy and delicious meals with your veg (and therefore never waste any of it). Alongside all this, Riverford is employee owned, they NEVER air freight their produce, and they’re fair to both farmers and customers alike. I’ve been using Riverford’s veg boxes for almost a year now, and I’ve NEVER been disappointed.

Once you’ve sourced yourself some good quality oranges and cranberries, we can get onto baking! Now, I’m gonna share with you my secret to a super duper soft and fluffy sweet dough. First, you’re gonna want to make your own buttermilk. I know, I always do a double take when vegan recipes tell me I need buttermilk. Don’t worry. In this instance, I’m talking about something completely different. The first step to any good sweet roll dough, is to first heat your butter and milk together over a bain-marie. Instead of dairy butter, when it comes to baking I always use a vegetable fat based butter (or margarine, as it’s sometimes called). You can usually buy blocks of vegetable fat margarine in the supermarket.

To your bain-marie, add the margarine and plant based milk (unsweetened, as always). Let the margarine melt completely and stir the mixture occasionally to ensure it all heats evenly. Once the butter has completely melted, remove the bowl from the bain-marie and place it on a heat-proof surface. Now, you’ll want to let that ‘buttermilk’ cool until it is between 27-32°C. This temperature range is the PERFECT temperature for yeast, helping it to activate and do its stuff without denaturing. Once the ‘buttermilk’ is at this temperature, add in 1 tbsp of the sugar and the yeast. Whisk that all together and let sit for 5-10 minutes whilst the yeast blooms (it should get all foamy on the top).

Whilst that blooms, mix together all of your other dough ingredients in a large bowl. Add the yeasted ‘buttermilk’ to the bowl and stir everything together with a wooden spoon until a dough forms. The next part is easy, simply turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead for a couple of minutes until its smoooooooth and elastic. Shape that baby into a ball and place in a well oiled bowl, cover with a DAMP tea towel and let double in size for around an hour. Whilst that’s proofing, we’re going to get to my favourite part – the cranberries! First time I tested this recipe, I sort of winged the filling and SURPRISE SURPRISE it turned out GREAT. Chop up your cranberries all odd and add them to a frying pan along with the sugar and orange juice. Heat on high until the sugar has fully dissolved, then lower the heat and let simmer until you’ve got a thin jam. Once the cranberries are all glossy and sticky, remove the pan from the heat and let that filling cool completely.

Now, y’all know what I say about rolling out the dough, but today we’re actually using a rolling pin! No, I’m not ill. These rolls still end up super super fluffy eve after being rolled out a little. Flour the surface, rolling pin, and the dough just a teensy bit and then roll out the dough into a 1 inch thick rectangle. Spread on that delicious cranberry filling we made earlier until evenly distributed across the top of the dough. Take the long edge of the rectangle and roll it semi-tightly into a log. Not too tight, not too loose. Cut the log into 9 individual rolls and place the rolls cut-side-up into a lined skillet. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for 30 minutes, until puffy.

Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and well risen. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes whilst you make the icing, then drizzle that icing over the top until the rolls are covered and super sweet and sticky. Serve warm fresh from the oven and enjoy! I loved loved loved having one of these for breakfast on a cold and snowy morning. They seriously are probably my best rolls yet, and definitely a family favourite. I hope you love these Vegan Cranberry & Orange Rolls as much as I do. If you make this recipe, make sure you leave a like and a comment down below! I absolutely love hearing from you guys and you can be sure that I will try my best to get back to you soon! And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @amongsttheflour I love seeing the photos of recipes you’ve all made! Have a joyous and merry winter and a very happy holidays! I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Katherine x

vegan cranberry & orange rolls…

Ingredients

For the orange rolls

140g vegan unsalted butter
250ml unsweetened plant milk
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp dried instant yeast
the zest of 1 orange
450g plain flour
50g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of fine sea salt

For the cranberry filling

300g fresh cranberries
8 tbsp dark brown sugar
the juice of 1 orange

For the icing

130g icing sugar
cold water, 1 tsp at a time

Method

To make the dough

Over a bain-marie, heat the vegan butter and plant milk until the butter has completely melted. Stir occasionally to make sure everything heats through evenly. Remove the bowl from the bain-marie and place onto a heat-proof surface. Let the ‘buttermilk’ cool until it is between 27-32°C, stirring every now and then to make sure the butter doesn’t form a skin.
Once at the correct temperature, add the tbsp of sugar and the yeast to the ‘buttermilk’. Whisk together and let bloom for 5-10 minutes until the yeast is frothy on the top. Meanwhile, combine all the other dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Add the yeasted ‘buttermilk’ to the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir everything together with a wooden spoon until a dough has formed. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead for a couple of minutes until completely smooth and elastic.
Shape the dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and let proof for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Meanwhile, make the filling.

To make the filling

Chop your cranberries up into chunks (not quite minced, but not too large). Add the cranberries to a frying pan along with the sugar and orange juice.
Heat the ingredients over a high heat and stir together until the sugar has dissolved. Once the mixture starts to simmer, reduce the heat and let the liquid reduce until you have a thin jam. The cranberries should be glossy and soft.
Once the cranberries are soft and the liquid almost all gone, remove the pan from the heat and leave the filling to cool completely.

To make the rolls

Onto a lightly floured surface, turn out the dough. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a 1 inch thick rectangle. Spread over the cooled cranberry filling until it is evenly distributed across the surface of the dough.
Taking one lengthways edge of the dough, roll it up into a log shape (not too loose, not too tight). Cut the dough into 9 evenly sized pieces.
Into a parchment paper lined skillet or brownie tin, place each roll cut-side-up, leaving 1-2 cm in between each roll. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 30 minutes until the rolls are puffy.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°C). Place the rolls into the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes until they are well risen and golden brown on the top. Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly.
Into a bowl, add the icing sugar and 2-3 tsp of water. Whisk together until smooth, glossy, and thin enough to drizzle off of a spoon. Add more water, 1 tsp at a time, until the desired consistency is achieves. You want it thick enough to set on top of the rolls, but not spreadable.
Drizzle the icing onto the rolls until nice and sticky. Serve the rolls warm and fresh from the oven, and enjoy!

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A Simple Christmas is a collection of vegan recipes for the holiday season. This e-book is full of rich, warming, and simple foods to help you enjoy Christmas in a kind and stress-free way.

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vegan pumpkin chocolate chunk blondies

I know everyone else is already talking about Christmas, but I’m still not over pumpkin season! These Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Blondies are THE BEST way to round off all that fall baking. Sticky, gooey, chocolate coated, pumpkin goodness (and they’re plant based). I mean what else could you want?! All that and they’re literally so easy to make – just whisk everything together in a bowl and BOOM: the perfect treat for a gloomy day. Serve warm straight from the oven, drizzled with melted vegan chocolate. You can seriously taste the pumpkin in these babies too, so don’t scrimp out on the pumpkin puree!

I know, I know, it’s basically December, I’m late to the pumpkin party… but you guys! These Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Blondies are the BOMB. I made these the day after it snowed this week to cheer myself up a little and by joe it worked! If you’re a pumpkin lover (I mean, who isn’t?) then you’re going to ADORE these. These babies are far from healthy, but I like to convince myself that I’m getting some veggies in by adding pumpkin to everything. Heavy on the chocolate though… but necessary!

Probably what I love most about this recipe is how darn easy it is to make! LITERALLY all you have to do is melt some butter, add it to a bowl along with all the other ingredients, whisk everything together, fold in some chocolate, and BAKE! I’m really taking a break from those two-day-long sourdough recipes with this one. You can enjoy these bad boys within the hour! Of course, at this time of year I always have some premade pumpkin puree to hand in the fridge or ready to defrost in the freezer. It’s the quickest and easiest way to add another layer of flavour to your baking!

For a good pumpkin puree…

I ALWAYS go for organic produce where I can. In this recipe, I used an organic butternut squash from Riverford Organic Farms (not sponsored) and honestly you can taste the difference! I don’t know how I went so long buying non-organic pumpkins. With buying from a veg box as well, I KNOW that my fresh produce is from LOCAL FARMS and IN SEASON. I share a lot of information about the importance of these things in my post on Sustainable Food which I wrote as part of my Sustainability Series. If you haven’t already, this series is worth a read.

Now back to the blondies! In this recipe, I melted my butter until it was just melted (so it still had that creamy look about it) and made sure that my pumpkin puree was at room temperature before adding it to the butter so that no curdling occurred. For this recipe, I also switched out the light brown sugar for coconut nectar sugar. I only recently realised just how bad cane sugar is for the environment (particularly if it is unsustainably farmed). I wanted to use beet sugar, as it’s grown LOADS here in the UK, but seriously you CANNOT find it in my local supermarkets. Coconut sugar seemed like the next best thing and you CANNOT taste the coconut which is a bonus in my house.

Alongside the butter (non dairy, of course), sugar, and pumpkin puree, I added a flax egg (1tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp warm water), vanilla extract, plain spelt flour, baking soda, and sea salt to the bowl. Literally it takes about 5 minutes to make the batter for these blondies. All you have to do is whisk all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. I chopped up my chocolate until variable sized chunks before folding it into the batter (I like to use a mixture of sweet and bitter chocolate in all my baking, just to mix things up a little). And then its into the tin and into the oven to bake! Be wary not to overbake these – you want them to be gooey, not cakey.

And that’s it really! Photographed, you can see that I drizzled these blondies with a little melted vegan chocolate. This is optional, but all I did was melt some sweet and bitter chocolate together and then used a spoon to drizzle it over the top. The more the merrier, in my opinion. If you drizzle on the chocolate whilst the blondies are still warm, you create this super sticky, chocolatey goodness which is really just what we all need as we edge into winter.

I hope you love these Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Blondies as much as I do. If you make this recipe, make sure you leave a like and a comment down below! I absolutely love hearing from you guys and you can be sure that I will try my best to get back to you soon! And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @amongsttheflour I love seeing the photos of recipes you’ve all made! Have a joyous and merry winter and a very happy holidays! I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Katherine x

Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Ingredients

190g vegan butter, melted
100g light brown sugar
200g pumpkin puree
1 flax egg
1 vanilla extract
180g plain flour
¼ tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
100g vegan ‘milk’ chocolate
100g vegan dark chocolate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a brownie tin with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients (except for the chocolate) until fully combined and completely smooth.
Chop up the chocolate into chunks (they don’t need to be of even size) and add them to the blondie mix. Fold in with a spatula until evenly distributed.
Pour the blondie mix into the prepared brownie tin and flatten the top with the spatula. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before cutting into slices. Best enjoyed warm out of the oven. Optional: drizzle with melted vegan chocolate for extra stickiness and enjoy!

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the cutest vegan lebkuchen

In collaboration with Bloom In Doom Magazine

SHOP EBOOK

I can’t think of a cuter cookie than the humble lebkuchen. I make a huge batch of these little cuties every single year and they just make the build up to Christmas soooo magical (and delicious)! Gently spiced, soft heart-shaped cookies (with a splash of brandy…) glazed in orange drizzle icing, and dipped in dark chocolate. Best enjoyed when dunked in hot chocolate! This recipe is from my ebook ‘A Simple Christmas’ and it really is THE FAVOURITE recipe, so if there’s anything to make this holiday season, it’s these!

A Simple Christmas is a collection of vegan recipes for the holiday season. This ebook is full to the brim with rich, warming, and simple foods to help you enjoy Christmas in a kind and stress-free way. In 70+ pages, I share with you my favourite recipes to celebrate the yule tide and all of its flavours. You can look forward to simple and delicious recipes such as Cosy Gingerbread Waffles, Frozen Berry Cinnamon Rolls, Winter Vegetable Wellington, Stollen for Snowy Days, and so much more!

Shop Our Latest Ebook

A Simple Christmas is a collection of vegan recipes for the holiday season. This e-book is full of rich, warming, and simple foods to help you enjoy Christmas in a kind and stress-free way.

Hearty, warming, and simple foods are the focus of this ebook. A Simple Christmas has been curated and developed to encourage new and already vegans to try their hands at vegan festive foods this holiday season. It is out belief that nothing is better than homemade. All of the recipes in our ebook have been well tested, so you can be sure of great results in the kitchen!

Now let’s get to business…

These lebkuchen are a household favourite and I gift them to all my friends every Christmas. Honestly, I’m always one for handmade Christmas gifts, ESPECIALLY if they’re edible! Not only are these cookies super yummy, they’re just so good to look at. I love how pretty the dappled icing looks on the surface of each cookie, and when you take a bite, it’s all flaky and the chocolate melts on your tongue and the cookie is all soft and gently spiced. I can’t think of a better way to define the yule tide.

Lebkuchen are traditional German Christmas cookies. Similar to gingerbread, these little beauties were originally derived from ‘honey cakes’ which can be traced back to the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. This recipe, however, varies slightly from the traditional, as it doesn’t make use of any honey or animal products at all. When it comes to Christmas time, I always want to make everything I bake as friendly-to-all as possible, especially if I’m making a large batch of something to gift to people.

These lebkuchen are completely vegan and don’t require any yeast (that’s right, not a sourdough recipe today my friends)! Instead, we simply combine in a little arrowroot and baking powder and let the dough sit for an hour – this helps to form gluten strands in the cookie dough, making it softer and more chewy (the desired texture here).

In terms of flavouring these cookies, my family prefers a less gingery style of cookie, so I’ve gone with a good old mixed spice here. Typically mixed spice consists of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, star anise, and cardamom. You can either buy ‘ground mixed spice’ from the supermarket, or make your own by adding varying proportions of the above spices (I would favour cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, however, as the other spices are more overpowering). Alongside mixed spice, I throw in a couple heaped tablespoons of cacao or cocoa powder. You can’t taste the chocolate in the dough but it adds more depth to the overall flavour of the cookie.

The REAL chocolate flavour comes from the coating…

To decorate these babies, I always go for a simple icing sugar and orange juice glaze. You could use any citrus fruit juice you wanted, I just prefer oranges. When it comes to the icing, the thicker the better. The first few times I made these lebkuchen, I made my icing too thin and most of it ended up on the counter top rather than the cookies! You want it to be runny enough but still thick and glossy. As for the chocolate layer, you MUST wait until the icing is completely set first, otherwise the two merge and create a mess!

For the chocolate layer, I just use a vegan dark chocolate form the supermarket and dip the bottom of each cookie into that melted goodness. You could, however, choose to coat the ENTIRE cookie in chocolate, dip the top of the cookies in chocolate, dunk half the cookies in chocolate, or drizzle the chocolate over the top. Its completely up to you. As you can see from the photos, I went for a bit of everything and in my opinion, this is the prettiest way to go.

Well, there you have it folks! The cutest, simplest, tastiest vegan Christmas lebkuchen. Truly, you guys, nothing beats these lovely little cookies around the holidays. Dunk them in your hot chocolate, eat six of them in one sitting, gift them to your loved ones, hang them on the tree, you name it. Versatile and delicious. I hope you love these vegan lebkuchen as much as I do. If you make this recipe, make sure you leave a like and a comment down below! I absolutely love hearing from you guys and you can be sure that I will try my best to get back to you soon! And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @amongsttheflour I love seeing the photos of recipes you’ve all made! Have a joyous and merry winter and a very happy holidays! I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Katherine x

Shop Our Latest Ebook

A Simple Christmas is a collection of vegan recipes for the holiday season. This e-book is full of rich, warming, and simple foods to help you enjoy Christmas in a kind and stress-free way.

The Cutest Vegan Lebkuchen

Ingredients

For the cookies

500g wholewheat bread flour
200g light brown sugar
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cacao powder
3 tbsp ground mixed spice
Pinch of salt
250ml vegan double cream
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp brandy
Unsweetened plant milk, to glaze

For the icing

200g icing sugar
The juice of ½ an orange
150g vegan dark chocolate

Method

In a large mixing bowl, combined the flour, sugar, arrowroot powder, baking powder, cacao powder, mixed spice, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the double cream, oil, vanilla, and brandy. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir everything together with a wooden spoon until a dough begins to form.
Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface, and knead gently until all the flour has been absorbed and everything is well combined. The dough should be smooth with no large lumps.
Shape the dough into a ball and place back into the bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 1 hour. After 1 hour, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into four pieces. On a clean, well floured surface, roll out one of the pieces of dough until it is 1cm thick. Using cookie cutters, stamp out as many different shaped cookies as will fit.*
Place the cookies 1cm apart on the baking tray and brush with a little plant milk. Repeat this process with the rest of the dough, reusing any extra cut-offs until all of the dough has been used up. You should end up with 2-3 trays of cookies.
Bake the cookies in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Once slightly risen, remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely before decorating.

*Lebkuchen are typically love-hearts, stars, rounds, and bells, but you can use whichever shapes you have.

To decorate the lebkuchen

In a bowl, whisk together the icing sugar and orange juice until completely smooth and glossy. You want the icing to be fairly thick, but still able to glide off of the back of the spoon.
Take a cookie in between your forefinger and thumb, and gently press it face-down into the icing, making sure the entire top and sides of the cookie are submerged.
Remove the cookie from the icing and turn it over so that it’s now face up. Place it on the cooling rack to dry (you might want to place parchment paper underneath to catch any drips). Repeat this process until all of the cookies have been glazed.
Once the icing is completely dry, melt the chocolate – place a heat safe bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (to make a bain-marie). Break up the chocolate into the bowl and let it melt completely, stirring every now and then.
Once the chocolate is completely melted and glossy, remove the entire bain-marie from the heat, keeping the bowl of chocolate over the pan of hot water (this will stop the chocolate from solidifying too fast).
One cookie at a time, dunk the bottom (the un-iced side) of the cookie into the chocolate. Gently scrape off any excess chocolate with the back of a spoon and place the cookie back onto the cooling rack.
Repeat this process for the rest of the cookies. Once all of the lebkuchen are dry, keep them stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place, and eat within a week. Enjoy!

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rich & creamy red velvet smoothie

You have to try this Rich & Creamy Red Velvet Smoothie recipe, oh my goodness! Summertime is absolutely smoothie weather, and this recipe just hits the mark every time. Just imagine the smooth, rich, and velvety flavour of red velvet cake, but as a smoothie! So, technically, we can have cake for breakfast? Chock full of raspberries, cocoa powder, and a whole lot of goodness, you can’t help but resist whipping up a glass of this over the weekend!

I am a smoothie-a-holic. Love them. They’re a super easy thing to make as a snack or for breakfast, but my latest love is this Rich & Creamy Red Velvet Smoothie. Whenever I have old bananas that need eating now, I’m gonna reduce my food waste and make this recipe. Honestly, this recipe is super duper simple and that’s why I love it so much! Just bung your leftover bananas, a bunch of raspberries, choice of extras (I ALWAYS go for chia seeds and a big scoop of nut butter) into a blender and voila!

For my produce, I absolutely adore using Riverford Organic Farmers. I’ve been using their services for a couple of months now and have been absolutely loving every single thing I’ve ordered. The great thing about buying organic food is that you KNOW it’s better for the environment. And, by using a veg box system, all your fruits and vegetables are ready and waiting at your door, so there’s no need to go to the supermarket.

So, without further ado…

First you’re gonna want to add all of your ingredients to a highspeed blender. I use a Magimix and it works for me every single time. To this particular smoothie, I added 100% almond butter, chia seeds, hemp seeds, cocoa powder, maca powder, and a splash of unsweetened oat milk. When it comes to micronutrients, I love adding mushroom powders, maca powder, and a bunch of other stuff to my smoothies. You can read more about why I love maca so much in this recipe.

Once you’ve choses all that you’re going to add to your smoothie, the next step is to simply blend it all up! Make sure that no lumps are left, so you can enjoy the most creamy smooth and rich Red Velvet Smoothie possible. Pour into your favourite glass, sprinkle on some more raspberries, and you’ve got yourself the perfect summertime treat.

If you make this Rich & Creamy Red Velvet Smoothie make sure you leave a like and a comment down below! I absolutely love hearing from you guys, and you can be sure that I’ll try my best to get back to you soon! And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @amongsttheflour I love seeing the photos of recipes you’ve all made!

Have a beautiful weekend, happy July, and I wish you a safe and warm Summer! I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Katherine x

Rich & Creamy Red Velvet Smoothie

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas
1 cup raspberries
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp maca powder (optional)
milk of choice, to blend

Method

To a highspeed blender, add the bananas, raspberries, almond butter, chia seeds, hemp seeds, cocoa powder, maca powder, and a splash of milk.
Blend on low until the ingredients start to thin out, then turn up the speed and continue to blend until smooth and creamy. Add more milk as needed.
Serve into your favourite glass, add some raspberries on the top, and enjoy!

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sourdough strawberry shortcakes

If you’re planning on having a tea party or a picnic this weekend then you have to try making these Sourdough Strawberry Shortcakes. Whilst it was still sunny over the week, I got cracking with some recipe testing and decided to take a more traditional take on your regular shortcake. I absolutely love baking with sourdough, and this recipe screams the definition of summer.

Packed full to the brim with sweet vanilla, the oh-so delicate summer taste of strawberries, and of course a healthy serving of cream (plant based of course). If you’ve been craving summer fruits just like me, and patiently waiting for strawberry season, then this is the recipe to kick off this brief but thrilling period of the year.

I love love love strawberries and I think I love them so much more since making the intentional decision to live and eat more seasonally. Strawberries are only in season for a brief period of time, once a year, and they taste best at this point. You won’t catch me buying strawberries at any other time of the year. I love all things strawberry picking and making my own jam so that come the winter, when there are no fruits to be seen, I can pop open a homemade jar of bright red jam and enjoy the taste of summer all year round. You can read more about the importance of seasonal eating here.

But for now, I’m making the most of when these beauties are in season, and for me that starts with a good old shortcake. I decided to make these shortcakes sourdough because fermented foods are generally better for your gut and digestion. In my language this means that they can be considered a little bit healthier but I don’t know how true that really is (haha!).

First things first, you want to give your sourdough starter a big feed. During strawberry season, when its warm in the summer, you only need to do this a couple of hours before you want to make the dough. On the day I made this particular batch, I fed my sourdough starter around 2 hours before making the shortcake dough (my kitchen was around 26 C on this day for reference). Once your starter has just more than doubled in size, it’s ready to use!

Once your starter is ready, we can get making the wet mixture of the dough. Start by combining your milk of choice with some apple cider vinegar. I used unsweetened organic oat milk for this step. Once the milk has thickened slightly, go ahead and add in your maple syrup and vanilla extract. Usually I wouldn’t flavour my shortcakes, but since this batch uses sourdough, I wanted to mask that classic cheesy flavour slightly, and vanilla maple seems to do the trick.

Whilst the buttermilk is thickening, go ahead and crumb together the butter and flour. For this recipe I used my same old plant based cooking margarine that I get in the supermarket. I’ve been desperately trying to find an alternative that isn’t coconut oil but have had no luck. Any suggestions?

Once your flour and butter are fully combined and oh so crumbly, go ahead and add in your super bubbly sourdough starter and prepared buttermilk. IT IS NOT YET TIME TO ADD THE REST OF THE INGREDIENTS. The first time I made sourdough shortcakes, I added the salt, baking powder, and bicarb at the beginning of this process and the shortcakes were like hockey pucks. We’ll add them later.

Knead together all of the ingredients with a wooden spoon until fully combined and a dough starts to form. Shape the dough into a ball, cover, and place in the fridge overnight. These shortcakes benefit from a good long ferment, but not necessarily a prove. You don’t want the dough to rise too much, so whilst its warm in the kitchen during the summer, I recommend an overnight sleep in the fridge for these babies.

First thing in the morning, take your dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. This may take a couple of hours. Once up to temperature, heat up your oven. NOW we can add in the rest of the ingredients. Make sure you don’t over work the dough, but try to fully incorporate the bicarbonate soda as much as you can. If not, don’t worry, there will just be some darker spots in your shortcakes (which are perfectly edible and don’t taste any different).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently push out with your fingers. DO NOT USE A ROLLING PIN. First tip when using sourdough, never roll it out with a rolling pin. Simply use your fingers to gently smush the dough out until it’s around ½ – 1 inch thick. Once so, grab your cookie cutter or jar lid, and stamp out shortcake disks. Another big NO NO when cutting out shortcakes is twisting the cutter.

When you twist the cutter, you seal the edges of the disks and end up with not very well risen flying saucer shaped things. To get those classic well-risen fluffy looking shortcakes, simply press down on the dough with the cutter without twisting, and then transfer the dough to a baking tray. Simple as that. Repeat this process until all the dough has been used up (I don’t want to see any scraps! You can read more about the impact of food waste here).

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Leave to cool and then its time to assemble! For this particular batch, I whipped up some solid coconut milk with a little maple syrup to create this super fluffy plant based cream, but if you’re not a coconut fan then I recommend finding yourself a plant based cream that works for you.

Place a great big dollop of cream onto one half of the shortcakes and then some freshly washed, sliced strawberries on the top. Sandwich everything together and enjoy with loved ones alongside a good old cup of tea. The perfect snack for a summer tea party or picnic. They’re a labor of love, but you can’t go wrong with these Sourdough Strawberry Shortcakes.

If you make these Sourdough Strawberry Shortcakes make sure you leave a like and a comment down below! I absolutely love hearing from you guys, and you can be sure that I’ll try my best to get back to you soon! And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @amongsttheflour I love seeing the photos of recipes you’ve all made!

Have a beautiful weekend, happy June, and I wish you a safe and warm Summer! I look forward to hearing from your soon!

Katherine x

Sourdough Strawberry Shortcakes

this recipe makes: 12
prep time: 30 minutes
ferment time: 12 hours
cook time: 30 minutes
total time: 13 hours (approx.)

Ingredients

for the shortcakes

125ml milk of choice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
400g plain flour
115g butter of choice
140g bubbly sourdough starter
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

for the filling

250ml cream of choice
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g fresh strawberries*

*If strawberries are not in season, replace with strawberry jam and simply add 1-2 tsp to each shortcake as you assemble them.

Method

In the morning

Feed your sourdough starter well and place in a warm place to grow (as big as possible is best but double the height will do just fine).

In the evening

Start by making the buttermilk: mix together your milk of choice and the apple cider vinegar. Leave to sit for 10-15 minutes to thicken.
In the meantime, cube your butter of choice and add it to a large mixing bowl along with the plain flour. Crumb together using your fingers or the back of a fork until the butter is fully incorporated into the flour and the mixture has the texture of fine crumbs.
To the buttermilk, stir in the maple syrup and vanilla extract until combined. Add the buttermilk mixture to the bowl of flour along with the sourdough starter.
Mix everything together with a wooden spoon until everything starts to come together. With a clean hand, you can knead the dough in the bowl until everything is fully combined.
Shape into a ball, cover, and place in the fridge overnight to ferment (8-12 hours).

The next morning

Remove the dough from the fridge a few hours before you want to bake, and let it come to room temperature.
Once the dough is at room temperature, preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
To the dough, sprinkle over the salt, baking powder, and bicarbonate soda. Knead everything together gently until well combined.*
On a lightly floured surface, turn out the dough. Using your fingers (never a rolling pin!) spread out the dough until it is ½ – 1 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter or jar lid, press down and cut out your shortcakes.*
Place the shortcakes onto the tray and re-knead the dough. Repeat until all the dough has been used up. You should have about 12 shortcakes by the end.
Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until well-risen and golden brown on the top. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

*Do not over-work the dough, because it will become tough, but you want to work it enough so that the bicarbonate soda is absorbed thoroughly throughout the mix – if not then there will be some darker brown patches throughout the shortcakes (it is still safe to eat, however, so don’t worry).

*When cutting out the shortcakes, DO NOT twist the cutter. You want the shortcakes to rise nicely all the way around and twisting the cutter will seal the edges of the dough, turning them into less-risen disks, rather than well-risen shortcakes/scones/biscuits that you normally see.

To make the fillings

Whilst the shortcakes are cooling, make the filling. In a large bowl, add your cream of choice (I used coconut cream), maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
Whisk everything together until it forms semi-stiff peaks and is beautifully fluffy.
Wash the strawberries, remove the stalks, and slice lengthways. If strawberries are not in season, get out some strawberry jam (this works just as deliciously and helps you to eat more seasonally).

To assemble the shortcakes

Take a cooled shortcake and slice it in half to make a sandwich. On the bottom half of the shortcake, spread the prepared cream filling.
Carefully place a few slices of the strawberries on the top of the cream then top the whole lot off with the other half of the shortcake. If you’re using strawberry jam, simply spread a dollop of jam onto the top half of the shortcake and sandwich both halves together.
Serve at a picnic with friends alongside steaming mugs of black milk tea and enjoy!

To store the shortcakes, simple keep them in an airtight container in a cool dark place and consume within 5 days. To store leftover cream, cover the bowl with a lid and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days (unless the best before date says sooner). To avoid having to store sliced strawberries, I recommend only slicing as many strawberries as is needed for the number of shortcakes you’re filling, then store any leftover strawberries whole in the fridge.

Happening On Instagram

healthy(ish) lemon blueberry sheet cake

If there’s a cake to be raving about this spring, it’s this Lemon Blueberry Sheet Cake… you guys I am obsessed with this recipe! I have to say this flavour combination is a classic for Spring time, and with the sun shining and the weather warming up, I thought it was time for some sunshine in the kitchen too. This cake is fairly healthy too, as cakes go.

To create such a yumminess and nutritiousness I combined oat flour and wholemeal flour for the base, keeping my other ingredients as simple as oil, healthier sugars, and fruits. This sheet cake is loaded with lemon and blueberry flavour, not too sharp, not too sweet. The perfect balance of springtime.

The secret to making a good plant based cake is to not use too much baking powder! I’ve made that mistake in the past and all of my cakes have fallen flat once taken out the oven. Make sure you use organic flours, only as much baking powder as required (trust me, you don’t need to add more) and a pinch of salt.

Whisk together your olive oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar, plant based yoghurt, and of course lemon zest and juice for extra zing. Don’t worry if the mixture splits. When it comes to combining all of the ingredients too, don’t over stir. As soon as you think everything is mixed in, stop, and gently fold in the blueberries. You want the cake to be light and fluffy.

And of course, the final stage is to bake until deliciously golden brown and cooked through. Once cooked, take them out the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes (important step, don’t miss it!). After a few minutes, remove from the tin and leave to cool completely upside down on a wire rack (this evens out the moisture in the cake and prevents the bottom getting too soggy from all the fruit).

Et voila! The most delightful afternoon treat for another glorious spring day! I love making this Lemon Blueberry Sheet Cake for tea parties or picnics, the perfect little snack to share with friends and family. Pair with a warming mug of Early Grey tea or a tall cool glass of Mint Lemonade.

Finally, if you make this Lemon Blueberry Sheet Cake make sure you leave a like and a comment down below! I absolutely love hearing from you guys, and you can be sure that I’ll try my best to get back to you soon! And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @amongsttheflour I love seeing the photos of recipes you’ve all made!

Have a beautiful week, happy April, and I wish you a safe and warm Spring! I look forward to hearing from your soon!

Katherine x

Healthy(ish) Lemon Blueberry Sheet Cake

Ingredients

75g oat flour
75g whole-wheat plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of fine salt
85ml extra virgin olive oil
65ml real maple syrup
55g coconut sugar
100g plant based yoghurt
1 lemon, the zest and juice
130g frozen/fresh blueberries

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and line a brownie tin with parchment paper. In a bowl, mix together the oat flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, and salt until fully combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and vegan yoghurt until the sugar has dissolved and everything is well combined.
Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients and stir everything together until well combined and smooth.
Fold in the blueberries until evenly distributed throughout the batter. Transfer to the prepared brownie tin, spread with a spatula until the tin is full and the batter is flat on the top.
Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown on the top and cooked through. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes.
Remove the cake from the tin and leave to cool completely upside down on a wire rack. Cut into 12 and serve. Enjoy!

Happening On Instagram

5-ingredient vegan peanut butter ice cream bars