Vegan: Gingerbread Biscuits With Chocolate Icing

For a batch of 18 Gingerbread biscuits

Recipe
3/4 cups soft brown sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tbsp date syrup
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 egg replacer
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Dash salt
1 1/2 cup self raising flour

It should be a wet dough and I solidify it by kneading it in a lot of flour until it’s stretchy, firm and soft.

Instructions
Cream the sugar and butter with a whisk. Then add the egg replacer and golden syrup and whisk again.

Next, sieve the dry ingredients into the mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir it all together to create bread crumbs. Then use your hands to form a dough.

Spread a generous amount of flour on a smooth surface and gently knead the dough once or twice before shaping it into a smooth ball. Roll it out flat so that its thick- about the height of a CD case. (Mine are a little too thin here but my second go was much better!). Then use a cookie cutter to create your shapes.

Bake in the oven at a med-high temperature for 8 minutes.

Icing
5 teaspoons icing sugar
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
Lightly drizzle cold water into the powder for 6-7 seconds.
Stir with a spoon and when the liquid is smooth and gooey spread over the biscuits. Leave to set until dry. Store the biscuits in a cool, dry place!

Vegan: Banana Protein & Tumeric Cookies

I developed this recipe from another blogger called The Greedy Vegan (linked down below). I loved her simple use of coconut oil and milk to replace eggs in her chocolate chips cookies. I found that it made for a gorgeously thin, chewy cookie! My experiment of adding the flavours banana and tumeric make this batch taste like Bon Bons! It’s one of my favourite recipes to date. The use of different sugars creates the cookie texture: the darker the sugar the softer the biscuit as the sugar molecules melt faster. The lighter the sugar the crunchier the biscuit as the sugar crystals are harder and more condensed. I like to add a mix of three to make it soft, chewy and with a little crunch.

Recipe:

2 tbsp banana protein
1/8 tablespoon tumeric

1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/3 cups (200g) plain flour

1/4 tbsp baking powder

Pinch salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup (37g) caster sugar
3/4 cup (100g) brown sugar
1/8 cup plant milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 squirt golden syrup

1 vegan egg replacer

1/8 tsp Valencia orange flavouring

Vegan white chocolate buttons for decoration- break into pieces and push into top of dough balls before baking

Instructions:

Whisk the sugar and oil first. Then add the milk and vanilla extract. Whisk again. Premix flour, salt, tumeric and protein powder and then add to the wet mix. Whisk until smooth and creamy.

Cover bowl with cling film and put in the fridge for half an hour. This will help the soft batter to keep its shape by making it bake slowly. Once chilled, use an ice cream scoop to scoop out portions to place on a baking tray. You will be able to roll out on your hand to make a neat ball if you wish!

Bake for 8 minutes on a 190•. Allow the cookies to cool completely before removing them from the tray.

If you’d like a flatter cookie you can just press them down straight after they’ve come out of the oven. Or use plain flour with 1 tsp of baking powder!

Next try chocolate cookies with almond extract instead of orange, and vanilla protein powder instead of banana and add two tbsp cocoa powder, and swap out melted butter for vegetable oil.

Link to The Greedy Vegan Triple Chocolate Coconut Cookies Blog Post: https://thegreedyvegandotblog.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/triple-chocolate-coconut-cookies/

Hot Headed Snakes

Poetry Book Launch

Some relationships celebrate you like the sun,
But you may not believe the light.
Some compel you like the moon,
But you may not feel safe at night.

What becomes of you then, if you still have them?

These poems held my hand as I exposed my soul.

I felt
Freed;
Enlightened;
Proud;
Burned;
Used;
Torn;
But most of all I felt transformed.

You may find that you can light yourself up, and sleep soundly alone.

This poetry book explores my journey in and out of relationships and how it’s changed my outlook on life, as well as my ability to connect with myself. One of the main sources of inspiration was a relationship that was very much like a mirror for me on my own behaviour. It was like feeling pulled magnetically to someone that I couldn’t easily engage with. And yet the bond was deep. I had no idea how to navigate that experience and so I used poetry as a tool to establish what I felt and went through to give me structure and a narrative. This is empowering, healing and relatable for readers.

This book consists of 35 poems and 13 small streams of consciousness.

Available on Amazon! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hot-Headed-Snakes-Grace-King/dp/B08DC63Y6J/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1605219905&sr=8-1