Sharabelle bakes

The Post Punk Kitchen A side effect of having anxiety is that I don't deal with boredom very well...... This may be a slight under statement.  I get fidgety, and need something to do.  Which is usually cooking or baking, though I have been know to go on a cleaning spree as well.  Then there was the random items I'd order on line that I really didn't need...........You get the drift. So when I woke up yesterday morning at 6am, after dreaming about Bakewell Tart Cupcakes I just had to try making some. The classic Bakewell is a pastry shell, spread with jam, then topped with an almond cake before being sprinkled with sliced almonds and baked.    As always I do my research first, usually on the web.  Found nothing like the concept I was thinking of, until I remembered one of my favourite cook books.  Vegan Cup cakes Take over the world .  This was also the very first Vegan cook boo...

The misses  When I started this blog I wanted to be totally honest and share both my baking success's and disasters. And yesterday was full of disasters.  First I tried to make Anzac Biscuits , I was inspired by the Australian Master chef biscuit challenge episode.  The biscuits where baked and shipped to Australian Troops during the second World War.  Really basic recipe but sometimes the simplest foods are the best. I was puzzled that they turned out more chunky than I was expecting, until I realised that I hadn't added the bicarb and water mix to the batter.  They still tasted good, so they should taste great the next time I make them (with out leaving out a key ingredient).  I was still in hyper mode, so I went grocery shopping and found some great fresh corn.  Iv been dying to see if I could bake with it.  My own personal mission to bake with every vegetable I can think of. Cut the kernels of the cob and pureed them and adjuste...

Scottish Mental health arts & film festival is on from the 1 - 24 October  The Theme is Walk in my shoes. ( www.mhfestival.com ) So I thought Id write a post allowing other's to take a short walk in my shoes. Iv had a rough month due to taking on too much again.  Iv had to make the hard decision to give up volunteering with the Express Group. As I have the opportunity to increase my work experience, to twice a  week at  SAMH Pantry. I'm going to miss the group but doing more work experience will let me get closer to my goal of returning to paid work.  I don't want to live on benefits all my life. One of the hardest things for me to accept, is the limitations I now have due to my anxiety disorder.  It's made even harder as many people Iv encountered don't understand the physical effect it has on me.  Unless you have been through it yourself or supported some one through it.  It's exhausting  mentally and physically...

Been a great week baking.  The guys at the Express group  loved there scones, Bev loved her Lemon Soda Cake and my giant cookie was a hit at The Pantry today.  It's great having willing taste tester, especially when you can't try the baked treat yourself.  Highlight of my day was piping butter cream , for the first time ever  onto some fairy cakes I baked at the Pantry.  Did a pretty good job, surprised myself!!  Which meant a happy dance was necessary whoop whoop. The only downside was AGAIN i couldn't have one..... I remembered I'd posted a basic biscuit/cookie recipe and thought I should post a base dairy free cake recipe to go with it.    Iv done some more work on my Lemon Soda Cake recipe and think it's a great base dairy free cake. Works cooked as both a large cake and as a batch of Cup cakes.  All you need to do is reduce the baking time. Lemon poppy seed cup cakes 225g Self Raising Flour ...

Banana and raisin porridge Scotland hasn't had the best weather this year, for every day of glorious sun we've had a of day torrential horizontal rain.   The nights are starting to get colder, and the last thing I want in the morning is a cold breakfast.  So its Porridge time again. As a canny thrifty Scot I thought I'd pass on some of my budget cooking tips, for making a nice hot bowl of porridge.    Forgot buying Flavoured individual pre packed porridge sachet, make your own and save some money. Top tip 1:  Buy a large bag of porridge and weight out a portion. Find a storage container or cup that the amount fits into.  That way when you make your porridge in the morning you don't have to worry about using the scales because you can use the cup/container to measure a portion. Top tip 2:  Instead of using a jug to measure out your milk or water, use the same cup that you used for the porridge. I...

Necessity is the mother of invention Had a great morning today, while myself and a fellow home baker did a spot of baking for a fundraiser tomorrow.  Was great working with a fellow home baking enthusiast and sharing tips & tricks. Another topic we discussed was the cost of baking, especially in the current economy.  What she kindly referred to as being creative I call watching the Pennie's.  There's a old saying in the UK that Scots are hard to part from there money.  Well in here in Scotland It's people from Aberdeen that have a reputation of being skinflints.  And I just happen to be one.....  When I bake for charity coffee mornings, school fairs or fundraisers I try and make the tastiest treat's with out breaking the bank.  Especially when the charity has offered to cover the cost of ingredients.  No point of baking anything if they don't raise any money.  Some times your the one donating your time, ingredients and electricit...

Something from a lot of nothing I made a small batch of vegan Lemon Curd yesterday, unfortunelty I made it too thick.  The plan had been to use it to flavour my Soy yogurt for breakfast.  I hate anything going to waste, so I needed to find something I could do with it.   Today is also not one of my good days, forgot to re-order my pills from the doctor and run out this morning.  I also have a large red spot on my chin, not an attractive look.    In times like this there is only one thing that can be done, BAKE.... Basic Biscuit/cookie Recipe 4 oz Dairy free margerine 2-4 oz caster Sugar (depending on your own taste) 1 egg or egg substitute (Linseed/flaxseed egg subb) 8 oz Flour soy milk to mix if required Using an electric food mixer Cream Marg and sugar together for a few minutes.  Next add a small amount of flour along with egg or subsitute.  (This will stop the mix curdling) Slowly add rest of flour till the mix st...

Baking on a Budget, with limited resources and time Lemon Soda Loaf Cake It's the weekend and I should really be relaxing, however anxiety doesn't come with an off switch.  So basically I'm in hyper mode.  Imagine a child running around and playing all day then crashing in the afternoon, is basically the nearest description I can get.  I already know why, Iv done it again and scheduled too much into for next week!!! Along with a full week Iv also promised to bake for several different people.  I always bake for the reading group monthly meeting.  I'm baking for the Express group since it's my friends last day before she leaves for her new job and I promised to bake one of my giant cookies for the guys at the Pantry.  The weekend is the only time I have to bake.  I can't really afford to be spending a lot of money on baking ingredients.  So time for some Budget Baking , checked what I had already in the house...

Dairy and Egg free Scones When looking for Dairy and egg free recipes I found the humble Scone was sadly neglected.  Scones were one of the first things I learnt to make from my mum and one of the first recipes i made Dairy/Egg free.  There seems to be a myth that you need egg's to make them, however Egg's are normally only used to make Rich Scones.  In Budget baking terms there economical on the wallet and in dieting terms, have a  lot less fat than cakes.  There a great base recipe that can be adjusted to make them either Sweet or savoury. Served simply with vegan margarine or served afternoon tea style with Jam and non dairy cream.  Sweet Alternatives - Add 2 oz of Dried fruit or 2 oz of Chocolate Chips along with the sugar. Savoury Alternatives - Substitute Sugar with Chopped Sun Dried tomato's and basil, or Add 1 tsp of mustard and chives. I love to make savoury scones to have with home made soup in winter, as I ca...

Should have been, could have been Banana Chocolate chip loaf cake When I make Banana muffin's or Loaf for myself I always use an vegetable oil based recipe.  However this time the loaf cake was for a friend, so I was making a full Dairy version using a butter based recipe. Should have been simple.  I creamed the butter and sugar together as normal, added the banana, yogurt and flour.  Then folded in the chocolate chips.  Batter looked and smelt great.  I thought I'd learnt from my mistake last week. I'd made one at the Pantry last week that had sunk, thought at the time it was due to the temp of the oven being to high.  This recipe had a lower temp and longer bake time.  What could go wrong!!!  History repeated itself .  In this case my mistake was taking the cake out too soon to check if it was cooked.  Even though I returned it too the oven it was too late.....as you can see from the above result.  ...

 Caught the show Food Unwrapped  on Channel 4 a few days ago. The premise is that they phone customer service lines of food  production companies and ask simple questions.  Like what type of wax is used on Lemon's?  How do you get the wax on the lemons? And why do they need to be waxed?  If they can't answer they go to the factory's themselves to see first hand.  I've now been put off buying waxed lemons for life!!!! The main ingredient they use is a "food safe" product called shellac.  Which is basically the harvested secretion of an Insect.  Ohh it gets even better.  The secretion is produced by the female laying eggs on tree branches, to protect them from predators.  The tree branches are harvested and placed in the sun too kill the insects, then scrapped off and processed down to a fine powder.  Before being combined with other chemicals to produce a liquid wax that can be sprayed on the fruit. Shella...

Chocolate Parsnip Cake I often having trouble sleeping, which is down to both my IBS and Anxiety disorder.   So I usually end up sleeping upright on my sofa cover with a blanket.  It's a lot easier than getting frustrated with myself because I can't sleep or switch my brain off from thinking.   This time last year I was lucky to get 2 hours sleep the entire night, so things have greatly improved.  I can only think that this is the reason I had the mad idea to make a chocolate parsnip cake!!!! Sleep deprivation can do funny things to your mind.   When I get an idea in my head I'm never happy till Iv tried it out, especially after a bad nights sleep. This is probably why most of my baking experiments are carried out at 6am in the morning.   Or 5.45am in this particular case.  (Still wearing my P.J's) I'd made a spiced parsnip cake before by following my carrot cake recipe and it worked out great.  P...

Baked Tortillas  Quick, fast and easy tip for making your own Tortilla chips.  There also more healthy for you than bought  fried ones.   I have to watch how much oil I use when I cook, generally I avoid anything that's deep or shallow fried.  You can easily find Gluten free Tortillas in the free from section of most supermarkets.  Iv been making my own for a while and didn't really think anything of it.  I'd been talking about food one day with a friend and mentioned making a sweet version and using yogurt as a dip.  Totally baffled her, till I told her and she had one of those "Doohh" moments when you miss something so obviously simple.  All you need is a Tortilla wrap and a pair of scissors.  Rub oil onto the wrap.  Then cut up into 1/2 then 1/4 then 1/8 just like a pizza.  Pre-heat your oven to 180 Celsius, and place the triangles onto a baking sheet. Cook in oven till lightly ...

Chia Tea Loaf  I'd bought Chai Tea last week at Real Foods to give it a try and found I didn't like it.  Not a total waste of time, because unless you try something you'll never know.  Now I know to stick to my Starbucks Chai Tea lattes.  But this still left me with the box of tea..... I hate anything going to waste, whenever I get a food gift I can't eat, due to my intolerance's, I always find someone to pass it onto.  Just for the life of me couldn't think of anyone that drank Chai Tea.  So in that wonderful way my brain works.  Chai Tea made me think of Tea Loaf,  which reminded me that Tea Loaf is a dairy free recipe.  So Why couldn't I use the Chai Tea in place of normal Tea bags? I found a Simon Rimmer Tea loaf recipe in one of my old cook books and simplified it.  Being a Budget baker I don't have the money to buy three different types of dried fruit, when I can easily buy one.    I've a...

Banana and Rhubarb Cake Whenever I have a meal at home I tend to be watching a cooking program.  Call it my own little quirk,on  this particular occasion I was watching   Cup cake Wars Funny or Die Episode.  Love the show, some of the weird combinations the contestant's try are often hilarious. And some times I get idea's for my own baking projects.  De ja vu time , I'm watching the show planning my own baking for the next day trying to decide what to bake.  I had banana's that needed used and I'd also picked my first crop of Rhubarb from my new plant. (Didn't find out till later that you shouldn't pick Rhubarb the first year.  Oops) So just as I was thinking to myself if Banana and Rhubarb would go together, one of the contestants uses the exact same combination for the taste test.  A sign or what!!! Especially since Florian loved the cupcake.  If it's good enough for Florian it's good enough for me.......

Birds Traditional Custard Powder Why is it you don't crave something until you can't have it!!!   My ultimate comfort food had always been ice cream in the summer and Custard in winter.  Iv solved the ice cream problem by making it myself, but I was still buying ready made Soy Custard.   I thought I could make it dairy free by using soy milk with custard powder, but all ones I looked at had Whey or milk powder added. I'd almost given up and resigned myself to buying it ready made, when after reading the ingredient list of yet another product, I discovered one i could use. (Had to stop myself doing a happy dance) With all these new products and brands on the market today, I find that good old Birds Custard Powder    (est- 1837 ) could be made Dairy free.  The Custard powder itself consists of Cornflour, Salt, plant based colouring Annatto and Flavouring.  Iv doubled check the website and It's definite...

Egg Free Baking tip It seems the older I get  the list of things that I'm intolerant too grows.   Apart from a variety of Pulses, fruit and veg I can still eat Fish and Egg's.  After 20 years of having IBS I'm well used to exclusion diets and keeping a food diary's.   Over the last year along with being caffeine and dairy intolerant Iv had to cut out  yeast,  high sugar,  leafy green veg, onions, garlic, meat and poultry.  Lets just say that the person who gave me food poisoning has a lot to answer for!!!!! I love egg's but they have to be free Range and I treat them as a main protein source in my meals.  I'd rather not have to bake with them, and I refuse to buy battery egg's just to bake/cook with.  So iv been looking for egg substitutes for baking.  I did some research and found commercial egg re-placers can be really expensive.  Also not every Dairy free recipe needs an egg, so why spend t...

Engine Shed Tofu Not a great photo, but believe me this is Scottish Tofu.  Made in Edinburgh at the The Engine Shed , which comprises of a Vegetarian Cafe, Organic Bakery and Organic Tofu production. The Engine Shed isn't just a commerical enterprise, it's also a training initiative for individuals with learning disabilities.  Today I was due to visit Edinburgh Dental Hospital, which unfortunetly for me is also nowhere near the Engine Shed.  The next best thing was visiting   Real foods   Store on Brougham Street, which I knew was one of their stockists. I know most women go to Edinburgh for some retail therapy, not me .  When the list of things you can eat starts getting shorter, you start to look for alternatives.  Iv ordered from Real Foods online store several times but never had an opportunity to visit. Trips to Edinburgh are not my idea of fun!!!!  The Supermarkets and Health stores in my part of Fi...

Lemon Soda Cake I posted the above picture of my lemon soda cake, a few days ago with one of my baking tips.  I De-frosted it last night for my willing taste testers at the Express Group today.  It was a hit, I didn't tell them it was Dairy and egg free till after they had eaten it.  I'm pretty chuffed with the results, especially as 2 of them asked me for the recipe.  So I think it's good enough to post now.  It's easy to make and basically an all in one methord cake recipe. Lemon soda Loaf Cake 8oz Self Raising Flour 4 oz Caster Sugar 1 tsp Baking Powder 60 ml Vegetable oil 225ml Soda Water zest of 1/2 Lemon Pre-heat oven too 180 Celsius Line or grease loaf tin.  -Measure out flour and baking powder into a bowl.  -Add lemon zest too caster sugar, mix together then add too bowl with flour. -Combine these together  in the bowl and make a well in the middle to add the oil and soda water too. -With yo...

Sharabelle and the Giant Cookie experiment I love trying out new recipe idea's and any excuse will do really.  My excuse this time is the amount of family birthdays coming up over the next few months.  I like coming up with original present idea's.   My niece's and nephew's either eat a birthday cake and leave the icing or eat the icing and leave the cake.  Which would be okay if you could give one of them the cake that's been licked clean of frosting.  Solution - make them Giant Birthday cookies instead.  The idea being that i can customise the flavour and added contents based on each kids favourite treats.  For my test recipe I went with basic chocolate chip.  Pretty simple or so I thought.  I made a batch of dough as normal and left to rest in the fridge for 30 Min's.  Then molded it on a greased cookie sheet to form an 9in circle.  First problem - Cooking time.  How long does a gian...

Supermarkets would love us to think that the only way to cope with a food intolerance is to buy expensive  free   from substitutes that they stock there shelf's with.  However vegan's, vegetarians and people with a restricted diet due to religious belief's have been coping since before supermarkets were created. Lol, I have a tiny kitchen , Limited equipment and a small food budget.  However I still cope, the secret is to make your own food from scratch.  I'v mentioned in previous post's how depressing shopping had become due to all the food labelling I had to check.  I now buy my own ingredients and make my own snacks, yeast free bread and meals without increasing how much I spend on food.  As a canny Scot I'm always looking for ways to save the pennies, so I plan to share my own tips in the hope that others will share their's. Today's  Baking Tip.  Invest in Greaseproof paper.   Instead of buying loaf tin liners or p...

A few of the non-dairy recipes Iv discovered use water as the liquid, rather than non dairy milk.  Freaked me out as the concept was totally alien to me unless I was making yeast free bread.  Hey if you don't try new techniques how are you going to know if they work or not.  In this case it did.  I followed a Vegan carrot cake recipe, using plain tap water.  The final result was a light textured cake.  I volunteer for the Express Group on Wednesday's mornings,  So I had plenty of unsuspecting volunteers.  The cake was a hit...  I waited till after they had eaten it to tell them that it was dairy and egg free.  Not happy, i wanted to see if I could make it any better so used orange juice instead of water. The Experiment didn't work,  I ended up with a heavier textured cake. Several days later  I had one of those bizarre satellite relay moments, you know when your thinking about one thing and en...

I don't bake all the time, just most of the time.  I also cook a lot of my food from scratch.  Self preservation really, I got fed up of reading food labels to see if I could safely eat the stuff.  In some cases it takes less time to make a meal than read the bleep bleep labels.  Todays lunch My aim today was to use the tomato's in my fridge that were turning soft. ( Note to self, never buying fruit and veg from Asda again it never lasts.)  They also didn't have much taste.  So I roasted them in the oven at 180 celcius for 30 Min's, then turned off the oven and left them in.  When it was nearer lunch time I added them to a pan with some yeast free veg stock, a splodge of tomato sauce and some salt and pepper.   After a quick blitz from my hand blender, I left the soup to simmer for 20 Min's. Finally I added some basil leaves.  A lovely easy to make creamy tomato soup. Proof that you don't need to add dairy to...

Fresh from the Oven When ever I'm in doubt I head back to my Grandma's cookbook.  I found a basic biscuit/cookie recipe and modified it to meet my dietary restrictions.  This gave me a chance to try out a new ingredient Trex, a non hydrogenated vegetable oil in block form.  I used this instead of butter.   Iv also been looking at a few articles on Diabetes to get idea's on how to reduce sugar in baking.  So i decided to try  reducing the amount of sugar in the original recipe by half.  As you can see from the picture I got slightly carried away and made the first batch too big.  They spread in the oven and ended up the size of the palm of my hand!!!  But the smell  mmm, as soon as I opened the oven door the kitchen was filled with the scent of coconut.  So they looked right and smelt right, I only had to get the taste right.  Thankfully they did.  Crumbly, lig...

So here's the thing, iv tried making plenty of low sugar cookie recipes.  Iv also made low fat cookie recipes successfully, but so far i haven't figured out away to make low sugar and low fat cookie combined!!!  My problem is I can't use sweeteners as their are trigger for my IBS.  My Chunky monkey cookies are my latest experiment.  I used an oil based dough recipe instead of vegan margarine.  Mashed banana, in place of an egg and agave nectar for the sugar.  I added some desiccated coconut for a tropical taste and dairy free chocolate chips. For me there was way to many chocolate chips,  the taste of the cookie it's self is great but technically I don't think you could call it a cookie.  Its more like a whoopie pie cake.  I like my cookies crunchy and my cake soft.  My mum has a sweeter tooth than mine so they won't go to waste.  Lol, the whole bottom drawer of my freezer is now taken up with baked goods for my mum...