Sharabelle bakes

Dried cranberry & macadamia nut dark chocolate bark Every time I find a product that's dairy free, I tend to impulsively buy it.  Especially if it's something I can bake with.  It's a habit I'm trying to break, usually my mum's voice pop's into my head saying " Do you really need that, and if so what are you going to do with it!!!.   Which always makes me think twice, doesn't always work though.  As I seem to have accumulated several bars of chocolate over the past few months.   After giving up chocolate years ago because it was an IBS trigger Iv kind of lost my taste for it.  I couldn't eat a whole chocolate bar now, I do however occasionally crave a nibble.  I think I like the idea of being able to eat chocolate more than actually eating it.    So in my reducing food waste quest, I decided to do something with it.  I'd never heard of Chocolate bark before, until I watched the Barefoot Contess...

That is the question?  Dairy free sweet potato and spring onion quiche It's really confusing, when do you need to blind bake a  pastry tart. If your adding a non baked filling to an pie shell, then yes I can understand it would need to be baked first.  However the Internet and most of my cookbooks are  full of conflicting advise.  Last time I made my dairy free quiche I didn't blind bake it and it turned out great.  So yesterday I decided to part blind bake the crust of the quiche I was making for my Tea. I finally got some use out of the dried soya beans I bought I few months.  (Did the whole soaking before  cooking thing but they still turned out hard!!!)  Placed some grease proof paper on top of the crust and filled with the beans to keep it from puffing up.  Note :  The bean's can not be cooked and eaten as normal after.  But you can Re-use the ...

Today was my last day volunteering with the Express Group charity.  I'm moving on too 2 days work experience in SAMH Pantry, and don't feel I can give the same level of commitment.   I'll still be popping in to see them and bringing them baked goodies to taste test for me though.  There favourite recipe was my dairy free carrot cake. Dairy free/egg free Carrot Cake 6 oz Self Rising Flour 3 oz Caster Sugar 1 tsp Baking Powder 1/2 tsp Salt 1 tsp Cinnamon 1/2 tsp Mixed Spice 2-3 large carrots - grated 3 oz Raisins 60 ml Vegetable Oil 1 tsp Cider Vinegar 250 ml water Pre-heat oven too 180 Celsius, prepared a greased or lined baking tin.  Add Flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & spices to a bowl.  In a jug measure out water, veg oil and cider Vinegar.  Mix grated carrots into the rest of the ingredients in the jug. Pour into dry ingredients and mix well by with an electric hand mixer for 1 - 2 min's.  Finally ...

Chocolate chip blondies I love trying out new recipes, especially if they have strange ingredients.  Iv baked cakes with vegetables and fruit but never beans before.  So when I fould this recipe on Chocolate Covered Katie  I just had to give it a try. Iv had a few friends ask me lately if I'd tried baking Gluten free.  Now Gluten free flour is expensive to buy, however beans don't cost much though.  So it's a great Gluten free budget baking tip. Used my  personal favourite cannellini beans and prepped all my ingredients last night.  Then baked it this morning.  I reduced the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips too 1/4 cup and added a 1/4 cup chopped dates.  I love dates in cookies or bars, they have a wonderfully fudge like taste and texture.   My oven is ancient (Im in the process of looking for a new one) so I knew i had to be careful with the baking time.  I erred on the side of ...

Budget baking and cooking tip Have you noticed in the shops that individual flavoured yogurt pots are more expensive them a whole tub.  If like me you need to buy a dairy free version the price increases further.  I got so  fed up of having to buy 2 kinds, flavoured for breakfast and Plain for baking that I attempted to make my own,  using a bought pot as a starter.  It was a total disaster, and after a little research I worked out I was just as cheap buying it.  So now I just buy one pot and flavour my own.  There's a lot you can do with a pot of plain non dairy yogurt.  It only takes a little time to pimp it up, saving you money on your grocery's shopping.  Use small Tupperware boxes to take a portion of yogurt to work. rather than buying separate pots. My top favourite ways of flavouring yogurt, just mix one of the below into a portion of yogurt. Sweet - 1tsp Dairy free lemon curd stirred into yogurt or try your favour...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Dairy free spiced pumpkin cake with home made liners I felt like baking today but i'd used all the muffin liners yesterday.  I had plenty grease proof paper, so why not make some myself.  On one hand I felt pretty smug for figuring this out and on the other hand I felt stupid that it had taken me this long to think of it!  All I needed was a ruler and a pair of scissors, cut the paper into 5 inch squares then place in the muffin pan. Allowing the paper to fold over to fit the tin.  Dohh, I'm Scottish so the amount of money that I'm going to save on making my own over wins over my feeling of stupidity.