16 March 2010

Blueberry Pikelets

dairy free egg free nut free



Hmm, possibly more a panklet than a pikelet! Make them however big or small you like. This is a great standard pancake recipe.

Makes about 10 pikelets

1 cup self-raising flour
1 tablespoon castor sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup rice or soy milk
1 egg replacer
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries (or frozen)
melted dairy-free margarine for frying

Sift flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Whisk milk, egg replacer and vanilla together, then pour over dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Gently stir blueberries through the batter.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and brush with melted margarine. Drop tablespoons of mixture into pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn pikelets over and cook other side until golden.

Serve plain, or dust with icing sugar.


11 March 2010

Apricot & Cranberry Cookies

dairy free egg free nut free

Lovely oaty biscuits for the lunchbox. If sesame seeds are an issue, you can leave them out, they still taste great. I think this recipe originally came from Women's Weekly.

Makes 20

100g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
2 tbs golden syrup
2 tbs water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
115g (1 1/4 cups) rolled oats
150g (1 cup) plain flour
40g (1/4 cup) sesame seeds (optional, or you could substitute linseeds)
110g (2/3 cup) chopped dried apricots
100g (2/3 cup) craisins (dried cranberries)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until the butter melts. Remove from heat. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

Combine the oats, flour and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Add the butter mixture, apricots and craisins, and stir until well combined.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Place 5cm apart on the lined trays. Use a fork to flatten slightly. Bake in oven for 8 minutes or until light golden. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

07 March 2010

Corn & Dill Muffins

dairy free egg free nut free

I'm not one for savoury muffins usually, and most of the recipes are loaded with grated cheese or fetta. But these are tasty morsels using a mini muffin pan. You can use the Tofutti dairy-free sour cream or the less processed Kingland cream cheese might be good too. Substituting the dill for chives is perfectly acceptable also.


Makes approx 24 mini


2 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup Tofutti dairy-free sour cream or Kingland dairy-free cream cheese
1 cup corn kernels
1/4 cup chopped dill (or chives)
equivalent 2 eggs using Orgran egg replacer

Preheat oven to 180 C. Mix flour, oil, dairy-free cream, corn kernels until lightly combined then add egg replacer. Spoon into mini muffin holes 2/3 full. Bake for...to be honest, I cannot remember - try 8 minutes or until golden!

01 March 2010

Lunch Box Muesli Bars



Yep, I'm now a school mum trying to come up with different ideas for the lunchbox. Though things were awfully different in my day. I'm pretty sure I got a sandwich and one piece of fruit to last me all day. Sometimes a biscuit as a special treat (but only because the packet had been opened for visitors the day before). Now if there aren't at least 4 different items in the lunchbox, it's considered 'boring'. Variety is good I suppose, as long as you are not filling up the lunchbox with processed foods. Always check your ingredient labels - a seemingly inoffensive cracker can boast a long list of refined carbs and sugars.

Home-made muesli bars are excellent because you can load them up with interesting seeds full of omega 3 essential acids (assuming you are not seed-allergic). I had to make this twice due to not pressing down the mixture firmly enough in the pan the first time around. Though it did make for a delicious breakfast of toasted muesli and rice milk!

2 cups rolled oats
1.5 cups puffed rice
1 cup sultanas (I only had half a cup left so also added half a cup of craisins)
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/4 cup linseeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
200g dairy-free margarine (Nuttelex)
1/3 cup caster sugar (or raw sugar)
3/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and line a 20x30cm slice pan.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Simmer margarine, sugar and honey for at least 5 minutes until thickened. Add to the dry ingredients and combine well.

With wet hands, press very firmly into pan and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in tin for 10 minutes then cut into bars.