Siobhán's Cookbook

Let’s talk PANCAKES!

Do you know how easy it is to modify a pancake recipe so it’s gluten free and dairy free?

Well let me tell you now how to make these divinely soft and spongey pancakes - you wouldn’t even know they were free from anything they are that delicious!

I used an electric whisk which is easier and quicker but a hand whisk will do the job just fine.

Brownies are a special little treat. With a different ratio of ingredients to that of a cake mix, the absolute key element of a brownie is the gooey centre. It's what makes a brownie a brownie!

With this recipe, you can also play around with whatever flavours you like, instead of pecans you can swap in chopped mixed nuts or almost any nut you are a fan of. In place of the chopped dates, you can swap in a similar fruit with a wildly different flavour - try it with dried sour cherries!

Ella Easton wrote a guest blog for us a few weeks ago and she kindly baked a cake as well. It is great to have guest bloggers and recipes and we would be delighted to share your recipe here and link to your blog if you have one.

Mother's Day Cheesecake from Rebecca Kerfoot or Beccaeatsbeets as we know her from Instagram. 

This cheesecake is a great one for a lovely Mother's Day treat! I love a tofu-based cheesecake: unlike the cashew-based recipes, you don't need the most powerful blender in the world to achieve that lovely smooth consistency. "The Fat Free Vegan Kitchen" provided the inspiration for this mix and pairs well with my cacao pastry crust.

Liz Murphy from Santosha Nutrition dropped in while touring the west of Ireland last week. Liz runs a plant based nutrition business in the USA and she left us a great recipe. As you can see from the photo it looks fantastic and tastes delicious. In case you are wondering Persimmon is that fruit that looks like an orange tomatoe with a delicious taste. Try it out or use another fruit. No rules is the rule. Check out the instagram feed here for Liz.

Vegan, Gluten Free Blood orange & Polenta cake

This is a wet cake or as I prefer to call it - a finger licking good cake. I also use flax seeds as they are a great replacement for eggs, so good in my opinion that a non-vegan would be hard pushed to notice the difference. Let me know how you get on and remember the rule is there are no rules so experiment and make to your own tastes.

Pancake Tuesday. What a day! There were literally pancakes everywhere in all shapes, sizes and varieties but mine are the best because they just are:). In an interesting aside, someone posted online that Pancake Tuesday should be made into a Bank Holiday and I couldn`t agree more.

Get the petition going.

Bank Holidays aside, here is our vegan pancake recipe for you. As I posted this recipe the other night I was pancaking, squeezing lemon and pouring on the sugar and then eating them at the same time so it took a while to get the post out onto social media. They are finger licking good.

Really delicious with some lemon 🍋 orange 🍊and agave syrup. Here is the recipe for you and it takes five minutes to mix. 

Tip1 : have some laughs. Make some memories and flip a few

Pancake Tuesday is coming, and it is one of my favourite feasts of the year.

Making and eating pancakes reminds me very much of childhood years and my own mom frying pancakes that tasted gorgeous. It was a hungry household with five kids, so she seemed to be at the cooker for ever and a plate was always waiting to be filled.

It`s no wonder she only did it once a year, but it was a wonderful once and gave us all memories for a lifetime.

I like to eat lots of pancakes, inviting friends and family over and have some left over for the next day so this is a big batch recipe to feed the hordes.

I know you will agree that a gluten free Victoria Sponge cake is a gorgeous and delicious treat. We hope you enjoy baking the cake as much as we did and share it with the ones you love. Send us some images and let us know how you get on with it even if your first attempt is not a complete masterpeice. I can tell you that my first attempt was not pretty, tasty yes and it was brilliant fun. Recipe courtesy of Coeliac UK. 

recipe images to marketing@foodsofathenry.ie

A simple ‘cut and come again’ sort of cake – that is better if left for a few days. Low in fat, I think it is super delicious if spread with a swish of butter, margarine or your spread of choice (but sort of defeats the point!). Traditionally made with sugar - this is a ‘sugar-free’ version, with very little added sweetness. Because of the sweetness of the dried fruit, you could also leave out the honey/agave/fruit syrup if you like. But I like the little extra punch.

If you are avoiding processed sugar – be mindful of the fruits you use. Typically glace fruits (cherries, mixed peel) are infused with a glucose fructose mix. And some of the more tropical fruits (pineapple, cranberries etc.) are often sugar infused also.

A sort of a cheats way to make a ‘pitta-esque’ receptacle, but anything that you can weigh, make and cook within 5 minutes is not to be sniffed at. A genius lunch option.

.. my life in cakes..  SODABREAD

  " My mother used to bake sodabread. Sometimes it had a very greenish hue. I thought it was cool - turns out, thats because of more bread soda in the recipe than the quantity of flour required. Who knew about the science!

After I married Paul; as a good farmers wife I baked bread all the time and as the legions of Irish wives before me - developed my signature sodabread.  He used to call them BROWN CAKES, as his mother always did. I thought it was strange but I let it slide. There were more important changes to be made to the man I intended to spend the rest of my life with .. ! "

Here is my  'from scratch' sodabread recipe. Own it, enjoy it, make it yours.