Vegan Easter recipes on Bite-Sized Thoughts

Are you looking forward to the Easter weekend? I know my US readers won't get the 4 day break granted in Australia and the UK, but I hope that wherever you are, you enjoy the opportunity to eat chocolate and celebrate the start of spring (in the northern hemisphere) or changing season (in the south). If you are religious, then of course there will be much more to commemorate too.

Carrot and apple cake with a lemon drizzle dressing

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A carob recipe round-up {vegan}

I know, I know - if you aren't a fan of carob, you will be wrinkling your nose at this post (or skipping it altogether!). Carob is one of those products that seems to divide people into love/hate categories. Personally, as this post highlights, I adore the stuff. I have my mother to thank for this, as she gave us carob as children when trying to ration our chocolate intake. I love chocolate too but carob has a firm place in my heart alongside it.

Hazelnut and cherry carob cookies

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Coconut rough chocolates

Easter is on the horizon and with my love of chocolate, that provides a good excuse to indulge in chocolate making. I got in early with sharing my vegan creme bunnies / creme eggs and today's recipe provides an alternative Easter treat that would also go down well at other times of the year.

These chocolates were inspired by my recent discovery of the Waitrose dairy free Indian Ocean Dark Chocolate with Coconut. I mentioned in my March In My Kitchen post that the chocolate reminds me of a Golden Rough, but without the crunchy texture. (For non-Australians, a Golden Rough is a round milk chocolate disk studded with desiccated coconut.) Today's chocolates blend the crunchy texture of a Golden Rough with the dark chocolate tones I favour as an adult. The use of coconut oil adds an extra coconut tone and means that these are very easy to make.

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Vegan creme bunnies (or eggs)

With time whizzing by, Easter is on the horizon again. We have had mild sunny weather in the UK this week and so spring is on the horizon too. It is a nice time of year. It is also a time of year for chocolate (although, for me, any time of year is a time of year for chocolate!). 

Lest you think I am impressively organised with an Easter post, I will say upfront that I am actually very disorganised. You see, I made these creme bunnies last Easter but didn't have time to post them before Easter Sunday. They were so enjoyable that I saved the recipe and pictures in a draft post, and so, nearly 12 months later, I can share them with you now.

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Easter eats and spring scenes

Happy Easter, and if you live where Easter brings a 4-day weekend, happy long weekend. I hope you are enjoying it!

One of the lovely things about moving to the UK is that Easter now falls in spring, rather than in autumn as it does in Australia. I love autumn but now appreciate the spring-Easter connection. Plus, it is a beautiful time of year to have some bonus days off work. As shown above and below, our garden is starting to feature spring flowers and we are now enjoying longer and lighter days.

 

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In my kitchen - The Easter edition (April 2015)

I am linking this in to Celia's monthly In My Kitchen event at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.

Happy Easter weekend! Whether you celebrate the religious aspects or not, I hope you're that enjoying the long weekend if you have one, or just the weekend if you don't.

There are certainly signs of Easter in my kitchen. The UK has an amazing array of dairy free Easter chocolate, and I'm harbouring a 'bunnycomb' (honeycomb) egg and a bag of small 70% cocoa eggs.

 

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Vegan Cheerio chocolate crackles with coconut

It's nearly Easter! I don't quite know how it got to be (almost) April, but I am enjoying my first spring Easter season. It's funny that I grew up to learn that winter pairs with Christmas, and spring pairs with Easter, but I never actually experienced those associations in Australia.

Easter is, of course, not only associated with Spring. Chocolate also features rather heavily, and these easy Cheerio chocolate crackles fit the chocolate theme with minimal fuss. They are a fun twist on traditional chocolate crackles made with rice puffs. They also swap coconut oil for the traditional copha, and use rice malt syrup for sweetness. The coconut topping is optional, but highly recommended.

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Apple-gingerbread cake and a flavour-packed carrot slaw (and Taste of Perth give away winner)

On Easter Sunday, we had my family over for a combined Easter / birthday celebration. Yes, Mr Bite's birthday has been quite prolonged! Two weeks of celebrations seems like a good run.

Apple ginger cake

I made a variety of dishes, including baked tofu parcels and chicken parcels, roast potatoes, carrot slaw, and a tomato rice and beans dish. My Mum brought a huge, packed green salad and there was also hummus made in the traditional manner.

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Plum, apple and almond cake (vegan)

I am rather in love with this cake. To me, it sings of autumn and Easter and lazy weekends. It is the sort of cake to eat with a cup of tea and a good book - or without the book, but the company of friends and family. It is a cake to relax with.

It is, in short, very good.

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Rum and raisin vegan cupcakes and roast peppers with currants and pine nuts: Easter Sunday

As a child, Easter was a big event. Not as big as Christmas, but similar to a birthday. There was anticipation, excitement, and a sense of importance attached to the day.

The Easters of my childhood usually followed a similar structure. There was an Easter egg hunt in the morning, to find small eggs left by the Easter bunny. There was a bigger egg or chocolate rabbit from my parents. We would see my Australian grandparents for lunch, and that meeting would generate more chocolate. The lunch itself was appropriately eventful too: a hot lunch, perhaps a roast, which was not common in my family. After lunch we might go for a walk, or visit a park. In later years we sometimes had picnics.

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Vegan tahini-filled chocolate eggs, and carob-raisin-crisp bites

I have definitely moved into long weekend mode. We spent much of yesterday in a national park east of Perth. Today I have baked muffins, baked cupcakes, and made the things in this post. I am feeling very content.

I was initially concerned about posting the chocolate creations I made today. There are lots of chocolate-themed recipes around at the moment, not to mention an excess of Easter products if you venture near any shops. However, I'm not sure you can have too many chocolate recipes, and I am so enamored with these ones that I don't have the patience to save them for another time. If you are looking for any last minute Easter ideas, these also have the advantage of being quick and easy to create.

The tahini-filled chocolate eggs are adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie's vegan peanut butter eggs. They aren't quite as impressive as Gabby's peanut butter caramel filled eggs, posted on The Veggie Nook last week, but I like them a whole lot nonetheless.

With a short ingredient list and a creamy filling, these eggs are less sweet than Reese's peanut butter cups and  they have a darker chocolate shell. Both features are advantages to my taste buds, and it turns out that tahini contrasts extraordinarily well with chocolate. Extraordinarily.

Tahini-filled chocolate eggs

Adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie's vegan peanut butter eggs

Vegan and no bake

Makes 10 eggs

Print recipe

Ingredients

Filling -

1/4 cup unhulled tahini (sunflower seed butter)

Generous pinch salt

1 - 2 tbsp brown sugar (to taste)

1 tbsp custard powder

Chocolate coating -

2 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp good-quality cocoa

2 drops liquid stevia

Method

Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl, mix to combine, and chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Line a plate or baking tray with baking paper. 

Place the coconut oil in a small to medium bowl and warm to liquid state if necessary. Add the cocoa and stevia and stir well to combine.

Remove the tahini filling from the freezer and scoop out small balls using a teaspoon. Roll between your hands, then dip into the chocolate mixture using a spoon. Roll to coat. Remove and place on the prepared baking paper. 

Repeat for the remainder of the filling mixture, then place the chocolate eggs in the freezer for at least 2 hours, until set. When set, remove from the baking paper and trim any excess chocolate from around the eggs using a sharp knife. Serve immediately, or store in the freezer until serving.

Where these tahini eggs are creamy and decadent, the following carob-raisin-crisp bites are crispy and decadent. A variation on my carob crunch bites with goji berries, they can also be made with cocoa if carob isn't your thing. Similarly, other sorts of dried fruit can be substituted for the raisins and/or you could add chopped nuts to taste.

However you make them, they are likely to be enjoyable alone, with tea, or even on top of some vanilla soy ice cream...

Carob-raisin-crisp bites

Adapted from my carob crunch bites with goji berries

Vegan and no bake

Makes about 10 medium-sized pieces

Print recipe

Ingredients

2 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp carob

1 drop liquid stevia

Pinch salt

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup puffed rice, puffed millet or other puffed cereal

Few tablespoons granola (optional)

Method

Line a small square or rectangular dish with baking paper.

Place the coconut oil in a medium bowl and warm to liquid state if necessary. Add the carob and stevia and stir well to combine. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well to coat the raisins and cereal thoroughly.

Transfer mixture to the prepared dish and press down. Chill in the freezer until set, at least 2 hours, and then cut into squares.

I wouldn't call these Easter chocolates (I'd hate to limit them to just one time in the year), but I think I'd rate them above most commercial Easter option.

On the topic of Easter - I hope you have a very happy day tomorrow if you celebrate it, and an equally happy day if you do not!

I am sending the tahini-filled chocolate eggs to Healthy Vegan Friday #36 and Catherine's 'anyone can cook vegetarian' Easter egg theme on Cate's Cates.

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Easter recipes: A round up

Mr Bite and I are heading up to Exmouth this Saturday, to spend nearly a week there before returning over the Easter long weekend. Although we don't exactly need more warm weather after the Summer we've had, I'm really looking forward to the break and to going further north in Western Australia than I've been before. It should be a relaxed week, with opportunities for exploring both on land and underwater (there are lots of snorkeling spots).

With the timing of our trip, I expect to do less Easter baking this year than usual. I may dive into some things on our return, or I may let this year slide a little - I'll see how it pans out. Usually I make some Easter-themed things and some baked goods that are just enjoyable to have around. After all, a 4-day long weekend is pretty much an excuse to bake, in my mind!

Last year I had just bought my food processor and had fun with raw fruit and nut balls, berry-oat squares and lemon pie bars, and Hannah's chocolate coconut hazelnut fudge from Wayfaring Chocolate.

Vegan lemon pie bars - with terrible photography

Most years I also make Easter chocolates in some rabbit-shaped chocolate moulds I bought many years ago. I like being able to choose what chocolate goes in, and to combine flavours or add in ingredients if I'm feeling creative. Some examples of the sorts of shapes you can make are in this Easter chocolates post on Taste.com.au.

If you're looking for some other ideas for Easter this year, here are some of the things I might have made if we weren't going away...and which I may yet make later in April.

Sweet / baked goods

Blueberry lemon squares from Baked by Rachel - Almost a hybrid of my two Easter baking efforts last year.

Blueberry rye sourdough from cityhippyfarmgirl - Amazing looking bread.

Chilli chocolate egg lollies on BBC Good Food - Dark chocolate with chilli, on a stick.

Chocolate, blueberry and ginger scones from Green Gourmet Giraffe - These have been sitting in my 'to make' bookmark folder for 9 months now (!) and Easter seems like a good time to finally get to them.

Coconut peanut butter Easter eggs at The Baking Pan - Chocolate and peanut butter with coconut. What's not to love?

Easter bunny biscuits on Taste.com.au - Flavoured with cinnamon and lemon.

Gingerbread flax muffins from Post Punk Kitchen - Ginger, cinnamon, cloves...good flavours.

Honeycomb Hokey Pokey from Hotly Spiced - This recipe almost looks too good to be true, with 3 ingredients but incredibly crispy honeycomb results.

Hot cross muffin buns on BBC Good Food - A fun variation on standard hot cross buns (mine, of course, would have no peel).

Lemon drizzle cake on BBC Good Food - This ingredient list includes polenta and yoghurt.

Lemon and rosemary cupcakes from Delicious Magazine - Rosemary in cupcakes has me captivated.

Simnel cupcakes from Baking Mad - Cupcakes flavoured with treacle, mixed spice and raisins.

Warm choc-chip pikelets with caramelised pears and chocolate sauce on Taste.com.au - This would take my pikelet obsession to a whole new (dangerous!) level.

Welsh cakes from Eating for England - Traditional spiced Welsh cakes with currants.

Savoury / meals

Anything with berbere spice, from The Tropical Vegan - An Ethiopian spice mix with nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, paprika and coriander, among other things.

Bliss salad from Peas and Thank You - A cabbage-based salad with lots of added flavour.

Fried rice with cuttlefish, pineapple and dill on SBS Food - Probably without the cuttlefish, in my case.

Mango fried rice from Post Punk Kitchen - A tropical twist on fried rice.

Rhubarb and lentil curry from Allotment 2 Kitchen - An intriguing recipe adapted from Celia Brooks Brown 'New Urban Farmer'

Spiced lentil patty pockets with chilly, apple and tomato sauce from Veggie Num Num - These look seriously good.

Tofu bacon from Veganise This - Granted, this has nothing to do with Easter. But by all accounts it deserves to be made and, again, Easter seems as good a time as any!

And that's exactly one savoury recipe to two sweet recipes, which sounds about right to me :-)

What do you like to make at Easter? Do you have any plans yet for this year?

Also, thank you for all the well wishes regarding my coughing woes - I'm very pleased to report I'm nearly back to my usual cough-free self. I think going to work on Monday was a bit of a mistake all up (albeit a necessary one given what I had on), and a day at home yesterday worked wonders! 

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Easter baking part II

Easter baking part I featured a repeat effort at berry oat slices and introduced a vegan lemon pie slice.

Both involved an oven and, as the name would suggest, baking.

Easter baking part II actually didn't involve any baking. No oven, no heat, no cooking.

I know, my title lies.

The upside is, these two products are very easy to make and are well worth the minimal effort required!

First up: Hannah's Chocolate Coconut Hazlenut fudge from Wayfaring Chocolate

Hannah's recipe can also make spreadable Chocolate Coconut Hazelnut butter, and I had originally planned to make half butter-y and half fudge-y. In the end, though, I ended up going for all fudge. I am glad I did...

...because the fudge-y squares are good :)

The only modification I made to Hannah's recipe was to use 35g of dessicated coconut instead of 55g, as I didn't want the coconut to be too overpowering. It worked brilliantly. I found the taste to be very slightly reminiscent of a Golden Rough, but better, and more adult-like in taste and texture.

Incidentally, I promise the squares in my pictures aren't really the size of brownies (although I can understand why one might want to make them that large). I should have put something in for scale - they're about 2cm across.

Second: Two varieties of raw (or nearly raw) balls.

The first variety was a standard 1 cup raw almonds, 1 cup chopped dates, 1 tsp vanilla affair. Process the almonds, add the dates and vanilla, process some more, and roll balls in dessicated coconut before setting in the fridge.

The second was adapted from a Nestle recipe for fruity chocolate truffles, which I had tucked away for some reason that I am not fully aware of (I don't usually make recipes provided by companies / brands).

I processed 1/2 cup raw almonds, then added 1/2 cup chopped dates, 1/2 cup sultanas, 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate, 1 tsp cocoa and 1 tsp vanilla and processed some more. I rolled these balls in extra cocoa.

The chocolate date balls were softer than the plain date / almond ones, so could be set (or stored) in the freezer as an alternative to the fridge.

Each batch made around 20.

I actually found the chocolate version of these to be a little disappointing - I thought they lacked punch. I think if I made them again, I would add some peppermint essence, chilli, or some other flavour to give them a kick.

My partner also commented that they were a bit sweet, and I think adding other flavours would balance out the date / chocolate sweetness.

With that said, my brother and sister reportedly liked them, so it might depend on your taste.

I really like the plain date and almond ones though. There's not much that can go wrong with that combination (although having said that, I am probably now inviting a date and almond disaster to visit my kitchen...).

All in all, a productive food weekend! And probably enough baking for a little while...

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6 signs you may not yet be a proper adult

1. You wake up at 5.30am and experience absolute glee when you remember that this morning, you get to be the Easter Bunny and hide easter eggs around the house. Lie awake for some 15 minutes planning where the eggs might be hidden.

This exciting experience stems from your partner reaching adulthood without ever having an Easter egg hunt (I know!). With this being the first year you are living together at Easter, you have a chance to rectify the situation.



2. Go back to sleep, but wake up an hour later to the sound of rain. Experience yet more excitement at the presence of rain after many months without it, and seriously consider going outside in your pyjamas to see liquid falling from the sky first hand.

Decide against this, but hope that it lasts long enough for you to get wet on your run.


3. When you do head out the door at about 7.45am (after hiding Easter eggs!!), have a marvellous time running in the rain.

[Of note, this would not be enjoyable if it was winter.)

4. Whilst running, start thinking about random things that make you laugh, for no apparent reason. Some examples of such random things may include:

- The time you got stuck up a tree. This year.


- The fact that Wikipedia has an entry on biscuit dunking. Although you are wholly in favour of biscuit dunking,  the presence of a Wikipedia entry on the topic is, to you, hillarious.


- The time you and your sister starting laughing like hyenas, in tandem. You really had to be there.

Whilst thinking about these things, you try not to laugh out loud, but may not be entirely successful.

5. Return home and take photos of the Easter eggs hidden around the house. Tweak a few positions. If you like, hum happily whilst you do this.

Spot the eggs

6. Feel ridiculously pleased that you are going for a bike ride this afternoon.


It was a good morning!

Happy Easter :)

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