Recipe: Apple Bread with Raisins & Pecans
Time taken: An hour & a half
Ingredients: 2 apples, 1 lemon, 375g apple sauce, 125g
gluten-free plain flour, 125g corn flour, 175g pitted dates, 150g pecan nuts,
100ml almond or soy milk, 75g raisins, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon
of cinnamon, half a teaspoon of vanilla essence, & a pinch of salt
Hi readers,
G’day to you all! How is your day? Is it a good one? Today
in Sheffield it’s not been bad. There is of course the oppressive cloud cover,
and we’re being battered by strong winds. But it’s been colder. I’d say it’s
been a good start to the new week. And if you’re reading this then you’re
surviving Monday. So high five! And this week *drumroll* is the week *big
drumroll* that it’s going to be Christmas!! Hurray! Need I remind you… it’s just
THREE DAYS TO GOOOO! Whooooo!
Readers, I was thinking (it happens sometimes) about what
you might like to read about next on the ChefBeHere blog. Everyone’s very busy
at this time of year and I know you don’t have the minutes to spare to read any
old recipe. And I was thinking about what might be of use to you.
And I was struck with an idea! I know one thing that a lot
of people struggle with at this time of the year, when everyone’s coming
together for Christmas, is catering for That Person. You know the one? The person
on the special diet. There’s always one! In my family: it’s me. Vegetarian. I
hold my hand up! I’m That Person who nobody knows how to feed. They’re like ’Can
we put Quorn in a cheesecake?’ and ‘Is there meat in a scotch egg?’… Yes. No.
It’s a never ending struggle! And buffets are the worst.
Unless your host has kindly labelled every dish, or taken the time to run you
through what you can and can’t eat, you’re left inspecting pastries and peeling
finger sandwiches apart to check the filling. Then you eat a suspicious spring
roll and spend an hour crying in the bathroom.
And being vegetarian is hardly a special diet anymore!
These days everyone knows at least one vegetarian and every supermarket has a
special fridge and special freezer, set aside just for us. I feel for people
with even more special diets than mine. Diets that friends and family
definitely can’t be counted upon to understand. For you, walking up to a buffet
must be like going into battle.
Soooo I decided to bake something special! Especially for
those of you with special diets. Today I baked a VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE,
LACTOSE-FREE apple bread with pecans and raisins. That’s right. There is such a
thing! And it tastes like a dream! So, I didn’t invent this. I needed a little
help. This recipe is adapted and Britishised from one I found online, on a fantastic
blog by Gluten-Free Vegan Girl (go check her out!) right here: http://www.gluten-free-vegan-girl.com/2014/02/apple-bread-with-raisins-pecans.html
So here’s how you go about making your very own very special
apple bread, in just ten steps:
1.
Heat your oven to 200ᵒC.
2.
Prep your pecans! Chop the nuts into small pieces.
3.
Prep your dates! Again, chop them up small.
4.
Prep your apples! Core them, peel them alive and
then chop them up into cubes.
5.
Add to one bowl your apple sauce, dates, milk, vanilla essence and the juice from your lemon. Stir this all up!
6.
In another bowl add both your flours, along with
your baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
7.
Stir this flour mix into your apple mix.
ChefBeHere Top Tip: My mix began to froth quite alarmingly
here. I powered on, hoping this was ok, and everything was fine. Just make sure
you’re using a large mixing bowl so that your lively mix doesn’t have the
chance to froth over the edges!
8.
Gently fold your apple chunks, raisins and
pecans into your bread mix.
9.
Pour your finished mix into a loaf tin lined
with baking paper.
10.
Safely transport into the oven and bake for
50-60 minutes, until the bread looks golden on top, your house smells like an
orchard and a sharp knife jabbed into the middle of the bread comes out clean.
Fresh from the oven!
And that’s all there is to it! You just baked up (I presume)
your first loaf of special apple bread. High five! Now, run a knife around the edge of
your loaf to loosen it from the tin, then leave it to cool in the tin for about
twenty minutes. After that, you can either transfer it to a Tupperware to
finish cooling, or slice your loaf up and serve warm! Spread with butter or
apple sauce, for a taste sensation.
Here’s my warm n gooey lunch…
This was such an exciting recipe to bake! We had half of the
ingredients in the house already and the other half I found in Asda, on shelves
I don’t usually notice, like the ‘Free From’ foods. Baking this bread involved
lots of measuring and lots of chopping. Quite a lot of fretting over whether or
not it was going right! And then a little hardship in peeling the baking paper
away from the loaf at the end. But it was so worth it!
This loaf is more a cake than a bread,
really. It comes out very moist and sweet, and is packed full of fruit. The
loaf is very moreish to eat. And tastes incredible! Super indulgent. And my
favourite recipes are the ones where you can bung it in the oven for an hour
while you have a hot drink, so this was perfect! No sieving or decoration or
fuss. And, once again, having sampled a decent slice, I’m giving away most of my
baking as gifts to friends when we meet up later tonight. So my loaf is all
sliced up and Tupperwared, and ready for the off!
Packed and ready to go!
So, what do you think? If you aren’t coeliac or vegan or
lactose intolerant, but you know someone who is, are you brave enough to give
this a go for the next time that they visit? If you ARE on any of those diets,
is this something you’d like to try to bake for yourself? Have you had anything
like it in the past? And to anyone who’s had a crack at baking this, how did it
go?? Success? New favourite recipe? Orrrr not so much? I’d love to know! And I
hope that this helps some of out, maybe, when catering for That Person this
Christmas. They’ll love you for trying, at least.
Everyone, bake safely and remember to watch those buffets!
Hayley
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