This recipe is vegan, and uses all raw natural ingredients. A fabulous recipe from our featured @vinny_the_van_diesel, read their feature right here!
Raw chocolate and peppermint tarts
vinnythevandiesel
Vegan, Vegetarian
These indulgent yet super healthy sweet treats are so easy to make. Even better they are vegan, which means no-one has to miss out on these tasty treats.
Soak sunflower seeds and dates separately overnight at room temp.
Blend cashews and Pepitas till ground and add desicated coconut and 1 tblspn raw cacao powder. 3.5 tblspn coconut oil and 2 tblspn rice malt syrup.
Smoosh together with your hands with a pinch of salt and press into tart moulds or line a tray (to make into a slice)
Set in fridge
Blend together drained sunflower seeds, 1 Tablespn raw cacao powder and drained soaked dates (adding one tablespoon of date soaking liquid)
Over a double boiler slowly melt coconut oil, cacao butter, rice malt syrup and 2 Tblspn coconut oil.
Blend into date mixture and add 2 drops of peppermint oil.
Layer onto the set base mixture and set in fridge over night.
These awesome burger buns were the winners of bake off 2020, week 3, bread week. Although they take a little time, they are worth it! Here’s what the chefs in question had to say…
‘I organized myself in order to have freshly baked buns for lunch. I started at 2.30 pm the day before in order to use less yeast and make these buns easier to digest. You can double the amount of yeast and start early in the morning. It is up to you. It all depends on whether or not you have access to a fridge for an overnight rest’.
Van Bake off Burger buns
Vegetarian
This recipe is a winning star baker recipe for Van Bake Off 2020. These burger buns take a while to prove, but the end result is definitely worth it! This burger bun recipe makes 9-10 buns
Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the bowl, stirring energetically with your hands to avoid lumps. Start with the milk, then the oil, the whisked eggs, and the soft butter for last. The mixture will be wet, but don’t worry! On the contrary… the hydration of the dough will give the bun its softness. If you have trouble handling it, wet your hands with a little bit of oil and keep working.
Transfer the dough to your work surface, knead for a couple of minutes and let it rest for 5 in order to reach a less tenacious and more elastic dough. You will find it easier to handle. Make the reinforcement folds and let it rest again, this time for 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap to prevent the surface from drying out and creating an annoying crust. Make another round of folds (the last one, I promise) and place in the refrigerator in a lightly oiled container, with an airtight lid, to rest overnight (16 hours in total). I use Sistema, but the only important thing is that the dough will rise even at 4C therefore the container must be large enough to allow the increase in volume
At 7.30 am (the next morning), make your 9 | 10 balls and let them rise at room temperature on top of your baking tray lined with baking paper. The buns will keep rising, even during cooking, and for such reason, you should leave enough space between them so they don’t join together. I organised 2 trays, one with 4 buns and the other with 5.
After 3 hours (should be around 11 am), whisk another egg, gently brush your buns and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in a static oven at 200 degrees C for 14/16 minutes (depending on the size of the bun you have chosen).
I have the compact Breville Smart Oven Pro and I usually start cooking in the middle rack and then move the tray to the lowest level for the last 3/4 minutes. Leave the bread rolls to rest on a wire rack and enjoy.
This delicious recipe of pumpkin prosciutto crostini is a great way to use up leftover bread. Also a great way to use up pumpkin if pumpkin carving. This dish was cooked over an open fire, but can be made inside the van too.
Pumpkin Prosciutto Crostini
Forest Food Stories
Meat Based
Pumpkin Prosciutto Crostini, a great recipe for cooking outdoors or vanlifers who like to cook indoors too!
This recipe was selected as star baker recipe during bread week of Van Bake off 2020. Bagels in a van are awesome, even better when used as burger buns!
Add sugar and yeast to warm water in a bowl. Leave for around 10 mins until foamy.
Mix salt and flour in a bowl, make a well in the middle and add the yeast mixture. Stir together until a dough forms.
Turn out onto a work surface and bring together and knead for around 10 mins.
Put a little oil in a clean bowl and leave dough mixture in a bowl covered with a damp tea towel until it has doubled in size. Approx. 2 hours.
Once proved, punch down and leave again for 10 mins.
Divide dough into 8 equal balls, roll around on work surface until you have a neat tight ball. Then, dip a finger in some flour and make a hole in the middle of each ball and stretch and shape to get a bagel shape. The hole should be about a third of the size of the diameter.
Heat up a large pot of boiling water, once boiling, reduce to simmer. Carefully boil each bagel, you can boil as many at the same time as you feel comfortable doing. Boil for 2 mins on each side. The longer you boil the chewier the bagel will be. 2 mins is that nice sweet spot.
Heat the oven to 220 degrees celsius. Once all the bagels have been boiled, place on a baking tray together. Brush beaten egg wash and bake until golden brown all over. Around 25 mins.
One of my all time favourite comfort foods is a cheese and onion crisp sandwich using white bread. This loaf brings back those memories of this after school snack with the gentle flavours of the cheese and onion.
Mix the flour, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl. Stir in the yeast.
Make a well in the centre. Seperately mix the warm water and oil together and then pour into the well.
Bring together with a knife or spoon and then get your hands stuck in to mix into a dough.
On a floured surface knead the bread for around 10 minutes before adding the chopped spring onions and kneading for another minute or so.
Place back in the mixing bowl, cover with a wet warm tea towel and leave to prove for 1-2 hours.
When the dough has doubled in size, take out and split into 3 equal pieces. Roll and stretch them into long ‘sausages’ and check they are the correct length to fill the Omnia.
Join the 3 pieces together at one end and pinch together. Sprinkle all 3 pieces with half of the grated cheese, sprinkle over the side also so it gets into the plait.
Plait the bread by pulling the right strand over the middle one, then the left one over the middle one. Repeat until the loaf is plaited and then pinch the other ends tight together. (There are tutorials on YouTube if you get stuck)
Put the omnia silicone insert into the Omnia oven or make sure it’s well greased, we grease the silicone mold slightly too.
Leave in the Omnia to prove for another 30-60 minutes
When risen, sprinkle over the remaining cheese and finely chopped chives.
Place over a medium flame for 40 mins.
These little biscuit bites give the best of both worlds, a biscuit with a delicious florentine. We made these in our Omnia oven during Van Bake Off 2020.
Begin with the biscuit base as this will need to chill a while. Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat until creamy. Add the flour and cinnamon and mix together. Make into a ball, cover and chill for around an hour.
While chilling, start on the florentine topping. Melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and salt in a pan. Once melted take from the heat and mix in the flour, stir in the raisins and nuts and leave to cool.
Get the dough out and roll to a thickness of around 5mm, cut out circles, remembering they should be bitesize. Place a tsp of the florentine mixture on each biscuit.
Place in the Omnia oven (see our tip below!) and bake over a medium flame for 20mins or until the biscuit base is firm. You will need to do this in batches if not using an oven.
Leave to cool.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water, then dip the cooled biscuits into it, covering 1/3 – 1/2 the biscuit. Leave to set
Enjoy!
Notes
We baked the biscuits in our Omnia muffin mould, we just didn't pop out the moulds and kept the ring flat. This meant the biscuits kept their shape and were easy to pop out after baking!
Begin by making the topping. Peel and slice the apples. In a pan put the water and sugar, begin with a low heat until it begins to bubble and then turn the heat up until it turns amber. Make sure not to stir it, as tempting as it is!
Put the silicone mold in the Omnia and carefully pour the sauce into it. Very carefully place the sliced apples in the sauce.
Start with the cake. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Sift the flour with the bicarbonate of soda.
Add 2 tbsp of the flour to the butter mixture along with 1 of the eggs.
Repeat this process until the flour and eggs are gone.
Stir in the milk and vanilla.
Pour the mixture into the Omnia and smooth with a metal spoon.
Bake over a medium flame for 50-55 mins.
Turn out when baked being careful of any hot caramel. Leave to cool.
This recipe from van bake off 2020 won star baker for biscuit week. It requires a little effort but is definitely worth it. These are baked in an Omnia oven but can be baked in a conventional oven.
Van bake off Chocolate, almond & pistachio biscotti
jessrose_litherland
Vegan, Vegetarian
This delicious recipe requires a little bit of effort but it definitely worth it! It won the title of star baker in biscuit week 2020.
Mix the flour, coco powder, baking powder in a bowl.
In a well in the middle add the sugar then add the oil and water on top
Mix together with a spoon from the centre, when it starts to turn into a dough get your hands in there.
As it starts getting solid add the nuts and chocolate and mix it through the dough (this bit is hard as the dough is thick so I ended up adding some of the extras to the dough in the next stage)
Split the dough into 2 logs. You need to think about the finished look of the biscotti so the log needs to be about 2 inches wide and a uniform shape all along. I found 2 logs this size fit comfortably opposite each other in the omnia.
Cook for 25 mins (I cooked on highest gas heat for 10 mins then turned down to medium) or until the log is firm to the touch. Then take it out and let it cool.
When cool carefully slice each log into slices. This bit is super hard, the mixture is crumbly so you need a good knife!
Pop the pieces cut side down back in the omnia lining and cook for 10 mins on each side (I cooked them at the highest heat this time). The recipe made about 12 biscuits and I could fit 6 at a time in the omnia so it takes a bit of time to do them all! But it is worth it.
Notes
This recipe can also be baked in a conventional oven
This jackfruit and spicy tomato couscous recipe is cooked in the Wonderbag. This handy piece of cooking equipment acts like a slow cooker and means you can use less gas when cooking in your van. You can read all about it right here. Here is the link to some recipes you can cook with one, let us know if you have any to add.
Jackfruit with spicy tomato couscous
traveltrio_plusone
Vegan, Vegetarian
This vegan recipe is warming and filling, perfect for autumn.
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