vegan apricot chocolate muffins

I have been dabbling in a little bit of vegan cookery lately, cause my boyfriend is vegan :) and I love baking for him.

So I have come up with these little lovelies. Apricot and dark chocolate has always been one of my favorite flavour combinations so I decided to make a batch of muffins for my man.

preheat the oven to 220c on fanbake

prepare muffin tray (makes about 10 - 12 medium sized muffins)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

5 tsp brown sugar

1 can of apricots drained, then mashed

2/3 cup of soy milk

1/3 cup of dark chocolate

pinch of salt

First measure the flour sugar salt and baking powder into a large bowl. mix thoroughly with a fork until no lumps of brown sugar can be seen.

Drain the apricots and save the liquid for flavouring the icing, mash the apricots with a fork.

Add the soy milk to the apricots and mix till combined.

Chop up the dark chocolate into tiny pieces and add them to the dry ingredients, mix till well dispersed.

Add the liquids to the dry ingredients, and stir with a fork till just combined.

Spoon into the muffin cups, about 2/3s full put in the oven straight away cook until springy when poked, about 12 mins.

These didn't actually come out too well... They were very wet muffins, but very springy, and delightful hot just out of the oven!!

Creamy Mushroom Pasta (vegan)

my friend Julia introduced me to coconut cream as a good vegan base for her creamy mushroom sauce. I have changed it a little I think... it's quite good, and Dan says it's lovely!

1/2 can lite coconut cream

15 - 20 small button mushrooms chopped into small pieces

2 small onions finely diced

1 & 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 tsp sweet basil

3 tbsp wine

2 tbsp cornflour

1/4 cup cold water

salt and pepper

Pasta - 2 servings

1. dice onions finely

2. chop mushrooms into small pieces

3. heat 1 tbsp olive oil in wok pan thing

4. cook onions in the pan till see-through and a little browny - approx 5mins

5. add 1/2 tbsp olive oil and mushrooms and saute till glossy and a little more browny - approx 5mins

6. add 1 tsp pepper and 1tsp sweet basil and continue to cook for about 5mins

7. boil water for the pasta and put it on to cook for about 10 mins. I used big spirals because I think the sauce sticks to them better

8. add 3tbsp white wine, and continue to stir for 5 mins - by thgis stage the flavours should have developed quite nicely!

9. add 1/2 can lite coconut cream and continue to stir for 5mins

10. lower the heat of the mushroom pan, and in a separate container - like a jar - mix 2 tbsp cornflour with 1 tbsp of coconut cream and 1/4 cup water till thoroughly mixed then add to the pan and stir slowly, the sauce will begin to thicken.

11. set the sauce to one side to cool a little, stirring occasionally

12. when the pasta is ready, drain and stir into the sauce. check for flavour, add salt or pepper if necessary.

13. eat! and be happy :)