Vegan Iced Ring Biscuits
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I am on a mission.
A mission to create the best vegan treats.
Ok. Probably not the best (complete and utter newbie baker here), but I want to create something super tasty.
This revolution happened last week. Me and Rosario was out on our first (definitely not last), vegan shake date at Cookies and Scream (I had a cookie dough shake btw, and it was amazing), and we picked up some brownies to take home, and let me tell you something. This was the best brownies I have ever tasted...
...ever. And it was completely vegan.
I have been a vegetarian for just over 8 years, but recently I have dabbled in a vegan diet. I have tried my hand at vegan baking already with these cupcakes, but I really want to dedicate a little of my online space to vegan baking. I'm not quite sure why, but whenever some people hear the words 'vegan' and 'desserts', they assume it's going to be bland, super healthy, and just blah. There are no bland flavours here, and for this recipe at least, not healthy.
As a child (and an adult), I have always been obsessed with anything sweet. Cakes, biscuits, ice-cream, I would need it all, and at once. Though with age I have gained some a little self control. There were two things I loved to eat more than anything though, Frosties, with no milk, and Party Rings. Let me explain the Frosties thing. I always thought is was a special treat being able to eat them sat on the sofa in the living room, but as I've gotten older, I've realised it was only because my Mum didn't trust me with liquid near upholstery. I'm not going to blame her really, not much has changed. Now, to the real reason for this post, Party Rings. They were so sweet, and I loved the icing, which came in different bright colours so that automatically went to the top of my list. They have recently changed the recipe to vegetarian, but I'm going to go one up and make a completely vegan recipe. Icing too.
The biscuit base is very simple. It has less of a crunch than a standard biscuit, slightly more like a shortbread, but if you prefer something crunchier, make thinner biscuits, and cook for a little longer. The secret to making this a vegan biscuit (other than dairy-free milk and butter, but they're obvious alternatives), is a flax-egg. Simply made with ground flaxseeds and water. Mixed together it creates a thicken mixture, to mirror that of an egg. It doesn't alter the taste of the biscuit, so no-one will ever know. With the icing, the biscuit is sweet, but you can play around with different extracts if you want to experiment with flavours.
Talk of icing, this was the part I was slightly nervous about. I'm always that person who will spend ages baking something, and then ruin it with the decorating, BUT this technique is so easy, and totally newbie proof. I love how imperfectly perfect they look. A year ago, I would have totally made a new batch, and made sure they looked exactly like the store bought version, but homemade things to me now are a lot more special. I absolutely love the taste and the look of these... and so do others. I had to bat their hands away from taking too many. Sorry, but you have to wait until I have finished taking my photos.
VEGAN ICED RING BISCUITS
This recipe makes 32 colourful rings.- 1 tbsp flax seed mill
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 1 cup soft vegan butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp dairy-free milk
- 3 cups plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt ICING
- 150g dairy free milk chocolate
- 3 shreaded wheat nests
INGREDIENTS
BISCUITS- To make the flax-egg, combine the flax seed mill with 3 tbsp of water and leave in the fridge to set. You know it's ready when it thickens and slightly resembles an egg.
- Using an electric whisk, beat together the caster sugar and butter until it's well combined and lighter in colour.
- Pour in the flax-egg and vanilla extracts, and continue to beat until incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the plain flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. In small batches, mix together the wet and dry ingredients. Once the mixture starts forming a dough, use your hands to continue. If the dough is slightly sticky, add a little flour.
- Wrap the dough in clingfilm, and refrigerate for at least an hour. This will make things easier when cutting out the dough.
- Pre heat your oven to 190°C.
- Split your dough in half and place one half onto a floured surface. (It's much easier to work in batches.) Using a rolling pin, roll out your dough to around 1 cm thickness. Use a round cutter to create the shape, and a smaller cutter for the centre. (I used a bottle lid.)
- Place your biscuit rings onto a lined baking tray and place in the oven for 8-10 minutes. You want your biscuits to changing slightly in colour, but not turn completely golden. Take the tray out the oven and leave to sit for 2 minutes to continue cooking. Transfer onto a cooling rack and repeat with batch two.
- Once the biscuits have completely cooled, it's time to make the icing. I found it a lot easier to make this in batches (1 cup icing sugar + 4 tsp of dairy-free milk). Mix the ingredients together, and place into separate bowls. Add in a tiny amount of food colouring gel and mix. The consistency needs to be on the thicker side.
- Dip the biscuit into the main colour, and using a piping bag or spoon, draw over lines with a different colour. Using a toothpick, draw lines across in the opposite direction to create the traditional lines.
- Once the icing has hardened, they're ready to enjoy.
INSTRUCTIONS
So simple to make, and you can get a lot of biscuits made in a short amount of time, (which is obviously really, really important). Let me know the in the comments below what your favourite childhood sweet snacks were.
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