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Pumpkin Pie

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If, like us, you are dealing with lots of pumpkin scrapings at the moment, this pumpkin pie recipe is a great way to get through a good chunk of them.

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 150g plain flour
  • 75g vegan block – available in our freezer in store (or butter)
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 1 egg yolk – organic eggs available in store

Filling

  • 750g pumpkin (cut into smallish chunks)
  • 140g caster sugar
  • 1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg, grated
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 eggs – organic eggs available in store
  • 25g vegan block – available in our freezer in store (or butter)
  • 175ml oat milk (or dairy milk)
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar

Method

First make the pastry for the pumpkin pie. Tip the flour into a bowl and add the vegan block in small chunks. Rub this together with your fingers until it is well combined and there are no large chunks left. Add the icing sugar and egg yolk and bring the dough together with your hands. You might need to add a couple of tablespoons of water if it’s too dry. Roll out until it fits inside your tart tin (around 22cm). Line the tart tin and place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

For the pumpkin pie filling, first place the pumpkin in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes until soft. Drain and allow to cool.

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line the pastry with baking paper and baking beans and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and paper and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Puree the cooked pumpkin (it really pays to get this as smooth as possible so a hand blender or nutribullet do the best job). In a seperate bowl, combine the sugar, nutmeg and half the cinnamon. Mix in the eggs, melted vegan block and oat milk and beat thoroughly to combine. Add to the pumpkin puree and stir to combine.

Remove the pastry from the oven and turn the oven up to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Pour the filling into the pastry case and bake for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and bake for a further 35 minutes.

Leave to cool. Mix the icing sugar and the remaining cinnamon and dust over the top. Enjoy!

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Date & Cardamom Cake

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This date and cardamom cake is our take on the Waitrose date, toffee and cardamom cake and I’ve got to say, it is goooooooodd.  Kind of like a mix between sticky toffee pudding and a cake.  Not too faffy either and uses pretty much all ingredients we have in the house all the time.  Which is great, because it looks and tastes impressive without actually requiring much effort.

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Classic Victoria Sponge

Victoria sponge

I always think it’s the simplest recipes which benefit most from really good quality ingredients to become something truly special.  We picked up some of our new stoneground plain flour and, to put it to the test, I made this Victoria sponge.   The unbleached flour gives the sponge a delicious golden hue.  It rose beautifully and has a gorgeous flavour.  Simple, but also infinitely special. 

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Pear & chocolate cake

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This pear and chocolate cake is just what I have been craving. It doesn’t take long to make and is a lovely dinner party special or just as a random week night treat when you need a pick me up. It is a bit fiddly and creates a whole load of washing up but is sooooooo worth it. Oh and it’s gluten free too. Continue reading Pear & chocolate cake

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Plant based chocolate cake recipe

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I made this cake as a dessert when we had guests over and it was an absolute hit. I had never tried vegan baking before so I was a bit hesitant over whether it would all work but it did. Due to the amount of fruit in this plant based chocolate cake I feel like it can even be called healthy too ;).  Even better, most of the ingredients are available from our shop plastic free!  It is a bit faffy and perhaps not the most elegant cake but well worth the effort for the taste.

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