Stephanie's Test Kitchen

Treat 11- Mini Christmas Puddings

Treat 12- Raw Stollen

To finish off my 12 Treats of Chirstmas series in the lead up to Christmas, I have made raw mini Christmas puddings and a raw stollen loaf. These are two treats that are perfect for an Australian Christmas as it can be quite hot this time of year over this side of the world and who wants hot food when you’re already feeling the heat.

Just life last weeks gluten free fruit mince pies, the mini raw Christmas puds come from Lola Berry’s The Happy Cookbook. I love her recipes as they’re so easy to put together using common ingredients. I like these mini Christmas puddings, not just because they don’t need baking and are quick and easy to put together, but also because the ingredients are simple and still manage to capture the festive flavours of Christmas in a way that doesn’t over power. They are the perfect size that you feel satisfied without overindulging on the pudding and there isn’t that feeling of guilt afterwards but you know you haven’t missed out on anything.

I still didn’t have any almond meal in the pantry so I chucked whole almonds into the food processor first,before adding the other ingredients, and blended them until they were almond meal. When making the marzipan, for the leaves, I suggest blending the soaked almonds first until produced fine breadcrumbs and then gradually add in the maple syrup. Adding the two ingredients together her in one go resulted in lumps and it was too soft so I couldn’t properly mould the leaves and just had to wing it when finishing off the puddings.

Ingredients

• 100g/1cup almond meal
• 180g/1cup medjool dates, pitted
• 60g(1/2cup) sultanas
• 30g(1/4cup) raisins
• Zest of 1/2 orange
• 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp allspice
• Cranberries or goji berries to decorate

Marzipan:

• 50g(1/3cup) almonds, soaked for 2hrs or over night, then Drained and rinsed
• 60ml(1/4cup) pure maple syrup
• 2tbsp almond milk(only if mixture doesn’t stick together-I had the opposite problem though)
• 1tsp spirulina powder

Recipe

1. To make the Christmas puddings, put all the ingredients excepte the cranberries/goji berries into a food processor and blend until the mixture starts to stick together. Then roll the mixture into 8 balls and put into the fridge to set.
2. For the marzipan, put the soaked almonds into the food processor the. Add the maple syrup and blend until it forms the marzipan. If it’s not holding together, add upto 2 tbsp of almond milk gradually until it all sticks together. When your happy with the texture, add the spirulina and mix all together. Then roll the green marzipan into little leaf shapes. Press these onto the top of the mini puds and top with a few goji berries or cranberries or a combo of both. It looks like jewelled holly on top.

*Recipe Tested from Lola Berry’s The Happy Cookbook*

Possibly my all time Favourite Christmas treat would be the German Christmas cake Stollen. The version with marzipan through the middle is the best. I love anything with marzipan in it actually. When I found this recipe for raw vegan Stollen with marzipan on the food 52 blog last year I knew I had to make it and finally I have.

I really enjoyed making this raw stollen as it was quite hands on with putting the ingredients all together. The dough came together perfectly for the cake, with it being quite nice and dense. The ingredients capture that well remembered flavour just right. Instead of having the marzipan just through the middle like a traditional stollen, I layered it up through the cake as I built it up ps that there would be marzipan in every bite because as I said, the marzipan is my Favourite part.

I didn’t have enough cashews for 2 cups of cashew flour so I made up with difference with more almond meal which didn’t seem to affect the recipe at all. I al used pure maple syrup instead of the agave as I had to use it up and because I prefer to avoid agave as it has such a high fructose content.

I can’t find any fault in this recipe, it came together just as it should so I’m glad I saved this recipe for last. I’m looking forward to sharing it with family on Christmas Day.

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 cups fine cashew flour sifted
• 2 cups raw ground almonds
• 1 cup raw coconut flour
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tablespoon almond essence
• 1/2 cup soaked vine fruits (raisins)
• 1 Lemon (Juice and Zest of)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla essence
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon essence
• 2 cups raw coconut butter melted
• 1/3 cup agave nectar (light)
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon or mixed spice

Raw Marzipan:

• 1/2 cup ground raw almonds
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon almond essence

Recipe

1. First make the raw marzipan. In a bowl add the ingredients and mix it up. Take some aluminium foil and shape the mix into a block then put into the freezer.
2. Start working on the cake. In a bowl add all the dry ingredients first. To make the cashew flour use the mill option of your high speed blender (Vitamix or Blendec is ideal). Try not to mill for too long as it will turn into cashew butter very quickly. Top tip for milling cashew nuts! Set the blender to high and hold that lid, do short sharp bursts. Once you have sifted two cups keep the remains and set aside for something else. Add the wet ingredients and mix it well with your hands lifting it as if making pastry, it should resemble a crumbly mixture.
3. Take a generous sheet of aluminium foil to start shaping your Stollen. Add some of the mix and then add take a slice of marzipan and layer it on top. Add more of the crumbly mix and get creative. Take your time and relax then you will have a beautiful shape! You can also roll the aluminium and wrap up the cake and shape it like that by smoothing it out (see photo). Once it is in the correct shape transfer to the freezer to set. You can freeze and defrost before serving. Dust with finely milled xylitol or agave sugar. If you don’t have any of the sugar topping just sprinkle with a little caster sugar – it’s the holidays so we can let our hair down a bit 😉

*Recipe Tested from the Food52 Website*