Sometimes you just want something festive and tasty to share with your loved ones or with your lovely self. Well, certainly Easter can be such an occasion with its traditional Easter brunch! Even if it’s just because Spring has started and you have a holiday on which you get to do what you want, like doing some baking. So why not treat yourself with some easier-than-you’d-expect vegan baked goods? I recommend making some of these cuties on your holiday.
Lavender blondies
First up are the lavender blondies that are shown in the top picture. These blondies are truly something special! I’ve made them several times and every time people are surprised and enthusiastic, and they end up asking for the recipe. Blondies are like brownies, but without the chocolate. So they’re much like a dense cake. And really easy to make, once you’ve got your hands on the special ingredient lavender flowers!
I have to admit that these blondies may be more suited for a high tea than for a brunch, but festive the are! And they remind of spring and summer, of blooming flowers.
The recipe is from my friend Armanda Govers and her foundation Even Geen Vlees. Here goes (my English translation):
Ingredients for 24 pieces:
250 gr. flour
350 gr. granulated sugar (I used 275 and this works well too!)
2 tblsp bruised lavender flowers
½ teasp baking powder
½ teasp salt
350 ml water
100 ml sunflower oil
½ teasp vanille extract/aroma
Method:
To prepare, grease a baking tin with oil and/or cover it with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
First mix the dry ingredients together. Then add the wet ingredients and mix well. Next, pour the mixture in the baking tin and place it in the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool off a little before cutting into pieces.
To see the recipe in Dutch, check out my earlier Instagram post. (To my knowing Armanda doesn’t have the recipe online herself right now.)
Happy cinnamon rolls
I call them happy cinammon rolls, because they seem to have happy faces! Do you see it? It’s been some time since I made them, but I surely remember being amazed at how easy it was and how good they tasted.
Also, I made them for the occasion of Easter back then too. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it does to me!
Go here for my earlier post about them + the link to recipe (in Dutch)!
Dutch-style no-egg cakes
If you’re Dutch, you recognise this look as something that belongs to ‘eierkoeken’ or egg-cakes! Well, here’s a vegan variety of that traditional cake. Made with chickpea flour (read: ground dried chickpea) to create that fluffy texture and black salt or kala namak to bring the distinctive egg taste.
Go here for my earlier post + the link to recipe + my English translation in the blog post.
Focaccia with toppings of choice
Here’s something savory! Did you know that focaccias are quite easy to make? And vegan! At least, they can be, very easily. You just need flour, olive oil, some salt, sugar and yeast, and toppings of your choice! Mine is topped with onion and sage. Yum!
Also: the outside was real crispy and the inside was totally flully. Really nice!
I used the recipe of my friend Eveline of Eveline Cooks that she herself has used so often to bake for others. I remember her focaccias being a true hit, just like she describes in her blog post. Also, I do have to say that her picture is prettier than mine, so check it out if you don’t find mine convincing enough!
Banana bread (oil-free option!)
Banana bread is super easy to make and has the great benefit that bananas are sweet, so there’s no need to add much extra sugar to the party, if you don’t want to!
The one in the picture does contain sugar, but has no oil. Instead of oil I used apple sauce! 🙂 That works well in cakes; I used half the amount of apple sauce as the amount of oil than is called for in the recipe.
I always use this banana bread recipe (this is the one in the picture) and/or this one of which uses chai spices, both are from VeganChallenge and in Dutch. I also always leave out the nuts because of a nut sensitivity, and this works perfect too.
Do you love it?
As you can see, I do have a sweet tooth, especially when I think of baking for brunch! Of course there are many more options, but these are just a few that I have tried and tested and that I can therefore whole-heartedly recommend. Also, the websites that I mention are some of my favourite sources for recipes.
And even though most of these recipes are (originally) in Dutch, they’re quite easy, so if Dutch isn’t your language, you may be able to translate (if you want to!) or just find a similar recipe elsewhere. For copyright reasons, I cannot just translate everything for you, but if you do have questions, I can try to help. So you can let me know in a comment.
It’s been a long time since I posted about food. This weblog kinda of started off as a vegan food inspiration blog, but then it took a different turn. I like that through this post I can repurpose my earlier efforts and satisfy my hunger for vegan food activism/enthusiasm! And potentially inspire you, of course.
Lastly, do you have any additions you’d like to share? What are your favorite vegan brunch treats? Let me know in a comment!
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