Traditional Teatime Treats (made vegan)
Forget gourmet desserts, most people in England enjoy a childhood-nostalgic pudding! Here are some plant-based updates on traditional teatime treats, serve with vegan ice-cream or custard.
This recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding (The Veg Space) is a vegan take on one of England’s favourite traditional desserts, and is a great way to use up leftover bread that’s gone a bit stale.
The ingredients are soaked in vegan custard, then topped with demerara sugar. You can even soak dried fruits in sherry or brandy (or fruit juice for a no-alcohol version).
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (fresh bread dough, dried fruits and nutmeg are all toxic to pets).
Also don’t give stale/crusty/mouldy bread to garden birds or wildfowl, as it could choke (fatty bread can smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation).
This zesty bread & butter pudding is from Katy Beskow’s delightful recipe book Five Ingredient Vegan. It uses ready-made vegan custard and marmalade to greatly simplify the recipe.
This vegan bread pudding (Heartful Table) is a delightfully stodgy pudding, created and adapted by a Croatian chef.
Tips for Good Vegan Bread and Butter Pudding
- Avoid breads with heavy seeds or thick crusts.
- Coconut sugar gives a nice molasses taste.
- Toast the bread first, to prevent a soggy pudding.
- Don’t oversoak before baking (to avoid a mushy pudding)
- Use a shallow baking dish to encourage even baking.
Homemade Vegan Rice Pudding
Rice pudding is pure childhood nostalgia, yet surprisingly easy to make, so you don’t have to buy tins made with factory-farmed dairy milk. Try this Rice Pudding with Berry Compote (Veggie Desserts). Serve with a splodge of organic jam.
Keep nutmeg well away from animal friends.
To make rice pudding, you ideally use Arborio or pudding rice for a creamy consistency. Look in stores for Mr Organic Pudding Rice.
Use a rich plant milk (not rice milk, it’s too thin). Oat milk is good, as is coconut milk if you like the taste. Sweeten with real sugar or natural alternatives like maple syrup or agave syrup. A little real vanilla and warming cinnamon completes the dish.
Another comfort food classic, this brown rice pudding (Quite Good Food) is ideal for a cold winter’s night. Flavoured with orange, it’s spiced with ginger, cinnamon and cardamom.
Avoid unpasteurised juice for pregnancy/nursing or weak immunity. Keep citrus away from pets. Bin citrus scraps/rinds, as acids could harm compost creatures.
This recipe for vegan rice pudding (Vibrant Plate) is on everyone’s favourite comfort food list. This version replaces dairy with coconut milk (Biona and Nature’s Charm are good brands in tins, not harvested by monkeys.
Made with pudding rice and real vanilla, the dish is warmed up with a cinnamon stick and features juicy plums, that are baked to bring out their juice and taste. With some winter orange, what more could you wish for, in an autumn dessert?
Petit Pot (USA) shows that with a little vision, brand names can make good plant-based rice puddings. This organic rice pudding is made with coconut milk and real vanilla, sold in sweet little pots for a nice end to a meal. The puddings are also perfectly portioned in reusable glass jars.
(Vegan) Sticky Toffee Pudding (from Cumbria)
Did you know that sticky toffee pudding was invented in a small town in Cumbria? Also popular in Australia (‘steamed date pudding’), it’s apparently the world’s favourite dessert! Today things are updating to plant-based versions!
Hot sugar syrup can burn, so always keep little hands and paws away, never leave pans unattended, and use a long-handled spoon!
Sticky toffee pudding is basically a steamed date pudding in a toffee sauce. Medjool dates give the best flavour, so don’t be frightened to indulge! The two recipes above are super-simple and use affordable everyday ingredients.
For vegan butter, choose Flora (as it has no palm oil). You’ll get the best flavour by using brown or coconut sugar (not white – eek!) and you could truly indulge with some golden syrup or black treacle. Spices like ginger and cinnamon lift the pudding to new heights.
If baking on parchment paper, choose If You Care (sold in cardboard packaging, this is free from toxic chemicals and can be used for all your baked goods).
This delicious pudding is always best served warm, cut into generous squares with extra sauce on top. You can add a spoonful of coconut yoghurt for a lighter finish.
But for best taste, indulge and serve with vegan vanilla ice-cream. Or warm vegan custard (with fresh raspberries or pears).
(vegan) Bakewell Tart from Derbyshire
Within Derbyshire’s Peak District sits the town of Bakewell, known for the tart that is said to have been invented by accident in the 19th century. Try these vegan Bakewell Tarts (The Vega Space).
Start with a strong foundation by preparing a vegan shortcrust pastry. Use plain flour, dairy-free margarine (Flora has no palm oil), a pinch of salt, and cold water.
Keep fresh dough away from young children and pets.
This recipe for vegan Bakewell ice cream (Wallflower Kitchen) is super-simple.
Recipes for Vegan Self-Saucing Puddings
This Easy Self-Saucing Pudding (Rainbow Nourishments) is a great way to try a simple version of this popular dessert. It’s kind of a fruit version of those self-saucing puddings you may have had at school, served with chocolate custard. This version uses blackcurrant conserve, but switch for any fruits.
You first make the sauce, by mixing fruit conserve with water. Then make the pudding (a classic dry and wet ingredients, then mixing both). You then cook together, and the sauce should ‘cook’ inside, and sauce itself, as you enjoy served with plant-based ice-cream or yoghurt.
Gingerbread Self-Saucing Pudding (Quite Good Food) contains iron-rich molasses, and in the author’s words is ideal fodder ‘for binge-watching TV in your favourite stretchy pants!
Banoffee Pie (invented in a Sussex restaurant)
This banoffee pie (Rainbow Nourishments) is super-simple to make. With fresh bananas, vegan biscuits and melted vegan Flora (no palm oil).
To avoid palm oil, make your own pastry (keep fresh dough from children/pets).
Banoffee pie is one of England’s favourite desserts (very rich, so only for those with a very sweet tooth). Made from bananas and toffee, it uses condensed milk in a pastry shell. Invented in a small East Sussex restaurant, it’s been around since the 70s.
There is a story that the restaurant was so popular due to this dessert, that celebrities would arrive after performing at a nearby theatre. One arrived and it had closed, and apparently asked ‘But don’t you know who I am?’ The restaurant politely said ‘Yes, but we close at 10!’
It is said that (along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), banoffee pie was the favourite dessert of Elvis Presley.
