Of course it’s more natural to gather all your ingredients together and bake a cake or cookie from scratch. But often real life is not like that. So here are better baking mixes sold. Not just vegan but made with natural ingredients (use palm-oil-free vegan butter and egg replacer). For now, it’s difficult to avoid plastic packaging. So recycle these brands at the kerbside (or at supermarket bag recycling bins).
Read up on food safety for people & pets (many human foods including chocolate, coffee, dried fruits and spices are unsafe around animal friends). If used, keep xylitol (a sugar alternative) away from pets (lethal, even if a few crumbs are ingested).
Go-Low is a range of low-carb and low-sugar baking mixes, created by a woman who was struggling to lose ‘baby weight’ after having three children in close succession. The sugar’s removed but not the taste, so you can go from bowl to plate in minutes. The range includes:
French-style Crepes are nice with plant-based yoghurt, granola and maple syrup (or serve with fruit couli and vegan cream). Or even with mushroom sauce. Just add water, plant milk and egg replacer and get ready to flip!
Pancake & Waffle Mix is packed with fibre and healthy fats, to make yummy fluffy breakfast pancakes to fuel all your family for the day. Ready in minutes, just add water or plant-milk and egg-replacer.
Seedy crackers are made with sesame and linseeds, so rich in fibre and packed with protein and omega 6 fatty acids. Just add water, mix, roll and bake to snack on or serve with soup.
Easy Wraps are the homemade alternative to tortilla chips. Use in a vegan BLT or create fajitas or buriritos for Mexican food. Packed with fibre and nutrient-dense super seeds. Just add water and oil, roll and cook for just 2 minutes.
Buttery Cookies are ready in 10 minutes, just add vegan butter and vanilla, spread out on the pan and bake (takes less than 10 minutes). Brew your cuppa while they cool, or use as a vegan cheesecake base.
Chocolate Brownies are rich and gooey, made with natural sweeteners. Just add vanilla, vegan butter and egg replacer for a tasty low-carb brownie made with raw cacao (better than processed cocoa).
a vegan gingerbread baking mix
Katie Bakes offers a gingerbread baking mix in an eco-friendly pouch. Use a standard-size cookie cutter to make 12 gingerbread men. Make up with vegan butter (the mix already contains egg replacer and bicarbonate of soda).
Just Wholefoods makes nice organic baking mixes for pancakes, flapjacks, energy balls, brownies and matcha pancakes. Sweetened with coconut blossom, just add oil or vegan butter, and your favourite syrups.
Nom Nom Not Dairy makes delicious vegan baking mixes, sold without packaging. Made in the Midlands, this started as a ‘brownie project’ during lockdown, just enter your postcode to find stockists.
where to find vegan chocolate chips
Many baking mixes call for chocolate chips (for cookies, brownies etc). Moo Free is the best brand, made with rice milk (although again you’ll have to recycle the recycled plastic packaging, sent in cornstarch packaging that dissolves in water). Unlike dark bitter chocolate, these drops are ‘milk chocolate’ flavour (made with Rainforest-Alliance sourced cocoa). Also as white chocolate drops.
