菠蘿包 (Pinapple Buns)
I am starting with this recipe as an idea of what can be achieved in vegan baking. This is one of the first recipes that I had to fully adapt as no one else was creating these Chinese bakery goods. So, I took on the challenge to do so myself and I am happy and proud of the final product.
Pineapple buns aren't dubbed that for their pineapple content but rather, for their appearance with the cracked cookie top accompanied with a soft and sweet bun. I used to get these for sister from the Chinese bakery in Chinatown alongside some custard tarts (recipe to come) but could never have them myself. There is a lack of vegan adaptations of Chinese baked goods available, be that recipe or commercial, and I wanted to try it for myself.
This recipe calls for a rather specific ingredient of which I cannot say with confidence how easy it will be to get depending where you are. This is the egg replacer I use; I have been using Crack'd egg replacer for certain recipes as it works better than some other options such as mashed bananas or aquafaba. In this recipe I actually use both Crack'd and aquafaba in combination and it seems to work very well as a whole egg replacement. But, I haven't tried other means such as commercial egg replacer powders or flax eggs and so I am not one to comment if they would work for this recipe.
If you are interested in the egg replacement than here is the URL: https://www.crackd.com
However, do not be put off there will be many other recipes at some point where I do not use such specific ingredients or you could try other options and see how they turn out.
This recipe creates 12 pineapple buns and they are best served warm and even if they do go cold in a microwave with a small cup of water will solve it.
allergens: Cereals containing gluten.
Cookies
This recipe is my take on a chocolate chip recipe from the book:
Ms. Cupcake's: "The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town"
Ms. Cupcake (Melissa Morgan) was UK's first entirely vegan retail bakery based in London from 2011 to 2020. They specialised in vegan baked good, I was only ever able to visit them once at their store but I also saw them at allergy trade shows. It was amazing to find baked goods that I could have and a whole store dedicated to it.
When I visited their store I saw they had a book and I felt that I had to buy it to try some of their recipes at home.
This book contains so many amazing recipes for people who require vegan baked goods, and such in-depth information about the art of vegan baking.
I have slightly modified this recipe, as I personally do not typically have egg replacer powder and if you have a hard butter then there is no need to use both vegan butter and baking block together.
This recipe creates 10 - 15 cookies depending on the size you want to make I made about 12.