Vegan Sugarfree Macaroons

My curiosity recently has led me to trying to create a recipe of a vegan macaroon - something I was dreaming about for quite a while (but only dreaming - it's impossible to recreate their meringue-ness without eggs), because meringues and macaroons/macarons are my biggest weakness and the absolutely only thing which prevents me from forgetting about non-vegan foods completely. I can (and I did) give up everything without any regret or looking back  - except meringues. ) However, I eat them very rarely, 1-2 times a year, perhaps... although they're on my mind at least 365 times a year.
Anyway, I was wondering whether such different foods as macarons/macaroons and macaroni (a.k.a. pasta) have something in common apart from similar names, and why coconut macaroons being so distinct from the French macaroons, are still called the same. I googled, and I found more than I could imagine. I found this amazing article Macaroons, Macarons, and Macaroni on the blog called The Language of Food, and I plan to read it all through when I have time.
I liked the fact that coconut macaroons are not a recent invention by vegan people, trying to create some substitute to the French macaroons, as I thought - coconut macaroons were invented in the end of the 19th century in America, when coconut was a fad at the time, so people just substituted ground almond with grated coconut in the recipe for macaroons. So, coconut macaroons are their own things, not just a sad alternative to the French macaron, and easily can be vegan and sugar-free. 
There are too many interesting things in the article to talk about, but when I came across the first English language recipe of macaroons, written in 1611, using ground almond, rose water, sugar and muske (? probably musk), I thought: "Wow: no eggs, actually, and still a macaroon!", and went to the kitchen immediately :)
I don't use sugar, but rice syrup is even better, because there's no need then to make a syrup with sugar and rose water. So I put together the ingredients listed below.

Vegan Sugarfree Macaroons 

Makes 18-20 biscuits
Ingredients:
200g of ground almonds
1/3 cup rice syrup
1/2 tsp rose water extract (I use Uncle Roy's)
1 Tbsp rice milk
3 Tbsp powdered soy milk
1 tsp baking powder

Method:
Measure the almond meal, put it in a medium bowl, mix with the baking powder. Add rice syrup, rose water extract (or 1 Tbsp rose water - and then omit the rice milk), rice milk and powdered soy milk, and mix everything with a spoon. You can use your hands later. When your paste looks incorporated, wet your hands, pinch a small piece off it and form a walnut-sized ball, then flatten it and place on a baking tray, lined with parchment paper. They spread just a little bit, so 2 cm between them on a tray should be enough.
Bake at 170C for 10 minutes. I use non-convection oven.

I would use a regular rose water, but I ran out of it, so I used the rose extract. The paste was a bit too wet after I've put the rice milk, so I added powdered soy milk, so next time I'll try without and see what happens.

They're came out so beautiful, a bit puffier than on the picture (sadly, they flatten as they cool down). Maybe a tiny bit darker than "proper" macarons, so next time I'll bake them for couple of minutes less.
They tasted really good. Not as airy and gooey as the Parisian macarons, of course, but very close. At least, for not only eggless  but also sugarless - probably the closest possible, who knows? They also had lovely cracked tops, looking just like Russian almond meringue biscuit called pechenie orekhovoe, and I loved that fact.

They looked lovely as they were, but I decided to make them even more macaroony and paired them together with my kinda perfect vegan coconut icing, colouring it with a pinch of beetroot powder. Voilà :)

Vegan Simple Vanilla Sandwich Cakes

I was just trying out my new mini-sandwich pan the other day (which I coveted for quite a while, because I kinda got tired of the usual cupcake shape) so this is a basic vanilla cake.
It's decorated with coconut icing and topped with pomegranate seeds and white chocolate shavings.
To say the truth, my white chocolate was not vegan, but I'm not really a vegan, I'm macrobiotic, so if I want it, (or don't have a choice :) I'll eat it, really...

Simple vanilla cake
Ingredients:
Makes 12 mini-cakes (6 sandwiches), or one layer in the 8-inch tin

1 cup soy milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup agave syrup
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup spelt flour (wholegrain +white)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170°C and oil the cake tin.
2. Put soy milk and vinegar in a big bowl and mix with the whisk, leave for a couple of minutes, then add the oil, agave syrup and vanilla, gently beat till nice and smooth.
3. Place a fine sieve on top of the bowl and sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix just a bit till no lumps remain, but try not to overmix.
4. Pour the mixture in the tin and if it's cupcakes, bake for about 25 minutes. If it's a cake, it'll take more time, depending on the size and depth of the tin and the type of the oven. Usually 35-45 minutes should work. Check if ready putting a wooden toothpick in the middle of the cake, which should come out dry.  I'd like to note that all ovens vary, so the aforementioned time and temperature are guidelines only.


Coconut kinda perfect icing

Ingredients:
150 ml organic creamed coconut (the yield from Biona's 200g vacuum pack)
2 Tbsp agave nectar
100 ml hot water
2 Tbsp coconut flour

Method:

1. Take the brick of the creamed coconut out of the package and chop it finely so it melts much quicker. Melt it in a bain-marie until it reaches an even consistency, and transfer it to the bowl of your mixer. Put the mixer on and slowly add agave first, then hot water and then coconut flour, one by one, preferably sifted. It won't take long to get to a nice stiff peaks texture. 
I'd like to note, that these proportions are good for piping, rather than spreading. If you want to spread your icing with the palette knife, you will need to find another kind of icing, because this one just doesn't work for that. It's not spreadable, I've tried to do it thinner but it just becomes grainy and not nice.
I think this icing may not be liked only if you don't like coconut flavour. Otherwise I think it's a great alternative to the traditional icing. And even if you aren't number 1 coconut fan, at least you should feel much better taking a bite off something healthy and packed with lauric acid and other wonderful things, rather than a lump of animal fat and white sugar.

Finally, the white chocolate shavings were made with a French potato peeler :)

Vegan Sugar-free Gingerbread House

This Christmas I tried to make my own gingerbread house. Next time I promise I'll make it prettier, but altogether the experiment wasn't fruitless.
To be honest I didn't even bother to google how they are usually made, maybe there is a better way - I just drew a simple design and cut out walls, a base (house "floor" - a key element), and a roof from a thick paper, rolled the dough and cut the dough around the paper templates, chilled the cut-out pieces (to minimise spreading of thre dough) for 15 minutes and baked. The base was baked after the walls, which I tried on, lightly pushing them into the dough, making shallow grooves for them. It helped later to make the walls stay in place.
The roof took a bit more work - my husband made a triangle-shaped thingy from a cardboard, covered it with a piece of kitchen foil, and I placed the cut-out piece of dough on it, chilled in the fridge, and baked the whole construction, and it stayed intact.
Then I piped doors and windows with the vegan chocolate ganache, and glued everything together with the rice syrup. Then I piped little stars around seams with the ganache. As for the white cream, there was a bit of a disaster. It melted. Next time I'll use my vegan kinda perfect coconut icing, which will stay put! Finally, I dusted the roof with the powdered barley malt.

Anyway, I'm not entirely happy with this experiment, because I think the dough needs working on a bit, and the cream was not what I wanted it to be, so I won't give the recipe, because it needs further revising and practice.
Although I hope it will be ready before next Christmas :)

Vegan Chocolate Men

Chocolate biscuits made with gingerbread man cutter and decorated with vegan marzipan, which I made myself from almond flour and rice syrup. This recipe needs further work done on it, because trying to make a rolled dough of the right consistency, I had to juggle with the ingredients a bit, but this seems to work so far:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sunflower oil
1/2 cup agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 cups white flour
1/3 cup (unsweetened) cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt

Method:

Mix all wet ingredients in one bowl and all dry ingredients in another (I prefer to sift my dry ingredients). Add dry ones to the wet carefully, maybe in two batches, to see that the forming dough is not going to be too dry - it will be almost impossible to adjust. If you think it's too wet for a rolled dough, add some flour. Mix everything very lightly, not pressing the dough very hard. Form few balls if you like.
Then, using a rolling pin and a cookie cutter of your choice, make biscuits and place them on a baking tray, lined with parchment paper. These biscuits shouldn't spread, but I like to refrigerate them for 15 min before baking, and they retain shape perfectly.
Bake at 170C. It's hard to say how long they will need, because it very much depends on the size of your cutters and the thickness of the biscuits you rolled. My chocolate men are rather huge, but rolled as thin as possible, and were ready within 8-9 minutes.

Vegan Oat and Raisin Biscuits with Barley Malt

This recipe had to be created because my toddler son loves biscuits. He would eat one every minute, so I had to figure out the least harmful composition of ingredients, paying a special attention to the sweetening ingredient. Barley malt syrup is one of the main sweeteners used in macrobiotic cooking, and it's good because it comes from grain.
So there's my version of classic oat & raisin biscuits.

Makes about 35 biscuits

Ingredients:
1 cup oat flakes
1 1/2 cup whole grain spelt flour
3/4 cup barley malt syrup
1/3 cup oil
2 Tbsp rice milk (or any dairy-free milk/water)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins soaked and drained
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180C and prepare a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
In a large bowl, mix togetrher oil, barley malt syrup and vanilla extract, add oats, flour, salt and baking powder. Look at the consistency and if you think it might do with some more moisture, add rice milk to it. Mix thoroughly until smooth. Incorporate raisins in the dough.
Then, and this is quite important - refrigerate your dough for 15 minutes, if you don't want your biscuits to spread too much. Cooling the baking tray will help too. Alternatively, you can form biscuits on the tray (taking a bit of the dough with a teaspoon and dropping on the baking sheetwith 1-2 inches between them), place the tray in the fridge, and after 15 minutes take it out and put straight into the oven.

If you like your biscuits big and flat, you can use unrefrigerated dough, but keep 3 inches between them. I have a small oven and use small trays, so I have to pack them a bit tighter together, so I prefer using refrigerated dough.

Bake for 12 minutes. They will be a bit soft but they will harden soon. Keep in the airtight container.

Rosewater and Pistachio Cupcakes with Vegan Icing

This is probably the fourth post on rosewater cupcakes here, but it so happens that I like making rose-flavoured cakes. I like roses in their every form, including their smell and flavour.
However, this time it's worth talking about the icing.
Because it seems that I've just figured out the perfect vegan icing: it's stiff and never-melting like regular dairy and sugar-loaded icing, but at the same time it's sugar- and animal products-free.
I'm actually very proud.
But a few months ago I was very sad when all available British suppliers discontinued selling Soyatoo whippable soy cream, which I had been always using instead of icing; it was perfectly white and quite nice, but it melted quickly and was not stiff enough to hold the shapes long enough after piping. It was in the state of a "soft peak" at its best, unless I kept it in the fridge for ages and then immediately piped on and immediately served.
So when it disappeared, I had to seek for a replacement but to no avail, so I tried some recipes for vegan whipped cream from the Internet, but they were more to use in place of a cream, not icing, so not exactly what I needed. Actually I found one which promised to be good being piped, but it wasn't, and very fiddly to do - lots of ingredients and lots of preparation - cooking, melting, whipping, freezing, blending, freezing again...
My recipe requires only melting and whipping in a good mixer. Normally  vegan icings are based either on coconut milk, or vegan shortening (?), but they still have to have lots of caster sugar to reach the right stiffness. Mine doesn't! I really am happy)

So anyway, the recipe for Rosewater Cupcakes is here. To make it with pistachios, you'll need to add 1tsp freshly ground cardamom seed and half a cup chopped pistachios.

To make the icing, you'll need the product called creamed coconut by Biona, because it's so much thicker than even the fattiest part of the fattiest coconut milk you can find out there, so it whips like a dream. Actually this particular icing is not entirely perfect, because its not all-purpose - I used rosewater in it, so next time I'll still need to do some adjustments to the recipe if I want to omit the rosewater. I hope to figure out the formula for the basic icing soon.
  
Vegan coconut and rosewater icing
Makes for 10-12 cupcakes

Ingredients: 

150 ml organic creamed coconut (the yield from Biona's 200g vacuum pack)
2 Tbsp agave nectar
2 Tbsp organic rosewater
100 ml hot water
3 Tbsp coconut flour

To decorate
pinch of matcha green tea
1-2 Tbsp freeze-dried raspberry powder

Method:

Carefully melt the contents of the creamed coconut pack in a saucepan until it loses its bricky shape, but not heat it too much. Transfer to the mixer bowl. Add agave syrup first. Then add the rosewater, and whip a bit. Then add coconut flour, one spoonful at a time, looking at the consistency. If you're happy with it, you may not need all 3 tablespoons of coconut flour and hot water - I did it only because I needed more volume to cover all the cupcakes. If you think it's still too thin, add more flour; if you think its too thick - add some hot water.
To make the icing green, add a pinch of matcha green tea to the mixture in the end. After piping the icing on the cupcakes, sprinkle it with chopped pistachios or raspberry powder through fine sieve.

Vegan Rosewater Cupcakes with Whipped Rice &Coconut cream

This is just a decoration suggestion of my Vegan Rosewater Cupcakes, decorated with the whipped Rice Cream from this post 
and the roses from my garden
The cream sprinkled lightly with freeze-dried raspberry powder.

Quick and easy but pretty for some tea party :)

Vegan Cherry Clafoutis

 This is veganised version of a traditional French cherry pie. Michel Roux's Pastry book was an inspiration.

Ingredients for the crust:
1/3 cup of sunflower oil
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp water
2 cups of whole spelt flour (or any wheat flour)

1 cup of almond meal (ground almonds)
pinch of sea salt

Ingredients for the filling:
100 g silken tofu
1/4 cup soy (oat) milk
1/3 cup baking oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almont extract
1/2 cup white spelt flour
1 cup whole spelt flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of sea salt
200 g fresh cherries, pitted
2 tsp of barley malt powder to decorate


Method:
Preheat oven to 170C, brush a baking tin or flan ring with oil.
In a bowl mix oil, vanilla and  maple syrup. In a separate bowl, mix the flours and the salt, then add the liquid mixture little by little, maybe adding water if needed. Sometimes you'll need to add a bit of flour if it's too wet, but try not to do it too dry before it starts to hold together - it'll be almost impossible to fix. When the dough is stiff enough, mix it with your hands, trying not to press too much. When the dough is ready, roll it with a rolling pin and line your tin. It probably won't roll very well, so do your best, and the rest you can just add with your fingers and smooth together. Press the dough only lighlty. Once the tin is lined, put a piece of parchment paper on top and fill with baking beans and bake blind for 10 minutes. Take the tin out of the oven, remove the beans and bake for 5 minutes more.

To make the filling, put the tofu, milk, oil, agave and extracts in the blender and mix till smooth. Put the mixture in a bowl and sift in the flours, salt and leavening agents. Mix with a spatula until smooth.  Put the pitted cherries inside the baked flan, and pour the mixture on top. Put the tart in the oven and bake for 45 min. It strangely takes more time than things like that usually do, but it surely needs it, probably because cherries add some moisture. Anyway it should be checked with a toothpick after 35 minutes onwards.
Dust your clafoutis with some barley malt powder just before serving.

Fruit Kanten

Kanten is a vegan jelly, where a seaweed called agar-agar is used instead of gelatin, which is of animal origin.

The kanten is a very simple thing to do and it's a perfect dessert for hot days.

You can use any fruit as a filling and use practically any juice to make kanten jelly.

Ingredients:

1 litre of liquid (water+ apple juice, for example)
3 heaped Tbsp of agar-agar flakes (or approx. 1,5 Tbsp of agar-agar powder)
chopped fruit or berries
pinch of sea salt

Method:

Put your liquid in the saucepan, add the salt and scatter the agar flakes on the surface. Constantly stirring, bring to a boil. You need to stir, because otherwise the flakes can stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

During boiling the flakes should melt reasonably quickly in this quantity. You need to wait for them to melt. If you don't see any small transparent particles on your stirring spoon, the flakes must have melted. Once melted, take the mixture off heat and pour it into glasses or bowls. Put the fruit bits inside each glass and set aside till completely cooled and firm.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee cake

Nothing special, simple chocolate sponge with whipped rice cream (the latter was the result of some haphazard attempt)

Ingredients (for two layers):
2 cups of soy milk
2 tsp cider vinegar
2/3 cup baking oil
1 cup agave syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups whole spelt flour
1 cup white spelt flour
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 bicarbonate of soda
pinch of sea salt

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and oil the cake tin.
2. Put soy milk and vinegar in a big bowl and mix with the whisk. Add the oil, agave syrup and the extracts to the milk misture, beat till nice and smooth.
3. Place a fine sieve on top of the bowl and sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix with the whisk till no lumps remain, but try not to overmix.
4. This recipe is for two layers of the cake, so if you don't have two tins, divide all the ingredients in two and bake one after another. Bake the cake about 35 minutes, but it may depend on the oven. Check if ready putting a wooden toothpick in the middle of the cake, which should come out dry.  I'd like to note, that all ovens vary, so the aforementioned time and temperature are guidelines only.


Whipped rice cream was a bit of a random try, but as far as I can remember it was
1 carton of Rice Cuisine (200 ml)
4 Tbsp coconut flour
1 Tbsp corn starch
2 Tbsp agave syrup

Everything was just put in a beater one by one and mixed till stiff (about 2 mins). I wonder if it actually could do without corn starch, because this cream came out even stiffer than the regular dairy whipped cream. But it's not so bad, because it perfectly holds the rosettes for ever and ever. And it never melts or gets absorbed, like Soyatoo whippable cream does. Hooray.

Vegan Almond Jewel Biscuits

I use maple syrup in these biscuits, which kinda makes them macrobiotic, doesn't it :)
I learned this recipe from my dear friend Angela. There are not many ingredients which makes these cute things even better.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup of sunflower oil
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup of whole spelt flour (or any wheat flour)
1 cup of oat flour
1 cup of almond meal (ground almonds)
pinch of sea salt
couple of tablespoons of good quality fruit spread.

Method:
Preheat oven to 170C, line a tray with a parchment paper.
In a bowl mix oil, maple syrup and the almond extract with a fork. In a separate bowl, mix the flours and the salt, then add the liquid mixture little by little. Sometimes you'll need to add a bit of flour if it's too wet, but try not to do it too dry before it starts to hold together - it'll be almost impossible to fix. When the dough is stiff enough, mix it with your hands, trying not to press too much. When the dough is ready, nip a little piece off it and form a little ball, then flatten it with your palms in a thick round, place it in onto the tray. Now poke the middle of the round with your index finger. This will be a well for a little dash of a jam. Continue with the rest of the dough until your tray is full or the dough is finished.
Before putting it in the oven, place a little of jam into each well with a tiny spoon.
Bake for 12 minutes.

 These biscuits are easily made gluten-free, if you substitute 1 cup of wheat/spelt flour with a cup of rice flour or any gluten-free mixture.

Vegan Brownies with fresh raspberry

Just a raspberry version of my macro sugarless brownies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of silken tofu
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 cup whole spelt flour
1/2 cup white spelt flour (or wheat)
1 Tbsp arrowroot
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
100g of fresh raspberry (2/3 of 150g raspberry punnet)

Method:
Preheat oven to 170C. Line a small oven tray with parchment paper, covering the sides of the tray too.
Cream the tofu, milk and oil in a blender. Put the mixture in a bowl, mix in the maple syrup and the extracts.
Sift in the flours, arrowroot, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. The batter will be quite thick so mix it with a plastic spatula. When smooth, transfer it to the tray and even it out, smoothing the top. It may take only a part of your tray, depending on its size, but that's ok, you shouldn't spread it too thinly.
Bake for 30 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven and let it cool down a little before cutting the brownies' squares.

Vegan Almond butter Blondies

Almond is one of my favourite flavours. I love all the things almondy.
I came up with the idea of this almond butter blondie cake couple of days ago and had a comment that it tastes  like marzipan.
Almond butter is quite pricey but you won't need much.

 Ingredients:
1/2 cup silken tofu
1/4 cup rice milk
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1/3 cup almond butter
2/3 cup agave syrup
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup white spelt flour
1/2 cup whole spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
generous pinch of sea salt

Decoration:
a handful of almond flakes

Method:
Preheat oven to 170C. Line a small oven tray with parchment paper, covering the sides of the tray.
Put the tofu, milk, oil, agave syrup and almond butter in a blender and blend until smooth. Put the mixture in a bowl, mix in the extracts.
Sift in the flours, baking powder and salt, mix with a wooden spoon and then with a plastic spatula. When smooth, transfer it to the tray and even it out, smoothing the top with the spatula. Scatter the almond flakes on the surface of the cake.
Bake for 30 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven and let it cool down a little before cutting the squares.

Vegan Sugar-free Cherry Cake

A very simple cake with basic ingredients.

Makes one layer for 8" cake tin

Ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup agave syrup
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
2 cups spelt flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
generous pinch of sea salt
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup dried cherries, soaked in warm water

 Decoration:
approx 150g fresh cherries (one punnet)
barley malt powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C and oil your cake tin.
In a large mixing bowl, mix soy milk with the vinegar and leave for couple of minutes. Add oil, agave and extracts and mix everything together with a whisk. Sift in flour, leavening agents and salt and mix untik smooth. Drain the cherries and fold in the mixture alongside with the lemon zest. Pour in the cake tin, place it in the oven immediately and bake for 35-40 minutes, depending on the oven  - check with a wooden toothpick, placed in the middle of the cake - it should come out dry. I'd like to note that all ovens vary, so the aforementioned time and temperature are guidelines only.


When cooled down, smooth some barley malt or rice syrup on the top of the cake and arrange halved fresh cherries. Dust the cherries with some barley malt powder, sifted through a small fine sieve just before serving (otherwise it will melt and disappear).

Vegan Simple Rosewater cupcakes

These vegan cupcakes are easy to make. All you need is natural rose water. I also use Uncle Roy's rose water extract, which contains rose oil and sunflower oil. It gives more pronounced rose flavour, than just rose water. I normally use freshly ground spelt flour, but all-purpose flour is ok to use too.

Makes about 12 regular size cupcakes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy yogurt
2/3 cup rice milk
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp natural rose water
1 tsp rose water extract
1 cup whole spelt flour
1 cup white spelt flour

1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of sea salt

Method:
Preheat oven to 170C and line your cupcake tray with paper cases.

In a large bowl, mix all the liquid ingredients. Put a fine sieve ot top of the bowl and sieve in the flours, soda, baking powder and salt.
Pour the mixture in the liners, and bake for 26-30 minutes (depending on the oven and the size of the cupcakes). Check with a wooden toothpick, placed in the middle of a cupcake, which should come out dry.  I'd like to note that all ovens vary, so the aforementioned time and temperature are guidelines only.


These cupcakes were topped with the Soyatoo whippable soy cream, coloured with a pinch of beetrot powder and with a dash of rosewater added to it. I decorated them with some petals of the roses which grow in our garden.I didn't do anything to them, just rinsed with water. They're not supposed to be eaten.