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 :)

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 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.

Gluten-free Pistachio Rosewater cupcakes

This recipe is a gluten free and sugar free version of pistachio rosewater cupcakes from Isa and Terry's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I also skipped flax seed and used arrowroot  instead of tapioca flour - works perfectly.

 Makes about 20 small cupcakes (Dr Oetker papercases)
(didn't try to use regular muffin cases but must be around 10 maybe)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy yogurt
2/3 cup soy milk
1/3 cup oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
2 Tbsp pure rose water
2 Tbsp arrowroot
1/3 cup maize flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp freshly ground cardamom seed
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup chopped pistachios

Method:
Preheat oven to 170C and line your cupcake tray with paper cases.
First chop pistachio nuts and crush cardamom seeds with a mortar with a pestle.
In a large bowl, mix all the liquid ingredients and add arrowroot. Mix with the electric handmixer for 1 minute. Put a fine sieve ot top of the bowl and sieve in the flours, soda, baking powder, ground cardamom and salt. Mix with the handmixer for 2 minutes. Then fold in the pistachios.
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 or with just a couple of tiny crumbs on it.

These cupcakes were topped with the Soyatoo whippable soy cream, coloured with a very small amount of dry beetroot powder and sprinkled with some crushed pistachios. I added a dash of rosewater in the cream while whipping too.

Of course, these cupcakes can be made with normal flour too: just omit arrowroot in the recipe and swap the gluten-free flour mix for 1 1/3 cup of whole wheat or spelt flour.