Quick and Easy Vegan Christmas Baking Ideas

Directions

Step 1

Mince Tarts

Step 2

Robertson’s Classic Mincemeat ticks all the boxes for us, so that’s our go to product. Sainsbury’s Mincemeat is also nut free (the red label one), although I’ve not tried it.

Step 3

We then grab a pack of JusRol shortcrust pastry – the pre rolled pastry, not the square. JusRol is dairy and egg free so safe for us.You’re probably getting the drift of how easy this is now.

Step 4

I simply roll out the pastry, onto the paper is comes in. Make is slightly thinner by rolling briefly with a dusted rolling pin.

Step 5

Using cake release spray for speed, I spray my muffin tin and preheat my oven to 180°C, 370°F.

Step 6

Using a large circular cookie cutter cut out the circles of pastry and gently push into the muffin tin making sure to get the edges down.

Step 7

Then I use either a star, tree or snowflake cutter to create the ‘top’ of the mince pie.I don’t fully cover the top of the tart, but rather just decorate the middle with something Christmassy.

Step 8

Once you’ve got the tops created, then it’s time to use the glitter spray to decorate. Do spread out a lot of greaseproof paper, using a spatula move the pastry tops to the greaseproof paper and choose the colour (s) you wish to use. The spray does spread, so be careful if you are doing multiple colours to keep everything spaced apart.

Step 9

Add a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat to each pastry case – don’t fill them to the top or they will bubble over and you won’t be able to get them out of the tin.

Step 10

Gently place the centre pastry pieces on the filled mince pies.

Step 11

Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. I realise that most recipes call for a longer baking time – for some reason I find the JusRol pastry cooks a bit faster. Use a blunt knife to remove the tarts from the tin, and cool on a wire rack.

Step 12

Sugar Cookies

Step 13

Cream together the margarine and sugar. Whisk the egg replacer into the water until frothy and add to the bowl along with the vanilla. Mix for 1 minute.

Step 14

Blend in flour, baking powder and salt – if the dough is a bit dry you can add in a bit more water.

Step 15

Chill for 1 hour – This is quite important as the dough will be too soft to roll out without chilling. If you find the dough a bit sticky just dust with a bit of extra flour and knead the dough again.

Step 16

Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C

Step 17

Now for the fun part. Choose your shape – if I’m in a rush I stick to two – this time snowflakes and Christmas trees. It makes it easy to decorate if there aren’t lots of different shapes to think about. Avoid people (like Gingerbread men, or Santa) for speed means you don’t have to add eyes, mouths etc which is time consuming.

Step 18

Spread out a lot of greaseproof paper – glitter spray goes everywhere. We use PME Lustre Spray which has great colours

Step 19

Then decide if you’re doing solid colours, or a mix. I like a mix – sometimes spraying close to the cookie to get a splash effect, sometimes from the recommended distance to get solid colours. There’s no right or wrong, sometimes I spray over the one colour if I don’t like the effect. In short – have fun!

Step 20

Then bake the cookies for between 6-10 minutes depending on size. Keep an eye on them – they should be light brown on the bottom.

Step 21

Cool on a wire rack, then pop them in a cookie jar.