coconut

Vine Post: Coconut Bacon

| Rhiannon

So, this one has been coming for quite some time. J has been itching to try his hand at coconut bacon (he’s on a desperate hunt for a flavour that is as close to real bacon as possible), and he finally got the chance last week. Since then we’ve had another batch made as it is just so unbelievably delicious – he even admits to preferring this flavour to the real thing, which is big praise from a bacon fanatic!

There are a lot of recipes that tend to make non-veggies a bit suspicious, and this has to be one of them. Surely, they say, getting some random fruit or vegetable and cooking it in a certain way can’t replicate the taste of actual animal products? Well, just as I can say without a doubt I’ve found vegan cheese that I can’t distinguish from real cheese, so you can say that this really tastes like maple-flavoured bacon. This is, if you will, the Holy Grail for ex-carnivores.

Myself, I’ve never tasted bacon, so I left this one up to J. While I was recovering from watching the Oscars and going to bed past 5am, he whipped up this amazing batch which is perfect for snacking throughout the day or topping all manner of meals. We present to you the astonishing coconut bacon:

Want to make it yourself? Here’s how!

Maple Coconut Bacon
Coconut that tastes like bacon - perfect topping for soups and burgers, or great as a snack on its own
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Ingredients
  1. 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  2. 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
  3. 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  4. 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  5. 1/4 teaspoon BBQ seasoning
  6. 1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
  7. 3 1/2 cups large flaked coconut
  8. pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
  2. Mix soy sauce, liquid smoke, maple syrup, and seasoning in a large bowl.
  3. Add coconut flakes and gently toss, making sure to coat each flake well.
  4. Using a slotted spoon, scoop seasoned coconut flakes and place onto a baking tray.
  5. Sprinkle coconut flakes lightly with a bit of salt if desired.
  6. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes making sure to rearrange all pieces for even cooking.
  7. After the first 15 minutes, keep a close watch as the coconut bacon can burn very quickly.
  8. Remove when coconut has a nice browned and caramelized color.
  9. Allow to rest and cool - it will crisp up more.
Notes
  1. Experiment with the spices you use - there's no need to stick to traditional flavours. The liquid smoke and maple syrup are key, but you can change the other options around for different taste combinations.
Adapted from The Simple Veganista
Adapted from The Simple Veganista
VegBurge https://vegburge.com/
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Vine Post: The Revenant Bear Claws

Bear Claw
| Rhiannon

So last night J and I went to see The Revenant. Wow. What a movie. If it doesn’t walk away with about 10 gazillion Oscars, there’s something wrong with the film industry. But besides the huge talents of Leonardo “Give Me Best Actor Already” Di Caprio and Tom Hardy, there’s another big star in the film: the bear.

The bear attack is harrowing, tense, and visceral. Bloody and terrifying, it serves as a reminder that nature is often far stronger and more vicious than simple man. So what better way to pay homage to that than with a cute, sugary bear claw?

Bear Claw
Bear Claw

 

Well, maybe not cute so cute. We added coconut shavings on top of the bear claws so that they would blacken as the pastry cooked, creating the claws and a bit of dark fur (if you squint). We made these bear claws in a super-easy way, using pre-made puff pastry that we cut and rolled into the right shape. As for the filling, we used Scarlett and Mustard’s zesty orange curd for a really zingy interior. We felt that red strawberry jam might have been a little too on the nose…

The Revenant Bear Claw
The Revenant Bear Claw

Once you have your pastry filled with curd, all that is left is to fold it over (coating the edges with egg wash to ensure it all sticks together) and cut the claws out. Then you pull it apart slightly to make that almost-crescent shape, and stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes. Gooey, melty, and delicious bear claws are the result.

Bear Claw
Bear Claw

Don’t worry about the coconut, by the way – it may look horribly burnt, but the taste is barely noticeable over the pastry. You could probably cremate them a lot further than this and still get away with it!

Finally, here’s the Vine to show how we made them:

Just think – if Leo had come up against these in The Revenant, he might have met a sticky end. Ha!

 

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