Makes approx 16 muffins.
Ingredients:
200g marzipan, cubed
100g dairy-free dark chocolate chips (or block of dark chocolate cut into small chunks)
350g self-raising flour
150g sugar (granulated is fine, or demerara)
75g cocoa powder
325ml cold water
65ml vegetable oil (bland tasting e.g. sunflower or canola)
10ml (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
50g flaked almonds for decoration
Method:
Preheat the oven to around 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
Line a 12-muffin tin with paper cases and either put 4 cases in another tin or prepare a small victoria sandwich tin for the extra mixture. (If you have an oil spray mister, lightly mist the muffin cases at this point)
Slice 200g of marzipan off a block and cut into slices approx 1-2cm wide, then cross-cut each of those slices so you have cubes of 1-2cm across each side.
Measure out 100g chocolate chips, or cut a block of dark chocolate into small chunks with a sharp knife (or I guess you could leave them out)
(If you can balance everything on top of your scales, the easiest way to measure most of the dry ingredients is to put the bowl on the scales, put a sieve on the bowl and set the scales to zero. Then measure everything directly into the sieve on the bowl.)
Add flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Remove from scales and sieve it all in, give it a bit of a stir to make sure it's mixed properly.
Get measuring jug and fill with water up to 325ml, add around 65ml oil and 10ml vanilla extract to bring it to around 400ml fluid.
Add the fluid to the bowl and mix until all the dry bits are wet (but not too long). If the mix is very stiff, add a dash more water.
Add in the marzipan and chocolate chips and stir in briefly so they're distributed through the mix, but the marzipan cubes are still intact.
Get a dessert spoon and fill your muffin cases about halfway up - a very heaped spoonful should do it. Sprinkle approx 1 level dessert spoonful of flaked almonds evenly over the top of each muffin.
Put in oven for around 16 minutes (mine is fan assisted so you may need a bit longer). If using two trays on two shelves swap them over after around 10 minutes.
When they are risen and the almonds are browned round the edges remove from oven. Leave to cool in trays for at least 20 minutes, otherwise the bases will go crispy.
Quiches
A while back I made some rather nice quiches that one of my non-vegan friends couldn't tell from a normal quiche. I made some little pastry cases (using a 12 muffin tray, but you could use a fairy-cake sized tray as well), made an ordinary white sauce with one of the little trial size Provamel unsweetened soya milk cartons, marge, flour, a teaspoon of mustard, a pinch of yeast flakes and a tiny pinch of chilli powder, then added a small finely chopped onion, cooked for a couple of minutes, then put in about a third of a tub of Vegan cream cheese (such as Tofutti) for creaminess, and a block of tofu, mashed up with a fork (probably about 200grams). Then I heaped the cases full (you want to make the top domed, as the mix shrinks a bit when cooked), and cooked on a fairly high heat in the oven - about gas mark 7 - until the tops were browned and bubbling. This mixture filled 10 cases when I made it (I filled the other two in the tray with lentil mixture, which was also nice)
These are nice hot, but even better cold, and I think would be really nice for a party. As it is I just scoffed them, served with mash and peas :o)