January now marks an annual challenge for thousands of meat-eaters around the UK.
Veganuary's popularity has catapulted over the recent year with the rise in more people cutting out animal products on their plate.
This may be for health, ethical or environmental reasons and others may follow a plant-based diet due to allergies and intolerances.
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Whatever the reason, there are now far more meat-free and vegan-friendly food products out there to try.
And as Edinburgh Live have already got me to try swapping my normal breakfast roll for Aldi's vegan square sausage and bacon one, I thought I best try out some vegan-friendly baking recipes next.
You can read my review on Aldi's Plant Menu vegan range here.
I have discovered that I am not a natural baker, but I was kindly gifted a vegan double chocolate cookies recipe from Bottled Baking Company.
The Bottled Baking Company supplies ingredients for cookies and cakes that are already measured out and sent to your door with zero-waste packaging.
The ingredients are in a glass bottle and that is in a cardboard box and then even the packing peanuts are made out of potato starch and can dissolve in water.
On first impression, it seems fool-proof, and a great way for children to get involved too.
All that needs to be measured is the butter, in this case vegan butter.
I was sent the vegan double chocolate cookies mix, added that to 250 grams of melted vegan spread and within a couple of minutes of mixing, I got a dough.
The instructions were very clear on the card I was sent, but that hasn't stopped things going wrong before - you can read about my last failed baking attempt here.
The ingredients are;
- Flour (Wheat),
- Sugar, Oats,
- Belgian Dark Chocolate (Cocoa Mass, Sugar, Cocoa butter,
- Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Natural Vanilla Flavouring),
- Cocoa Powder (Cocoa Beans, Acidity Regulator: Potassium Carbonate)
Unfortunately, I just forgot to put my glasses on and first divided the mix into 12 balls after it chilled in the fridge for 20 minutes.
It was meant to be 22 portions.
Luckily, I had only put one batch in the oven when I noticed a burning smell and quickly pulled charcoaled 'would-be' cookies out of a very smokey oven.
I then decided that maybe, in this case, less is more. I halved the portions of what I had on the other baking tray and put them in the oven at 160 for 15 minutes.
This bake when so much better. After leaving them to cool, they were delicious, moist and chocolatey.
Finally, I have baked something edible!
Alongside this new vegan recipe, the team have also launched the Divine White Chocolate & Honeycomb Blondie Mix, after realising that a blondie had not yet been created within their array of delicious recipes.
Greg Fraser, Founder of Bottled Baking Co. commented the following on the new releases: “I’m really excited to launch these two new recipes, especially with one being vegan.
"The demand for foods suitable for vegans has grown dramatically in the last couple of years, so we’re hoping to see huge interest in our double choc cookie mix as well as the white chocolate and honeycomb blondie recipe.
“Hopefully our bottles will make the month a little easier for those giving Veganuary a go for the first time. After all, a vegan diet doesn’t mean you have to miss out on those sweet treats!”
If you want to try your hand at making vegan cookies, you can see more of The Bottled Baking Company here.
