In defence of sweetcorn fritters

Say what you like about sweetcorn fritters and ketchup, but if you haven't sat down on your birthday to a plate full with a load of cava then I'm afraid your argument can stop right there. Sweetcorn fritters are the BOMB. It doesn't need to be pancake day to bust these out, and they go down a treat as a change to a fry-up on a hungover Saturday morning.

My boyfriend made me a stack yesterday to celebrate me becoming a little bit older- he played it safe with golden syrup, bananas, strawberries and blueberries, where as I went in for sweetcorn, ketchup and tea. If you want to make half the mix without sweetcorn, just add the sweetcorn to every other pancake when you first pour in the batter. And obviously scorn at the plain mix and its lack of ability to become a match made in heaven like sweetcorn and pancake batter is. Thank you again to Jenny for this recipe! And Becca and Joe for the amazing plates and pans, you can check out Becca's blog too!

Makes a lot of two or enough for three

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
2 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup soy milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Plus a tin of sweetcorn or fresh corn if you can get it.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the soy milk and oil and mix until smooth. I've found the batter will always improve if you chill it for as long as you can. So if you have time, pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes while you get your fruit/coffee/tea ready.

When you're ready, heat up a frying pan with a little oil, until you can see smoke coming out of it when you look closely. Add a large tablespoon of mixture, so it's about as big as your palm. If you're adding sweetcorn, put a teaspoon in now as this mixture cooks very quickly. After a few second they will be ready to flip, then a few more seconds on the other side and they will be ready! Stack up in a pile and add whatever toppings you fancy.

Vegan Tiffin

Ali is my favourite London neighbour of all time. We met when the roof between our flats caved in, and have lived on the top floor of our dilapidated building ever since. I made up a tray of tiffin for Ali to say thank you for looking after my rabbit while I was away- and in the process also managed to work out a vegan recipe for it so I could save a bit back in the mixing bowl!

Tiffin, or fridge cake, is just about the easiest thing to make- it's not even baking as it never touches the oven. The name comes from British India, as another word for a snack or small meal. As it's still December I think it would be perfectly acceptable to eat this for breakfast.

You could add sour cherries, cocoa powder or even macadamia nuts to this recipe, but I prefer to keep to the recipe my Mum has used for as long as I can remember. I replaced the milk chocolate with dark, which as well as being vegan gave it an even richer, intense flavour that's perfect cut in to tiny chunks with a coffee.

Ingredients
Two packs of digestive or rich tea biscuits- Sainsbury's have quite a few options- you can click here to read their full list of vegan-suitable products. I used their freefrom Rich Tea biscuits for this recipe.
160g vegan magarine
2 handfuls of raisins or sultanas
2 tablespoons of golden syrup
300g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

Grab a carrier bag and place all the biscuits inside, tie a knot and bash with a rolling pin until the biscuits are roughly broken up, but not too fine, as it's nice to have some crunch in the texture of the tiffin. Pour into a large mixing bowl.

In a pan, melt down the margarine and then stir into the biscuits. Then add in the raisins and golden syrup. On a very gentle heat, slowly melt the chocolate pieces making sure to take off the heat the second it has turned to liquid and velvety in appearance. Add to the mixture and stir well.

Now pour into an oven tray, spreading so the tiffin mixture is around 2-3cm thick. Cool in the fridge overnight or for about five hours, then get the kettle on and your neighbours round for a slice!