I’m sure we’re all aware by now that my diet has a lot of restrictions. Sometimes I get an idea and know exactly how to substitute. And sometimes I get an idea for a recipe and it feels almost impossible trying to figure out how we’re going to make this work. I’ve said this a million times before, both online and in real life. But I think being gluten free is easy. I think being vegan is easy. Being both is hard. Make a normal plain sponge cake? It’s nothing. Make it gluten free and vegan and you got it to rise, it’s fluffy and moist enough? It’s basically a work of art. I got this idea from a lovely comment Alice left on my scones recipe and decided I’d break it down and explain; gluten free and vegan – what’s easy and what’s hard?
When I first started making free from recipes, I used to make them just vegan if I was worried about how to make them vegan and gluten free, then I’d adapt the vegan recipe to make it free from both after I’d perfected that one. I’m gluten intolerant now, so that method is no longer a viable option. But I’ll be referring back to some of my old just vegan recipes in this post to remind myself which recipes had me pulling my hair out originally…
Let’s start with the good news, lots of things are easy!
What’s easy to make vegan and gluten free?
Pancakes!
I was really concerned about the pancake situation when I first went vegan, but there’s absolutely no need at all. If you’re after those whipped fluffy Japanese pancakes that were doing the rounds online earlier this year, the eggs will be harder to replace (I’ve never tried them but I’m sure it’s possible), but regular pancakes are so easy to make both vegan and gluten free. Oat flour is everything, that’s the key message throughout this post.
Suggested Post: 18 Vegan Pancake Recipes
Brownies
Brownies aren’t supposed to be light and fluffy, they’re supposed to be heavier and gooey. Which is why they’re one of the easiest things to make because the majority of the texture issues that arise with gluten free baking are to do with it not being fluffy enough. The only real issue with a brownie is them sometimes not being the thickest if you’re using a basic swaps recipe, but an egg replacer would easily fix that if you wanted a thicker option.
Cookies
Cookies are an absolute delight. I think this is because they naturally come in many different textures. From soft bake, crunchier oat and the perfect harder on the outside and gooey in the middle. Even if the first attempt doesn’t turn out exactly as you’d hoped, they’re still going to come out looking like something people would classify as a cookie. And over time it becomes a lot easier to get the ratios right to get the texture you want.
Suggested recipe: The best vegan cookie dough
Oaty stuff
Oaty stuff – a very technical term. But anything like a flapjack, oat bar, granola bar etc is all super easy. I think that’s because the texture is almost a given. If you’re baking oats, it’s going to crisp up. If you’re baking it in sugar/ vegan butter, it’s going to be softer and gooey. There isn’t much scope as far as potential errors go.
Suggested Recipe: The best vegan flapjacks
What’s hard
Pastry
Pastry. Don’t even get me started. Even the prepacked rolled stuff isn’t good. Don’t, just don’t. And the majority of prepacked pastry is already vegan, so it’s the gluten free part that’s the issue here.
Cake…kind of
It seems a little bit unfair to say this is hard because sometimes it can be easier depending on the specific kind of cake, but it can be really hard. Things like fudge cakes or carrot cake, anything that’s typically a heavier texture is quite easy. But a light, fluffy sponge can be hard. You can make it rise and look good without too many issues, but getting the texture right can be tough.
Bread
Again, most bread is vegan so it’s only gluten causing the problems here, but I’ve started a new series trying to find the best gluten free bread recipe.
Do you have any allergies or dietary requirements? What do you find the hardest thing to substitute? Or the easiest, let’s be positive about this…
Until next time,
Sophie
Great post. Will share this recipe with others.
My wife has some dietary restrictions, gluten free being something she’s investigating. We’ll definitely use your recipe! Look amazing!
I’m not too bad at vegan baking but I find gluten free SO difficult! Thanks for this post – I’ll have to check out these recipes next time I’m in the mood for baking
This is such a great post! I always find GF options hit or miss – I’m not intolerant but it does make me feel quite bloated sometimes and always like to make my own things for friends who are to try and feedback to me on. Thanks for posting x
Paige // Paige Eades
A few members of my family are gluten free so I’m always on the lookout for new recipes. The pancakes are definitely a good idea and I love the look of the oath flapjacks too. Thanks for sharing!
Eve x
In my job (pre lockdown) we used to have customers come to us with their dietary requirements and I always used to be wary about cooking their food as I didn’t want to get anything wrong! Sometimes customers would bring their own food for us to cook which made life a lot easier! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Great post! I love pancakes and brownies!
Yesssss thank you so much for this recipe! I find it so hard to find recipes that are vegan and gluten free, but because I have Crohn’s Disease I can only need vegan non-gluten. I would absolutely love to try this out, thank you!
This makes me feel better about making GF brownies and cookies! I’ve only ever attempted with baking mixes due to the amount of flours necessary for most GF recipes. I can’t wait til you get your bread recipe perfected!
This is so interesting, I don’t have an allegeries but I do have an intolerance to diary but tbh that wasn’t a factor in going vegan for me tbh, funny enough.
Mmmm I definitely need to try and make them cookies asap. They look so yummy. This is a super helpful post for a lot of people I think as the excuse is often used ‘I just don’t know what I’m doing/where to start’. This blog post literally gives everyone all the simple and easy information they need! xx
Great post with a load of drool worthy photographs!
Since I’m fairly certain I have a certain level of intolerance to gluten & dairy, I do actively try to find substitutes for those two in my baking & cooking. The easiest thing to substitute, I have found, is oat flour for regular flour :’) It generally seems to work out okay for me haha xx
I used to have a lot of restrictions in my eating plan and I totally know how it feels. Some days it was extremely hard to find a substitute for specific products.
Love these brownies!
http://www.fashionradi.com
Omg this makes me sooo hungry hahah I also always try to replace things in recipes to make them lightly and less caloric (like honey instead of white sugar, or rise flour instead of white one)
Thanks for the inspo here!
xx Dasynka
http://dasynka.com
I don’t have too much trouble making things gluten free really. All of these look perfect x
Such a brilliant post! I’ve never actually tried making something that’s specifically vegan or gluten free and wouldn’t have had the first clue where to start but this is so helpful for the future xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk
I definitely need to try making these. It’s always difficult to find recipes that are both gluten free AND vegan – and that also taste yummy!
Roni♥
http://www.myelevatedexistence.com
These all look amazing I’ve been making a lot more vegan pancakes in lockdown than normal.
Wow lovely and healthy collection, I would love to try some
even glutenfree pancakes first..
Great list! I’ve had some delicious GF & Vegan brownies in the past, so totally agree with that. And also agree that the bread seems hit and miss.
We are lucky not to have any dietary restrictions or requirements here (though we stick to a low refined sugar diet) and so it doesn’t really occur to me how hard it must be for other people to adjust recipes to their own diet and health requirements. Thank you for opening my eyes to this – it definitely sounds challenging! You have some fabulous recipes though and thanks so much for sharing them!
I LOVE baked goods and you have nailed it with these!
We’ve had a lot of difficulty getting a fluffy vegan cake – they always seem to come out so dense! I don’t know if it’s because we don’t have any electric mixer, so it’s all done by hand; maybe if we had a stand mixer or something we could get more air in there? I don’t know. I should definitely make more cookies though. I always forget how much I like them!
I love that there are different recipes that are easy to make that is vegan and gluten-free! Ooooh!! I am so bad with making pancakes. I’ve been trying for the past few weeks and it doesn’t come out the way I like @__@. I need to learn how to bake too hehe. YESS!! Bread is so hard, especially for a certain consistency. Thanks for sharing all of these different recipes!
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
All of them look so delicious. Thank you for sharing.
New Post – https://www.exclusivebeautydiary.com/2020/06/shelas-rotating-makeup-organiser.html
I can imagine how difficult it can be to change up certain recipes to make them vegan and GF. The only dietary requirement for me is anything thats vegetarian so I’ve not really come across anything that is a struggle to make or change to a vegetarian alternative. I can see how the cookies can be on the ‘easy’ list as like you said, cookies can have different textures so changing up some of the ingredients would still produce some pretty delicious looking and tasking cookies!
Chloe xx
I’ve struggled baking since turning vegan x
It’s great you’ve had success adapting recipes to what you need! I know when I was doing the elimination diet with a dietitian to get to the bottom of my health issues it was so hard finding stuff that was free from a lot of things. Her advice was to focus on the things that were naturally free from those thinks, so staying away from processed things and just eat natural simple things. Worked well but I really wanted cookies and cakes, haha! I was glad when we got to the root of the issue and I realised I didn’t have to avoid everything! Makes baking simpler if you’re only making one or two substitutions – you do so well adapting and finding the perfect things to make such delicious things, I always enjoy seeing what you’ve made on your blog!
Hope that you are having a nice weekend 🙂
I’ve definitely had similar thoughts to Alice before when reading your blog and wondering how long it must take you to find the ingredients and think up the recipes and then cook them and write about them AND take photos of them. But good to know there are some super simple ones too that even the person with the least experience in Vegan cooking could have a crack at!
I’m totally bookmarking your cookie dough recipe, that sounds absolutely delicious!
Anika | chaptersofmay.com
It can be so hard to buy cakes and sweet treats that are vegan and gluten free so it’s great to make your own 🙂
This was such an interesting post to read and I loved all of the photos. You create so many amazing dishes that sometimes I forget that you have diet restrictions because you are able to adapt so many recipes.
I am not a vegan and I don’t need to eat gluten-free foods, but I am having a diet where I am minimizing wheat, meat, and sugar! That’s the reason for neverending recipe searching! What I have discovered is variety of pancakes! You can make them not only from wheat flour but also from different vegetables! They taste very good, are vegan, and gluten-free!