Londons best mince pie, a new bakery and a recipe for Oatnog aka Vegan Eggnog

A festive bonanza

Hey everyone, are you feeling festive yet? It finally feels like a little bit of Christmas cheer is seeping in, partly because the food I’m making at the moment is decidedly festive but also because I paid a visit to central London which is beautifully bedecked with Christmas trees and twinkly lights everywhere you look, it can’t help but put you in the a festive mood.

I also did one of my regular Christmas traditions, getting a mince pie from Esters in Stoke Newington. I’ve lived in London just a couple years longer than this coffee shop has been around, and for as long as I can remember this spot has made one of my favourite mince pies in the city. It never really feels like Christmas until I’ve had my first. For many years, I lived either around the corner from Esters, or at least in the local vicinity, my new distance from the coffee shop means my consumption of their beautiful mince pies is severely restricted, so they’re extra special when I do manage to get one. Whilst the filling is a little more eccles cake like and not as spiced and citrus forward as is traditional, the pastry is what wins me over, it is unbelievably buttery and flaky, it barely holds itself together. If you’re London based and also on the hunt for an excellent mince pie, to save you from supermarket mediocrity, I’d reccomend checking out The Next Delicious Thing, a newsletter from my friend Jennifer, who has recently joined the substack community. In this weeks newsletter she is joined by Callum Franklin and Felicity Cloake to taste a variety of what the city has to offer.

This week I also happened to be in West London, which is not really a big part of my London life, so I took the opportunity to check out one of the city’s newest bakeries Kuro Bakery, right outside Notting Hill tube station. Part of the Kuro group, which operate three business within a minutes walk of each other, they have their original coffee shop, their restaurant and now the bakery. They appeared on my radar because they are one of a handful of London bakeries jumping on the trend for circular croissant discs, called all manner of names from supremes, crolls, pom poms, croons or even LeBombz. Kuro calls their take on the pastry, Sãkuro. It is commonly believed that Lafayette Bakery in NYC invented this style of croissant, they’re at least benefitting from this idea, but actually the first filled croissant in this shape that I ever saw, and subsequently tried was right here in the UK from Ty Melin Bakery in Cardiff. They call their version the croissant bomb and they’ve been making them since May 2020, Lafayette only started selling them in April of this year. My guess is because NYC is home to Dominique Ansel, and the Cronut, it was easy to label the supreme the next Cronut and install NYC as the origin of the pastry. Anyway, after that tangent, let me tell you about the Sãkuro I had from Kuro Bakery. It was a simple chocolate flavour, with melted dark chocolate piped on top of the pastry with a chocolate custard inside. Firstly, the chocolate being actual chocolate, and not some type of fondant, was a strong positive. The pastry itself along with the amount of filling, also both strong points. Sadly the custard itself was a little bland with a subtle cocoa flavour, like old fashioned hot chocolate made from powder, really lacking in oomph. I do however have high hopes for this new bakery and hope that as they bed in they’ll find their groove. If you’re in the Notting Hill area it is well worth checking out and seeing what is on offer.

Over on Second Helpings this week you’ll find a recipe for Double Brown Butter Snickerdoodles with a choose your own adventure flavoured sugar coating. In the post I teach you how to make one of my favourite flavour enhancers, caramelised milk powder, and give you the recipe for a super simple but incredibly delicious take on the American Snickerdoodle cookie.

The following recipe is sponsored by Wilfa

Talking of the festive spirit I have a literal festive spirit recipe for you, a vegan take on eggnog, or Oatnog as it really should be called. Made with homemade oat and cashew milk and flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg and of course lots of rum, it’s a truly delicious alternative to the classic dairy based drink. The drink, straight out of the bottle, is lighter than classic versions as it’s missing the richness the cream and eggs bring. I don’t mind this, as I enjoy the flavour but can normally only drink one small glass due to the richness, obviously not an issue with this version. If you miss the body of a slightly richer drink you can actually shake this with a little aquafaba. To make the oat/cashew milk I used my Wilfa Powerfuel XL blender which is incredibly powerful and broke down the nuts and oats in seconds. To ensure the milk doesn’t have a slimy texture you want to blend for shorter than you’d imagine, 20-30 seconds works well. This is shorter than other recipes might suggest but that’s simply because the Wilfa Powerfuel XL will break down the oats much quicker than other blenders. This is because the blender has a very powerful 2000 watt motor which makes the blades turn 32000 times a minute at full speed

When you’ve made the oatnog it will keep in the fridge for about 5 days but as it is homemade and doesn’t include any emulsifiers it will split as it sits, but don’t worry simply shake it before you serve it and you’ll have a delicious creamy oatnog once again.

To get 20% off the Wilfa Powerfuel XL or any other Wilfa products in my collection make sure you use the code THEBOYWHOBAKES.

Oatnog (aka Vegan Eggnog)
100g raw cashews
100g traditional rolled oats
75ml maple syrup
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
750ml water
150ml dark rum

To make the oatnog first soak the cashews in cold water for a couple hours.

Drain the cashews and add the nuts, oats, maple syrup, spices, vanilla, salt and water to the jug of the Wilfa Powerfuel XL blender. Pop the lid on the blender and process for about 20-30 seconds until smooth. Over blending the mixture at this point can make for slightly slimy oat milk so don’t overdo it. Pour the milk mixture into a nut milk bag (or use a very fine cheesecloth) and allow the milk to strain through, adding gentle pressure to extract as much milk as possible. Don’t squeeze the mixture too hard or more of the starch will be extracted into the milk. Discard the sediment left behind.

Stir in the rum and then decant into a bottle. Pop in the fridge and stir for up to 5 days. To serve pour into a glass filled with ice and top with a fresh dusting of grated nutmeg.