The 30 Lemon Quest : vegan lemon and coconut Oat slice

By Holly Royce

Last week I started in my quest to use up the 30 lemons my housemate harvested from her family home over her holidays. My mission is to use them to make delicious vegan treats to share with my housemates, neighbours and in the 1 Million Women office. Last week I made vegan lemon and poppy seed pancakes – this week I went for something a little more substantial – a lemon and coconut slice.

Why is eating seasonable produce sustainable?

Where fruit and vegetables come from, the way they are grown, how far the food items have traveled, and how they are stored and preserved or refrigerated – all are important elements in determining its carbon footprint. Incredible as it may sound, what we eat and drink contributes to about one third of the CO2 pollution connected with our day-to-day living. We have the power to make positive choices when we shop that will affect food preparation, eating and what we can do with scraps and leftovers. – See more at our website.

Here’s the recipe –

For Base

– 1 cup oat bran

– ½ cup shredded coconut

– ½ a cup whole wheat spelt flour

– 5 tbsp coconut butter

– 2tbsp water

– pinch of salt

– 5 tbsp stevia

For Filling

– 1 cup fresh lemon juice ( I used juice from 3 smallish lemons)

– 400mls of coconut cream

– 2 tbsp lemon zest

– ½ cup cornstarch

– ½ cup organic maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice)

Method

– First the base. Grab your oat bran and mix it with your shredded coconut, spelt flour, salt and sugar.

– Add coconut butter in chunks and blend it into the flour with your hands.

-Add your water and mix.

– In a greased baking dish add the oat mix and press with your hands to form the crust. Using a fork pierce the surface of the crust and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes at 180C.

-Remove from the oven and let it cool.

– Next is the filling. In a pot add your coconut cream, corn starch and maple syrup. My advice is to add the corn starch gradually and whisk as you go to avoid any major lumps.

– Bring to the boil whisking continuously.

– Add lemon zest, whisk.

– When mixture starts to thicken up remove from heat and add lemon juice, whisk for another 3 minutes.

– Let the mixture cool and then pour over base.

– Chill in fridge, I found leaving it over night worked best.

My non-vegan friends enjoyed this one immensely also, and I’ve been told it tasted like a cheesecake!

Enjoy ☺

Another 3 lemons down – leaving me with 25 lemons to use up.

Did you try this recipe? What did you think? Share any of your lemon based recipes in the comments below!