Feed your friends on Burns Night

Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve

Two recipes to make with your vegan haggis or original haggis. It's up to you, and who you're feeding. 

Pastry prepping- Parcels


Here is a simple way to make some pastry. Be sure to use chilled butter, if need be- freeze it for a few minutes till rock hard. You will need 230g of butter (or 260g vegan alternative) and 340g of plain flour. Sieve the flour into a bowl, then grate your cold butter into the flour. Now, using a knife, cut and slice, mix and stir the butter into the flour until its as coated and incorporated as you can make it. You may need to use your hands for the last bit, just to pull it all together into a ball. If need be, put a pinch of salt into the mix for flavour, but I don't feel you need it with the haggis. 

Once you have a sturdy ball of pastry, wrap it in cling film and pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Preheat your oven to 200ºC

Roll out your pastry to as large a circle as you can get, making sure its around 3mm thick. Then taking a 10cm cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. This should make around 10-12. 

Now, using a tablespoon measure, scoop some haggis, vegan or non if you are going traditional, into the centre of the pastry. Then fold over, and squeeze the edges together. Using a fork, press around the edges for a super fun crimped look on both sides. Place onto a baking tray.

Once you have filled all the cases, use an egg wash to coat the tops of the pastry. If you are vegan, use some sweetened soy milk (or unsweetened with a tsp of sugar), which should brown the same. 

Put into the oven for 30-40 minutes until the tops have browned and the pastry is done. 

While this is in the oven, take some potatoes and make some mash. Get a turnip (or neep) and a carrot, boil together and make some mash. 

If you want to make a Whisky Glaze, the recipe is here.

Serve your parcels, along with your mash and neeps, whisky glaze if you desire. Get a glass of whisky, or apple juice for aesthetic purposes, instagram it, tag me in it @colinstarfish and then enjoy a traditional Burns Night meal, with a Northern twist. Video tutorial is below. 

Pastry prepping- Cupcakes


Take 100g of vegetable shortening (I use Trex), melt this in a pan and add 250g of plain flour. Stir this together until it combines. You will need to add water to get the consistency right, so add up to 150ml of luke warm water until it comes together. You want it to be like a soft clay. 

Roll into a ball and put into the fridge for 20 minutes

Take out of the fridge and tear into 12 equal sized balls. You will need to mould them into the spaces in a cupcake tin. Make sure the sides are no thicker than 3mm and get them all the way to the top. Bake in the oven at 175ºC/350ºf/Gas 4 for 10 minutes. 

Spoon the haggis mixture, add one teaspoon of turnip/carrot mash. Make sure your mashed potato is very creamy and spoon into a piping bag with a star nozzle. Pipe the mashed potato on top! Perfect for a Burns Buffet, or as an appetiser.... or just eat them all. 

If you are planning on using the vegan haggis recipe above, the haggis will fill 36 cupcakes. 

Enjoy these two recipes, let me know what you think. 

See you soon x

Vegan Haggis recipe

Fair Fa your honest sonsie face

vegan haggis.jpg

First bake of the year, and its something Scottish! Robert Burns night is on Monday 25th January, so I thought I would go back to my roots and make a slight twist to the traditional Haggis Neeps and Tatties, with two different ways to present them. 

The presentation can be made using regular haggis, and you can make them non vegan by using the equivalent amount of butter- instead of the vegetable shortening.




Vegan Haggis 


Spice Mix

1/2 tbsp allspice

2 tbsp cracked black pepper

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tbsp thyme


Egg wash alternative

soy milk (unsweetened with 1-2 tsp sugar)




1 medium red onion

1 large carrot

3 closed cup mushrooms

1x vegetable stock cube in 300ml water

400ml Borlotti Beans (in water)

400ml green lentils (in water)

Spice mix (see other side)

50g chopped cashews

50g chopped hazelnuts

200g oatmeal



Take 1 medium red onion and dice it to tiny cubes, 1 large carrot and dice to tiny slices, 3 closed cup mushrooms- diced, place to one side. 

Now take 1 vegetable stock cube and add 300ml of water. Add the water from a 400ml can of Barlotti beans, and also the water from a 400ml can of green lentils. This should bring it to around 500ml, if not, just add more hot water. Let the stock dissolve and stew. 

Premix your spices, you need 1/2 tbsp Allspice, 2 tbsp Cracked black pepper, 1tsp ground pepper, 1tsp cayenne pepper and 1/2 tbsp Thyme. 

Either buy 50g of pre-chopped cashews or chop using a food processor. You need 50g of chopped hazelnuts as well. 

In a large pan, add the vegetables, then the borlotti beans and lentils. Pour in the majority of the stock and let the mix simmer on a medium heat for 3 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add the nuts. Then add 200g of oatmeal. The mixture may suddenly dry out, so add the rest of your stock mix so the consistency becomes looser and you can stir again. Add your spice mix and stir until all the water is gone. 

Now, take a potato masher, and mash the mix up until it becomes, what I like to call, stodgy haggis mess. You can eat this as is, or continue on to make it into some parcels using the pastry. 

Don't forget to make your mashed potatoes and turnip (with carrots mashed in, mmm) 

Here are two recipes you can make with your haggis, for that extra fancy twist. 

See you soon x