Pumpkin Sweet Bread

A co-worker of mine, who shares my love of all things pumpkin, brought in a recipe for a sweet bread. The recipe she brought in wasn't vegan, but she said she thought maybe I could veganize it. Once I looked at it, I, too, thought that veganizing it would be easy. And it was! This is the kind of recipe when applesauce serves as the perfect egg substitute. The recipe can be used to make a loaf of bread or muffins; I made these on Thanksgiving, when baking time was a consideration, so I opted for muffins. These are really sweet and moist and fluffy, but the batter could be stretched to make 13 or 14 muffins, because some of the muffins in my dozen had serious muffin top.

You'll need:
1/2 C canola oil
1 1/4 C sugar
1/2 C applesauce
1 C pumpkin
1/2 C water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients. In another bowl, sift together dry ingredients.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
4. If you want to bake muffins, spoon batter into tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
5. If you want to bake a loaf of bread, pour batter into bread pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is the quintessential Thanksgiving dessert, amirite? I tried my first vegan pumpkin pie last year. I can't remember what recipe I used, but I DO remember that it was a big flop. The pie wouldn't set. When Mama Pea, who has never once led me astray, posted a recipe for pumpkin pie, I thought I'd give it a go. And this pie turned out wonderfully! I punked out and used a Wholly Wholesome crust, but I don't care because it was delicious. My only advice is to watch the condensed milk super closely! The line between condensed milk and gelatinous blob is very fine... and you don't want to cross it.

Ingredients (1 9-in. pie)

For the Crust:

• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 c. vegan margarine (i.e. Earth Balance) or coconut oil
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2-4 T. cold water

For the Filling:

• 1 c. non-dairy or organic milk, divided
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 3 T. cornstarch
• 2 c. canned pumpkin
• 1 T. ground flax
• 1 t. molasses
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. ginger
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• Garnish: non-dairy or organic whipped topping and pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Instructions

• For crust, in a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
• Cut in margarine or coconut oil until flour mixture is the texture of wet sand. You can also shortcut this process by using a food processor to blend your flour and fat together. Grandma didn’t. I do.
• In a liquid measuring cup, combine maple syrup, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of water. Pour mixture into flour.
• Stir until a dough starts to form. If the dough seems to dry, you can add another tablespoon or two of water.
• Transfer dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap up dough, pressing into a disc.
• Put dough into the fridge to chill for at least an hour.
• Meanwhile, make the filling by bringing 3/4 c. milk and brown sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.
• Once it has come to a boil, lower heat. Put cornstarch in a small bowl or in your liquid measuring cup. Add remaining milk and stir until completely smooth.
• Add cornstarch mixture to the pot, stirring rapidly.
• Bring the mixture back to a low boil until it is quite thick.
• Remove from heat.
• In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, ground flax, molasses, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, ginger and nutmeg.
• Add sweetened, condensed milk and stir until completely incorporated.
• Set aside.
• When dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Dust a bread board with flour and turn dough out onto board.
• Roll dough out gently with a floured pin until it is about a quarter inch thick and about 12 inches in diameter.
• Transfer your dough to the pie plate by rolling up the edge on your rolling pin and then unrolling your pin on top of your pie plate. Or you can invert your bread board completely on top of your pie plate.
• Then press your dough into your plate and crimp the edge of your pie.
• Using the tines of a fork, poke holes in the bottom of your pie crust.
• Pour your prepared pumpkin filling into your pie shell and spread evenly to distribute.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes, until pie is set. If you have a pie shield, you’ll want to place it over the crust after about 20 minutes. If you don’t have a pie shield, you can make one out of tin foil, but essentially this will keep your crust from getting too dark.
• When the pie is cool, cover and refrigerate, preferably overnight.

Pumpkin Smoothie

The flash on my camera has gone haywire, so please excuse this terrible picture. I've got leftover pumpkin sitting in the fridge, so I decided to make a smoothie this evening. I've seen a bunch of different recipes floating around, so I settled for this combination of recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole bananas (frozen)
• ¼ cup canned pure pumpkin
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• ¼ cup non-dairy milk
• a dash of ground ginger
• 1 tsp pure maple syrup
• graham cracker, crumbled

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and whiz until smooth, adding more non-dairy milk as necessary to achieve proper consistency. Add more pumpkin or spice to taste. Garnish with crumbled graham cracker.

Ridiculously easy, right?

Pumpkin Brownies

I bring you yet another pumpkin baked good. At this point, it's a miracle I haven't turned into a pumpkin. I saw these on Oh She Glows and wanted to give them a try. I refused to let these sit around my kitchen, tempting me with their dark deliciousness, so I brought some into work. Omni Mom did not like the texture, but just about everyone else said they loved them! And for what it's worth, I think they're pretty good, too. ;]

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Brownie Layer:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, softened
• 3/4 cup white kamut flour (or white)
• 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cornstarch (or arrowroot/tapioca)
• 1/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Pumpkin Pie Layer:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 tbsp cornstarch (or arrowroot/tapioca)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp almond milk
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg)
• Shaved chocolate, for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a muffin tin.

2. For brownie layer: In a stand mixer or by hand, mix together the coconut oil, pumpkin, vanilla, and sugar until blended well. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking, soda, sea salt and mix until incorporated. Take about 2 tbsp of the mixture and place in muffin tin. Wet fingers and spread around evenly so it is smooth. I made 8 large cupcakes and 2 small ones.

Brownie batter.

3. For pumpkin layer: In a large bowl mix together the pumpkin, vanilla, and milk. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well until all clumps are gone. Now add approx 1.5-2 tbsp of the pumpkin pie mixture on top of each brownie in the pan. Garnish with grated chocolate (I used a lemon zester to grate the chocolate).

Layering the pumpkin.

4. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F. Remove from oven and cool for 20-30 minutes and then move to the fridge to chill for 1.5 hours.

Ready for the oven!

5. Serves approx 8-10. I made 8 large cupcakes and 2 small ones (for kids). Enjoy with vegan vanilla ice cream.

This is what I did at work the other day. I love working with pre-k, but especially around holidays. For some of my students, the activities we do, like carving pumpkins, are the first time they experience something like this. And for most of them, regardless of their previous experiences, this is when they start forming memories of this sort of thing. It's really fun to be a part of it, and seeing how excited they get over things like this makes holiday activities even more enjoyable for me. 

Pumpkin Spiced Donuts

Today has been a nice, lazy Sunday so far. I wanted a yummy breakfast with minimal work. These donuts fit the bill perfectly. The recipe comes from Oh She Glows, and yields 12 regular sized donuts. Mom, Matthew, and Mandi tried them, and everyone said they were yummy, too!

You'll need:

• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (white vinegar may work)
• 6 tbsp non-dairy milk
• 1/2 cup fresh or canned pureed pumpkin
• 1/4 cup organic cane sugar (or white)
• 3 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tbsp lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Earth Balance (or other non-dairy butter substitute), melted
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon + 1/2 tsp ginger, + 1/4 tsp nutmeg (or 1.75 tsp pumpkin pie spice)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

Cinnamon Sugar:

• 1/4 cup Earth Balance (or other butter sub), melted (approx estimate only)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two mini doughnut pans or two regular sized doughnut pans with Earth Balance (or other butter substitute).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, milk, pumpkin, sugar, applesauce, brown sugar (sift if clumpy), and melted Earth Balance (or other butter sub). 
3. Sift in in the dry ingredients (baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, and flours). Mix until just combined. I didn’t sift as I was lazy.
4. Using a ‘zip-lock’ baggie or pastry bag, spoon the batter into the bag and then secure it with the zip lock or rubber band. Twist the bag slightly and then cut off a hole at the corner to ‘pipe’ out the batter. Pipe the dough around the circle and gently flatten down with slightly wet fingers to smooth. Repeat.
5. Bake  for 10-12 minutes at 350F or until they gently spring back when touched. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully using a butter knife to remove. Place on cooling rack for another 10-15 minutes.
6. Cinnamon Sugar: Melt Earth Balance in a small bowl and dip the cooled doughnuts into butter one at a time. Transfer the dipped doughnut into a bag with the cinnamon sugar and shake until coated thoroughly. Doughnuts keep for 2-3 days.

In other, non-food news: meet Squirt!

Two friends of mine found three stray kittens under their shed yesterday. Most shelters were already closed for the day, and not sure what to do with them, they called me. Despite how insanely cute they were, I was unable to keep any. Luckily, though, Matthew took one. He's been looking for a kitten for several weeks now, so this was perfect! Squirt is super cute and sweet; I'll be sad to see him leave today.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

My two favorite cousins are hosting a Halloween party later this month. A friend of ours asked me to make some food because I "always come up with the most delicious vegan treats." While his comment was flattering, he obvious doesn't know me well: I'd already bookmarked about 10 vegan Halloween recipes, and a whole host of other recipes that I think I could veganize.

I'm kind of paranoid with feeding other people though, because while I'll eat something slightly overcooked or something that looks a hot mess but tastes good, I've got high standards when it comes to feeding other people. So I've started testing out the new recipes in anticipation of Halloween!

I made pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies from Very Vegan Holiday (the most amazing holiday-themed blog!!) over the weekend. Prior to making these, I had a mini-lesson in types of flours, because I didn't realize just how many types of flours there are. The extent of my flour use was basically all-purpose and whole wheat. Pretty limited once I took a good look at the baking aisle in Whole Foods. This is when I accidentally bought baking flour when I wanted all-purpose flour, too. When I got home, I figured baking flour would be fine since I was baking cookies.

Not the case.

 I don't know if it's that's how the recipe is supposed to turn out, or if the flour had something to do with it, but the cookies had a serious cake-like texture. They weren't bad, and in fact were quite flavorful, but the texture was not right. And that's exactly why I test out new recipes before feeding them to people. 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce
- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, cream together the sugars, shortening, applesauce, pumpkin, and vanilla until light and well-combined.
- Mix in the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon until just combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips
- Drop by teaspoons onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until set.
- Let cookies cool on a rack.

Pumpkin Scones

Pumpkins scones from Oh She Glows! My dough was kind of sticky and wet... may or may not have had something to do with the fact that I didn't have spelt flour and just kind of improvised. It wasn't terrible, but I think the consistency would have been better with the flour called for.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole grain spelt flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 2-3 tbsp. sugar
• 8 tbsp. Earth Balance butter
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 3 tbsp. almond milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 chia/flax egg (1 tbsp. ground chia/flax + 4 tbsp water)
• Turbinado sugar, to garnish
• Vegan Egg Wash:
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 tbsp. water
• Spiced Glaze:
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1.5-2 tbsp. almond milk
• 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and a pinch of ginger and nutmeg)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment of a non-stick mat.
2. In a small bowl mix the chia/flax egg. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger).
4. Take the cold Earth Balance butter cut butter into dry ingredients until crumbly.
5. In a medium sized bowl, mix the pumpkin, chia/flax egg, and almond milk.
6. Add wet to dry and mix until a ball forms. I got down and dirty and mixed with my hands!
7. On a flour surface place the ball of dough and kneed a few times with your hands.
8. Shape the dough into a circle and then cut into 8 triangles.
9. Now mix your vegan egg wash by mixing cornstarch and water and heating in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well.
10. With a pastry brush, brush on the glaze onto each scone.
11. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar generously and bake for 14 minutes.
12. Cool for 10-15 minutes.
13. While cooling, make your spiced glaze by beating 1 cup powdered sugar with milk and spice until smooth.
14. When scones are cool ice the scones and serve with a cup of tea or coffee!

Pumpkin Pizza

How is it already the middle of October? It feels like only a few days ago I was changing my calendars, and now iCal is staring me in the face, reminding me that it's mid-October. While this is exciting because one of my most favorite days in the whole year gets closer with each passing day, time just seems to be flying by.

The fact that it's mid-October means two things at Charm City Vegan headquarters: 1) we're halfway through Vegan Mofo and 2) I'm knee-deep in pumpkin recipes. The only thing more alarming than how quickly this month is passing is the excessive number of recipes I've bookmarked or pinned in the last month or so. And many of them are pumpkin (have you seen my board Edible Pumpkin? If you have, I'd like to ask you why you haven't yet staged an intervention?).

Tonight I bring you pumpkin pizza. The pumpkin sauce is sweet and tangy, and at first, I wasn't sure if I liked it. By the end of the first slice, I changed my mind to "OMG SO GOOOOD." Verbatim.

You'll need:

- a pizza crust
- 15 oz pumpkin puree
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 C water
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- non-dairy mozzarella

1. In a saucepan, combine pumpkin puree, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, rosemary, water, and tomate paste. When mixture comes to a boil, reduce to medium heat and cook 5-7 minutes until mixture thickens. Allow to cool.
2. Brush pizza crust with olive oil. Spoon sauce onto crust. You probably won't use all of the sauce, and I didn't. You can use the sauce for another pizza or for pasta. Sprinkle pizza with mozzarella.
3. Bake according to crust package.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Perhaps my favorite thing about days off is leisurely mornings. There's no alarm going off at 5:30, no hitting the snooze button until the absolute last minute, no rushing around because I hit the snooze button an undisclosed number of times. Instead, I can sleep in and wake up when I feel rested, which was about 8 this morning. My 15-year-old self would be disappointed that I've reached the point where 8AM is sleeping in, but my 24-year-old self savored every extra hour. It was great. 


I've seen loads of recipes and pictures floating around the internet for pumpkin spice pancakes, so when I woke up this morning, I knew what I wanted for breakfast. I've also seen a variety of recipes, so based on the recipes I've seen, this is the one I used.


Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

You'll need:

1¼ cups all-purpose flour 2 tbsp. brown sugar 2 tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. salt ¾ tsp. ground cinnamon ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg Dash of ground ginger Dash of ground cloves 1 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond) ½ cup pumpkin puree Egg replacer for 1 egg (I used Ener-G, but I think apple sauce would also work well) 2 tbsp. melted butter

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and spices and stir with a fork to combine.  In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin puree, egg replacer and oil or butter in a liquid measuring cup.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined.

Heat a greased skillet or griddle over medium heat.  Once the skillet is hot, add a 1/3 cup scoop of batter to the pan.  Let cool until bubbles begin to form on the top surface.  Flip and cook the second side until golden brown, a couple minutes more.  Repeat with the rest of the batter, regreasing the pan as needed. Serve with cinnamon sugar, maple syrup, and/or non-dairy whipped cream. These were delicious and perfect for a lazy fall morning. The hardest part was deciding what topping to use: maple syrup or some of the apple syrup I bought at the National Apple Harvest Festival last weekend...  Before I wrap this up and get started on my laundry list of things to get done today, I wanted to thank everyone for all the great support and feedback during the first week of Vegan MoFo!

National Apple Harvest Festival & Pumpkin Penne

I spent my weekend in Gettysburg visiting my friend Julie. She lives about 20 minutes away from the fairgrounds where the National Apple Harvest Festival is held, so we spent most of Saturday there. It was cloudy, insanely chilly, and a little rainy at some points. Still, we braved the weather to indulge in as many apple goodies as possible.

They sold apple everything. There were the usual suspects: apple butter, apple jelly, apple juice, apple sauce, apple cider. And then there were other apple things that I wasn't really expecting (and most of it wasn't vegan friendly): apple syrup, apple daiquiris, apple funnel cakes, apple fudge, apple cookies, apple cake. There were loads of autumnal decorations, too, and I loved every bit of it.

We met a bee and an apple along the way. Yeah, my eyes are closed. I'm good for that.

Just when I thought my hands were going to fall off, we found the hot apple cider tent. No way in hell was I settling for cold apple cider in 50 degree wet weather.

We saw a dance performance by the Hanover Children's Ballet Theater, too, and it was really cute.

There wasn't a whole lot of vegan-friendly to eat while at the festival, but it definitely sparked my interest in trying to veganize some things I saw (this is your warning). I was able to pick up some things to bring home, though!

Cinnamon apple syrup, apple butter, apple jelly, an apple scented soy-based candle,
doggie treats in the apple container, and apple syrup. 

Back at her apartment, we made pumpkin penne. Julie was a fantastic chef, I was a less than stellar photographer.

Garlic & Onion 

Crispy Sage

How was your weekend? What did you get into?