5 Ingredient Pumpkin Ice Cream - vegan & gluten free

Less than two weeks till Halloween! Do you have your costume figured out? I think I'll go crazy and wear a fancy shirt. I don't expect any trick-or-treaters for either candy or Unicef in my neighborhood, but that doesn't mean we won't want pumpkiny goodness.

And this ice cream? It definitely qualifies as pumpkiny goodness. The fact that real, actual, honest-to-goodness pumpkin, rather than just pumpkin spices, means you can really taste the pumpkin. Does that also mean we can count it as a vegetable course? hmmm. I'm leaning toward "yes."

For the first time I experimented with using one can of full-fat coconut milk and one can of light coconut milk. It's good! It might not be quite as creamy as using only full-fat, but Mr Official Taster hasn't noticed, and I think it's dreamy delicious. Lower fat + pumpkin? I think that equals a firm "yes" on the vegetable question. Sweet.

5 Ingredient Pumpkin Ice Cream - vegan & gluten free
adapted from MindBodyGreen

As I mentioned above, you can use either two cans of full fat coconut milk OR one can full fat + one can light coconut milk.  Do you have a good spice cabinet but no pumpkin pie spice? Make your own! 

2 15-ounce cans of coconut milk, well shaken (see note)
1 C pumpkin puree (either canned or fresh)
1/2 C maple syrup
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract

and a bonus, "optional" ingredient

splash of bourbon

Add the first five ingredients to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally, and then whisk more frequently as the mixture warms up until it's fully combined and no lumps remain (a boil isn't necessary). Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate at least a few hours or overnight. 

Transfer chilled mix (plus a splash or two of bourbon, if using) to your ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze – vegan

hello, friends! Today I give you yummy nummy (now a word, btw) pumpkin cinnamon rolls with...drumroll please....maple glaze. I've been teasing you since last week, so it seems only fair to share the love. And love it really is.

I'm one of those people who feed people as an expression of love, as a welcome-to-my-home, as an are-you-ok, as an I-hope-you-feel-better-how-can-I-help, as a hello-nice-to-meet-you-I-hope-you-like-me kind of a thing. I hope other people see it as such, but even if they don't, a) I hope it makes them feel better, even if they don't know why and b) it makes me feel better. And in a weird kind of way, sometimes presenting a dish that's more complicated or time consuming than usual makes me feel like I'm giving them more and showing I care even more. Do you other cooks and bakers out there feel the same way, or is that a Kate Special?

Anyway, these pumpkin cinnamon rolls fall into that category. I'm not going to make these all the time, but when I do make them, know that you're special. or that I want to impress you. or both. Because they are impressive (ask my coworkers) and they are delicious (ask my mouth) and they aren't as hard as they look (yay). The perfect trifecta.

These buns are full of sweet, gooey, pumpkin, cinnamony goodness. As with my other go-to brunch recipe, you can prepare them at night, go get some sleep, and bake them fresh in the morning. Side note: the overnight route is really, really, really the way to go if you are hosting breakfast/brunch. It's a win-win- you don't have wake up stupid early, and you and your guests get fresh, out of the oven yummies. Also, a more relaxed host(ess) makes for a better party.

In an effort to help make clear possibly hard-to-understand directions, for the first time I enlisted Mr Official Taster's help in creating a short video for you. I wanted to give the time-lapse feature on my iPhone a try. There is no sound, and if you want to make it larger, click on the button on the bottom right that has the four arrows to make it full screen. Update: the video doesn't seem to be showing up on mobile devices, and I don't know why. Hopefully I can figure it out. Until then, here's a link to the video: https://flic.kr/p/pgN3GL

 

For the most part, I'm pretty happy with it. I know the lighting is not great, and next time he'll stand on a stool behind me for a better birds-eye perspective. But I'm really curious about your reaction. Is is helpful? Do you like it? Is it long enough? too long? Unnecessary? Speak your mind, please!

Also, please make these for someone you love. Neither of you will regret it!

Not into pumpkin? Try my regular cinnamon rolls- they're yummy too.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze – vegan

adapted from Chloe's Vegan Desserts

Though the written recipe is long, it is not particularly difficult, and the end results are well worth it. I chose to use coconut oil in place of vegan butter throughout this recipe, but either works, and I can imagine that Earth Balance vegan butter would impart a nice buttery flavor. Note that vegan butter is salted, so if you go that route, be sure to use the smaller salt measurement.

If you need this recipe to be corn free, powdered (AKA confectioners’) sugar is not your friend since it's sugar+cornstarch. I can think of three options here. A) Make the glaze, but don’t drizzle over the top. Allow everyone you’re serving to choose whether to add it to his or her portion. B) Skip the glaze and just top with maple syrup. C) Make your own corn-free powdered sugar by whirring an equal volume of regular or superfine white sugar in a food processor. Basically, you grind it down into finer grains. It’s not exactly the same as powdered sugar, but it’s a pretty good substitute.

Dough

1 C pumpkin puree, canned or fresh

1 C nondairy milk

½ C plus 1 Tbsp sugar, divided

½ C vegan butter or coconut oil

½ -1 tsp salt (see note)

1 tsp vanilla

¼ lukewarm water (about 110F)

2 ¼ tsp (or 1 packet) active dry yeast

5 C all-purpose flour (I used white whole wheat), divided, plus more for rolling

Filling

¾ C brown sugar (I used Sucanat)

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

4 Tbsp vegan butter or coconut oil, melted

1 C raisins (optional)

Glaze (see note)

½ C powdered sugar

3 Tbsp maple syrup

Up to a few tablespoons water, as needed

Make the dough

In a medium saucepan, whisk the pumpkin, nondairy milk, ½ cup sugar, coconut oil or butter, and salt over low heat until combined. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Let cool until lukewarm, about 110 degrees F.

While the pumpkin mixture is cooling, place the warm water, remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, and yeast in a 1-cup glass measuring cup. Stir for a second or two and set aside for about 10 minutes. The yeast will become foamy, double in size, and reach the ¾-cup line. If it does not do so, then either your yeast was dead or the water was too hot (and killed the yeast); make another yeast mixture before proceeding.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the pumpkin mixture and the yeast mixture. Beat at a medium speed for about 1 minute. Add 2 ½ cups flour, and stir on low until incorporated. Add the remaining 2 ½ cups flour and repeat. The dough will be somewhat sticky. Exchange the paddle attachment for the dough hook and knead on a medium speed for about 2 minutes.

To save yourself from washing an extra bowl, gather the dough ball and balance on one hand. With the other, spray the mixing bowl with nonstick spray. Return the dough to the bowl, and then turn it over so the entire ball is coated with oil. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Cover with a kitchen towel or shower cap, place in a warm spot, and let sit until it has doubled in size (about 1 ½ hours, less if it’s a warm day).

Remove cover and punch down the dough so that it deflates. Take the dough out and put it on a lightly floured surface. Recover with the kitchen towel and let rest for about 10 minutes.

Make the filling & assemble the rolls

While the dough is resting, lightly grease a 9- x 13-inch baking pan. Combine brown sugar or Sucanat, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Aim for a 20- x 13-inch rectangle (it doesn’t need to be exact). Brush or spread the melted oil over the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly across the surface. If you like raisins in your cinnamon rolls, sprinkle them evenly over the surface at this point.

With the long edge of the dough rectangle close to you, roll the dough up away from you, so you are creating an approximately 20-inch long log. (see video above) With the seam side down, use a sharp knife to cut the log in half. Then cut each roll into 6 equal pieces (observant readers will notice I ended up with 13 pieces. It is a-ok). Ideally, you will have 12 cinnamon rolls. Place the rolls, swirled side up, into the prepared pan, in 4 rows with 3 rolls in each row. You don’t need to smoosh them together – the next rise will take care of that.

If you’re baking them right away, cover pan with a dry kitchen towel, place in a warm spot, and allow to rise a second time for about an hour. If, however, you are assembling them at night and plan to bake them in the morning, cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap and place the fridge overnight. Remove them in the morning at about the same time you start to preheat your oven.

All together now - once the cinnamon rolls have risen, preheat your oven to 375F. Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes. When fully cooked, they will be lightly brown on top, and a toothpick or a knife inserted in the center will come out free of dough. (Do check. Don’t be as impatient as I was the first time). Let the rolls cool for about 10 minutes before glazing.

Make the glaze

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and maple syrup. If it’s too thick, add water, a little bit at a time, until smooth and drizzle-able.

Drizzle glaze over the rolls. Proceed to stuff the warm pumpkin cinnamon gooey goodness into your mouth. Alternatively, use a fork and a plate for maximum politeness.

Pumpkin Cornbread - vegan

A few weeks ago, I boldly promised to keep this a "pumpkin-spice-anything-free zone," and I'm proud to say that's still true. I will admit, however, that I noticed a loophole and decided to take advantage of it. You see, I didn't outlaw actual pumpkin. Sneaky, you accuse? Yep. But, in my defense, loopholes are a proud American tradition, and it is technically fall now, so pumpkin is actually appropriate.

I came across a recipe for a honey pumpkin cornbread, started making it, realized my cornmeal was not-so-good, ran and got a new bag, finished the recipe, and after all of that, was supremely disappointed. It was dry. It was boring. It tasted like pumpkin but not at all like cornbread. Or honey, particularly, come to think of it. I knew I liked the idea in general, so I basically tore the recipe up (well, virtually tore it up. and by "tore it up" I mean I no longer have it Pinned) and started all over.

I switched from honey to maple syrup and reduced the volume. I got rid of an egg and some pumpkin-y spices. I introduced creamed corn to the ingredient list and reduced the milk. A few other tweaks, and I was ready to try again.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. This pumpkin cornbread blends and balances both flavors so that you can really tell each is there. It's moist (even the next day) and not too sweet. In short, it's all the good things that cornbread should be.


Pumpkin Cornbread - vegan
a Short & Sweets original

If you make this when there is still fresh corn available, I think a handful of fresh kernels would be a tasty addition. I see no reason why you couldn't make either mini or jumbo muffins and adjust the bake time accordingly. Also, I haven't tried myself, but they should freeze just fine if well-wrapped.

If you are looking for a breakfast treat, drizzle some maple syrup over a warm muffin. It's fabulous on a fall morning. Otherwise, I recommend pairing these with black bean sweet potato chili or red bean chili. Or, if you want to go pumpkin-crazy, pumpkin chili. 

3/4 C non-dairy milk

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 C yellow cornmeal
1 C whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil or vegan butter)
3/4 C canned pumpkin
3/4 C creamed corn
1/4 C maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)


In a medium-sized non-reactive bowl or large glass measuring cup, combine non-dairy milk and vinegar. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a standard, 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or line with paper liners. 

In a large bowl, stir flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt together. Whisk oil, pumpkin, creamed corn, and maple syrup into the milk+vinegar mixture. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Divide batter evenly among muffin tins. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.

Cool for 5 or 10 minutes in the pan, then remove and serve immediately or allow to cool completely on a wire rack. In an airtight container, muffins stay moist for 3-4 days. 

Pumpkin Chili - vegan & gluten free

I'm sorry I'm such a tease.

I posted on Instagram and then mentioned last week that I made a new kind of chili, and I'm just now telling you about it. Can we still be friends? Yes, you know what it's like to go on vacation staycation and have it somehow disappear much faster than you can understand, and certainly faster than you'd like, and just not get everything done that you'd like to?

oh good, I'm so glad that happens to other people.

Bourbon Pumpkin Muffins - vegan

I hope you're not over pumpkins yet.

I know, I know, this is the third pumpkiny recipe in a row here, and for that, I sort of apologize. If you need some balance in your life, I did recently give you a salad, and before that, granola, both of which are quite healthy and a good antidote to overindulgence. (by the way, have you tried the granola yet? as part of my plan to convert everyone I know to homemade-granola-makers, you really should)

But I don't apologize all of the way, because when, if not in October, are you going to overindulge in pumpkin anyway? September's not the season quite yet, and November is Thanksgiving focused, so that leaves (pun intended) October as The Time of Pumpkin. I'm keeping you trendy. You're welcome.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies - vegan

In between catching up on Reacher and How I Met Your Mother (Netflix finally got some new episodes!), finishing off another Pride & Prejudice spin off, and sleeping, I also made these cookies this weekend. At one point Mr Official Taster asked what I was up to, and I mentioned that I was debating between making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and doing something productive around the house (sorry, bad storyteller that I am, I forget what) and he immediately voted for cookies. Smart man.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Squares - vegan

Hello friends, and welcome to October. Are you as surprised to be here as I am? Whew, September just flew.

There's an internal switch, I'm convinced, that flips back and forth between summer and fall during September and towards the end of the month eventually makes up its mind and sticks with fall. September is just one of those months with multiple personality disorder. Visually, it's obvious on sites like Pinterest or Tastespotting; recipes run the gamut from raspberry jam to pumpkin cheesecake to zucchini pasta to hearty chili. My blog stats tell me the same- my top five most visited recipes last month were:

1. Peach Crisp
2. Raspberry Coconut Bread
3. Pumpkin Spice Cookies
4. Baked Steel Cut Oats
5. Pumpkin & Spice Overnight Oatmeal

I'm glad no one else can figure out what season it is either.

Pumpkin & Spice Overnight Oatmeal - vegan & gluten free

I've started having dreams about work, which clearly means I'm there a lot (have I mentioned I'm finally full time?) and it's busy. You might have heard that Thanksgiving is next week. And you might see the connection between Thanksgiving and a very busy bakery.

My most recent nocturnal adventure had me worried all night about not having enough stuffing. You see, we make unseasoned bread stuffing from our stale (day old) bread, and apparently last year we sold hundreds and hundreds of pounds of it. It's somewhat time consuming to make, and with so many other things on my Must Make NOW list, turning loaves of bread into sort-of-but-not-really-cubed-shaped-pieces often gets pushed to the end of my shift. Which means I'm rushingrushingrushing and never ever make as much progress on my pile of bread as I'd like to, which seems to lead to bread nightmares. Life is hard.

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins - dairy free

Somehow it's Saturday. I'm not totally sure when that happened, except that it must crept up on me while I made cookies and creme brulee and bread stuffing and cookies and bread crumbs and pastry cream and cookies and...you get the idea. It turns out that the weeks leading up to the holiday season at a bakery are busy. I can only imagine the insanity ahead.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies - vegan

Happy Halloween! And Happy Birthday, Daddy! It seemed appropriate to use a picture of me in costume (from back in the ballerina days for all you people out in the interwebs), and I've always liked how proud you look in this shot. Sorry I cut you out, Mom, but it's not your birthday (and I knew you wouldn't really mind). Have a great time at dinner! I'm glad the restaurant reopened!

I was wearing my cute new jack-o-lantern tshirt, and I was hoping to get Roomba to cooperate because a black dog is almost the same thing as a black cat, right? Well, she had very little interest in doing what I thought she should do. Basically, she was holding on for dear life. By her claws. In my shoulder.

Anywho, I hope all you east coasters are safe and that Sandy didn't cause too much damage for you. When you get electricity, I recommend making sure your oven works with a batch of cookies.

One Bowl Brownies - dairy free

It's been one of those weeks, you know? I'm not going to get into it, because, frankly, I don't want to, and, really, I doubt most of you want to know. You're here because of the brownies, yes? That's a good choice. Because they're really easy. Not quite as easy as a box, but pretty darn close.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies - dairy free

Yep, more pumpkin. It's like the fall version of peach week. But longer. I think this might be it, though. After all, it's Christmas this week, which is less pumpkin-y and more cookie-y, gingerbread-y, and cranberry-y. And, yes, those are the technical terms.

My plan this week is to post several recipes that might help you out for holiday gatherings. Let me know if you have any requests, and I'll try to work them in.

These brownies are somewhat complicated and create more dishes to wash than I usually like, but they were worth it. As brownies go, they are more on the cakey end of the spectrum than the fudgey end, but I like the combination of flavors (see? see?) and the pumpkin makes them nice and moist. They also look really impressive, so there's that.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies - dairy free
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

cooking spray
8 Tbsp (1 stick) vegan butter
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli)

1 1/2 C sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 C flour*
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 C solid-pack pumpkin**
1/4 C vegetable oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 C chopped hazelnuts or other nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (like you did for these brownies). Stir occasionally until smooth.

Beat together eggs, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy and well combined. Add flour and baking powder and mix in.

Pour half the batter (2 cups-ish) into a second bowl, add the chocolate mixture, and stir until combined. If you find that it is super thick, add a few spoonfuls of the plain batter in and mix well. It should be a pourable consistency.

Add the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the first bowl and mix until combined.

Pour about half the chocolate mixture into the prepared pan and smooth so it's basically level. Add about half the pumpkin mixture on top of that and smooth. Repeat once more, so you end up with four layers (chocolate - pumpkin - chocolate - pumpkin). Work quickly so the batters don't set.

Use a small spatula or table knife to swirl the batters until you think they look pretty and delicious. Make sure you get all the way to the bottom. If you like nuts, sprinkle them on the very top.

Bake until set, about 45-55 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack before attempting to slice and eat. 

*I did half all-purpose flour and half white whole wheat. Official Taster has not noticed.

**You can use either canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix) or some homemade pumpkin puree. Yes, I still have some left so you may see yet another pumpkin recipe soon.

Pumpkin Muffins - vegan

December is all about food. Whether you are making cookies for an exchange or stew to stay warm or cake for a holiday party, the focus is on eating. It's probably related to wanting to hibernate. Sometimes it's somewhat complicated, so this recipe is a nice balance. 

You need one mixing bowl and just a whisk or a mixing spoon- no mixer required, so clean up is super easy and the results are delicious. I whipped these up on Saturday morning, and I wasn't even all the way awake. I hope you find them just as easy. 

Pumpkin Muffins - vegan
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 C pureed pumpkin*
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 C plus 1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 C flour**
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with liners. In a small bowl, stir together cinnamon and 1 Tbsp sugar.

Whisk together the pumpkin, oil, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and 1 1/4 C sugar in a large bowl. Add in the vinegar and flour and whisk until just combined.

Spoon batter into muffin cups. They should be about 3/4 full. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture on top. Bake on center rack for 25-30 minutes. Muffins will be puffed and slightly golden, and a cake tester inserted into the middle will come out clean.

Remove from oven and cool for about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and allow to finish cooling on a rack.

*I used more of my baked pumpkin but you can also use a can

**I don't have any all purpose left because I made challah this weekend, so I used white whole wheat and they came out great.

Pillowy Pumpkin Cookies - vegan

Before we dive into today's treat, I just wanted to let you all know that I've been collecting fun ideas for December (both Christmas and Hannukah) on Pinterest. You don't need to be a member to poke around, but if you want to like, or comment, or repin things, then you'll need to join. 

~~~

If you have followed along lately, you are not surprised by a pumpkin recipe. This one is sweet and simple, and the results are comfort in a muffin-like cookie form. You can also add chocolate chips to up the ante, and I've been thinking about trying some dried cranberries next time. Because there will definitely be a next time. And I will definitely double the recipe.

Pillowy Pumpkin Cookies - vegan
adapted from Real Simple

3 Tbsp vegan butter at room temp
1/3 C brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
1/2 pumpkin puree (from a can or fresh)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp Ener G egg  replacer
2 Tbsp water
1 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 375F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mat.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugars together. Add the pumpkin, vanilla, and egg replacer and beat until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice.

Drop heaping spoonfuls of dough onto prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 10 minutes. Cookies will be slightly puffed and muffin-like in texture. Remove from oven, allow to cool a few minutes on the baking tray, and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: about 16 cookies

How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds

This will be my last post this week, but I'm leaving you with a quick lesson on toasting your pumpkin seeds. Because you've already baked your pumpkin and you're going to make that pie, right? Right. Roasting the seeds is very simple, and hardly a recipe.

I hope you have a good Thanksgiving with friends and family. If you're still looking for inspiration, try here or here or maybe here. And, if I do say so myself, these cinnamon buns and chocolate cake would also be lovely.

How To Roast Pumpkin Seeds 

Once you've scooped out the seeds and goop from your pumpkin, separate the seeds from the strings.

Preheat your oven to 325F. In a small pot, bring a few cups of water to a boil. Add the seeds and boil for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, drain off the water, and pat the seeds dry with a towel. Toss the seeds with a tablespoon or two of your favorite vegetable oil and spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 25ish minutes, or until they look slightly toasted. Allow them to cool and store in an airtight container. Use them for garnishing salads or just for snacking.

Pumpkin Pie - dairy free

Since it's Thanksgiving this week, I thought, for once, I'd get up an appropriate recipe ahead of time. Not the day of or the week after, which is less than helpful.

Yesterday I showed you how I cooked my pumpkin, and today I'll tell you how I made it into delicious, delicious pie. If you try to eat vegan or dairy free, you may have noticed that pumpkin pie is tough. Almost all "regular" recipes I've seen use condensed milk or evaporated milk, and there's not an intuitive substitute that I can think of. However, in Devil's Food Cake Murder, I found a substitution recipe. The book itself is not good, but the recipes are mouthwatering. Anyway, thanks to this book, I was able to make a dairy free pumpkin pie without using tofu. and it was DELICIOUS. Seriously.

go forth and make pie.

Substitute for Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the eggs together until they are a uniform color. Add the brown sugar and mix in well. Add vanilla and beat in. Add the flour and beat for another minute and make sure it's well mixed. Add the baking powder and salt and mix in.

This makes enough to substitute or one 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk.

Pumpkin Pie - dairy free
1 1/3 C smooth pumpkin
1 batch substitute for sweet condensed milk
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 C hot water

one 9 inch pie crust- vegan, gluten free, homemade, store bought, etc.

Preheat oven to 375F. Beat all ingredients together until just smooth. Pour into a prepared 9 inch crust and bake for 50-60 minutes. It's normal if the center is still somewhat jiggly, as it will set as it cools.

How to Cook a Pumpkin

Last week, I wanted to make a pumpkin pie as a rehearsal for Thanksgiving, and this year I wanted to make it from a real pumpkin, not a can. I had a sugar pie pumpkin to use (I've seen them both at Trader Joe's and farmers' markets, fyi), but I've never actually cooked a pumpkin before. So I did a little internet research and combined a few techniques I read about to bake my own little pumpkin.

Here's what I did, but there's definitely lots of other methods out there, including microwaving if you need to save some time.

How to Bake a Pumpkin

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Without trying to cut through the stem, cut the pumpkin in half. Use an ice cream scooper to scoop out the seeds. Save them for roasting!
3. Place the pumpkin halves face down in an oven-proof dish. Add enough water so that there's about half an inch covering the bottom of the pan. Cover pumpkin with foil.
4. Cook the pumpkin for about 90 minutes, or until tender.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

To puree for use in baking, scoop out cooked flesh and blend in a food processor or blender. Alternatively, smash with a potato masher. If you're not using the pumpkin right away, refrigerate or freeze.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread - dairy free

Last week my brain was a little explod-y with details. For some reason there seemed to be a lot more to keep track of than usual. Mr Official Taster is, shall we say....not know for his attention to details, so there are always some extra things I need to remember and/or remember to remind him about. In addition, we have some big events coming up in October which require lots of logistical details to be taken care of. And for some reason, there are more details to juggle at work lately, too. 

Needless to say, by the end of the week I was ready to crash, and I did (I slept 12+ hours Friday night. delightful.) However, I also dedicated some time to baking, knowing that it would help me stop being distracted by the details and instead force me to focus on the task at hand. Making this chocolate chip pumpkin bread was not hard or time-consuming, but it took just enough concentration that I was able to forget about dates and times and menus and pen colors for a much-needed afternoon break. 

I hope you found some time to decompress this weekend, too! And more details+photos later on these "events" in October. promise.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread - dairy free
2 C flour
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour*
3 C sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
1 C vegetable oil
2/3 C water
1 30-oz can pumpkin**
1 1/2 C high quality semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli)
1 C nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 2 large loaf pans***.

Mix together all dry ingredients except the chocolate chips and nuts together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, and then combine well with oil, water and pumpkin. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if using.

Divide dough evenly between loaf pans. Bake for 80-90 minutes (yes, really. it's a very wet dough) or until a cake tester/skewer/sharp knife come out clean. Cool completely before taking out of the pans an slicing.

Notes:
*Of course, you can use only regular flour if you'd like, or a different combination of all-purpose, whole wheat and/or white whole wheat. Just make sure it all adds up to 3 1/2 C flour.

**this is the large size can that you can find on grocery shelves this time of year. The small can is 15 oz, which is handy if you decide to go halvsies with this recipe.

***or 4 medium or 8 mini loaf pans. Cook times will vary with the sizes. I'm guessing that the medium or mini loaves will take 30-45 minutes, but I'm not certain since I don't have those sizes to play with. If you do, let us know, will you?

Since this recipe makes lots of bread, you'll be glad to know that it freezes well. Wrap each loaf you want to freeze tightly. Or you could just make half the recipe.

Pumpkin Butter

Ever since I surprised you all with the news that it was raining in Seattle, it's been beautiful and sunny. Cool, crisp, and fall-like, but sunny. Hopefully this won't jinx it back the other way, because the sun has been very welcome. I've been taking advantage of it to by walking along the river than runs through town. There's a great walking/biking path that seems to go on forever right next to the water, and it's accessible to the new apartment complex, which is great. Accessible meaning I walk out the door, turn left twice, and I'm there. Now (thank goodness) I finally have a response to getting totally called out on Personal Best, at least until it stops being fall again.

Back in the day when I lived in Louisville, my friends and I would treat ourselves occasionally and head out to the Whole Foods. One thing I found there, only in the fall, was pumpkin butter. But it was butter with pumpkin in it, not the usual fruit butter. I discovered that wheat bread, dabbed with this butter, and popped in the toaster oven was a great autumn snack. Warm, a little sweet, and with my favorite flavor of the season.

So this week, I set to recreate this fall treat, and I'm sharing my experiment with you. It's not exactly the same as what I'm remembering, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that this version is made with vegan butter, and not butter. Vegan butter is a great substitute, but it's not exactly the same. Good, though.

Pumpkin Butter
1 stick vegan butter, softened
1 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 C + 2 tbsp pumpkin

Put everything in a bowl and beat until well combined.

That's it, you're done!

You can also do this in a food processor, which might work better for large batches. I've tried both and for this size, I prefer the mixer.

There are lots of variations on this- herbed butters, orange cinnamon butter, honey walnut butter. The sky's pretty much the limit, and it's easy to experiment. If you make a large batch, you can divide it up into small jars and set one out at every place setting at a dinner party, or make a basket of homemade breads and butters for a friend. Bon appetit!

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Chocolate Pumpkin Cake - Vegan and (easily) Gluten Free

Happy Fall! Even if it doesn't feel like fall where you live, it's officially autumn, and, for me, that means candy corn, pumpkins, apples, and the crisp feel of the air. It means I can start adding cinnamon and/or pumpkin pie spice to everything. It's a good season.

This cake is super easy, both in the making and in the cleaning up, like the Blood-Orange Olive Oil Cake I showed you earlier this year. It's also super easy to eat for breakfast. It's very moist and quite rich. I made a simple glaze, mostly because Official Taster has an issue with frosting-less cakes. It doesn't need it, but it works. You could also just dust on some powdered sugar to jazz it up if you'd like.

I happened to find a can of pumpkin pie mix in the pantry, which is what I used in this cake. It's just regular canned pumpkin with pumpkin pie spices already mixed in. When you make this, you can just use regular pumpkin with or without spices or this pre-mixed stuff. Depends on how sweet you want your cake and how pie flavored you want it.

For all you gluten free folks out there, I believe this cake would lend itself very well to substituting either an all-purpose gluten free flour or the sorghum blend I told you about for my patriotic cupcakes.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
cooking spray
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
2 C all purpose flour
1 C water
1 C sugar
1 C pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan, and either flour it or use cocoa instead (no white splotches on the finished cake that way)
2. Combine water, sugar, pumpkin, and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Sift baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, and flour into the mixture and beat until very smooth.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove cake and let cool in the pan at least 5 minutes. Remove cake from pan and finish cooling on a rack.
4. Frosting is optional. For a chocolate pumpkin glaze, combine some confectioners sugar, cocoa, and pumpkin until smooth and your desired thickness. Drizzle or spread on cake. Another option is to dust with confectioners sugar.