Vegan Pumpkin Brownies

Packed up to shared with my non-vegan friends at work

After my friend Kristi asked about vegan brownies without oil, I started searching for another recipe to send to her. (My first recipe was from my Grammie Lundquist.)

I found lots of recipes out there for vegan brownies. Woo hoo! I also found recipes for pumpkin brownies...and we all know how much I love pumpkin..I tried some in my 10-grain cereal the other morning. A was eating her pumpkin for breakfast and I thought I'd join in! A is also a lover of pumpkin. Most pumpkin brownie recipes amazingly don't have chocolate in them...not sure how they are brownies without the chocolate...

I liked the idea of pumpkin brownies, but I didn't use one recipe. I liked the layers idea from one recipe, and decided to use my own spice combo that I like with pumpkin. And, I love my spelt flour, so I was set on using it in whatever brownies I ended up making.

Here's my version of Vegan Pumpkin Brownies.

Ingredients
safflower oil
Pumpkin Layer
1 can organic pure pumpkin
1/4 cup organic applesauce
1 T ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground tumeric
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground Jamaican allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Brownie Layer
Wet
3/4 cup plain soy yogurt
2/4 cup organic applesauce
1 T vanilla
1 cup turbinado sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
Dry
1 1/2 cups freshly ground spelt flour
1/2 cup organic cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Topping
1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped pecans

What I did
I preheated the oven to 375 (350 interior temp). I oiled my 9 x 13 pan with a little bit of safflower oil.

I mixed the first Pumpkin Layer ingredients together in a small bowl with a spatula.

Then, I mixed the Wet Brownie Layer ingredients together in a medium bowl.

I mixed the Dry Brownie Layer ingredients together in a large bowl. Then I added the Wet to the Dry and mixed together with a wooden spoon.

I poured the Brownie Layer into my 9 x 13 pan, and spread it out evenly. Then I added the Pumpkin Layer on top and spread it out with the spatula, mixing the layers together a bit. I sprinkled the chopped pecans on the top of the brownies, and popped the pan in the oven for 60 minutes.

They are cooking now (yes, it's almost 12:30 -- I'm up working and baking) and the apartment is starting to smell lovely. Chocolate and pumpkin...yum. I will update tomorrow/later today with the outcome of these yummy-smelling treats.

Fresh out of the oven at 1 am...

Update
I ate two for breakfast. I know, not the best breakfast, but I needed to try them out.

The spices are a little overpowering in the pumpkin layer, so I will halve them next time. Also, parts of the pumpkin layer are still not "set" even after baking for an hour. And parts of the brownie layer are downright chewy after the hour baking time. So I need to work on getting the pumpkin to cook more and the brownie to cook less.

I brought some to work with me today, so we'll see how non-vegans like these creations...

My first non-vegan friend to try them liked them and ate two. He suggested giving the recipe to our cafeteria so that they can make something other than meat and meat and dairy-filled food for a change.

I had another (two) tonight, when I should have been ordering dinner. They are much better than this morning! The spices have mellowed and I couldn't stop after just one. Thank goodness I only brought a limited number to work!

Drop Pumpkin Biscuits

Tonight I made pumpkin biscuits to go with my eggplant would-be chili leftovers. The would-be chili is still blah, even after the flavors/spices have had a day to blend (plus the full day in the slow cooker). But the pumpkin biscuits are light and airy and full of pumpkiny-goodness! Together, a filling meal.

Drop Pumpkin Biscuits
Ingredients
1 cup freshly milled spelt flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup + 1 spoonful canned organic pumpkin
1/2 cup almond milk + 1 T lemon juice

What to do
Preheat oven to 400 (415 for my sad oven).
Mix the dry ingredients together.
Add the pumpkin and the milk with lemon juice. Mix together with a spoon or your fingers if you need to. (I needed to.)
Drop biscuits onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I made 13 with this recipe.
Bake for 15-20 minutes.

This is a wet biscuit dough. For a drier biscuit dough, use 1/2 the pumpkin. I think if you make the drier biscuit dough, you could roll these out and use a biscuit cutter with them. But they are perfect like this for drop, and they have more pumpkin in them...and who doesn't love pumpkin!

These biscuits are based on the topping for FatFreeVegan's Celebration Pot Pie. I won't be making that any time soon (I need a large kitchen, large fridge, people to eat the large quantities of food it makes), but I did like the idea for the pumpkin biscuit topping.

Pumpkin Muffins!!!

It being fall, and I loving pumpkin, I decided to make my own pumpkin muffins to supplement the pieces of pumpkin breads that my loving D brings home for me on days when he takes J for lunch to our friendly veg-Ital shop on Washington for a vegetable or soy pattie and maybe some vegan ice cream.

These muffins are perfect for breakfast or a snack or a second breakfast. They are light and moist (although if you add the extra T of flax below, they are less moist). It's hard to stop after just one!

I've worked on this recipe a bit and tried it a few different ways. These muffins have been devoured, so I am making them regularly now (or as often as I can get organic canned pumpkin!). I need to get some more pumpkin from the store on my way home tonight, as we finished the last of these for breakfast this morning. :)



Ingredients
2 T ground golden flax plus 6 T water
1 can organic canned pumpkin
1/4 cup organic oil (canola or sunflower -- don't use olive)
1/3 cup maple syrup (I'm now using the HUGE container that D brought back from Canada on his last trip)
1 1/2 cups spelt flour (ground by the farmer!)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 T flax, if desired (I find adding the extra flax makes the muffins less "wet" after baking)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground tumeric
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 - 1 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans)
12 whole nuts to top muffins
cinnamon sugar, ground nutmeg, etc for topping muffins
12 biodegradable muffin liners

What To Do
Preheat the oven to 370 F (350 F for those of you without finicky ovens).
Whisk the flax and water in a small dish and set aside while you prepare everything else.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, and maple syrup.
In a large bowl, stir together the spelt flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and spices. Add the extra ground flax if using.
Whisk the flax and water together again and add to the pumpkin mixture, whisking to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir or whisk to combine. Make sure to get any pockets of flour incorporated into the batter. Add the chopped nuts if using.
Prepare your muffin pan with the muffin liners. Fill the tin. Top each with a whole pecan or other nut. Sprinkle the tops with freshly ground nutmeg or cinnamon or cinnamon sugar, or whatever you may like.
Put in the oven for 35 minutes. If your oven runs hot, check at 30 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of one of the middle muffins should come out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Try to wait until they've cooled a little before you start to devour them!

Roasted Root Veggies and Squash - and Squash Seeds

Last night, before putting J to bed, I cut up two Japanese radishes (one yellow/white/green and one purple - daikon?), one sweet potato, and one Japanese orange/green pumpkin squash (all organic, all from my favorite Farmer at the market). I've been reading about roasting vegetables and really wanted to try it myself. Also, my veggie bin in the fridge was filled up with almost too-old veggies (the radishes) and my potato/onion/squash bin was also overflowing. And did I mention that my in-laws arrive today, and my m-i-l always brings more veggies with her? :)

So, while J ate some soy yogurt (one day I will try my hand at making that!), I scrubbed and cut up the radishes and sweet potato. I put them in my brownie tray, with J's help. (This was one of the things holding me up from roasting veggies before. Everything I read calls for a roasting pan. I don't have a roasting pan! But, I decided that my brownie pan should work just as well. And, I remembered that I used my brownie pan for cooking acorn squash and spaghetti squash in the oven. It worked.)
Then, I peeled the pumpkin squash (thanks Mom for the great peeler!) without cutting myself. My hands were orange by the time I finished cutting up the pumpkin squash, but that's ok. I scooped out the seeds and put them in a bowl for later. J help me arrange the pumpkin squash in the pan. Finally, I added some water.

I had preheated the oven to 425. I put the pan in for maybe 15 minutes, then covered it with aluminum foil and set the timer for 20 minutes. D took the veggies out while I was getting J to sleep. I tasted them after they were cooled (while I was making the next thing) -- the pumpkin squash was melt-in-your-mouth soft and sweet, the sweet potatoes amazingly soft and sweet, and the radishes tangy but not too sour and still crisp. Yum!

Much later (after dinner with D, making soup, and watching Eureka), I took the squash seeds and (after getting the remaining squash flesh off them) spread them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. They were *really* bright orange. I put them in the oven at 400 and let them roast for a while. I haven't gotten to try them yet, but I'm sure they are yummy too.