Vegan Pumpkin Scones

I love autumn, I love winter. But I do miss having at least some natural light to take photos! I wanted to post about this pumpkin scone recipe while you guys are still (hopefully) enjoying pumpkin! I used to love the pumpkin scones from Starbucks and pumpkin scones are something I've always wanted to make but just never did. Until I saw these vegan pumpkin scones on cupcakes and kale and felt immediately inspired to make them about 10 minutes after reading her post! And they are amazing.

I don't usually put glazes on scones or cakes but in this case I followed her suggestion. The glaze is the perfect complement to the scone, which is biscuity but not super fluffy and flaky (this is a good thing). I did find the dough to be extremely dry and it was sort of difficult to form the dough into rounds. She does say that the dough will be dry, but next time I might add 1/2 tbsp more milk. My glaze was more liquidy than hers, maybe because I used a natural sugar?

And can I just confirm something with you guys - whole wheat pastry flour is the same thing as white whole wheat flour right? That's my understanding of the flour situation.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Pumpkin Ginger Molasses Cookies
Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin Cheesecake
All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake

Vegan Pumpkin Scones
Adapted from cupcakes and kale

Makes 1 dozen small scones

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cup cold earth balance margarine
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tbsp non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk) - next time I would try using 2 1/2-3 tbsp milk
5 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter cut the cold earth balance into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. In another bowl, mix the pumpkin, milk & sugar. Add this to the flour bowl and mix to combine. You'll end up with a fairly dry dough. Turn this out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 3 equal balls. Flatten each one into a round disk that's about 6 inches across and 1/2 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut each disk into quarters and place them on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-16 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow the scones to cool and then drizzle them with spiced glaze.

Spiced Glaze
5 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp molasses
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
pinch cloves
1 1/2 tbsp non-dairy milk

Mix everything together in a small bowl and drizzle onto the scones either with a spoon, or from a plastic bag with the tip cut off.

Pumpkin Muffins

When it comes to pumpkin I can't help myself so I'm sorry if you guys are totally pumpkined out. I greedily collect all the pumpkin recipes I find and buy extremely large cans of pumpkin that are way too big to be used up in one recipe. I found this healthier version of pumpkin muffins on A Fat Cat Created a Vegetarian and of course had to make them. (Hers look cuter with pumpkin seeds on top!) I love how these muffins rose up so beautifully and have nice domed tops. They might be my new favourite pumpkin muffin. I also want to try making Ellie Krieger's apple muffins.

In other news, it sounds like there's some sort of animal in our ceiling. I didn't think it was an animal before (though I heard sounds) but then another woman who lives in our building said she thought it was a squirrel, so now I think it might be an animal. How appropriate that I'm currently taking a pest management course!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Morning Glory Muffins
Oatmeal Raisin Muffins
Spiced Carrot Muffins
Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins
Adapted from Ellie Krieger

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk (or 1 tbsp vinegar + milk to make up 3/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and eggs until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Take the muffins out of the pan and completely cool on a rack.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

Pumpkin quick bread is one of my favourite baked goods. Well in general whenever I see pumpkin anything I want it! However I've always been wary of the combination of chocolate and pumpkin, but I saw a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip loaf in Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. (I want to make pretty much everything in this book but right now I'm especially fixated on the grasshopper cake!) Anyway, I gave the loaf a chance and while I really loved the loaf itself, I do prefer my pumpkin without chocolate.

Now that my finals are over, I can't wait to start on some holiday baking!! What are you all making?

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Pumpkin Cheesecake
All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake
Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups (15 oz can) pumpkin puree
1 cup canola oil
3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, baking soda and salt.

In another large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and oil until combined. Add the sugar and whisk again. Whisk the eggs into the mixture, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Add 2/3 cup room temperature water and whisk until combined. With a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Do not overmix.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Gently knock the bottom of the pans against the countertop to even out the batter. Use the spatula to smooth the tops.

Bake in the center of the oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean, 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time.

Transfer the pans to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes. Invert the loaves onto wire racks and cool completely before serving.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I know I know, this photo (and piece of cheesecake) is a total mess! But I really wanted to share this recipe for pumpkin cheesecake with you, and due to the business of Thanksgiving, I didn't get around to taking a nicer photo of it. But I thought it would be better to have something to show you guys rather than nothing, right? Because this cheesecake is so good.

I'm hoping this Abby photo can make up for the cheesecake one!

The first time I made it was a few Thanksgivings ago. Usually we have pumpkin pie with whipped cream but I wanted to try something different. I warned my brother beforehand because I knew he'd be disappointed if the dessert was something other than pumpkin pie, and now I've got him hooked on this cheesecake. I like to serve it with whipped cream, and if you're feeling fancy you can sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top. I've also eaten it with ice cream which of course is good too. I would recommend using a 10" springform pan (as you're supposed to) and not being like me and using a 9" springform pan that just isn't big enough. It didn't overflow but it rose up a lot, and resulted in a lot of cracking.

EDIT! October 10, 2011 - I made this cheesecake again for Thanksgiving and this time got a better photo, and better results actually. I halved the filling recipe (but not the crust), and used my four 4" cheesecake pans. I used a water bath and baked them for about 50-55 minutes. They didn't crack and were the most perfect texture. Creamy and soft, and the edges weren't rubbery or overcooked as seems to happen with other cheesecakes I've made.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Brown-Sugar Apple Cheesecake
Rich Chocolate Cheesecake
Lemon Cheesecake
Cheesecake Pops

Pumpkin Cheesecake
Adapted from The Best of The Best and More

Ginger Snap Crust
1 cup crushed gingersnaps
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar

Filling
4 8-oz (250 g) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
14 oz (398 mL) can pumpkin
2 tbsp whipping cream (original recipe calls for rum)

1 cup whipping cream, whipped
Ground cinnamon, optional

Crust: Combine ingredients. Lightly grease a 10" springform pan and line bottom with crumb mixture. Pat firm and chill.

Filling: Preheat oven to 325F. Beat softened cream cheese till fluffy. Slowly beat in sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour, spices, pumpkin and 2 tbsp whipping cream. Pour batter over crust. Bake for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, or until filling is set. Cool for an hour. Refrigerate several hours. Garnish with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon (optional).

All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake

As I'm sure many of you know, I cannot say enough good things about Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home To Yours. A recent favourite of mine from her cookbook is the all-in-one holiday bundt cake - spices, pumpkin, apple, cranberry and pecans. I wasn't sure how they would all work together, but trusted Dorie and of course it was delicious. The cake is so yummy, moist, and flavourful. I've made it a couple of times and would say that adults love it, but kids/teenagers might not feel the same - maybe it's the spice and/or the lack of chocolate? I know I'll be making this cake many more times, and I want to try modifying it a bit to make it healthier so I can eat it more often.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake
Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Pound Cake
Maple-Walnut Cake
Plum Sour Cream Kuchen

All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake
Adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/4 sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 large apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9 to 10 inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. Don't place the pan on a baking sheet - you want the oven's heat to circulate freely through the Bundt's inner tube.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and ground ginger.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and both sugars together at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 1 minute after each addition. Beat int he vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the pumpkin and chopped apple - don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Still on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. With a rubber spatula, stir in the cranberries and pecans. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the rubber spatula.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes (mine took 50 minutes), or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool to room temperature on the rack.

Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars

I forgot I hadn't posted about these yet so I apologize for the fact that they're kind of out of season now, with the the pumpkin and gingerbread. But I'd happily eat these bars any time of year because they're so incredibly tasty. Gingerbread crust with a cream cheese pumpkin filling. I omitted the drizzle that's supposed to be on top which I'm sure is good but I wouldn't say it's necessary. I used old fashioned rolled oats instead of quick oats and while it was fine, I definitely think the quick oats are better otherwise in the crumble part on top you have big oats flakes. The only bad thing about these bars, which is hardly a bad thing at all, is that I found the crust only stayed firm/hard for the first two days and then became quite soft.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Ginger Spice Cookies
Snickerdoodle Blondies
Pumpkin Loaf
Chocolate Fudge Souffle Bars

Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars
Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody who adapted from Culinary in the Desert from Land O Lakes

I halved the recipe and made it in a 9x9 pan. What I've posted below is the full recipe though.

For the bars
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup rolled quick oats

For the filling
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 cups mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350F

To make the bars

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar and molasses until creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Reserve 3/4 cup of this mixture and place in a small bowl. Scoop the remaining mixture into a 10″ x 15″ baking pan lightly coated with nonstick spray.

Add the oats to the reserved mixture and mix until combined – set aside.

To make the filling

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves – mix until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing just until combined. Scoop the mixture over the uncooked base and use an off-set spatula to evenly spread the mixture over the top. Crumble reserved oat mixture over filling.

Bake until the topping is a golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins

I've sadly never heard of the Weekend Breakfast Blogging event, even though it started over a year ago. I'm happy I stumbled across it though and can't wait to see the round up for this month's theme which is balanced breakfast meals. I'm always looking for new and healthy ideas for breakfast (that can be used for snacks too!) and the bonus is that everything for this challenge has to be vegetarian. I think my muffin does a good job of meeting the balanced meal requirements, especially if paired with a yogurt. It has pumpkin and raisins (vegetables and fruit), whole wheat flour (grains), and pecans (protein). And to top it all off, it's healthy!

I've been making a lot of things from Vegan with a Vengeance recently, including corn chowder. I'm trying to cut back on dairy and eggs, so I've been turning more often to my vegan cookbooks and finding yummy recipes. These pumpkin muffins are really moist and soft, and very delicious. Since a can of pumpkin is about 1 3/4 cups of pumpkin (and the recipe only calls for 1 cup), the second time I made these I attempted to replace the applesauce with extra pumpkin. That really did not work out so well. I need a pumpkin recipe that uses up the whole can! (Or I could approximately double this one.)

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Healthy Banana Bran Muffins
Pumpkin Banana Muffins
Pumpkin Loaf

Pumpkin Pecan Raisins Muffins
Adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance

Makes 12 muffins.

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour*
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves**
1 cup pureed pumpkin (fresh or from a can; do not use pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tbsp molasses***
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 12 muffin tin.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, soy milk, applesauce and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.

Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

*I think I might've used 1 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour, no whole wheat pastry flour but I'm not sure. So to be on the safe side, I'd say use some whole wheat pastry flour so the muffin isn't too dense.
**If you have pumpkin pie spice, replace the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves with about 2 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.
***Original recipe called for 2 tbsp but I am not a huge molasses lover. I might cut it back to 1/2 tbsp next time.

Last week in food.

Sugar cookies from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. My friend and I wanted to have a cookie decorating day! Hers are the more beautiful ones. ;) I didn't think I liked sugar cookies but these ones were really good - a little shortbread-y. We used royal icing, which I was scared to eat since it contains raw egg whites, but everyone who ate an iced cookie seems to have survived.


Apple pie-crumb cake muffins from Vegan With A Vengeance. This is the first recipe I've tried from her cookbook. I thought they were decent tasting and not too sweet, and other people really liked them. The grated and chopped apple makes the muffin really moist though so they're best eaten within a couple of days or else they get soggy on top. There's a crumb topping that tasted okay but I would've liked a firmer crumb.


Curried cauliflower soup from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special. I've been craving soup and salad a lot recently, and this is a perfect cookbook for that. I used red potatoes instead of russet which I think was not the best choice. Red potatoes are yummy on their own, but they added a strange taste to the soup.


Smoky red lentil spread from Entertaining for a Veggie Planet. I'm looking for a relatively healthy dip to eat with veggies and was hoping this might be it, but I'm pretty sure that it's not. It had a really strong onion and garlic flavour (due to the entire raw onion that was pureed into the dip). I'd try making a dip with red lentils again but maybe roast the onion first or add something else to it.


Crepes with sauteed mushrooms, cheddar cheese and green onions from The Clueless Vegetarian. This was my first time making crepes and it was incredibly exciting! They're something I've always wanted to make and talked about making but was too scared to for fear of them not turning out. The recipe even says something about not getting discouraged if the first few don't turn out properly - but they actually did turn out really well. I definitely want to make crepes again and experiment with different fillings, sweet and savoury.


Pumpkin bread from Bon Appetit, October 2000. Oh my god this was so good. I love pumpkin anything, so even if it hadn't turned out I'm sure I still would've liked it, but oh wow it turned out well. It was the perfect pumpkin bread/loaf - moist, dense, and full of flavour. A tablespoon of sugar is sprinkled on top before being baked, and it gives a nice crunchy top that I love. I substituted half of the flour for whole wheat flour and added extra spices. This is definitely a recipe to make over and over again - even pumpkin dislikers (hate is such a strong word...) liked it.

Pumpkin Bread/Loaf
Adapted from Bon Appetit, October 2000

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Butter 9x5x3-inch metal loaf pan. Sift first 8 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light. Gradually beat in 3/4 cup sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin, lemon peel and vanilla. Whisk sour cream and milk in small bowl. Beat flour and sour cream mixtures alternately into batter in 2 additions each. Transfer batter to pan; smooth top. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn out onto rack; cool.