Vegan MoFo – Tuesday Tasty Treats – The Great Pumpkin has arrived.

It’s Tuesday, so it’s time for some Tasty Treats. I had a great time with all the apple recipes yesterday, but despite having a kitchen filled with freshly picked apples, I’m opting to make something with another autumn favourite – Pumpkin!

I have really positive memories of pumpkin related baking from the first successful (or maybe just memorable) baked item I ever made. I was about 14-15 and a bakery near our house had a delicious pumpkin spice loaf. It was fluffy and moist and delicious and I wanted to duplicate it. It was before I thought to use egg replacer or flax seeds, so I made it with a mushy banana, and threw in some dark chocolate chips. I remember hovering around the oven, nervously, trying to keep from opening the oven to take a better look. But it was by all accounts a success. I think my parents have a picture of it somewhere… on regular film! (I started this food photo thing early.)

So today, I veganized a recipe I found on Canadian Living for Pumpkin Spice Muffins with a lemony maple icing. It really took me back to that loaf of chocolate pumpkin spice bread. They rose up quite well, and had a nice spongey texture, even better when smeared with lemon maple icing.

I did make a few modifications to their recipe but followed it relatively closely otherwise. I opted to put in a little bit more pumpkin (I used 1 cup), and split the flour amount between whole wheat (3/4 cup) and unbleached flour (1 cup).

I wanted to store the rest of the pumpkin puree for later, but when I packed it into a storage container… there was still some extra pumpkin left. Oh no? Oh yes. The perfect excuse to make the Pumpkin Spice Cheapo-Chino from Busy Vegan Mom. I followed her recipe fairly poorly and kept my drink hot, but I think it’s a great recipe to use as a guideline.

Tomorrow is Gluten Free Humpday, where I will be testing one of Laurie Sadowski’s new gluten free recipes for her soon to be cookbook. I can’t give you recipes, but I can describe in detail how awesome everything is. Yeah I know, you’re welcome.

Tomorrow will not be an entirely gluten free day however, because before we go to sleep tonight I’m planning on throwing some oats and pumpkin together to make Healthy Slow-Cooker’s Pumpkin Coffeecake Oatmeal for breakfast. Check out the picture on their site and you’ll know why.


Some more MoFo pumpkin related links I loved:

Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls from Oh, Ladycakes – These are gorgeous, and I loved the idea of using a muffin pan to make perfectly round cinnamon rolls.
Grim Confetti’s Pumpkin Roll
Robotic Whimsy made Kelly Peloza’s Autumn Clouds Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from p. 127 of The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur. Just look at those pictures.
Pumpkin Bread from Tea and Tofu.
Joyful Girl made Pumpkin Bagels AND the post has a picture of an adorable kitten.

Anyone have any more suggestions? Perhaps a savory pumpkin dish?