There is something special about a season changing; when the green leaves start to turn bright colours, ice cold glasses of fizzy kombucha turn into mugs of steamy tea, and we all get cozy in our thick knit sweaters. I hate to see Summer end but I love when Fall begins. The farmer’s market changes from berries, peaches, and corn to squash, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes. I no longer fear of turning on my oven and welcome roasted vegetables.

When I think of Autumn, I think of pumpkins. I don’t love roasted pumpkin so I usually stick to the canned version to make dessert or lattes. Raw canned pumpkin reminds me of baby food but when cooked in a recipe with lots of spices, it turns into a favourite. What else is my favourite? Chocolate.

Brownies may not seem like an Autumn Equinox recipe but when paired with pumpkin and warm spices, it gives me reason to celebrate shorter days and cooler weather. Mark, who claims not to love chocolate or pumpkin, loves these brownies. They are rich, fudge, and spiced with seasonal favourites. What isn’t to love about that?

What are your favourite Autumn eats?

Stay connected on the daily by following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.  Made a recipe from this post? I would love to see it! Use the hashtag #screcipe on your social media. 

Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Brownies

 

Save Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

36 mins

Total time

51 mins

 

Fall and baked goods go hand in hand. Perhaps because we no longer fear turning on our ovens now that it has cooled down. I love the mixture of chocolate and pumpkin spice, the spices enhance the chocolate taste. These guys are rich, warming, and crazy good. The total time does not include the cooling time and I know it is hard, but don't be tempted to take them out of the pan until they are fully cooled. I promise it is worth the wait! This recipe is vegan, gluten free, and soy free.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten Free

Serves: 12-16

Ingredients

• 3 ounces vegan dark chocolate, chopped
• 5 tablespoons coconut oil + more for greasing the pan
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
• 1½ tablespoons ground flax seed + 4 tablespoons warm water
• ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 cup organic cane sugar
• ¾ cup Bob Mill's 1:1 GF Flour Blend
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend
• 1 cup raw nuts (I used a mixture of pecan and almond), ground into a course nut flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8×8 inch pan with coconut oil. Create a sling using two pieces of parchment paper placed perpendicular to each other in the pan. Set aside.
2. In a non-reactive bowl, add the chopped chocolate and set over a pot with a few inches of simmering water. Melt the chocolate until almost all the chocolate is completely melted. Add the coconut oil, cocoa, and vanilla. Stir until completely smooth and mixed. Set aside to cool.
3. Meanwhile, add the ground flax seed and water together in a large bowl, mix, and side aside until it becomes gel-like. Add the pumpkin puree to the flax mixture and stir.
4. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the bowl and stir until fully combined. Add the sugar and stir again.
5. Add the flour, cornstarch or arrowroot, baking soda, salt and spices. Gently fold these ingredients into the chocolate mixture. Add the ground nuts and fold until completely combined.
6. Transfer brownie batter to the prepared pan. Using your fingers, smooth out the batter until it is evenly distributed. Bake for 36-38 minutes.
7. Allow the brownies to cool completely but taking them out of the pan and cutting. The batter is very soft when warm so this recipe needs some time to cool down.
8. Serve with a Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte if you fancy!

Notes

**This recipe is adapted from The First Mess "Salted Coconut Caramel Brownies"

3.3.3077

The post Day 23 of Vegan MoFo: Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Brownies appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

I was feeling really overwhelmed with the upcoming year and ashamed of myself for not taking more chances or more opportunities. A bunch of why’s flooded my brain; why do I still work in a restaurant? Why haven’t I updated any skills to put on a resume? Why didn’t I decide to update my high school credits sooner? Why am I turning 28 and done nothing with my life?!?

All these feelings flooded over me and turned into tears so naturally like the grown up I am, I called my mommy. After telling me all the nice things that mothers are suppose to say when you call them crying she told me that everything is going to be ok. I didn’t believe her and I felt like everything was taking a really long time and I was at a stand-still, despite actively being in school, doing my site and working a full time job. Strange how you can be doing so much and yet feel motionless. She told me that her twenties were very difficult raising two children on her own but after that it got much better. Her husband also told me that sometimes his life was a disaster also raising two children, losing this job to a machine and then having to travel all the time for a lower paying position because it was one of the few jobs available. He mentioned that when the mother of his children became pregnant for a second time, he had a mortgage and no job. The stress was intense but after a lot of hard work, things did in fact get a little bit smoother.  They said that sometimes it felt like things were always going to be bad but thankfully their situations did get better with a little help, love and support from the people around them. They said neither one of them had it all figured out by the time they were 30 and I really shouldn’t put that much pressure on myself when it comes to figuring my entire life out. I was looking at their lives now but did not see the struggle to get there. I was comparing my path to their destination. It was a good prep talk and turned my attitude a full 180 and got down to planning. 

I decided to prepare some birthday goals, which are unlike resolutions have an action plan attached to them. I will give myself until my next birthday to accomplish them since some of them aren’t things that can be accomplished in a week (and thats ok!). I am not one for New Year’s resolutions since I find they are empty but having an action plan can be empowering. Each time I check an item off the list, big or small it is a victory in itself!

My first and most important goal this year is to dump someone that has been dragging me down. This person that is doubting my every decision, embarrassed by the decisions that I have made in the past, someone who doesn’t believe in me and compares my efforts, actions and accomplishments to other peoples. She sighs when she sees someone else’s post or recipe or photograph that is better than mine, thinking I will never be as good as them and might as well just give up entirely. This person is not on Team Jess when I sometimes need her to be so badly. All my friends are on Team Jess, rooting for me in the wings, cheering me on with words of encouragement, support and love but just not her.

This person is myself; that little negative voice in my head that tells me that I simply can’t. I don’t need that little voice telling me I can’t or I shouldn’t or what will people think? I am delaying goals I have had for the longest time because of this and for what? Because of what a stranger may think of me when they see that I am in fact a terrible dancer or so inflexible it is almost laughable or that people in a writing class will hate my ideas? These are not good enough reasons to not pursue the things that I want to do. Who is winning here? Not me. We are always hardest on ourselves but isn’t the world hard enough without our own little voice telling us we aren’t good enough? This is why my number one birthday goal is to stop ruining my own life. 

On that note, I hope you take a little time today and make that goal for yourself, it may not be your birthday or New Years but it is an important one to practice daily. Enjoy these muffin tops with a cup of tea and get your list going. 

The post Carrot Cake Muffin Tops {Vegan & Gluten-Free} appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Unfortunately for us vegans, the syrup that Starbucks uses is not dairy-free (even when you get your latte with soy milk). Sighhh….guess I won’t be buying any $5 coffees this Fall (oh darn!) Turns out there are so many at-home versions of this drink so I decided to test some out. Now, I’m sure all the PSL die-hards will say that this isn’t like the real deal but you can make this version faster than waiting in line for one.

Mark loves the Starbucks drink so desperately asked me to veganize it for him. It was interesting to note that the real PSL contains no real pumpkin. What is it about Fall and pumpkin-everything only to abandon it until next year?

This version does have real pumpkin and a special little method to foam it up! I heated the ingredients in a small saucepan and when very warm (don’t let the milk boil!) I poured it into my blender which created a great foamy top. If you are fancy and have a milk frother by all means use it but the blender worked amazingly well for those who don’t own that gadget. Plus pouring it from the blender it a mug is much easier than from the saucepan.  Sprinkle the frothy top with a pinch of pumpkin spice, curl up with a thick novel, a comfy blanket and enjoy.

Happy (officially!) Fall! Do you enjoy pumpkin recipes during the year or just Fall specific? 

The post Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Here I am Day 11 of the month long cooking (and eating!) vegan food fest that is VeganMoFo! While it has been a little stressful I organized my ideas for a few recipes on my fridge whiteboard calendar to make things a little easier for me since I started school and continue to work. So far, I am right on schedule with a few modifications here and there and couldn’t be more pleased by my organizational skills. I have never been much of a meal planner but now I get what the big deal is about! It is less hectic now that I am coming back from school and knowing my dinner is already in the fridge (along with my after school snack because apparently I am 5 years old). Also having a meal plan doesn’t force me to go on a serious snack quest when I come home from a long day and feeling extra hangry, consuming everything in my path. 

But what about breakfast? I have to admit I am pretty terrible with planning breakfast since it is always rush-rush for Mark and I in the morning. I usually stick to a smoothie but that was before I re-entered school and I definitely needing the extra fuel for my brain in the wee hours of the morning.

Mark is a huge fan of cereal but store bought just doesn’t fill him up as a meal and before you know it half of the box is gone. I needed to make a substantial breakfast to boost our energy before we head out.

Granola is always my first choice for cereal since I can make a lot of it at one time and it lasts all work/school week in an airtight container. Is it too early for pumpkin spice? I would say not since Starbucks came out with their Pumpkin Spice Latte in August! I have a love/hate relationship with pumpkin and its warm spices- I love it until I hate it. You know that song you play on repeat a zillion times and then you hear it on the radio for your zillionth and one time and all of a sudden you think “If I hear this song one more time I may lose it!” That’s my relationship with pumpkin. I eat EVERYTHING pumpkin for two months straight and never want to see it again [until next year that is]. Perhaps this year I will enjoy pumpkin in moderation? Haha who am I kidding?

 8 recipes down, 12 more to go!

The post Pumpkin Spice Buckwheat Granola appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Cover your pan or the butter will leak out and make a mess of your oven 

These are the cookies I used for the crust but any vegan gingersnap cookie will do.

Crust

• 1-cup (gluten free) gingersnap crumbs (I used 10 gingersnaps and processed them in a food processor until crumbs)
• 1 tablespoon melted Earth Balance Traditional
• 1 teaspoon evaporated cane sugar

Filling

Wet Ingredients

• 2 cups canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/4 cup soy creamer
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance, melted
• Half of a banana, mashed (edit: pureed banana)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Dry Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Sucanat
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice (Check out my homemade Pumpkin Spice)
• Pinch of table salt

For the crust

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut a sheet of parchment paper and trace with a pencil the bottom of a 7” springform pan. Cut the tracing and line the bottom of the pan. Combine gingersnaps and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and toss with a fork until well combined. Add crumbs to the pan and press crumbs firmly and evenly into the pans bottom. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Turn up heat to 350 degrees.

Sorry I did not take more pictures of the crust making but this is what it should look like before it goes into the oven.

For the filling

In a large bowl combine all the wet ingredients.

In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined. Add filling to the prepared crust and bake for 40 minutes.

Before cooking the pie

After cooking the pie. It will darken as it cools.

The sides of the pie should be cooked but the middle still wet when you take it out of the oven. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Cover with tinfoil and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Remove pie from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving. When ready to serve, unlock the springform and gently slide the pie into a serving plate. It is ok if the parchment paper comes with it. Cut and serve with vanilla ice cream. I like Coconut Bliss vanilla flavour.

 Want a thicker crust? Just double the crust recipe and cook the same way

No ugly first slice here! Happy Thanksgiving!

The post Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie with Gingersnap Crust appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.