heartyspoonful

"It was November – the month of crimson sunsets, parting birds, deep, sad hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines."

- L.M. Montgomery

Colder weather brings about this great desire in me to keep my kitchen warm, with the oven lights glaring red and the sink overflowing with measuring cups, spoons and mixing bowls with signs of sticky dough and sweet frosting. Sure, a hot summer's day hasn't stopped me from baking before, but there's something more alluring about baking in the winter - you're indoors, comforted by the warmth of your kitchen with cinnamon and other spices wafting in the air. Tea or hot cocoa, mandatory.

With Christmas fast approaching (less than a month to go!), my Google searches have been leaning more towards vegan Christmas recipes. There will be a lot of baking coming my way in the next couple of weeks and I'm not sorry about it at all. If "normal" people prefer to go outdoors and do winter activities, I prefer to stay in, keep warm and bake (holiday onesie also mandatory). Can that count as my winter sport?

A week ago, my dear friend, Rosa, requested a carrot cake for her upcoming birthday. If you weren't aware, yes, I make a pretty mean vegan carrot cake with cashew frosting BUT because it's so taxing with my patience to grate carrots on a rather low (the lowest) scale, I don't bake carrot cake very often. I'll make an exception this time around. As practice for the carrot grating extravaganza, I figured why not bake something with carrots... but not that much carrots. Thank you, Google, for being a search engine. I found this recipe from Faring Well that has carrots, coffee and chocolate. What more can a girl ask for? That's a well-balanced breakfast in my book. (I'm quite serious with that remark.) 

Because there's really only a month left before 2017 (excuse my language, but WTAF?), I decided I needed to tackle my lack of grace in handling  dough. Seriously. Dough is my kryptonite. My Achilles heel. My dough turns too chewy or too crumbly. There's no in between. But, scones. That's my first stop. I figured, does anyone apart from the English really know how scones should taste or even be like? Are they supposed to be very sweet? Only a wee bit? Hard? Soft? Crunchy on the outside with a soft centre? Is clotted cream a requirement? What's the perfect scone size? What's the point of all of these questions? I really should just get on with it, shouldn't I? 

Vegan Carrot, Coffee & Chocolate Scones

Makes 4 large scones or 8 mini scones 

Ingredients:

 

  

I'll keep my opinions to a minimum right now because being eloquent is very difficult at the moment. My heart's heavy and my brain still deems this "reality" nothing but a nightmare. It's a step back to darker days where racism is strong, where women are deemed the lesser sex. Is this the message you want to send to the world? Or to even hit close to home, to your children? And you think America will be great again. The irony. 

Apart from the glass of wine, you know what sparked some joy in my heart (and tummy) today? A big slice of my vegan and gluten-free pumpkin pie! Because the world is warmed by the comfort that is anything pumpkin. At least until the last bite is had.


Vegan & Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie
Makes 8 to 12 slices

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1 cup gluten-free oat flour 
• 1 cup gluten-free oats
• 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

For the pumpkin filling:

• 1/3 cup gluten-free oat flour
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar (process in food processor to be finer)
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups pumpkin puree at room temperature (or 1 15 oz can)
• 3/4 cups almond milk
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp ground flax/ground chia seeds 
• 1 vanilla bean, scrape the seeds 

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a round pan with coconut oil or line with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the coconut oil and coconut sugar until smooth. Then add in the remaining ingredients of the crust. When well incorporated, pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove from the oven.

Whilst the crust is baking, in another medium bowl, combine the spices, oat flour, baking powder and salt. Pour in pumpkin puree, almond milk, coconut oil, ground flax and vanilla bean seeds. Make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature when you're using coconut oil (it will solidify if your other ingredients are cold).

Pour the pumpkin filling in the baking pan. Make sure that it's even on top of the oat crust. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely in the pan. When cool, chill in the fridge for a few hours (I usually prepare this overnight).

Enjoy! xx

Being someone who dislikes crowded spaces, I'd take the pumpkin any day. Actually, maybe the fact that I also really like pumpkin wins a few points over the velvet cushion. That's just me. 

My kitchen is well stocked with pumpkin puree, much to my joy. I have both organic store-bought pumpkin puree and a homemade one. I don't prefer one over the other, to be honest. I think either one does the job, but if you're a purist, then I suppose pureeing your own batch is the better choice. (This somehow reminds of the #liveauthentic hashtag on Instagram... Better grow a beard and wear handmade leather, folks.) 

A few weeks ago, I found myself buying energy balls from a store. They're not necessarily bad when I looked at the ingredients list, except for the fact that of course store-bought versions always include some sort of preservatives. These ones are also rather expensive, when you think about it. I mean, just one small one can cost $3.00. And how many can satiate your hunger or satisfy your snacks for the week? It doesn't take a capitalist to see the flaw in this system. 

So, there I was, searching for snack ideas AND deciding what to do with my pumpkin puree. Thinking. Thinking. Then, like a message from the gods/God/the mystics, it hit me. Why not make my own energy balls with pumpkin puree taking centre stage? I saw my vegan protein powder and I just knew it couldn't be left out. And for full disclosure, the recipe below was adapted from Popsugar's recipe. 

What autumn dreams are made of <3

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Energy Bites

Makes 20 energy balls

Ingredients: