sweet miscellany

seasonal plant-based recipes

Pumpkin Bread Part 1: Vegan & Gluten Free Millet Pumpkin Loaf

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I know, you’ve been seeing a lot of pumpkin around here lately.  It’s no secret that I love these orange orbs of squashy goodness.  I’ve already baked them into scones, made them into butter, and roasted up their seeds in the oven.  Since it’s autumn and therefore officially pumpkin season, this won’t be the last post you see involving them. 

This post will be the first of two involving pumpkin bread (which, by the way, is my favorite type of quick bread).  In this version, I made it gluten free, vegan, and refined sugar free.  This bread is dense and moist with a cake-like quality.  It is sweet, but not overly so with a good bit of spice.  It also has a slightly smokey flavor due to the addition of molasses.  To add some texture, I folded raw millet into the batter and sprinkled raw pepitas on top.  Overall it’s a treat you can feel good about eating for dessert or for breakfast.

Before you bake this bread, you should know that it will not rise much at all.  I baked it in a regular sized loaf pan, and it came out a bit squat (but delicious nonetheless).  If you would prefer, you can bake it in two or three small loaf pans, making sure to fill them up about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way.  If you go this route, make sure to decrease your baking time to around 30 minutes.  If you don’t have millet or don’t want to use it, just omit it altogether, or, add pepitas into the batter instead. 

Gluten Free & Vegan Millet Pumpkin Loaf
makes 1 large loaf  

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp fine grain sea salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
1/2 cup oil (I used safflower, but grapeseed would be another good option)
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 can or a scant cup of pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup raw millet, rinsed (opt.)
2 tbsp raw pepitas, coarsely chopped (opt.)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Grease and dust your loaf pan(s) or line with parchment paper.

Combine the flours, spices, salt, and baking soda in a bowl with a whisk, then set aside.  In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or by hand with a hand mixer), combine the oil, molasses, syrup, pumpkin, and vanilla until well mixed.  With the mixer on low, add in the dry ingredients and millet if using and mix for about 3 minutes until everything is incorporated.  Pour the batter into your loaf pan(s) and then sprinkle the top with the chopped pepitas.  Bake for 45-50 minutes (or 25-30 for a small loaf) until the center springs back when touched.  Enjoy!

Owl-o-Lantern and Chili-Maple Pumpkin Seed “Brittle”

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my owl-o-lantern


I think I have said on here that one of my favorite parts about Halloween as a kid was getting to carve a pumpkin.  It’s basically a blank canvas on which to carve anything halloween-y.  I would try to make a basic jack-o-lantern face, then it evolved into sort of a competition to see how difficult of a design I could do.  Well I guess it wasn’t really a competition since I was mostly just competing with myself, but I carved some pretty gnarly pumpkins.  I remember one year doing a pretty detailed witch face along with one that was supposed to look like dripping blood spelling “Happy Halloween”.  I guess you could say I was pretty hard core about it.

Now that I am older, pumpkin carving is probably the only Halloween tradition I make it a point to do every single year.  It’s something about the smell of the fresh pumpkin that reminds me of Halloweens past.  As soon as I cut into the top I am taken back to my childhood, sitting at the kitchen table with my perfect pumpkin specimen.   It’s funny how we attach memories to something as simple as a certain smell.   

This year, I made an owl-o-lantern.  I know it’s not spooky or scary, but I enjoyed it and will continue to do so until it meets its demise in a few days time.  I saved the seeds so I could toast them up for a lovely snack, so I thought I would share that recipe on here.  It’s almost kind of a cross between candied nuts and a brittle, with a nice dose of sweet, salty, and smokey flavors. 

Chili-Maple Pumpkin Seed “Brittle”

about 1 cup of fresh pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried (this is the amount I got out of my pumpkin)
1 1/2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp chili powder
pinch of cayenne pepper
scant 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt or kosher salt
coarse sea salt (I used sel gris)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, toss together the seeds, syrup, chili podwer, cayenne, and fine grain sea salt.  Once the seeds are evenly coated, spread the mixture in a single layer on your lined baking sheet.  Make sure the seeds are all touching each other for the most part.  Bake them for about 15 minutes until the seeds are golden and toasty.  Remove the seeds from the oven (do not toss them!) and immediately sprinkle with coarse sea salt, to taste.  Let the seeds cool on the sheet so that syrup can harden and form your “brittle”.  Once cooled, gently break up the brittle into smaller pieces and store in an airtight container if you do not plan on eating it immediately.  Enjoy!