pumpkin Archives | Fake Food Free

Pumpkin White Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

November 16, 2018

I remember the first time I tried buckeyes. You know, those little peanut butter and chocolate candies.

I thought, oh, those are peanut butter balls without the tops. At our house growing up, we made peanut butter balls. It’s essentially the same recipe, you just dip the entire peanut butter ball in the chocolate versus creating the buckeye look by leaving its top exposed.

I like our version better. I’m not sure if it’s because I like chocolate or because if you google buckeye your first page of search results will be for Ohio State and I went to undergrad at Purdue. Either way, ours are better. I stand by it.

With those peanut butter balls in mind, I was thinking about how I could put a seasonal twist on them and switch them up just a bit.

Pumpkin No Churn Ice Cream with Brown Sugar Swirl and Burnt Sugar Cashew Brittle

November 17, 2016

I tend to want ice cream more during the holidays than during the heat of summer. Forget the chocolate versus vanilla debate. When I eat ice cream, I want pumpkin, peppermint stick and eggnog flavors. Everything that says – holiday season. So when late fall rolls around, so do the ice cream cravings.

As you probably could have guessed pumpkin is my favorite flavor and I thought if I was going to do a few posts about Thanksgiving worthy desserts I should go that direction. But don’t worry. I took it a bit further with a brown sugar swirl and a crunchy topping. I also decided to give no churn ice cream a try.

Stuffed Pie Pumpkin with Turkey, Cheddar and Spinach

November 8, 2016

I have pumpkins hidden all over the house.

You might think I’m kidding, I assure you, I am not.

There are little decorative pumpkins hidden on the new shelves in our living room, a pie pumpkin on the desk in my office, and heirlooms on the front porch. I tend to be a minimalist in most areas of my life, but pumpkin collection is one thing that I take almost to hoarding levels.

Of course, I have to rotate the stash occasionally. Out with the old and in with some new. And by out with the old I mean it’s time for them to be transformed into something edible. This little pie pumpkin was tucked on the second shelf of the plant stand in the dining room and it was his time to go.

Ginger Molasses Pumpkin Pie for Two

November 24, 2015

This delicious pie is the final post in my series, Thanksgiving Cooking for Two. You’ll find the other recipes in this special series at the end of this post.

I am a huge pumpkin pie fan. I know it can be hit or miss with some people, but that’s not the case for me. If you line up a selection of pies, I might give chocolate meringue a second glance, but I will always pick pumpkin.

There is a catch, though. I’m not crazy about the traditional, out of the can pumpkin, type of pie. My grandmother’s recipe will always be my favorite and if I can’t have that, well, it’s a pumpkin pie that I’ve gotten creative with.

First, roasted, pureed pumpkin. It makes such a difference and it’s completely worth the minimal effort. Then, it needs a wow factor — a variation in the spices, a gingerbread crust, maybe a meringue topping. Give me any of those and pumpkin remains number one.

Roasted Maple and Black Pepper Kabocha

September 9, 2015

If you are going to try and tell me it’s not fall yet, well, I don’t want to hear it.

Yes, I know the calendar tells us it’s not until the 23rd, but pay no attention to the calendar. It’s always trying to rain on my parade by conflicting with my view of the seasons.

It may be warm outside, but Labor Day is over and to me, it’s fall! Sweaters, boots, and scarves will soon be completely acceptable.

Pumpkin White Bean Dip with Cheddar and Jalapeños Recipe

October 6, 2014

This savory pumpkin recipe combines the puréed winter squash with white beans to create a warm dip with the rich flavors of sharp cheddar cheese and a mild heat from pickled jalapeños. It’s the perfect starter for fall dinner parties and makes a great snack for game day.

I’ve already started on my 2014 Winter Squash Collection. The first one, usually a pie pumpkin, enters the house in late September or early October. After that it’s a spaghetti squash here, a kabocha there and I can’t turn down a new variety. They begin to pile up in the corners of the kitchen or on the cool tile in the entry way. I keep them until: 1) I’m hungry for squash, or 2) we get frustrated from tripping over them. At that point, into the oven they go to be roasted and turned into puree.

The small pie pumpkin I bought last week bit the dust pretty early. Half a week into October and I was way overdue for something pumpkin.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

October 10, 2012

These pumpkin peanut butter cookies are one of my favorite cookies for the fall! They are chewy and full of pumpkin and peanut butter flavor! When I first made these a few years ago, I used UNREAL Chocolates that were sent to me for review, but you can easily substitute your favorite chocolate candies or simply use chocolate chips.

A couple of months ago I participated in a Twitter tasting party. Yeah, I didn’t know what it was either. I quickly learned that at a Twitter tasting everyone tries samples of a food while they tweet about the products with a group of like-minded folks. I’m not going to lie. It was a lot of fun!

This tasting happened to be for UNREAL™ candy through Kitchen Play. I hadn’t heard of this candy before, and I quickly became intrigued by the information that was sent my way.

First, let me start out by saying – candy is candy. It’s not something any of us should be consuming in mass amounts, but there is a reason I welcomed trying out UNREAL™ products. This candy is proof that you can still enjoy a treat that isn’t loaded with HFCS, artificial colors and preservatives. I was even more impressed to learn that the dairy for their chocolate comes from pastured cows and the colorings for the candies are from plant sources such as beets and red cabbage.

After the Twitter tasting, I thought I might try using the candies in some baking for Halloween. I have to admit that I since we’ve cut out the majority of processed foods from our diet, I do miss using candies in making creative cookies and cakes. That’s not to say I don’t have a peanut butter cup on occasion, but I’m just not comfortable promoting a recipe that uses these things, moderation or not.

UNREAL™ sent me a few more bags of their candy coated chocolates (UNREAL 41 and 54) so I could try out a new recipe. (I love the colors of these chocolates. With the plum, dark green and yellows they are the perfect color profile for fall.)

I set out to make some whole wheat peanut butter cookies, and then added some pumpkin. This took the place of some of the butter, and made the cookies even more ideal for autumn. The chocolates baked up beautifully in the cookies. The result was a soft cookie with bites of rich chocolate that went well with the peanut butter and hint of pumpkin.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe | Fake Food Free

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies via @Lori_Rice

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Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

2015-08-20 07:54:07

Makes: 18 to 20 cookies

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Ingredients

½ cup Demerara sugar (or raw sugar), plus extra for rolling cookies
½ cup mascavo (muscovado) sugar
4 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
½ cup natural peanut butter (unsweetened, but salted)
¼ cup pumpkin puree (mine was from a fresh roasted pumpkin)
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine ground sea salt
2 to 3 1.5-oz packages of UNREAL™ 41 Candy Coated Chocolates

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugars, butter and peanut butter for about 2 minutes on medium-high. Add the pumpkin, and blend in the egg with the mixer on low. Add the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Mix on low just until all ingredients are combined.
Stir in the candy coated chocolate being careful not to break up the chocolates too much.
Spoon out a generous 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and roll into a ball. Roll the ball in raw sugar. (You don’t have to roll the cookies in sugar, but it adds a nice crunch to the baked cookie.)
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and slightly flatten the cookies with your hands. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are firm and the edges are browned. Allow to rest on the cookie sheet for about 1 minute and then transfer to a cooling rack.

By Lori Rice

Fake Food Free https://www.fakefoodfree.com/

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Just about everyone I’ve mentioned this candy to is as intrigued as I was about the source and ingredients. If you have any questions, fire away in the comments. I think these candies are a great option for Halloween. You’ll find more product information below.

UNREAL candies contain:

No corn syrup, hydrogenated oil, artificial flavor, GMO’s or synthetic colors.

Responsibly sourced ingredients, including:

Traceable cacao beans from Ghana and Ecuador

100% sustainable and organic Palm Kernel Oil sourced from a sustainable and organic plantation in Brazil

Dairy from free-range cows pasture raised without antibiotics or added hormones

All natural origin colors, coming from plants like beets, red cabbage, etc.

30% less sugar, 60% more protein and 250% more fiber

UNREAL candies are offered at the same price as typical candy bars. Available at major retailers, nationwide, including CVS, Kroger, Staples, BJ’s Wholesale Clubs and many others, UNREAL prices range from $.89 to $1.29 for individual bars and $4.99 for the family sized bags

Disclosure: The candies used in this recipe were sent to me free of charge from UNREAL. I was not required to post about them and received no compensation for doing so. Thoughts and opinions on the product are my own.

Thanks for reading! All images and content are the property of Fake Food Free unless otherwise stated. Please do not republish full recipes and images without written permission. What is okay? Feel free to Pin images, share links to my posts or share the photo in a round up post with the title of this recipe and a link back to the post. Confused about copyright and food blogs? Here is some helpful information on Recipe Attribution. If you want to use a photo or full recipe, just ask. I’m sure we can work something out.

Pumpkin Black Sesame Seed Muffins

January 29, 2012

These tender pumpkin muffins have a nutty flavor and crunch from black sesame seeds. They make a great breakfast any time of year.

Pumpkin Black Sesame Seed Muffins Recipe | Fake Food Free

I have a few pumpkins stored for the winter; and by stored I mean that they are still sitting in the corner by the front door where they once served as autumn decorations. But this spot is relatively cold and is as good a place as any to store a pumpkin. With the warm winter we’ve had, the garage hasn’t been an option this year.

Last week I noticed that one wasn’t going to make it through the rest of the winter so it was time to roast it up. With lots of pumpkin in the freezer already I thought I’d better go ahead and use this batch.

I get tired of standard muffin flavors, even pumpkin, so I added some black sesame seeds that were leftover from the Whole Wheat Black Sesame Cookies. Not a bad combination, this pumpkin and black sesame. I can see it paring up again sometime in the future.

These muffins use virgin coconut oil, whole wheat pastry flour and raw sugar. Other ingredients such as butter and unbleached AP flour, or even a non-dairy milk, can be substituted if that is how you roll.

Pumpkin Black Sesame Seed Muffins

Makes: 12 muffins

What you’ll need:

¾ cup milk, room temperature
¼ cup cold-pressed, virgin coconut oil, melted
½ cup raw sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds, plus more for sprinkling

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly grease a 12-muffin tin with some coconut oil.

In a bowl, mix together the milk and coconut oil. Next whisk in the sugar, and the egg until blended. Add in the pumpkin and vanilla.

Add the baking powder and salt, and gently fold in the flour just until barely blended. Add the sesame seeds, continue to fold just until all ingredients are combined.

Distribute batter into the 12 muffin tins. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with more sesame seeds. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 5 – 7 minutes, remove from muffin tin and serve or store in an airtight container.

Breakfast recipe for Pumpkin Black Sesame Seed Muffins | Fake Food Free

Thanks for reading! All images and content are the property of Lori Rice and Fake Food Free unless otherwise stated. Please do not republish full recipes and images without written permission. What is okay? Feel free to Pin images, share links to my posts or share the photo with the title of this recipe and a link back to the post. Confused about copyright and food blogs? Here is some helpful information on Recipe Attribution. If you want to use a photo or full recipe, just ask. I’m sure we can work something out.

Caribbean-style Pumpkin Soup

November 20, 2011

This creamy pumpkin soup uses scotch bonnet peppers for a subtle, pleasant heat.

Caribbean-style Pumpkin Soup | Fake Food Free

When we travel to Jamaica we always look forward to the pumpkin soup. Although the version I make at home uses a similar squash, I like the pumpkin soup of the Caribbean much better. It has taken me a long time to figure out what exactly makes the difference in the flavors.

First of all, there are the spices. Despite the fact I use pumpkin in all sorts of dishes, the temptation to put in a seasoning such as cinnamon or nutmeg is a force I can rarely overcome. After years of only eating pumpkin pie and bread it’s as if my brain says – there’s pumpkin, must add some variation of pumpkin pie spice – even when it’s a savory dish.

Second is the heat. I never added any type of hot peppers to my version, but I now believe that is what makes a pumpkin soup outstanding. It isn’t spicy; it’s just a mild, warming heat in the back of your throat after each bite. That’s accomplished with Scotch Bonnet peppers which I just happened to grow in our garden this year. They came on late, but I have a nice bag full in the freezer to pull from for occasions like this one.

On one of our recent trips I picked up the cookbook, Eat Caribbean by Virginia Burke. Inside is a recipe for Pumpkin Lobster Bisque. Now pumpkin I had, but lobster I did not, so I tried modifying the recipe hoping it would turn out like the pumpkin soups we’ve had while traveling.

It’s definitely the closest I’ve come and much better than my standard version of winter squash soup. In this case, I think it’s the closest I want to get. Sometimes you want to make sure that there is still plenty of reasons to travel for the real thing.

Caribbean-style Pumpkin Soup via @Lori_Rice

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Caribbean-style Pumpkin Soup

Adapted from Pumpkin Lobster Bisque from Eat Caribbean by Virginia Burke

Makes: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

4 cups mashed roasted pumpkin

3 tbsp of tomato sauce (or 2 plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped)

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 whole scotch bonnet pepper

1 ½ cup chicken or vegetable stock

1/3 cup cream or half and half

1 tsp fine ground sea salt, or to taste

1/4 tsp ground black pepper, or to taste

Croutons for garnish

Prep

In a small soup pot over medium-high heat, melt the butter and add the garlic and onion. Cook for about 3 minutes, reduce the heat if necessary to prevent burning the garlic. Add the pumpkin and tomato sauce. Next, add the thyme and scotch bonnet pepper.

Pour in the stock, stir and bring to a simmer. Simmer over low to medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stir occasionally. If you want more heat, gently pierce the scotch bonnet pepper as it cooks.

Remove the thyme sprig and pepper and discard. Remove the soup from the heat. Using an immersion blender, puree all the ingredients. Or you can transfer the soup to a blender, blend until smooth and return it to the pot.

Stir in the cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Return to low heat if necessary to heat the soup through. Garnish with croutons, if desired.

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pumpkin

Pumpkin White Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

Pumpkin No Churn Ice Cream with Brown Sugar Swirl and Burnt Sugar Cashew Brittle

Stuffed Pie Pumpkin with Turkey, Cheddar and Spinach

Ginger Molasses Pumpkin Pie for Two

Roasted Maple and Black Pepper Kabocha

Pumpkin White Bean Dip with Cheddar and Jalapeños Recipe

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe

Pumpkin Black Sesame Seed Muffins

Pumpkin Black Sesame Seed Muffins

Caribbean-style Pumpkin Soup

Caribbean-style Pumpkin Soup

Thanks so much for reading!

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