Tag Archives: autumn

Pumpkin Mini Tea Loaves with Tea Glaze

Pumpkin Mini Tea Loaves
Pumpkin Mini Tea Loaves

Autumn has arrived without my permission. The weather is too cold for me, and I’m not ready to bundle up just yet. Although, this time of year does have it’s advantages. Imagine a kitchen scented with the warming spices of ginger and cinnamon swirled into pumpkin batter. Yes, that works for me.

Mini loaves of pumpkin bread were my goal. I found a recipe in a wonderful vegan cookbook by Nava Atlas. To adjust for high altitude, I lowered the amount of baking powder and added liquid. The liquid I chose was milk tea by Twrl. Because the canned beverage is unsweetened, I added a little more sugar and a sugared glaze. I also chose not to add dried fruit or nuts to allow the flavor of the tea to come through; you may add 1/3 cup of either of those to your bread, if desired.

Pumpkin Mini Tea Loaves with Tea Glaze inspired by Pumpkin or Squash Mini-Loaves

for mini loaves
1.5 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1.75 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 tablespoons Twrl black milk tea
for tea glaze
9 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon Twrl black milk tea

For the mini loaves: Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil three mini loaf pans and set aside.

Add the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger to a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the pumpkin puree, oil, and 6 tablespoons Twrl tea to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Stir until well combined.

Divide batter among loaf tins. Bake 25-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a loaf comes out clean. Cool loaves in their pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then tip out the loaves and place on a wire rack to fully cool.

For the glaze: add the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon Twrl tea to a small bowl and stir to combine. Drizzle over the cooled loaves just prior to serving.

Until next time, happy baking!

Ginger Apple Crisp

Ginger Apple Crisp

Ginger Apple Crisp

I know that I haven’t posted in some time. The world got crazy, but I had committed to getting back to baking and blogging at the start of the year. And then I cut my hand. (I was cleaning the food processor, but that’s a long story). It wasn’t severe, but it make food prep a little more complicated and it turned typing into a frustrating game. But the Decadent Vegan Baker is back and ready for action. So, without any further ado, I bring you this week’s vegan, high-altitude baking experiment.

Okay, this one wasn’t very difficult. I decided to ease into things with an apple crisp. Generally apple crisps pop up in autumn, but where I live the weather is warm, then cold, then warm again, so it felt appropriate. The tweaks I made were to follow my personal desires, which I inspire any baker to do. Crisps are a good backdrop for making changes because they don’t involve the scientific perfection of something like a cake.

I added ginger to give the crisp a spicy zip. I also chose coconut sugar as the sweetener to change the flavor profile a bit, and because my brown sugar had become a doorstop. You can use gluten free flour instead of the all purpose flour if you prefer. If baking gluten free, then look for gluten free oats.

Ginger Apple Crisp adapted from Gluten Free and Vegan Apple Crisp

Filling:
6 apples, peeled and sliced
1/4” crystallized ginger, chopped fine
1/2 cup vegan sugar
1 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS all purpose flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
Topping:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup coconut sugar
3/4 cup oats, run through a coffee grinder until course
6 TBS vegan margarine, cut into small pieces (I used Spectrum vegetable spread)
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F. In a large bowl, mix apples, ginger, vegan sugar, lemon juice, 2 TBS flour, and 3/4 tsp cinnamon. Place in a 9 x 13” glass baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine 3/4 cup flour, oats, cinnamon and brown sugar and stir. Add margarine and cut in with two forks until combined. Don’t worry; it will still be lumpy.

Spread topping over filling. Bake for 25-30 minutes, uncovered, until topping turns golden brown. Let cool and then serve. I topped mine with vegan vanilla ice cream.

Note: You can halve the recipe and bake it in an 8 x 8” baking pan for the same amount of time as listed in the recipe.

Until next time, happy baking!