Pumpkin Spice and All Things Nice
Autumn is a wonderful time of year. As the nights draw in and a chill comes to the air, eating habits often change from the lighter salads, wraps and dips of summertime towards more robust stews, casseroles and soups – with lots of lovely sweet treats for afters!
Integral to the flavour palate at this time of year is pumpkin, which is central to Halloween celebrations, where it’s traditionally carved into spooky faces. Pumpkin is also excellent to eat, low in calories and very nutritious too. It’s full of vitamins C and E, and contains a good amount of beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant which our body converts into vitamin A, brilliant for our immune system and eye health.
Pumpkin can be used in savoury dishes, but it’s the sweet treats using pumpkin that are particularly associated with autumn, and many of these contain pumpkin spice, a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and sometimes allspice that seems to have a special affinity with this lovely, versatile winter squash. All of these spices (especially cloves and ginger) are high in antioxidants, meaning that even a pinch will have a marked effect on managing inflammation and blood sugar (with cinnamon especially beneficial to diabetics).
As long as we don’t stuff our dishes with refined sugar and unhealthy fats, there’s no reason why we can’t have pumpkin-based treats that are healthy as well as lip-smackingly delicious! Let’s take a look at a few of our favourite pumpkin spice recipes….
To start with, here’s our go-to recipe for creating a luscious, flavoursome pumpkin spice mix. This can be made ahead, and will keep very well in a kitchen cupboard. There’s no reason why this lovely, warming mix can’t be used in savoury dishes too!
If you’re pushed for time or want a simpler option, there’s also a ready-made option with 100% organic ingredients and a perfect balance of spices.
Here’s a healthier take on the traditional American dessert which you’ll find sold in cafes and diners all over the USA. We’ve swapped out the usual refined white cane sugar for the deep, caramelly taste of organic coconut sugar, and added some fruit puree to make the texture and flavour even more moreish (and to boost the vitamins and fibre in every slice). We’ve also used wholemeal emmer flour (instead of refined white flour) to boost the nutrition even further. Emmer is an ancient cousin of wheat which makes wonderful pastry with a deep, nutty taste and has a good amount of fibre and protein.
This fantastic tear-and-share treat is always a show-stopper when taken out of the oven. Excellent hot, warm or cold, it uses pumpkin puree in the filling instead of the usual butter or margarine. This reduces the calories while boosting the vitamin and fibre content and giving. Coconut sugar is used instead of cane sugar, to give it a depth of flavour and produce less of a blood sugar spike, while the light brown flour offers more fibre than regular white flour. We’ve added cinnamon to the recipe here, but it would taste amazing with the whole pumpkin spice mix too.
There’s no need whatsoever to add unhealthy dairy products to your baking when things taste this good without! This absolutely delicious cake is a real event, and will be a huge hit when you serve it with a lovely cuppa. It’s fluffy, moist and has a gorgeous autumnal colour and flavour from the pumpkin puree. The ginger and cinnamon add a lip-smacking sweet spiciness, with the walnuts and raisins adding further layers of texture and flavour, not to mention some excellent nutrition. We’ve also swapped out regular cane sugar for xylitol (a 100% natural sugar substitute made from beech trees) and some lovely, dark, deeply-flavoured organic maple syrup.
Here’s what you should serve at your morning coffee if you’re going for a sophisticated, Italian vibe. These magical, crunchy biscotti biscuits are perfect for sharing as you catch up with friends. We’ve used coconut oil instead of butter and coconut sugar instead of cane sugar to heighten the flavour and cut down on unhealthy constituents. The Brazil nuts studded through these little biscuits add a fantastic textural counterpoint, and really boost the nutrition as they contain extremely beneficial heart-healthy fats and a great whack of essential minerals. Pumpkin reduces the need for added fat, and warming cinnamon tops off the taste sensation!
We’ve all seen the proliferation of brownies in recent years, with literally hundreds of varieties out there, including some delicious healthier versions Bean Brownies with Cashew Cream, Raw Mocha Brownies and Tahini Swirl Vegan Brownies – but here’s a delectable treat that dispenses with the cocoa powder and relies on the gorgeous pure pumpkin puree to provide the soul and delectable taste of these briliant blondies. As they use a mixture of corn flour and rice flour, they’re nturally free from gluten, and the coconut jam provides a deep toffee richness that melds with the pumpkin to produce something magical and very, very moreish!
Here are some wonderful cookies, with a mix of lovely textures – hard, soft, crunchy and gooey all in one bite! They’re full of fantastically good things, and completely sugar-free too. We’ve used 100% natural xylitol for sweetness, and as well as the lovely pumpkin and spice, they’re packed with the awesome nutrition found in nuts. Ginger and cinnamon lend them a winning warmth and appetising zestiness, while the oats contain essential minerals and plenty of excellent fibre. They’ll set you up for the day splendidly when eaten at breakfast, although they’re actually perfect for any time of day, whether as a snack or as a healthy dessert.
Here’s something a bit different: a wonderfully healthy nut milk which harnesses the incredible health benefits of Brazil nuts, and mixes them with the enticing taste of pumpkin spice. Perfect as a base for smoothies, a standalone drink, a creamy addition to your autumn coffee, or simply poured over your morning granola for an extra dimension of flavour, this super and easy nut milk is always a hit when we make it, and never lasts very long!
If you fancy some real luxury, give this awesome latte a try. It combines the luscious, delectably sweet and aromatic flavours of vanilla extract and honey with good strong coffee, pumpkin puree, lovely spices and creamy oat milk. It’s bound to be a hit on a rainy Autumn day, especially if you serve it with one of the lovely sweet treats above!
