I Love Pumpkin! (and these brownies)

PUMPKIN!!! Pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin puuuuuuuuuumpkin!

Alrighty. Now that that is out of my system, being in the kitchen during Autumn just makes me feel so homey. The smell of cinnamon and…well.. Pumpkin just fill the room. I love pumpkin! Is it that obvious?

Jack-o-laterns, baked pumpkin seeds, and sweet pumpkin pies are some of the many pleasures of this wonderful food. But recently, I have experimented to create something delicious to make it even better with my favorite can or orangey mushy canned pumpkin! Is it a pie? Nope. Its brownies!

Pumpkin swirl brownies. Who would have thought of such a thing? Actually many people. But with all the oil and sugar in brownies, I went off and did my own thing. I created a whole wheat brownie with no oil that knocked the socks off of others (carnivores loved vegan brownies?). The only complaint I had was that they were too pumpkiny. Too much pumpkin in my recipe(if there is such a thing)? Use less. Too little? Well…you might want to grab a spoon and just eat the pumpkin right out of the can because you are a pumpkin-o-holic just like me! Its ok. You won’t look crazy. I probably did the same thing this morning!

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies:

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can of pure pumpkin puree
2 tbsp. pumpkin spice (see below for details)
1 c. apple sauce
¾ c. white sugar
¾ c. brown sugar
¼ c. milk alternative (I used soy)
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ c. baking cocoa
½ tsp. salt

Method:
-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8×8 baking pan.
-In a small bowl, mix the pumpkin with the pumpkin spice and ¼ c. apple sauce. It might look a little like this:

-In a medium bowl, mix together the other ¾ c. apple sauce, the sugars, and the milk alternative.

-Add the flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt to the sugar and milk mixture. It should look like very thick batter or almost dough.

-Put the chocolate mixture into your pan.

-Pour the pumpkin mixture into the pan and swirl them together. Then even everything out.

Before the oven:

-Bake for 1 hr. or until toothpick comes out clean
-Let cool for 10 min.
-Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Spice:

Derived from about.com

Ingredients:

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. all-spice

Method:

-Combine everything together.  Store leftovers in an airtight container.

These things taste amazing! Chocolaty and pumpkiny and delicious! Sure, not as dense and sweet as your usual brownie, but these things are awesome! Even better if you refrigerate them and eat them the next day!

I love a good brownie-ala mode with Coconut milk mint-chip ice cream! Yum!

Whats your favorite way to eat a brownie? Right out of the oven? Next day? With ice cream? One bite at a time?

Pumpkin-Brownie Swirling Health Freax Unite!

-Andrew “VegMuffinMan” Morrison-