The most delicious “healthy” bread EVAR: Chocolate Chip Coconut Pumpkin Bread

Yeah…pumpkin. So obviously these pics have been in the archive for a leeetle while waiting to be posted.  But I’ve been craving it, so I think it’s high time to share this deliciosity w/y’all.

A while back we bought a can of coconut milk for some Asian cuisine and then…then…then there was a half can of coconut milk sitting in my fridge.  And I had no idea what to do with it.  Until I found this recipe.

Of course, this recipe didn’t use up the half-can, but it definitely helped, and it was truly delicious.  The coconut milk makes it unbelievably moist.  We’ve lowered the fat content by replacing oil with applesauce, and cut the sugar a little by using Splenda Baking Blend instead of white sugar.  (if you have the Splenda brown sugar substitute, you can use that as well—I’ve always gotten good results with it in my baking.)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1.75 cups AP flour (or wheat flour if you feel so inclined)

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup Splenda baking blend

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp nutmeg

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pie filling)

1/2 cup cinnamon applesauce

1/3 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup coconut flakes

 

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350F; then grease and flour an 8x4 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, spices; mix well.  Then add in the pumpkin, applesauce, and coconut milk and mix until well combined.  Then fold in the coconut flakes and the chocolate chips.

Pour into the prepared baking dish; bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

This stuff is seriously heavenly.  The outside is slightly crisp & crunchy, and the inside is incredibly moist.  The pumpkin and the coconut really highlight each other.

NutriFacts: (Makes 10 servings—slice into five segments then cut once longways)

Calories 230.5

  Total Fat 4.0 g

  Saturated Fat 2.6 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g

  Cholesterol 0.0 mg

  Sodium 112.5 mg

  Potassium 70.5 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 53.4 g

  Dietary Fiber 3.2 g

  Sugars 38.7 g

  Protein 2.9 g

Thirsty Thursday: Pumpkin Beer Float!

Pumpkin beer.  It’s a passion I have.  Which makes this one of my favorite times of year.  I get to pick up mixed 6 packs and be a beer critic for a few months.  There’s a delicate balance to be found.  I should be able to taste all the typical “pumpkin pie” flavors…not just cloves.  Some brewers out there just hit WAY too heavy on the cloves.  If I wanted clove beer, I’d buy clove beer…but no, I bought PUMPKIN beer. 

Two of my favorite pumpkin beers are from right here in Missouri.  One is the O’Fallon Pumpkin Ale, which we featured in a Thirsty Thursday two weeks ago.  The other is made right here in Springfield, at Mother’s Brewing Company: Mr. Pumpkin.

Delicious, delicious brew, and fantastic label art to boot.

So here we are, with delicious cinnamony holiday ice cream in the house, and a bottle of Mr. Pumpkin.  What’s a girl to do?

BEER FLOAT.  That’s what we do.

 

Ingredients:

1 pint glass

2 scoops holiday ice cream (if you haven’t made this ice cream yet, and don’t have time to, not to worry.  Pick up a pint of something like the pumpkin spice ice cream at Starbucks or a freshly made pint of either cinnamon or pumpkin from your local gelato or froyo joint)

1 bottle Mr. Pumpkin (or other, inferior pumpkin beer…)  ;D

Two straws

 

Directions:

Pretty simple.  Ice cream goes into the glass.  Beer goes over that.

Add two straws, and share with your favorite someone.

Pumpkin spice added over the top, ‘cuz weez fancy like dat.

Thirsty Thursday: The Accidental Pumpkin Cupcake.

Originally, this was supposed to be the “Pumpkin Pie”.  Because apparently, pumpkin beer + whipped cream vodka = striking & delicious similarity to a slice of pumpkin pie.  Thus spaketh a friend on the Almighty Facebook (amen).  I got excited, because at this time of year we ALWAYS have pumpkin beer in the house, and I had just picked up a handful of random flavored mini bottles at the store the other day (because I’m too cheap to buy a full bottle of anything), and I could have SWORN there was a whipped cream vodka in there.

There wasn’t.  But there WAS a Cupcake brand Vanilla Frosting flavored one.  Which, in my mind, seemed close enough.

Because people TOTALLY put frosting on their pumpkin pie…right?  Right? RIGHT???? 

Yeah… anyway.  The end result did NOT taste like pumpkin pie.  However, it DID taste like a pumpkin muffin with cream cheese icing which is still totally delicious in its own right.

Ingredients:

1 bottle of your favorite pumpkin beer (we have two favorites in our household, but I’m saving the other one for next week’s Thirsty Thursday)

1 mini bottle Frosting flavored vodka (the Cupcake brand was really smooth)

Your favorite pint glass

 

Directions:

Pour vodka into glass. Pour beer over top.  Sip languishingly while you watch your favorite team get demolished by the Giants. :( 

But hey—at least your drink won’t let you down!

HAPPY THURSDAY!

Make your own: Pumpkin Pie Spice!

Pumpkin pie spice blend is, with the exception of garlic, the most used seasoning in my house this time of year.  Heck—MOST times of the year.  I sprinkle it in my coffee, on my pancakes, in my oatmeal, muffins, candied pecans… pretty well anything that would be improved by a sweet-savory flavor.

Which also means: I run out often.  And I don’t want to rush off to the store to pay $2-4 for another one ounce jar of it.  Seriously…ONE OUNCE!  Highway robbery, I tell ya.

And yet…my standard-issue turntable spice rack has all the COMPONENTS for pumpkin pie spice on it.  RIGHT THERE.  In my KITCHEN.  Sometimes I wonder why they even still sell pumpkin spice blends.  McCormick must think none of us know how to Google.

Because he’s my kitchen science guru, I use a slightly modified version of Alton Brown’s spice blend.  Other blends tend to rely too heavily on cinnamon & don’t have enough nutmeg & cloves to get that really distinctive “pumpkin pie” flavor.

(I recommending mixing over a cutting board, so you don’t get spices all over your counters.)

 

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1.5 tsp nutmeg

1.5 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

 

Directions:

Combine all spices in a small bowl & mix well.  Ta-DA!  You’re done.  Now go make some pumpkin pancakes with it. :D

Punkin’ pie in a pancakey vessel.  Right down to the custardy center.  NOMMMM…

Caramel Pumpkin Pecan Cake!

Know what I love about this time of year?  Pumpkin EVERYTHING.  Pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins…bring it on.  I will devour every. last. morsel.  However…while pumpkin itself is quite good for you (Vitamins A, C, B, & E, antioxidants, dietary fiber)…what we tend to make with it is typically rich, fatty, and sugar-laden.

I offer you a DELICIOUS alternative.

This recipe comes from my amazing friend/coworker Suzan.  Why is Suzan so amazing, you ask?  Well, aside from her decadently sarcastic & witty demeanor, and being one of the most experienced scientists in our company, she’s also lost over 100 pounds in the last year.  Yes, you read that right… OVER. ONE. HUNDRED. POUNDS.  No gastric bypass, no crazy diets, just the tried & true common sense “eat less, move more” methodology.   Or, what I call the “get off the couch & back away from the Krispy Kremes” method…which I could stand to implement a bit more in my own life.  (I currently have a Chefville addiction… *sigh*)

Anyway…Suzan has started her own wonderful blog which you can read HERE, and you should, because she cracks my schtuff up. For realz.  Go there.  (Then come back here…we have CAKE to discuss.)

…you’re back?  Great.  Now, in case you missed it…this recipe came from my awesome friend who just lost 100 lbs.  And she ate this cake while on this plan.  I won’t go so far as to say, “this cake will make you lose weight”…but you CAN eat it while implementing your own personal “eat less, move more” lifestyle change.  It originally comes from this Weight Watchers recipe*, but I modified it a LEEETLE bit to taste & based off Suzan’s recommendations.

Dear Reader: Please meet 217 calories of HEAVEN.

Ingredients: (makes 16 servings)

15 ounces canned pumpkin puree (NOT pie filling)
12 ounces fat-free evaporated milk
1/4 cup fat-free egg substitute (or 2 egg whites)
1/2 cup Splenda or other sugar substitute
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 box unprepared white cake mix - (18.25 oz; Check labels & pick the lowest calorie option, as there’s a lot of variety between mixes.  Best Choice ended up being the lowest at my store.)
1 cup pecan halves, chopped
1/4 cup reduced-calorie margarine – melted (if you have spray butter substitute, like the Smart Balance spray, use this.  It makes it a lot easier to fully coat the top of the cake.)
2 tablespoons Sugar-Free Caramel Topping

Sugar Free Whipped Cream (optional garnish)

More sugar-free caramel topping (optional garnish)

 

Directions:

Heat your oven to 350F, and then lightly spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

Mix the pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and pie spice together in a large bowl, then pour into your cake pan.

Spread the dry boxed cake mix over the top of the pumpkin batter.  Use a spatula to press the cake mix down into the batter until the mix starts to become moist. (Note: If you leave any dry mix, it will still be dry after baking.  Just FYI.)

Next, sprinkle your chopped pecans on top, and then drizzle the margarine over as well.  Try to cover as much of the cake as possible with the margarine to get good buttery coverage. :D

(In retrospect, I should have totally used Suzan’s suggestion about the spray bottle.  I ended up with a lot of dry cake batter on the top of mine.)

 

Now: this is where I deviate from the original recipe.  I have sugar-free caramel topping in the fridge.  And pumpkin & pecans just scream “GIMME CARAMEL!”, so I drizzled 2 tablespoons over the top.  I used a fork to get a really fine drizzle & good  coverage.

Bake uncovered for 50-60 minutes, let cool, then slice into 16 pieces (you’ll end up with pieces that measure about 2” x 3”).  The pecans, butter, caramel & dry cake mix combine to make a nice crispy, streusel-y topping.

 

Serve garnished with an extra sprinkle of pumpkin pie seasoning, a dollop of sugar-free whipped cream (if desired), and a wee drizzle of additional caramel sauce (about 1 tsp). 

NOTE: Whipped cream & extra drizzle of caramel sauce adds 25 calories to each serving.

 

*NOTE: try as hard as I might, I could NOT get my NutriFacts to match up with “86 calories” shown on the original recipe page, even after accounting for the slight recipe changes.  I double- and triple-checked all my ingredient stats, so my best guess is that they have a typo & their page should read “186 calories”.  The white cake mix alone is 127 calories/serving.

NutriFacts: (Weight Watchers Points per serving = 5)

Calories 192.8 (217 calories with whipped cream & addt’l caramel drizzle garnish)

  Total Fat 7.9 g

  Saturated Fat 1.3 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.7 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 2.5 g

  Cholesterol 1.0 mg

  Sodium 243.8 mg

  Potassium 119.0 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 28.3 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.9 g

  Sugars 14.6 g

  Protein 4.5 g

Tiny Drops of Fame: Pumpkin Pancakes!

So, if you’ve been reading this blog a while now, you might remember back in January when I posted my recipe for pumpkin pancakes.
Well, our local magazine, 417 Mag,  has started hosting a monthly “Reader Recipe” contest, and the October theme was pumpkin!  So I of course submitted this recipe, because I LURVE it SOOOO much.  And…lo & behold, I WON!  Totes crazy.
They called me up at work to let me know, and then said, “Okay, I’m going to transfer you to our art department so we can set up a photo shoot.”
*GuLp*  Photo Shoot?  Um… okay.  You should know…I’m not 100% comfortable in front of a camera.  I very much prefer to be the one BEHIND the camera. 
But, still slightly stunned and very humbled, I set up a day so that the photographer from the magazine could come out to our house & take photos.
OUR HOUSE.  Holy crap.  We don’t have a fancy house.  So as much as I would LIKE to do some fancy kitchen photo shoot like Julia Child:


…our kitchen kinda looks like this (but with appliances):

(Took this before we moved into our new house.)

But we make do.  The photo shoot was scheduled for a Monday.  So….we spent the entire weekend before that scouring the kitchen, steam mopping the floors, clearing counter tops and clutter…and cleaning the rest of the house too, because OMG Strangers/Photographers In. My. House.  Gotta look nice for these people! What if they want to sit on the couch!  What if they want to shoot photos on the porch?  What if they need to USE OUR HALL BATHROOM???  We even cleaned & conditioned the leather furniture in our living room.  We were THOROUGH.  (In all honesty though, it really needed it.  We’re more of a “vacuum & dust once a month” type of family.)
Monday morning rolled around, and I baked up a HUUUGE stack of pancakes, so that at least a few of them would be perfect.  When Jamie, the photographer, showed up, she was all about shooting the tall stack, rather than just picking out a few.  We busted out some pecans and spices and a bottle of maple syrup, and they made food-photo-magic happen.

Jamie loved the natural light from our dining window as much as I do…that’s my favorite spot for food photos.

The end result?

Utterly gorgeous.  And SOOOOO much better than the pics I snagged when I first posted that recipe!  They did a great job and I am just overwhelmed and super happy about the whole shebang.
This post is littered with links to their article, but if you haven’t accidentally stumbled upon one of those yet, CLICK HERE.
And for those who are too lazy to click?  Here’s the recipe. :D

Makes 6-8 pancakes (3-4 servings)
Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/8 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (nuts are optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
a pinch of  salt
1/2 cup fat free milk
1/8 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 can pumpkin puree
Directions
1. Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl (or your mixer), reserving half of the chopped nuts for garnish.
2. Add milk, brown sugar, oil, vanilla and egg, and beat until well mixed. Stir in pumpkin until well combined.
3. Spray a non-stick pan lightly with butter-flavored cooking spray, and heat over medium heat. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan per pancake.
4. Turn pancakes when the tops are covered with bubbles and the edges look cooked.
5. To finish, sprinkle with the remaining nuts, and drizzle with maple syrup.

Sweet Potato - Pumpkin Bread: Oven or Crockpot?

 

We got a nice big 6-quart Crockpot as a wedding gift, so I’ve been trying to use it at every opportunity I can.  Since both my husband & I work, it’s really nice to be able to do a bit of prep the night before, throw things together in the removable crock, put it in the fridge, and then the next morning, finish assembly and start it cooking on low.  By them time we get home, dinner’s done!  Coming from someone who has an hour roundtrip commute and 9 hour work days, not having to cook when I come home is fanTASTic.

So when I saw a recipe last year for Slow Cooker Pumpkin Bread on 52 Kitchen Adventures, I HAD to try it.  This is one of those recipes that’s been sitting in my stockpile for a while.

We had some canned pumpkin on hand, but not enough to make this recipe.  But I did have some sweet potatoes in the crisper, so I simply peeled & boiled one, then pureed that to make up the difference.

Ingredients: (makes one 9x5x3 loaf)

• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 large egg
• 8 ounces of pumpkin and/or sweet potato puree 
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

Combine sugar and oil in a large bowl, beating to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin.

In a separate large bowl, combine flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Add to the wet ingredients in 2 batches.

Now, the original recipe says there are two ways to make bread from this point.  You can be all traditional, and heat your oven to 350F, and bake the bread in a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan for 1 hour (or until a toothpick comes out clean)

OR…

You can be a rebel…with a Crockpot.

In a slow cooker large enough to fit a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan (we have a 6 quart), place a ball of aluminum foil to hold up the pan.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan, and place into the Crock on top of the aluminum foil.

Cover, and set the CrockPot to High and cook for 2-8 hours.  Yes, you read that right—apparently it can be really variable, depending on the size of your slow cooker, the brand you use, maybe the stars and the weather too.  For us, it took about 3 hours.

We set it to cook for 2 hours, then I started checking it with a toothpick every 20-30 minutes after that.

The end result was really moist and a little dense, but delicious.  The wait was a little agonizing though, because it smelled sooooooo good.  I think I definitely want to try this recipe again in the oven to see what it turns out like. 

Pumpkin Pancakes

We were craving something sweet this morning for breakfast, and this was the result.  They were sooo good, even with sugar free syrup.  The center was a bit custardy, almost like pumpkin pie!

 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1/8 cup chopped pecans or walnuts if you have them (optional)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

a pinch of  salt

1/2 cup fat free milk

1/8 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 can pumpkin puree

 

Directions:

Combine the dry ingredients first in a large bowl (or your mixer) reserving half of the pecans for servings.  Then add milk, brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs, and beat until well mixed.  Stir in pumpkin until well combined.

 

Spray a non-stick pan lightly with butter-flavored cooking spray & heat over medium heat. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan per pancake.  Turn pancakes when the tops are covered with bubbles & the edges look cooked.

 

Erm…most of them turned out prettier than this… :)

 

To finish, sprinkle with the remaining pecans & drizzle with sugar-free maple syrup.

Makes 3-4 servings (2 pancakes per serving)

 

Nutrifacts:

Calories: 270

Fat: 7.9g

Saturated Fat: 1,4g

Monounsaturated Fat: 3.5g

Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.3g

Shared on 33 Shades of Green's Tasty Tuesdays

Bonus recipe: Pumpkin Cranberry Scones

Scones will forever & always remind me of the year I lived in New Orleans, thanks to Maurice’s bakery.

Let’s travel back in time, shall we?  To 2004: I was a post-grad student at University of New Orleans, working part time as a grad assistant on campus, and part-time as a gourmet foods associate (read: cheese monger) at Martin’s Wine Cellar in Metairie. Jean-Luc, the owner of Maurice’s, was a regular at our store, and like any true Frenchman, he favored the ooey, gooey, nasty, sweaty-foot-stanky French cheeses we carried.  You name it: Camembert, Munster, Pont l’Eveque, Vacherin… if it got gooier & stinkier with age, Jean-Luc loved it.  I’ll never understand that, especially since there are so many delicious non-stanky french cheeses (like the beautiful Brin d’Amour, a slightly tangy sheep’s milk cheese that’s coated in dried rosemary & other herbs… but I’m getting off-topic…)  Anyway, despite his taste in cheese, he was a really wonderful person & always pleasant to talk to.

One of my coworkers, Ozzy, also worked for Jean-Luc at his bakery, so occasionally on Sunday mornings, she’d bring in a few pastries with her to the morning shift at Martin’s, which I always worked.  Maurice’s scones are now, and will always be, the epitome of scone perfection (particularly the cranberry-orange).

Well, I had some dried cranberries and roasted pumpkin laying around, so I figured: why not make some scones?  Found a base recipe, and with a few modifications, we have this:

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup golden brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup light butter, chilled

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup canned or roasted pumpkin

1 egg white

sugar (coarse if you have it)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

In a mixing bowl, combined the first 6 ingredients & mix.  Cut in butter with a pastry cutter (or I just used my Kitchenaid) until the dough looks like coarse crumbs. 

Add cranberries, egg, pumpkin, milk, juice to the dry ingredients and mix until moistened. 

Knead on lightly floured breadboard until nearly smooth (several seconds).  If it gets too sticky, add extra flour as you knead.  Roll dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into 4x3 inch rectangles; cut each rectangle in half to form triangles.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet. In a small bowl, mix egg white with a a little water & beat well.  Brush over the scones with a pastry brush and then sprinkle sugar over the top.

Bake for about 12 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack for 5 minutes. Serve warm with butter (we had a few with apple butter or pumpkin butter which was also quite nice.)

Nutrifacts:

Calories 217.1

Cholesterol 59.2 mg

Sodium 280.0 mg

Total Carbohydrate 26.9 g

Dietary Fiber 1.2 g

Sugars 5.5 g

Protein 3.7 g

Bonus (Non-Cajun) Recipe: Gingerbread Pumpkin “Brownies”

I was having a sweet tooth the other night, and sort of created these by “accident”.

I roasted fresh pumpkin earlier this week, so was needing to use some of that for baking.  I found a recipe for “chocolate-pumpkin marbled brownies”, which sounded delicious (because I am a fan of all things “fall spice”, and all things chocolate).  But when my sweets craving hit, I didn’t have any ingredients for the chocolate brownie portion of this recipe on-hand.

BUT, I did have this in my pantry:

So…I improvised!

Ingredients:

Gingerbread cookie mix

1/2 cup applesauce

1 tbsp butter

1 egg

1/2 to 1 cup water

(NOTE: if you can’t find the cookie mix, just get regular gingerbread cake mix & prepare according to package directions—we had to improvise a bit to get the batter to the right consistency.  Buy whichever is more cost-effective for you. PS—using an equal amount of applesauce as a replacement for the butter on the cake mix cuts out a lot of extra fat & calories.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix these ingredients together, pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan.

For the pumpkin portion:

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese and the 1 tablespoon butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until well combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in 1 egg, the pumpkin, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the cinnamon, and ginger until combined. Stir in the 1 tablespoon flour.

Spoon the pumpkin mix over the gingerbread batter, then use a knife to swirl together.  Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Linked to: 33 Shades of Green