This year, autumn has arrived with the swiftness of a cricket and the subtlety of a cannonball, here in my part of SoCal, anyway.  And once it's autumn here, it's really pretty much winter, such as it is.

 I have always been particularly sensitive to the changing seasons, which may explain why I love pagan holidays so much.  In any case, when the gray skies appeared and began to produce chilly rain, my stomach demanded pumpkin foods with lots of cinnamon and preferably that they be eaten by candle-light.  So I went straight from class to the market and got myself a very picturesque and large organic pumpkin.  I made sure to choose one that was picturesque because I thought I might carve it into a jack-o-lantern for one night before cooking it, but it turns out I was not willing to be that patient.  That sucker was butchered and baked within the hour and then pureed in the blender and put into pumpkin bread, which I happily consumed that very night.  

Not all of it, mind you.  It was, as I mentioned, a large pumpkin.  I only managed to bake half of it; the rest went into the freezer to be baked at a later date. Possibly Thanksgiving for pie.  But of the half I did bake, I have only scratched the surface. 

Having recently gone the way of the vegan (mostly) and having also given up refined sugar (all the way!) it was something of a challenge to bake the same pumpkin dishes I have come to know and love.  Butter was easily replaced by Earth Balance, which I have found to be satisfactory in flavor and consistency.  I don't want to sound like Fabio. I mean, I CAN believe it's not butter, but it's pretty tasty.

Eggs can be replaced with two tablespoons of binding powder (which is a 50/50 blend of soy flour and arrowroot starch) as long as the liquid is also made up somehow.  1/4 cup of tofu will actually do the trick nicely, without binding powder, but I'd forgotten that.  Also, a slight increase in leavening was needed to complete the subsitution and as it happens, I forgot that part as well.  I did make up the liquid with agave nectar, which is now my go-to sugar substitute, but as I forgot the leavening bit, the bread sank a bit after it cooled and was rather more dense and gooey than I would have liked.  Nevertheless, the aroma while it baked was h e a v e n l y!  And it did taste quite good.

The next night I decided to try my hand at pumpkin soup.  On this occasion, I did not stick to the vegan method.  I'm sure it can be done, but as I had little to supplement the meal, I wanted to make damn sure I got some protein into it, and I don't like chicken broth, so I used cream.  And vegetable broth.  With a small handful of diced onions and a wee dash of curry powder, it was a delicious meal.  I did have some sauteed asparagus on the side.  (I don't currently own a steamer. This must be fixed.)

 And last night, after being "good" and working on my homework for the promised (to myself) hour, I decided to reward my labors with a batch of pumpkin cookies.  I was determined to overcome the challenge of balancing the vegan ingredients and to make perfect, soft, chewy, almost cake-like cookies.  I measured out the agave nectar, but used a little less than the amount of sugar the recipe called for.  I also used half whole wheat flour.  I simply cannot seem to permit myself to use all white flour in any baking project except maybe when it is a cake for someone else.  

I did use the binding powder, since I only had a small bit of tofu left and wanted it for a sandwich.  I decided to try a twofold approach to lightening the cookies; I mixed a little water with the pumpkin. More than a little actually. I think I nearly doubled the volume of it, I added so much.  And I added 1/4 of a teaspoon more baking powder than it called for.  

I now wish I had measured out just how much water I added, because the cookies were PERFECT! Absolutely perfect! Soft, flavorful, and the perfect consistency...

Next week, in honor of Halloween, I think I'll try a theory I've been working on: how to make pumpkin-flavored soy milk.  Why, you may ask, would anyone do such a thing?  Because I am a Harry Potter geek, and I have always wished there was  such a drink as pumpkin juice.  I mean, we all know pumpkin juice in the Potter-verse doesn't really taste the way juiced pumpkin actually tastes, right? Of course not.  I think sweetened soymilk, with some vanilla flavoring, some pumpkin puree and the right spices might just do the trick. 

I'll let you know.