Giant Double Choc Dish Cookie with Avocado Cacao Mousse As "Chocolate Chips"

HELLO!!!! Eloise from @eatlikeeloise here. This is my addition for the #bbjunkfood theme! 

My favourite ever dessert recipe! I posted this recipe weeks and weeks ago on my own blog but thought it definitely fit the theme!

 Its based on beans, is vegan, gluten free, dairy free, you know the drill.. You have to make this, you just have to. You'd be loony not to!

Makes 4-6 slices

Cookie

1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed

1/3 cup pumpkin purée

1/4 cup buckwheat flour or substitute with more protein powder

2 1/2 heaped tbsp clean plant based vanilla protein powder (if you want to use chocolate protein powder, add 1 tsp of vanilla powder)

2 heaped tbsp cacao powder (feel free to add an extra half a tbsp for a super chocolatey cookie, I recommend!)

1 heaped tbsp carob powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 heaped tbsp natvia (stevia plant. Have not tried with liquid natural sweetener, but if you try it you may have to add less milk or more protein powder)

1/3 cup plant based milk (I used soy milk because of its creamy texture and taste)

Mousse

1 small ripe avocado

2 tbsp cacao powder

2 tbsp natvia (stevia plant) (add more or less for a bitter or sweeter taste)

1 1/2 tbsp vanilla or chocolate clean protein powder

Cinnamon

Splash of milk

Cacao nibs to serve

Cookie; Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan forced. Add everything to the food processor and process until well combined and smooth. The batter should be thick and sticky but not dry. Spoon into a small quiche/tart/flan dish (about the size of your spread hand), flatten with the back of a spoon and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until firm and crispy on top. By about 15-20 minutes the top of the batter should start to crack (like a cookie) and once taken out of the oven the cracks will deepen (don't freak out, that's meant to happen, gives it the cookie like effect). Let cool completely.

Mousse; Combine ingredients in a clean food processor and whiz for about 1 minute until smooth. Only add enough milk to make it blend but still thick. Taste and add more of milk, sweetener or cacao if needed to your liking. Scoop teaspoons and dollop on the cookie to look like chocolate chips. Sprinkle mousse with cacao nibs.

Pumpkin Struesel Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze

Hey banana buddies! It's Chelsea here ( @feedingmindbodysoul) or A Spoonful of Chelsea :)

I've not been very good with contributing to each theme so far, due to bad timing (I was touring around the US with my dancing school, plus some other excuses, but I won't waste your time hehe I'm awful I know) BUT this one I thought, I'm on holidays and I have the time to try something new and see how it goes and work my baking skills… oh my gosh guys, best decision yet. This was the ULTIMATELY DELICIOUS CAKE. Ever.

So I will just leave the recipe here, in hopes you stumble across it and make it and eat it all except save me some please (it is perfectly acceptable to send me a letter in the mail inviting me over for tea and cake, I will allow it in this case) ;)

P.s. the cake is completely gluten free (coeliac friendly for me and for you potentially woo!) and vegan. Also the option of being soy free, if you use almond milk or coconut milk like I did. There are no eggs as well, and no dairy. And it is not delicious free, in the slightest. It is, like I said, ultimately so.

Enjoy if you make it, let me know if you do!

 Ingredients: 

Cake:

2 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I used Orgran)

3 teaspoons of baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Approximately 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of nutmeg (but you could add ginger and all spice or any other spice you wanted to if you have them, that’s just all I had)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 cup dairy free milk of choice (I used almond- coconut milk)

1 cup pumpkin puree (how I made mine: steamed some cubed pumpkin in the microwave, and then put it through my food processor until a puree consistency)

½ cup brown sugar (you could use coconut sugar, I will try it with that next time!)

½ cup oil (I used olive oil because I like the flavor it gives a cake)

Streusel layer:

½ cup brown sugar

¾ cup gluten free all purpose flour (I used Orgran)

5 tablespoons non-dairy margarine, at room temperature (I heated mine in the microwave for just a little bit, so it was warm-ish but not melting)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, approximately

½ cup of roughly chopped pecans (up to you if you want to swap the nut around, you can use walnuts if you wanted to!)

Maple glaze:

½ cup icing sugar, sifted well

2 teaspoons non-dairy milk (I used almond-coconut milk)

½ teaspoon maple syrup

Oil, to grease cake tin

Cake tin (I used a round 20cm one, but you can make it any shape you wanted to really, or into muffins! Muffins could be fun hehe)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease your cake tin (or muffin tray) with oil of choice (I used spray on coconut oil for an easy solution).

First, make the streusel layer. In a bowl, combine the sifted flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped pecans, until well mixed through. Then, add your room temperature dairy free margarine (I used nuttelex) with your fingers combine all ingredients until it creates a crumble/ crumb. Set aside for now, and get going with the cake-y part!

Chop your pumpkin into cubes and in a steaming dish (or on the stove) steam your pumpkin until quite soft. Then, add it to your food processer and process until smooth.

In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices and mix well. In a small bowl, whisk the dairy free milk and the apple cider vinegar together and leave to “curdle”. Finally, add the pumpkin, sugar and oil to the dry mixture as well as the curdled milk, and stir to combine. The mixture will be quite thick, so do not over mix.

In your greased cake tin, lay half the cake mixture down evenly, and then top with about half the streusel mixture. Then, as best you can, evenly spread out the remaining cake mixture and then crumble the last of the streusel on top of that.

The cake will need to bake for approximately 50 minutes, or until you can stick a knife in the center and it comes out clean or relatively so (I find it’s a moist cake anyway). When it is cooked through, remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes or so, or until it’s relatively cool to the touch.

When it is cool, you can make the maple glaze! In a small bowl, combine the icing sugar, milk and maple syrup well until it has formed a smooth runny mixture. Drizzle over the top of the cake, and then you’re done! Hey pumpkin presto! 

Healthy Pumpkin Pie Tofu Mousse [Gluten Free + Vegan]

Hey everyone, Casey here (@wholeandhealthy) from Casey's Wholesome Kitchen! :)

In keeping with the theme of "Banana Bambino's: Pumpkin," I've got a delicious (and super healthy!!) pumpkin mousse recipe for you, packed with plant based protein and fiber.

This mousse is a perfect fall breakfast, especially when topped with crunchy, maple-y pecans, sweet blueberries and a coconut butter frosting "Magic Shell"!!

Serves 1

Gluten free, Dairy Free, Vegan

You will need:

• 1/2 block light firm tofu (~7 ounces)
• firm tofu would work too, just add 1 tbsp plant based milk to the food processor
• 1/2 frozen, sliced banana
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• or a mix of cinnamon, ginger, allspice and cloves
• 1/2 tsp psyllium husks (optional)
• additional sweetener of choice, to taste (I used a few drops of liquid stevia)

Directions:

• Place your frozen banana slices in your food processor and whiz them around a few times to start breaking apart the chunks.
• Break apart the tofu into chunks and place them in the food processor with the remaining ingredients.
• Process until the mousse is completely smooth and no chunks of banana remain.
• Scoop into a bowl, then top with 1 tbsp of melted coconut butter to create your "Magic Shell." The mousse should be cold from the frozen banana, but you can always stick it in your freezer for a few minutes for the coconut butter to harden.
• Top with pecans, blueberries and chocolate, and enjoy the flavors of Fall!

Enjoy :)

Pumpkin French Toast

You want pumpkin? I ( Lin @tumblinbumblincrumblincookie and So Fine was the Morning) will give you pumpkin. Breakfast pumpkin, too, because it's me. And peanut butter too on top, but that's up to your own choice.

Feeling squashed in here? Well keep reading, cause this is the best type of squash. Not the rush-hour-train-stranger's-sweaty-armpit-smell kind of squash, but lovely buttery golden pumpkin, sweet and creamy, married with the speckled brown eggy custard of french toast. That is a beautiful squash.

These are the ultimate breakfast--quick, easy, efficient. I guarantee you, you've already got all of these ingredients in your pantry! Whip it up, sit down with a cuppa and a good read, and have a good headstart to your day. Lin, over and out.

Pumpkin French Toast by Lin

You will need:

-2 slices bread, stale sops up better but fresh is great!

-1/2 a banana

-1/4 cup steamed pumpkin

-1/4 cup plant based milk

-cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger to your preference

-1 tsp maca (optional)(I use Organic Burst)

-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-scant pinch salt

And that's it, guys! Heat up a pan on low heat on your stove and mix together the batter-- mash the banana and pumpkin till smooth, add the other ingredients and whisk. Dip in your bread and coat each side well, leaving it in for a while each side to let it soak in slightly. When your pan is hot enough such that a drop of water hisses and evaporates immediately upon contact, grease it with coconut oil/oil of choice and fry the bread--about 3-4 minutes on the first side and 2-3 minutes on the other side, till golden brown and lovely. Serve warm with toppings of choice.

Vegan Pumpkin Kaya (coconut custard)

  Kaya is a spread popular in Singapore that is traditionally made out of eggs, coconut and sugar. I grew up eating this thing by the bucket-loads, and I missed it when I moved away. I figured that as pumpkin puree had a similar texture to that of kaya, if I flavoured it with coconut, sugar and pandan, I would have my own vegan kaya. And it was (surprisingly) a huge success. So here it is:

Pumpkin Kaya by Sasha
3 1/2 cups of cubed Japanese pumpkin/Kabocha, steamed with skin and seeds removed*
1 cup full fat coconut milk, thick
70g coconut palm sugar (gula melaka)
5 pandan leaves, or a drop of pandan extract

1. Steam the pumpkin until soft and tender then blend it with the coconut milk and sugar until smooth. It should be ever so liquid-like, so if it is still too firm add an additional 3-4 tbsp of coconut milk

2. Transfer to a saucepan and add leaves or extract, stir over low heat until thick, about 1/2 an hour. 

3. Remove leaves if using and leave to cool before storing in the fridge.

This goes perfectly on toast, rice crackers, flaxseed crackers, rye bread, pancakes, oatmeal... the sky's the limit! This recipe was made for both the bambinos and my ebook :P

Pumpkin Caramel Blondies

Hi everybody, Eloise from @eatlikeeloise here. As you all know, this weeks @bananabambinos theme is PUMPKIN! You all know that this is my favourite food/ingredient in the world and I was so excited to get inventing. So I made these pumpkin blondies with a lovely caramel on top and some much loved chocolate mousse. They are a base of pumpkin and beans, loaded with protein and are vegan!

Vegan/ Dairy Free/ Gluten Free/ Refined Sugar Free/ Nut Free/ High Protein

Blondies

350 grams steamed pumpkin

1 tin of beans drained and rinsed (cannelini/butter/chickpeas) (150 grams once drained)

2 tbsp flaxseed oil (or coconut oil)

1/3 cup plant based milk

5 tbsp natural sweetener

1/2 cup vanilla plant based protein powder

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1 heaped tbsp flax meal

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp mesquite powder

Caramel

1/2 cup natural sweetener

1/2 tbsp mesquite powder

1/4 cup plant based milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Chocolate mousse

2 small avocados

1/4 cup plant based milk

1 heaped tbsp each carob and cacao powder

1 heaped tbsp each vanilla and chocolate plant based protein powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tbsp natural sweetener

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan forced. In a food processor, blend pumpkin and beans. Add in oil milk and sweetener and blend again. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined. In a lined square cake tin, spoon in the batter and level out and put aside.

Start on the caramel. Heat a large frypan. Add on sweetener and stir on medium heat until melted and fragrant. Add in mesquite and stir constantly. Add in milk and acv and continue stirring for another 5 minutes. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN OR STICK A FINGER IN IT...trust me, blisters badly. Pour the caramel on top of the batter to make a light layer, stick it in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Whilst in the oven, wipe your food processor clean and put in all the ingredients for the mousse and blend until super smooth. Take the blondies out of the oven and let cool or serve immediately cut into squares and served with a dollop of chocolate mousse and crushed pepitas or sesame seeds. 

Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

Hi, Carina here. I thought I could share one of the most basic pancake recipes with you all today. Since it's pancake sunday, I felt like I could ring in fall with some Pumpkin Pie Pancakes.

Ingredients (serves 12):

1.5 Cups buckwheat flour

2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flaxseeds mixed with 6 tbsp water)

1 cup pumpkin puree or mashed roasted pumpkin

3 tbsp maple syrup

9 tbsp soy yoghurt (sub with non-dairy milk if needed)

½ cup soy milk (or any other non-dairy alternative) 

½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp pumpkin pie spice (I used ½ tsp cinnamon and added equal amounts of nutmeg, ginger and cloves)

Method:

Heat your pan on medium to low heat. In the meantime combine all the ingredients and mix until well combined. I used roasted pumpkin and to prevent clumps I threw all the ingredients into a blender. Add ¼ cup batter to the pan and flip once the top starts to set. Serve with cookie butter and maple syrup.