I’ve been loving vegan recipes lately. I suppose it’s due to the revelation that there’s no one right way to make many wonderful things, including cake. Just as we can be flexible in our approaches to healthy living and/or weight loss, we can also be flexible in the kitchen. That means diets promising instant weight loss by following a rigid eating style or recipes claiming such-and-such is essential to cooking success are limiting creativity (and are nonsense, anyway).
That’s why I’ll happily experiment with dairy alternatives or switch between regular eggs and chia “eggs” in baked recipes. The final products are both delicious, with their own signature tastes.
I previously made cashew cream (a vegan alternative to whipped cream, among other foods) once and posted it somewhere on this website, but for the life of me I can’t figure out where. No matter. This cinnamon version of cashew cream has protein and some healthy fats, and makes a hearty topping to these mini vegan pumpkin muffins (told you the mini-muffin pan would make another appearance – never doubt a hungry dietitian).
The pumpkin loaf recipe is adapted from this one and bakes up quickly. I made both mini-muffins and a whole loaf. Both are nearly gone.
Time to open another giant can of pumpkin!
Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Cashew Cream
 Prep Time: 15 minutes
 Cook Time: 10-12 min or 60-75 min
 Keywords: bake dessert vegan cashews
Ingredients (24 mini-muffins or 1 loaf)
Vegan Pumpkin Bread
- 1 cup light olive oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds or chia seeds mixed with 6 tablespoons warm water
- 1 cup pumpkin
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
Cinnamon Cashew Cream
- 1 1/2 cups raw whole cashews
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Extra ground cinnamon (for sprinkling)
Instructions
Place cashew in a medium bowl and fill with water. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Next day, drain and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine olive oil, sugar, seed mixture, pumpkin, and water. Mix thoroughly. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla and stir. Gradually stir in flours until combined.
Prepare mini muffin pan or loaf pan with cooking spray. Spoon mixture into pan and bake for 10-12 minutes (mini muffins) or 60-75 minutes (loaf). Bread is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and set on wire rack to cool.
While bread bakes, combine cashews, 1 cup water (should only cover cashews halfway), cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla in blender. Blend. Top pumpkin bread with cashew cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon and serve immediately.
P.S. Bonus pic! I served this pumpkin bread recently at Strawberry Fields:
The cashew cream was popular. I’d like to try a savory version in a pasta Alfredo.
P.P.S. I’m traveling this weekend, so no post this Friday. See you next week!
Cashew cream is so dreamy good, especially in savory creamy pastas – like the Alfredo you’ve mentioned. I’ve made couple of creamy pastas that use cashews, maybe you might be interested in trying them out:
http://veganmiam.com/recipes/vegan-rigatoni-hurry-up-alfredo
http://veganmiam.com/recipes/vegan-panko-crusted-mac-cheeze
Your vegan pumpkin bread cupcakes look divine, perfect for snacking and of course breakfast with a bit of raw cashew milk with pumpkin spices!
Both of those look delicious, especially the mac & cheez!
I will be checking your creamy pasta recipes.
Things currently in my pantry:
A can of pumpkin
A box of cashews I didn’t know what to do with
And here’s a recipe combining both!! Can I use egg instead of chia seed though? And how much would that be?
Now that I am settled in my new place, I can feel my hands itching to bake again!
You definitely can! The conversion is 1 egg to 1 tablespoon ground seed mixture, so the recipe uses two eggs.
I didn’t know you were in a new place! I hope it’s very comfortable 🙂
Pumpkin season is the best 🙂 These looks so cute…perfect for a luxurious snack 🙂 I like your “mini” idea…although I might end up eating several mini muffins instead of one bigger one :-O
Have a wonderful time traveling, Jessie! 😀
even though I am not a vegan I absolutely love experimenting with vegan alternatives – creamy cashew cream sounds heavenly here 🙂 Happy Traveling.
I love cashew creams/”cheese” but have only made savory versions. The sweet version sounds delicious.
Enjoy your travels! 🙂
Where is the photo of a stack of mini-muffins?!?! Just because there’s cream on top you’re giving up your longstanding traditions?!
PS Your increase video was extremely helpful. Thank you!
You’re too sharp for me! I promise another mini-muffin stack before long 🙂 Glad the video was helpful! I’d love to see a picture of the finished piece.
I love experimenting with various vegan alternatives, though I’ve yet to attempt cashew cream! After seeing these…it is for sure on my to-do list.
And down with those rigid diet plans!
Love the idea of topping this with cashew cream! It looks good enough to question my deep love of frosting 🙂
How cute are these. Cashew cream is my new favourite to experiment with, so versatile!
wow! what a great idea with the cashews- this looks perfect to enjoy during the fall!
Oh YUM!! I just got the pumpkin bug again after overdosing last year 🙂 These sounds marvelous.
My only beef with cashew cream is that cashews are pretty damn expensive.
They’re the bane of my wallet.
Do you really use a cup of olive oil?
Yep! That’s about 2 teaspoons per muffin. Thanks for your question!