Halloween Pumpkin Goodies! (Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin O's)

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Vegan MoFo continues Halloweegan style! We had some mashed potatoes left over from our mashed potato ghosts, and some pumpkin puree left over from another meal that I will post about some time this week. So that meant that it was time to improvise some pumpkin soup!

I thought the soup was just OK, but Mr. Wing it loved it! Mr. Wing-It always finishes his meals before me and he starts doing the dishes right away (I know!), so there I was finishing my soup by myself, when I looked behind me and saw him slouching over the kitchen sink spooning out the tiny little bit of soup that was left in the pot and licking the spoon clean. I figured the soup had to be blog worthy!


(Left Over) Mashed Potato Pumpkin Soup

olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 small carrots
1 cup mashed potatoes (waxy potatoes are the smoothest)
1 cup canned pureed pumpkin
1 cup water or vegetable broth
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tbsp of parsley (minced)
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika, mainly for color
salt to taste
dash of black pepper
a couple of dashes of nutmeg, or to taste

1- Saute the onion and the red pepper in a little bit of olive oil for about 8 minutes or until soft.

2- In a blender or large food processor, combine the sauteed onion and peppers, carrots, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pure, water, soy milk, parsley, and paprika and blend until very smooth.

3- Transfer the soup to a pot and add salt, black pepper, nutmeg to taste.

5- Simmer until thoroughly hot and serve. This made two bowls of soup.

This soup has a mild pumpkin flavor, if you want it super pumpkiny add an extra 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree.

If you want to draw the creepy face on it, you just need to spoon two big drops of a smooth marinara, pizza sauce, or even tomato sauce for the eyes, one big drop for the nose, and one curvy line for the mouth. Then take a toothpick and "drag" the tomato sauce eyes and nose to create triangles. Also using a toothpick, draw a zigzag line across the mouth to create the creepy mouth effect. It sounds more complicated than it is, and it doesn't have to be perfect - mine certainly isn't.


Now on to dessert! If you're expecting a super healthful cookie, then turn around and keep looking-this ain't it! These Halloweegan Pumpkin-O's consist of a smooth pumpkin cream sandwiched between two crunchy chocolate shortbread cookies.


Halloweegan Pumpkin-O's

For the chocolate shortbread:

1/2 cup Earth Balance or other vegan butter substitute
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 to 2 tbsp water

1- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

2- In a medium size bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the EB and the brown sugar. Beat well until smooth and creamy.

3- Stir in 1/2 cup of flour and the cocoa.

4- Add 1 tbsp of water and blend it in.

5- Add the rest of the flour, adding more water if needed. The dough should be just firm enough for you to be able to roll it out and cut out your cookies. Not too firm, but not too sticky and unmanageable.

6- Roll out the dough (no more than 1/4 inch thick) on a floured surface and use a cookie cutter to cut out pumpkin shaped cookies. Round or oval cookies will also work just fine.

7- Carefully transfer the cookies to the prepared cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool down to room temperature before you start the cream filling.

This made 4 big sandwiches (8 single cookies).

Ingredients for the pumpkin cream:

1/4 cup Earth Balance or other butter substitute
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tbsp vanilla
cinnamon to taste (a couple of dashes was plenty for me)

1- In a small mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the Earth Balance.

2- When the EB is light and fluffy, add the rest of the ingredients and keep mixing on high until creamy and smooth.

3- Use a spatula to spread the filling on top of half of the cookies. Top them with the other half.

I used melted chocolate chips to draw the faces, using a decorating tip. You can melt your chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals (cook and stir, cook and stir, until melted) or if you're fancy and proper you can use a double boiler. To fill the eyes and the nose after I drew them with the melted chocolate chips, I used a powder sugar and carrot juice icing that I didn't measure at all. Sorry. I gradually added carrot juice to a little bit of powder sugar until it was the right consistency. Looking back now, I probably would have added a pinch of paprika and turmeric to give it a deeper orange color. Oh well, there's always next time.

Keep the sandwich cookies refrigerated and eat them cold so the cream stays put. Also, these have a mild, pleasant pumpkin flavor. Add more pumpkin to taste for a stronger pumpkiny flavor.

Phew! That was a long post!

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Comments

  1. Your food is always so cute, haha!! :0)

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  2. I have run out of words to say how cute you are! Each meal is more adorable than the one before it!

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  3. OMG! I wish we could have that vegan celeb feast right now! I am hiring you to make the cookies!! Those are adorable!

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  4. Your treats are so adorable!!

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  5. you are kicking a** and taking names, Halloweegan style. So totally festive!

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  6. I love those cookies. They are so cute and have such a sense of humor.

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  7. Amazing! You put so much effort into the adorable treats you make, and every recipe is so feasible, I could totally go make that right now. I sure hope you're writing a cookbook!

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  8. i continuely love all of your festive eats and treats! you are so talented!

    and i'm going to make your cute halloweegan pumpkin-os's for halloween. easy and delicious!

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  9. Hi River,

    Your soup and cookies both look so good! Your creativity inspires me.

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  10. River, you had me at the soup, but then you made pumpkin cream-filled cookies, too! Thank you so much for sharing these fabulous recipes!

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  11. You make the cutest food ever! The soup, the cookies, the cross rolls... do you deliver? You know, to France?

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  12. !!!!!!
    it's all I have to say. because really: you slay me. I shall call you Buffy.

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  13. Is there a Halloween minister or something like that in your country? I would definitely vote for you!

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  14. chocolate shortbread! You are brilliant. I love pumpkin soup so much! Excellent post. Thank you for all your kind words on my blog.

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  15. love love love all your halloween posts...
    they all look so goog...
    very creative :)

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  16. Thank you for such super sweet feedback, everyone!!

    I will gladly deliver to France for some room and board! :P

    The rolls were supposed to be "tombstone dinner rolls", but I was in a hurry and they're just normal rolls with poppy seed crosses.

    Buffy - ha! Does that make you a vampire, Celine? I knew you weren't human, you big baking vampire!

    No cookbook writing for me! Maybe in the distant future it will be something I want to do. But thanks for mentioning it :)

    Brooke, I'm so glad you're going to make the Pumpkin-O's! That's the whole point of Halloweegan, to help fellow vegans have a kick-a** Halloween! We don't need those stupid dairy-preservative-food coloring-egg-chemical ridden grocery store Halloween food!

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  17. The soup looks and sounds delicious. And the cookies are adorable. My husband helps with the dishes too. Isn't it awesome? Hope you have a wonderful day.

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  18. oh my! those Halloweegan Pumpkin-O's are things of beauty and sound delicious!

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  19. lovin all the Halloween themed cookies! :)

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  20. I'm curious as to why you thought the soup was only OK? It sounds delectable and your food artistry is killing me! The soup and the pumpkin O's are too cute!

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  21. Oh my goodness, how I JUST discovered your blog, I don't know - but why has this secret been kept from me? I went trhough and read, well, like almost ALL of it! You are SOOOo creative!! LOVE it!

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  22. so frickin' adorable! I love your blog it makes me smile and be happy!

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  23. I am hosting a Halloween vegan potluck November 1rst - I will be looking here for inspiration!

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  24. Wow! That soup and those sammich cookies look fantastic!

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  25. Those pictures should really been on a magazine cover.

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  26. wow, River! you've done it again with the cuteness! yay! are those rolls with crosses in the background?! double-yay! and the pumpkin soup sounds great to me. mr. wing & i have something in common - right after i finish my meal i like to get the dishes done asap, too! i'm a bit OCD like that. tee hee!

    "pumpkiny" = awesome! and your cookies rock! i love their little faces! i also love that you use juices for coloring instead of scary food dyes and such! makes me most happyfaced!

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  27. my goodness! i want to trick or treat at your house. you know how to do it! ;)

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  28. Brilliant! I am bookmarking all these posts as Littlepixie's birthday is the start of November, and I intend to sneak in a few Halloweegan treats into the mix :)

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  29. I feel like I'm repeating myself here over and over, but everything looks SO cute!

    Must have one of those Halloweegan Pumpkin-O's. Must. Have!

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  30. those cookie sandwiches look so good. you have no idea- i have the worst weakness for fluffy cream between two beautiful chocolate cookies. thank you so much for putting the recipe on here!

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  31. I have to make these for my girls. I love your blog and the food is just too cute!

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  32. omg, those are too cute. even soup is cute on your blog.

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  33. I wan to make your Pumpkin O's! Your blog is fantastic

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