Traditional Eggnog is high in fat because it is made with whole milk, heavy cream, and egg yolks. A significant amount of alcohol is also added. In this article, I will share with you how to make Vegan Eggnog without alcohol for the festive season. I will also include a few healthy additions and variations. This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients

• 2 cups coconut milk – you can use any thick non-dairy milk
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds – presoak them in a little water for 4 hours
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 Banana
• Spices – ½ teaspoon each
• Ground cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (optional)
• Ice cubes – you can also use frozen bananas instead of ice cubes.
• A pinch of salt

Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend to a smooth consistency.

Serve immediately.

If you don’t plan on consuming the vegan eggnog immediately, blend everything in advance except the bananas. Once peeled, bananas start to oxidize. So right before serving, add the bananas and blend again.

Why Chia Seeds?

For this vegan eggnog recipe, I use soaked chia seeds because of their “eggy” like consistency. Eggnog is all about eggs and milk (with cream of course). Secondly, Chia seeds are the healthiest natural supplements we have. Research proves that chia seeds contain twice more calcium than milk, more omega 3 than fish, more antioxidants, and the list goes on. In fact, for those of us following the Ketogenic diet, chia seeds play a significant role in boosting your health.

If you manage to get chia seeds from a farmers market, they retail very cheap. But if you can’t, buy the commercially packed ones from online stores. You can use the seeds in any recipe but don’t cook them. Add them raw just before serving.

An Alternative Vegan Eggnog Recipe

If you have more people to serve, this recipe works better. You can prepare in advance and chill in the refrigerator. We will use homemade almond milk and homemade coconut cream. If you don’t have the time, just buy some from your favorite vegan store.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients

• 2-cups almond milk
• 2-cups coconut cream
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (whatever sweetener you like
• Spices – ½ teaspoon each
• Ground cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt

Add all the ingredients in a blender and blend to a smooth consistency.

Serving

To serve like a barista, grind some vegan cookies or biscuits. Coat the glass with biscuit crumble and pour in the vegan eggnog. Sprinkle some of that powder and attach a cookie on the glass. Throw in two cinnamon sticks per glass and a hint of the spices you used on the serving plate. This is very important, especially when serving strangers. The hints help them identify the drink with its ingredients.

The Bottom Line

For the best vegan eggnog, make your almond milk fresh at home. It is more creamy and frothy compared to store bought milk. It is easy to extract milk from fresh almonds, but you need to be patient as the nuts soak in water. If this is not your forte, buy high-quality milk. A mark of good quality vegan products is in the list of ingredients. The shorter the list, the better the quality!

Use any vegan eggnog leftovers to make cinnamon rolls or eggnog French toast.

Baking a vegan gluten-free pumpkin pie can be challenging especially if you don’t know which ingredients to use and their ratios. The key challenge with vegan pies is usually the crust. That is where all the calories and gluten rest. If you are in a rush, you can use the store bought vegan piecrusts. However, in this recipe, I will share with you the healthy version.

This recipe serves eight, but you can double the ingredients for a larger serving. And we are using a 9″ round pie tin.

To Make the Piecrust

Most piecrusts use any form of fat and flour plus a little liquid to tie it all together. Non-vegans use lard, butter, and milk. In this vegan gluten-free pumpkin pie recipe, we will use vegetable shortening, gluten-free flour, and almond milk. You can, however, substitute the milk with any non-dairy milk, and use other healthier flour options like a combination of cassava flour with oats flour.

The Ingredients

1½-cup gluten-free all-purpose flour

½ cup vegetable shortening

¼ cup almond milk

A pinch of sugar and salt to taste

The Procedure

Just like with any other piecrust, chill the vegetable shortening, bowl, spoons, rolling pin, and any other tool you will be using in the fridge a few hours before prep.

Sift in all the dry ingredients in the cold bowl.

Add the shortening and using a fork, break it down in the flour to form a crumbly texture.

Add the milk and use your hands to knead until well combined. Because our flour lacks the binding gluten, the dough will not hold or stretch for long. So you have to work with it carefully but quickly.

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes in the fridge.

Then roll it out into a circle. If you like a crisp piecrust, then roll it thin and precook before adding the pumpkin filling. If you prefer the thick, chewy piecrust, roll out thick. I prefer medium sized piecrusts because even without pre-cooking they cook fully without burning in a short time.

Transfer to the baking tin. Cut the excess pastry and firm the edges using a fork or your fingers.

Put it back in the fridge as you prepare the pumpkin filling.

To Make the Pumpkin Filling

The Ingredients

2-cups pumpkin

½-cup coconut milk

¼-cup maple syrup

1-tablespoon pumpkin pie spice – You can use the store-bought ones or make yours from scratch

A pinch of salt

The Procedure

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F)

In a blender, puree all the ingredients until they form a thick but smooth consistency

Pour this mixture into the piecrust and bake for an hour or until the vegan gluten-free pumpkin pie is well done.

The pie will be a bit delicate once you remove from the oven. Let it cool and then chill overnight to set firmly.

To Serve

Whip up some coconut cream until it forms soft peaks. If it’s too thick, add a little coconut milk to get your desired consistency.

Pipe this cream over the vegan gluten-free pumpkin pie, Portion into eight slices and enjoy.

Vegan pumpkin spice cookies are a quick breakfast and dessert addition. They make good use of leftover pumpkins too. In this recipe, I will share with you a simple yet delicious and healthy vegan pumpkin spice cookies recipes that even your kids can make this season. I will also show you how to make healthy cookie frosting the vegan way. Let’s get started!

The Ingredients

For the Cookies

½-cup all-purpose flour – Purchase the gluten-free version

1-tablespoon corn flour

½-cup pumpkin puree

Maple syrup – ¼-cup (optional if you don’t like them too sweet)

½-cup coconut sugar

A pinch of salt

½-cup cocoa butter (you can use coconut oil or any vegetable oil you prefer)

Pumpkin spice mix (1 teaspoon of each):

• Ginger
• Cinnamon
• Allspice
• Nutmeg

For the vegan cookie frosting

½-cup organic shortening

¼-cup coconut sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. almond extract

A pinch of salt

Note

To prepare the pumpkin puree, steam your pumpkin with its skin on until tender. Puree in a blender for silky smooth vegan pumpkin spice cookies or mush with a fork if you prefer tasting the pumpkin chunks in your cookies.

You can use the brown coconut sugar. It’s less refined and, therefore, concentrated with more minerals which makes it healthier.

The Procedure

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 C)

In a wide bowl, sift in the dry ingredients.

Make a well at the center and pour in the wet ingredients.

Mix with a wooden spoon until incorporated but avoid over-mixing. It is ok to have a few lumps.

Leave the mix in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. This allows your mixture to bind properly with the oil. Otherwise, if you bake directly, the two will separate, and you’ll end up with oily cookies.

Also note that with this recipe, the mixture might look a bit wet. Don’t worry. It will thicken once you let it sit in the fridge.

Using an ice cream scoop, portion the mixture onto a lined cookie-baking tray. You can also use a spoon to measure walnut-size batter portions and then shape into neat rounds using your hands. The spoon is rather messy that’s why I prefer using an ice cream scoop.

Bake the cookies for 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, to make the frosting, combine all the ingredients with a wooden spoon until the mixture is light and creamy. Feel free to use food coloring if you prefer colored frosting. Pipe the frosting on your cooled cookies and sprinkle some coconut spice mix.

You can as well add sprinkles or granulated sugar.

In Conclusion

Because of the pumpkin, these cookies will have a softer texture. If you love crunchier vegan pumpkin spice cookies, leave them in the oven for a little longer. For fluffier and spongy cookies, add a tablespoon of cream. I must mention that with pumpkin, don’t try rolling out the cookies as we do with simple cookie dough. The result will be a hard and unpleasant cookie. Scoping a softer batter works best.

Enjoy your vegan pumpkin spice cookies!