pumpkin nut gut milk/peanut pulp baked treats!

I had to carve open one of my homegrown pumpkins to bake up some pumpkin pie samples for Greene Treats. I finally am able to satisfy my craving for the first homebrewed nut milk that I enjoyed at my friend's in Portland, Oregon....pumpkin gut milk!!!

the process

the squeeze

the delicious and beautiful final product! pumpkin guts and seeds milk!

Sweeten pumpkin milk with sugar, agave nectar, maple syrup, or honey and spice with cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. Sip happily :)
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As promised, I will share with you two ways that I utilized the leftover peanut milk pulp from this morning.

Vegan peanut milk pulp cookies

I used 1/4 cup peanut pulp, 1/4 cup fresh pumpkin puree (canned works too), and a spoonful of peanut butter. I sweetened the dough with 3 spoonfuls of raw brown sugar. I seasoned the dough with a bit of grated nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, a pinch of ground clove, a pinch of freshly grated ginger, and a dash of pure vanilla extract. I heaped ~5 spoonfuls of unbleached wheat flour (add a spoonful at a time until you get a normal cookie dough texture) and added a pinch of baking soda and a pinch of salt. The dough was gently mixed until combined and then I added dark chocolate chunks and pepitas. You could also add flaxseed, sesame seeds, or any other kind of nut or dried fruit. Maple extract or maple syrup would be great in this recipe too. I chilled my cookie dough before I dropped it onto a baking sheet.

raw pumpkin-peanut pulp cookie dough

To my surprise the cookie dough did not spread in the 400 degree oven and so the cookies turned out like biscuits. If you'd prefer thin and crispy cookies opposed to a fat and chewy cookie, use a fork to flatten out the dough before baking.

pumpkin-peanut pulp cookies

I only used half of my peanut pulp for the cookie recipe. I made vegan pumpkin-peanut pulp crackers too!

spiced pumpkin-peanut pulp crackers

To make these, combine pumpkin puree and peanut pulp. Season as you like, I suggest chipotle spice, curry powder, ground pepper, plenty of sea salt, dried sage, thyme, and rosemary. Add a few spoonfuls of wheat flour, mix well, form into a smooth dough ball and let rest in the fridge for a bit (I waited 20 minutes). On a well floured surface roll out the dough until it is cracker thin. Slice up into shapes, prick with a fork (to prevent puffing) and bake for ~15 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven (keep an eye on them, they bake very quickly because they are so thin). These are tremendous on their own but would also be excellent with some homemade nut pulp cheese.

let the nut milk adventures begin

I brewed my first nut milk last Wednesday while making a pumpkin and chicken-of-the-wood mushroom curry.

chicken-of-the-wood mushroom

Now I am totally hooked.
The milk was made with the guts and seeds of a small sugar pumpkin. Take the guts and seeds, add half the amount pure water (for a 2:1 ratio) and blend it up with a blender. Now you have a chunky milk puree. Well, there is another step to achieve nut milk. Pour all of the pulp into cheesecloth, muselin, or a piece of porous cotton (like a piece of summer-weight bedsheet) and catch all of the milk in a container. Feel free to give the "nut-bag" a squeeze to wring all of the milk out of the pulp. Now you are left with two fantastic products: 1. fresh, nutritious, delicious nut milk 2. nutritious and delicious nut pulp.
My second experiment with nut milk involved soaked almonds, peanuts, and walnuts. I soaked the nuts overnight and then the first thing I did in the morning was puree them in the blender with a little less water than nuts. The result? A delicious, unprecedented nut milk, perfect for Robert's morning coffee with a spoonful of agave nectar.
Later on that day I used some soaked almonds and hazelnuts for another batch of nut milk. The result? An intensely flavorful nut milk. Oh man, those hazelnuts are powerful!

hazelnuts/filberts

Nut milk pulp can be used in any baking application. This morning I used my almond-peanut-walnut pulp to make blackberry jam thumbprint cookies.

Just now I infused my fudge brownies with a splash of hazelnut-almond milk.

As I write this the leftover hazelnut-almond pulp is mingling with lactic acid rich sauerkraut juice to ferment into "nut cheese"! I'm letting the magic proceed overnight and in the morning I should have a tasty batch of fresh, tangy nut cheese. (There are multiple approaches to making nut cheese. One could skip the fermentation and simply dry it out in a disc shape until it forms a "rind" or season the damp pulp and enjoy your "cheese" spread immediately! I'll know when my cheese is ready when bubbles have formed - similar to a sourdough.)

nut cheese

My favorite of these milks was the first one, the pumpkin nut/gut milk. With just a dash of cinnamon and a spoonful of maple syrup, I had the most intensely "pumpkin pie" flavored beverage. It is most definitely crave-worthy. Just because Halloween has come and gone, doesn't mean you can't still eat pumpkins! Pumpkin meat makes the best soups and curries, and of course pie. While roasted pumpkin seeds are a great snack, I hope you will try using them to make pumpkin milk!