Rocket and Roses Roasted Pumpkin Dessert Pie with Cocoa and Oat Topping ~ Gluten Free

Kitchen Play List: The Union ~ Siren's Song Album

7/1/12 I have been 'off kitchen duty' for the last few days due to my silly body acting up. So I haven't been able to bring you recipes etc. Today is the last day of this nonsense (can you tell I am being my usual impatient self?? lol) and will be much happier when I can bring you the usual content. I've looked back into my archives and found these two recipes. They were made the same day as the Rocket and Roses Pear and Ginger Dessert Pie. Now this Pumpkin pie was very much a Marmite pie...you loved it or you hated it. lol. I liked it and My love..not so much. My pal D liked it and B..not so much. lol. However the second recipe I created to use up the leftover topping..everyone who tried it..loved it. lol. Normal service will hopefully be resumed tomorrow and I am looking forward to getting back.

During this time of 'being good' I have plenty of time to think...and now major changes are coming. I'm changing my understairs cupboard into a pantry..swapping two of the rooms in our house around..I can't wait. lol. My Love is sorry now for even making the suggestion...lol. But I am very excited.

I have been reading about Simplifying via the Vegan Flower blog. Molly and her husband are currently going through this process and I think it maybe starting to rub off on me. lol.

OK hope these recipes can fill the gap until I'm back tomorrow..lol. Happy Weekend All! ~R~

I think I temporarily lost my marbles the afternoon I created this recipe. I had finished cooking for the day and cleaned down the kitchen and made myself a cuppa and was going to sit down and do some writing. Personally I blame the coffee I had been drinking that week..I do..I'm usually a strictly herbal tea gal..but for some reason that week I had been craving Hazelnut Coffee...will I ever learn? lol. Apparently..not! lol. I had been trying out Manifest Vegan's sweet pastry recipe which is also GF and I had ended up with two blind baked pasty shells and I had made a Pear and Ginger Dessert Pie with one and was lost as what to do with the other. We don't eat a lot of pie in this house. Unless it's a very special occasion or festive holiday..so I was stumped. 

Earlier in the week I had cut...hacked...axed into a glorious Crown Prince Pumpkin and made a frittata with some of it...at the same time I had also cut some into wedges (skin left on..) and using a piece of kitchen towel with a drip of sunflower oil, rubbed the flesh over and then put then onto a baking sheet and left them to roast in the oven. When done I brought the tray out and left it on the surface to cool. Then the rest of the day happened and I simply popped them into an airtight container in the fridge. When we ate the Frittata we both agreed that it was a very sweet pumpkin and how nice a dessert would be....*spark* lol 

So, facing the empty pie shell, and that the day I baked these pies was Thanksgiving in the US I decided to throw my hat into the Pumpkin Pie arena. Now it's the first time I have ever...ever...used Pumpkin as a dessert so it did freak me out a little. lol. But I wanted to keep it very simple so I made up my own little pot of Pumpkin Pie Spices...2 tbsp cinnamon..2 tsp ground ginger...2 tsp nutmeg and 1 1/2 tsp ground cloves and got out my Maple Syrup and got to work on the filling which I then poured into the pastry case and leveled off. 

But I felt it needed something more. So inspired by the Pear and Ginger Pie, I got the pot of oats out once again and set to work making another oaty topping. I remembered an American pal of mine who was obsessed with Pumpkin and Chocolate together as a combination and that is how the cocoa topping came together. 

Now I really didn't need all of the topping on this pie so I used half and saved half for another recipe that will follow shortly but there is no reason why the spare topping couldn't be frozen until needed. 

Rocket and Roses Roasted Pumpkin Dessert Pie with Cocoa & Oaty Topping

Rocket and Roses Roasted Pumpkin Dessert Pie with Cocoa & Oat 
Topping Serves 8
(Original recipe from the Rocket and Roses Vegan Kitchen except the GF pastry which is 
all Manifest Vegans work) 

1 Manifest Vegan GF blind baked pastry shell
http://www.manifestvegan.com/2011/11/bourbon-laced-pumpkin-pie-with-walnut-crumble-topping/#more-9446

 3lb roasted pumpkin wedges, skins and charring cut away
2 tsp Maple Syrup
1/2 pumpkin pie spice blend

1 2/3 cups/5oz gluten free oats
1/3 cup/2oz demerara sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cocoa
1/3 cup/2oz vegan butter or margarine

In a blender or using a hand blender blitz the pumpkin flesh, maple syrup and spices together until smooth. Spoon into the pastry shell and smooth across to make an even surface. 

In a bowl mix together the oats, sugar, cocoa, vanilla extract and then using two knives cut in the margarine until a large crumb consistency is found. Spoon half of the topping into a freezer bag and freeze until ready to use and spoon the other half onto the pumpkin pie to leave a domed crumble topping. 

A pie awaiting the hot oven..looks good enough to eat at this stage,  eh? lol

Place in a pre-heated 375'F/190'C/Gas Mark 5 oven and bake for 30 minutes until the topping has darkened but not charcoaled! lol. 

Serve immediately as a hot dessert or leave to cool and then refrigerate as a cold dessert. Serve with vegan vanilla or chocolate ice cream, pouring cream or custard. 

But most importantly...enjoy! 
~R~

Rocket and Roses Pear & Ginger Dessert Pie ~ Gluten Free

Kitchen Play List: The Union ~ Siren's Song Album

Today should indeed be a pasty recipe but when it came to writing it up I found that the house pixies had moved my recipe lol. I hate it when that happens so I shall most definitely get Part 4 to you as soon as I've found it. So in it's place is the first part of a dessert pie making session I had last week. I was saving it for the Holidays Special but there is never a wrong time for a dessert pie recipe, right? lol. Taste testers have enjoyed this pie very much so if you give it a try...let me know your opinion, eh? ~R~

I have no idea why I made this pie..I wasn't needing a pie...I wasn't asked to make a pie and I certainly didn't have the energy to start an afternoon of experimenting with a new GF pastry recipe and then create two new fillings and toppings for it. But something took over and made me get busy in the kitchen and two hours later I had two new Rocket and Rose Dessert Pies and a new Rocket and Rose Crumble dessert. Maybe it had something to do with the Hazelnut Coffees I have been enjoying this week instead of my usual herbal teas? Surely not? I mean I've only had..*counting*..erm...Oh! O...K..maybe that would explain the energy boost. lol. Anyway...


I'm not the biggest ginger fan but I like ground ginger and the idea of a pear and ginger 'something' had been lurking around my head for a while. I just didn't know what form it was going to take. I was testing out a new GF sweet pastry recipe today from the wonderful Manifest Vegan blog. (Link for the recipe is below) And I have to say this recipe is a bitch pain to roll out and I do confess I rolled it out as far as I could and then put it into my pie dishes and then pressed in the remaining pieces to form the pie cases. Then blind baked them for 10 minutes with dried beans and then had them sat on my surface whilst I was trying to think of what to do with them..(Maybe a cup of coffee was enjoyed here too? lol) I should also add that one mix of this pastry made the two pie bases easily!

The first idea was this one as I had a dish of cooked pears waiting to be used up and so it flowed from there. The idea for a crumble based topping I came to as an alternative to having to make more pastry for a lid..really it was that simple. Now I am not claiming that these pies are healthy...but pie rarely is and should be a 'once in a while' treat...that's just my opinion. 

Rocket and Roses Pear and Ginger Dessert Pie

Rocket and Roses Pear and Ginger Dessert Pie Serves 8
(Original recipe from the Rocket and Roses Vegan Kitchen..except the pastry recipe
that is all Manifest Vegans work)

1 Manifest Vegan GF pastry shell
http://www.manifestvegan.com/2011/11/bourbon-laced-pumpkin-pie-with-walnut-crumble-topping/#more-9446  

6 cooked pears, peeled, cored & quartered
1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 2/3 cups/5oz gluten free oats or quinoa flakes
1 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup/2 oz demerara sugar
1/3 cup/2oz vegan butter or margarine

In a bowl mix together the oats, ground ginger and demerara sugar until well combined. Then add the margarine and cut into the mix with two knives until a large crumbs consistency is found. 

Take your pre-baked pie shell and then arrange the pears, covering the entire base of the pie. Then sprinkle with the ground ginger. Pour the oat topping over slowly and push down into the pears. It will look like quite a mountain but it will shrink slightly in baking. 

Pear and Ginger Dessert Pie awaiting the oven

Place in a pre-heated oven at 375'F/190'C/Gas Mark 5 and bake for 30 minutes until the topping is golden brown and the pie crust is coming away from the dish. 

An extra shot for luck! lol

Serve immediately as a hot dessert or leave to cool and then refrigerate for a cold dessert. Serve alone or with vegan vanilla ice cream, pouring cream or custard. 

But most importantly...enjoy! 
~R~