Last night my nephew, Chris, and his darling wife Ami came to our place for dinner. They brought their son Holden, who is just 4 months old and we have our 6 month old little girl, Kaia. It was completely adorable to see how the two were fascinated with each other. There is also a certain level of understanding between Moms who are at the same stage of never being able to have a hot meal which, funny enough, made it a very relaxed dinner. The menu was homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs, fresh Italian bread, and a salad of baby mixed greens dressed with Balsamic Vinaigrette. Ami volunteered to bring a dessert of Pumpkin Brownies. I loved how the flavor of the raw cocoa worked with the pumpkin, making this a new craveable favorite.

pumpkin brownies

Ami, who is also a food blogger at Beyond Peas and Carrots, adapted this recipe from one she saw on blogchef. This was a scrumptious dessert that is wonderful served as is or with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream.

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups organic sugar
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like enjoy life vegan chocolate chips)
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

Line an 8×8 inch baking dish with aluminum foil (optional, but I find it is easier to remove the brownies from the baking dish and cut them that way). Lightly grease the foil.

In a bowl sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl cream together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs (one at a time). Slowly add in the flour mixture, a little at a time, and stir until the batter is evenly moistened.

Divide the batter in half evenly into 2 separate bowls.

In one of the bowls blend in the cacao powder and chocolate chips. In the second bowl of batter stir in pumpkin purée, walnuts, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

Spread half of the chocolate batter mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Pour half of the pumpkin batter mixture over that. Repeat the layers, ending with a pumpkin layer. Drag a knife through the layers in a swirling motion creating a marble appearance.

Bake in the oven at 350°F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and cut into squares

Tips from Ami
White table sugar would also work I’m sure, I never have this on hand though as I always use organic sugar, demerara or turbinado. I also like the the larger consistency and slight molasses flavor of the organic sugar.

You could use cocoa powder, but I prefer the flavor of raw cacao powder. Plus, it is a super food and loaded with antioxidants.