Pumpkin cookies recipe (egg free cookies)

Chefs eggless pumpkin cookies recipe are a delight to eat whether you can eat eggs or not.
There are a variety of reasons that people do not eat eggs such as allergies or a vegan life style.

Egg free recipes are great even if you do eat eggs, sometimes you really want to bake something and you realise that there are no eggs in the fridge .

These pumpkin cookies are very delicious and Chef has baked the cookies in two variations especially for you.

Firstly there is the flat pumpkin cookie sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, next is the round pumpkin cookie with can be sprinkled with cinnamon sugar or not.

This is one pumpkin cookie recipe that gives you two different types of cookie.

Chef uses homemade pumpkin puree which adds a little vitamin c to these tasty treats.

It is a really easy recipe to bake.

Ingredients for Egg free pumpkin cookies

2oz Margarine
4oz Light brown Muscovado sugar
6oz Plain flour
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
Pinch Ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
100g Chefs Pumpkin puree
Cinnamon sugar

Picture of a flat pumpkin cookies ready to be baked in a hot oven.

Picture from left to right, flat pumpkin cookies, round pumpkin cookie and round cookie with no cinnamon sugar.

Picture of Chef breaking a flat pumpkin cookie.

How to make egg free pumpkin cookies



To make homemade cinnamon sugar simply mix a few spoonfuls of white caster sugar with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.

Place the sugar, margarine, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla into a mixing bowl.
Mix well.

Add the pumpkin puree and mix.

Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and baking powder. Mix very well.

Grease and flour a baking tray.

Place large teaspoons of the pumpkin cookie mixture onto the tray.

Bake in a hot oven at gas mark 6 for 8-9 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven and flatten each cookie with a fork.

Sprinkle each cookie with cinnamon sugar and place back into the oven for no more than 10 minutes.

For a different cookie than the flat pumpkin cookies, spoon the pumpkin cookie mixture onto the oven tray in large teaspoons.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or leave plain.

Place into a hot oven at gas mark 6 for 15-20 minutes.

You can bake both styles of pumpkin cookie and see which you prefer, both taste delicious.

When the pumpkin cookies are done remove from the oven tray immediately and leave to cool on a wire rack.

You only need to grease and flour the oven trays once, let the tray cool for a few minutes before baking another batch of cookies.

Enjoy Chefs egg free pumpkin cookies recipe.

Portobello Mushrooms with Leeks, Spinach, and Cheese

If you are always on the look-out for a lovely, sophisticated, and easy side dish for Sunday dinner or for dinner parties, you will enjoy this. The recipe is for four portobello mushrooms, although I prepared only half of it, using my unbelievable math skills. Depending on the size of the portobellos, two mushrooms might be enough for four people. Still, one of my favorite cooks always said, "You eat with your eyes first." Serving these whole makes such a beautiful presentation, I was thinking of her while I served our Sunday dinner.
Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 leeks
4 Portobello mushroom caps
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Kosher or sea salt and black pepper
2 cups chopped fresh (preferably organic) spinach (about 2 ounces)
1 cup crumbled soft goat cheese, or Greek feta cheese (your preference)

Preparation:
Pre‐heat oven to 450 degrees
Leeks are sandy by nature. Their flavor is well worth the preparation. Here’s an easy way to clean them.
1) Trim dark‐green parts from leeks; slice leeks crosswise, and soak in cold water. Swish leeks to help loosen dirt. Repeat with fresh water until you no longer see any grit at bottom of bowl. Lift leek slices out of water, leaving grit behind; drain them thoroughly on paper towels.
2) Place mushroom caps, gill sides up, on a rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with oil and vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Bake until caps are just tender, about 20 - 25 minutes.
3) Top with leeks, spinach, and cheese; season again if desired.
4) Bake until spinach wilts and cheese starts to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

Happy Halloween from Chef Jeena

Spooky things have been happening in Jeenas Kitchen...

The face of Alan Carr has appeared in one of Chefs pumpkins!!!

Can you imagine the fright?

Who is more scary, Alan Carr or the Jack-o-lantern?

It seems we even captured the spooky visit in the form of a weird red flame......spoooooky!

Hope you enjoy Halloween weekend everyone!

Picture of the real Alan Carr (one of the UK's funniest comedians!)


Any resemblance?



Happy Halloween Everyone!

Have a fun and spooky weekend!

Click here to see how to carve a jack o lantern


Click here for pumpkin pie recipe

Leek and White Asparagus Soup

This soup is comfort unlimited! The white asparagus are slightly sweeter than the green, and whenever I see them at the market, I just have to get at least one bunch of them for this soup. I usually cave in, though, and buy another bunch to grill up and then wrap with smoked wild salmon slices (an appetizer extraordinaire if I do say so myself).
But back to the soup. This recipe takes less than 30 minutes to prepare, and will make about 8 cups of soup, once you puree it. Because it is such an easy soup to drink, I love to divide it into 2 cup mason jars to take to school for lunch. Makes my day.
Enjoy.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 bunch of white asparagus (approximately 20-25 spears), chopped
3 leeks, whites only, cleaned and cut into rings (as shown)
5 to 6 cups organic chicken stock or vegetable stock
2 to 3 cups almond milk
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste See note.

Saute all the vegetables in the olive oil, adding the garlic last, for 2 to 3 minutes, just until soft. Add the stock, and bring the soup to a boil. Lower the heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the asparagus is cooked through.
Remove the soup from the heat, and let it cool slightly.
Transfer the soup into a blender, in batches if necessary, and blend until smooth.
Return the soup to the pot, add the almond milk and bring it back to heat.
Check for seasoning.
Note: Purists may want to use white pepper, because the soup is a very light color. This is entirely up to purists.

Pumpkin pie recipe

Pumpkin pie recipes can be made using many different variations.

Chef bakes a pumpkin pie using a sweet shortcrust pastry and a filling of fresh pumpkin puree, ground almonds and eggs.

As you can see the colour of this pumpkin pie is a vibrant orange due to the fresh pumpkin puree used making the pie.

The filling is very tasty and it is very easy to get addicted to this pumpkin pie recipe.

As an extra special treat for Halloween Chef uses the left over pie pastry to make some biscuits shaped into bats, which are sprinkled with cinnamon sugar before being baked.

The pumpkin puree used in this recipe was Chefs homemade pumpkin puree so the recipe may be some what different if canned pumpkin is used.

Ingredients for pumpkin pie recipe

14 level Tbsp Chefs Pumpkin puree
5oz White caster sugar
2 medium Egg yolks
2 medium Egg whites
1oz Caster sugar
3 Tbsp Cornflour (corn starch)
80g Ground almonds

Chef Sweet shortcrust pastry recipe
6oz Plain all purpose flour
3oz Butter/Margarine
Pinch salt
1 Tbsp Caster sugar
5 tsp Cold water

Would you like a taste of this delicious pumpkin pie?

How to make a pumpkin pie

Place all of the dry ingredients for the pastry into a bowl and mix.

Rub the butter/margarine into the flour to make a crumb texture. Add the water and bring the pastry dough together.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry into a round shape.

Grease and flour a pie dish or a tart tin and place the rolled out pastry into the oven dish.

Slice off any excess pastry and pinch the edges of the pie with your fingers for decoration.

Cover the pastry case and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Place some greaseproof paper on top of the pastry and fill the pie with dried beans.

Bake in a hot oven at gas mark 6 for 10 minutes.

Carefully remove the beans and greaseproof paper and then return the pastry case to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until it is not moist in the middle.

Remove the pastry case from the oven and leave to cool whilst you make the filling for the pumpkin pie.

Use the remainder of the pastry to make bat or ghoul biscuits for the pumpkin pie.

Roll the pastry out again and use a pastry cutter or paper stencil drawn by hand, slice around the shape.

Make sure there is a long stick under the bat so that the biscuit can be placed into the pumpkin pie.

When on the oven tray sprinkle the biscuits with cinnamon sugar.

Place the shapes onto a greased and floured baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.

The biscuits should harden once cool.

Take a mixing bowl and whisk the egg whites for 1-2 minutes until it forms stiff peaks.

The egg whites should stand when lifted into a peak.

In a separate mixing bowl place the caster sugar, pumpkin puree, egg yolks, cornflour and almonds.

Mix well.

Add the whisked egg whites and 1 ounce of sugar.

Fold the egg whites into the pumpkin mixture using a metal spoon.

To fold you move the spoon over and under the mixture until it is combined well together.

Do not stir like a cake.

Pour the pumpkin filling into the pastry case.

Bake in a hot oven at gas mark 5 for 45 minutes.

Once cool place the bat or ghoul biscuits into the pumpkin pie.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave to cool in the fridge.

The biscuits will stay crispy even after being in the fridge overnight.

If you do not want to place the biscuits into the pie, another nice way to serve the pumpkin pie is to place a biscuit into each individual slice of pie when the pumpkin pie is being served.

Enjoy Chefs pumpkin pie recipe.

Learn how to carve a pumpkin and make a Jack O Lantern here