Pumpkin French Toast

I love to decorate for Halloween.  Tim hates when I decorate for Halloween.  Sigh.

Every year, I add to my decorations.  A new ghost here, more pumpkins there, some scarecrows and skeletons everywhere.

A few years ago, I scored a life-sized scarecrow for my front porch display.  A half hour, gallon of sweat, dozens of colorful curse words and a few swift kicks later, he was wedged into my too-small car and me and my new buddy were headed for home.  Since it was too late at that point to start decorating, I decided to put him out of the way by laying him on the dining room floor (a room we seldom used).

A bit later, Tim came home and, as (fairly) usual, was on the phone.  He was also racking up the miles by wandering around the house while he carried on his conversation.  Not thinking anything about it, I was happily mucking about in the kitchen.

Suddenly, I heard a commotion coming from the dining room.  Rushing in, I hit the light switch, expecting to find Freddie Kruger, Chucky, and Beetlejuice juggling knives, or at the very least, having a chemical peel.  What I found was Tim, standing over the “body” of my scarecrow that he had, in the dark, tripped over.

“What is that thing?” he spluttered. “And why is it lying on the floor?”

“It’s a scarecrow for the front porch,” I examined my new fella for any bumps or bruises that would mar his movie star looks. “Why, what did you think it was?”

“I don’t know….a body!”

“A body??!  What exactly do you think I do during the day?  Look for lonely older men to offer elderberry wine to? And by the way,  if this bothered you, then you definitely don’t want to go down into the basement.”

Hehehehe.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup silken tofu or greek yogurt (I used Kite Hill almond yogurt)
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree NOT pumpkin pie puree
• 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup (3 if using the yogurt since it is a bit on the sour side)
• small baguette

Directions:

1. Cut the baguette into slices and leave out overnight to get stale.  If you forget or this is not possible, you can place the slices on a baking sheet in a 250 oven and bake them for 10 minutes on each side.  You don’t want them toasted, only dry, so they can absorb the batter. I got approximately 14 slices with this amount of batter.
2. In a blender or processor , combine the tofu (or yogurt) milk, pumpkin, spice and syrup till smooth.  Pour into a a shallow dish and place slices of bread in dish, allowing it to absorb the batter for a few seconds  on each side.
3. Cook over medium/medium high heat till golden brown on the bottom, then flip over and cook on the second side till golden.  If you are not using a non-stick pan, you may need to use a little (vegan) butter so the toast won’t stick.

I topped mine two ways:

1. Saute some pecans in a dry pan till lightly toasted over medium high heat, then add a handful of golden raisins at the end and allow the remaining heat when you take the pan off the stove to soften them.
2. Dice a pear and put it in a small pan with 1 TBS maple syrup and 1 TBS (vegan) butter to saute till the pear is softened and the sauce is thick.  If the pear is not particularly ripe, you can put it in a pot with some water, bring it to a boil, then cover and lower the heat to a simmer for 5 – 10 minutes till the pear softens up a bit.  Pour off any remaining water, then add the butter and syrup and saute. You can also add some chopped pecans to the pear as well.

Enjoy!