Vegan Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins: Ta-Da! (Skip the trip to DD and just make some of these. . . and "The Puppy Kindergarten Nail-Biter")

I couldn't help myself. I craved the damn doughnuts from "that place". It got so bad we literally almost abandoned all rational thinking and drove there in our PJs last night. That's just crazy. We're old. We could get killed doing something like that at all hours of the night! I woke up this morning and thought about those doughnuts again then threw the gauntlet down on myself at five a.m. (up at the gawdawful hour for what else?--the obvious reason: Puppy Frankenstein demanded it). To hell with it, I'm baking, I thought. So. Happy. I. Did. The Pumpkin Doughnut madness is now tamed and all is right with the world.

 (Yes, I realize this is the second "pumpkin recipe" in a row. I. Love. Pumpkin.)

When Dr. Thyme rolled out of bed MUCH later in the morning, I had one of these babies sitting on a plate with a hot cup of coffee waiting for him. I was like, So, whatcha think? Wow. He loved 'em.

Do make these. Don't waste gas and time driving to That Place. You're Welcome.    

Meantime, there is this.

I know. We can hardly stand it ourselves. She is all of these and more: hilarious, adorable, bad, sweet, ornery, energetic, sleepy, crabby and adorable some more. 

Oh and she's a giant! Weighs over 23 lbs. now. Unbelievable. Her paw size is nearly the exact size of the palm of my hand. For real. (FYI: our house is small. Very. See that little corner of the kitchen behind the BIG white one, yeah, that's my cooking space.)

She is twelve weeks old and just finished week three of Puppy Kindergarten. I had a not-so-lovely time this week at class. Frankie is a submissive sort. Which is good. She takes commands and "not now" directions from her sissy quite well. God love her. We watch them play all the time.  Frankie is always so persistent with her "play with me" starts. She just adores her sissy (and anything else that walks and breathes). She rolls over, paws all up in the air and belly exposed--just your typical non-dominant puppy cuteness. 

Until this week's class. We had a most unpleasant experience. And I voiced my concern.

 At play time--this is when all the puppies are put into a sort of mosh pit to "play" together with all of us humans standing around oohh-ing and aww-ing at our little precious. Well, Frankie has a "friend" and has consistently been attracted to said "friend" since day one of puppy class. You could call it puppy love, but I would slap you for it. 

There is an enough-is-enough streak in me. And when the line of this has been crossed, you won't be confused about where I stand. Throw in my new puppy and an overzealous moment of play-or-is-that-aggression-coming-out (almost a dog fight)--then I speak up. Pyrenees puppies should never be exposed to rough play. Or aggression. Of any kind. That sh#t will stay with them for life. Thus my enrolling her in Kindergarten and then ultimately wanting to train her for therapy work. Positive reinforcement is the only way to work with a Pyr. Is an occasional course correction called for. Yes. But instilling it properly is of the utmost importance. 

How do I know this? Because this is our fourth damn Pyr and honestly, the other three were rescues who clearly each had bad beginnings with owners who thought ruling with a strong hand was the way to go. They were idiots and I have wished a lot of bad juju on them. Ultimately what is left is a damaged dog no one wants. Except us. We wanted those damaged dogs. 

After interceding on Frankie's behalf during class, I said I was most uncomfortable with what I had just seen and pulled her out of the fray. A volunteer with the group made sure I noticed "how well Frankie did--that she showed the correct behavior"--that it wasn't her fault. But at this point, I was not really interested. I wanted to take her home. And I did. 

Frankie was not worse for the wear from her experience and perhaps I was a little overzealous, over-protective puppy mommy who just had had enough. (It's my Croatian/Italian-ness--we feel "everything"--sometimes to our own detriment.) Anywho. I brought Frankie home, vented to Dr. Thyme over our not-so-perfect Puppy Kindergarten, then watched as Frankie walked over to her sissy and ever-so-gently played with her, rolling over on her back again. All was well. The experience hadn't turned her into a raging maniac canine. 

Well, that was a long way to get to the recipe for these doughnuts. Try these. You will love 'em.

Vegan Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

*makes 12 regular-sized muffins

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 cup spelt flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (with some more for sprinkling on top)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (*optional)

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (with some more for sprinkling on top)

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

3/4 cup sugar (with some more for sprinkling on top)**

1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter (1 stick)

1/4 cup buttermilk (coconut milk with 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar mixed in)

1 can organic pumpkin (I got mine at Whole Foods)

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare the buttermilk mixture first and set it aside. Lightly spray the muffin tins. In a medium bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy and creamy looking. Add the buttermilk mixture, oil, water and pumpkin and mix until well blended and somewhat smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three additions, mixing only a short while with the blender each time. This is a somewhat thick batter--so don't beat the heck out of it, just until the dry is incorporated into the wet. Fill the muffin tins about three-quarters of the way full. Bake for approximately 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pans 10 minutes. While the muffins cool, prepare the sugar/cinnamon mix. I just used a plastic container with a lid and measured out about 1/3 cup FINE baking sugar, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and about 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg--whisk well. Remove the muffins from the pans and place them on a cooling rack over a sheet pan (to keep the sugar from getting all over your counter). Depending upon the size of your container, place two-to-three muffins at a time in the sugar mixture and put the lid on the container. Gently turn the container upside down to coat the muffins with the mixture. Remove muffins. Now top each muffin with freshly ground nutmeg. Yum! (You can store these wrapped in a freezer bag in the freezer for eating later--they'll keep about two weeks this way--just pull out one or two at a time--that way they don't go stale on you sitting on the counter or in the fridge.)   

**I used fine baking sugar for these. I know, I know--not super vegan friendly. Well, if you are wanting to use Florida Crystals here instead, you could pulse it in a food processor to create a somewhat finer sugar. The finer the sugar, the better the muffin rise.