Like many others in 2020, Liza Moses took to the kitchen in search of entertaining and productive ways to fill the time during COVID.
It all started with “The Great British Bake Off,” which she and her parents would watch religiously. She was inspired to come up with a weekly show stopper of her own, to be judged by her parents, and somewhere along the way, “BakingwithLM” was born.
Originally, she created her baking Instagram to simply keep track of all her creations, but soon it became a mouthwatering resource for all of us would-be bakers looking for unique and festive recipes. She knew she was really onto something when The New York Times reposted her croissants!
While she started out with sweet treats of all kinds — from cakes to cookies to chocolate shortbread bars — she is now obsessed with sourdough bread. It is a magical labor of love that requires feeding her starter, proper proofing of the dough, and getting enough rise to create that signature golden brown dome. Moses’ day job is at Google, where she is an account manager, but her passion for baking is something that her friends and coworkers reap the benefits of on the daily! Moses gives gifts of her bread to different coworkers weekly, and come Christmas time, she makes 200 cookies from four different recipes and she and her sisters deliver them to friends and family.
I asked Moses to share some of her Halloween baked-with-love recipes and she did not disappoint. I have been on the receiving end of all of these yummies and highly recommend you check out her Instagram, BakingwithLM to get all the recipes.
Her clean pumpkin bread is the perfect antidote to all the candy, but you won’t feel deprived of any sweetness thanks to the dates and maple syrup. Of course, you can “dirty” it up however you wish, and maybe chocolate chips need to stay traditional chocolate chips in your house.
The pumpkin baked oats are the easiest, most delicious treat you can whip up on any old weeknight or for an after-school snack; top it with some vanilla ice cream and it is next level.
Finally, what better use of all those extra Snickers, Milky Ways, and Almond Joys than dumping them into a fantastic blondie recipe? Liza’s personal blondie recipe is an original and you can make it yours by adding your favorite candy.
So Happy Halloween and happy baking with all things pumpkin and candy!
Anything Goes Blondies
Ingredients
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 t. cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ t. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, cooled (option to brown!)
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
2 cups of candy of choice – m&ms, chopped candy bars
1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line the bottom and sides of a 9×13 in pan with parchment paper, or grease with butter & flour.
Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt) together in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter and both sugars together until smooth. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Pour wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Fold in chocolate chips, chopped candy, M&Ms, etc.
Transfer to the pan and smooth down
Bake for 25–30 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Let cool and enjoy!
Pumpkin Baked Oats
Serves 4
Ingredients
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup maple syrup
⅔ cup milk plant based as desired
3T. of nut butter
1t. vanilla
1 cup old fashioned oats
½ T. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
pinch of salt
1t. pumpkin pie spice
½ cup mix-ins such as berries chocolate chips, etc (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a small casserole dish, 9×5 bread loaf pan or an 8×8 inch brownie pan.
Add all ingredients to a blender MINUS the chocolate chunks. Blend until creamy and little to no chunks of the oats remain. Fold in the chocolate chips until combined.
Pour batter into the greased baking dish and top with mix-ins as desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Clean Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Gluten, Dairy, and Refined-Sugar Free
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups – Bobs Red Mill GF old fashioned oats
5 Medjool dates
1 15oz can of pumpkin
2 t. pumpkin pie spice (I like to add an extra teaspoon of cinnamon and pinch of cloves)
½ t. baking soda
½ t. kosher salt
½ cup maple syrup
1 T. vanilla extract
2 t. coconut sugar (optional)
1 egg, room temp (can use flax egg to make vegan)
1/3 cup of coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Spray or grease loaf pan then line with parchment paper.
In a food processor, blend oats then in a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (oats, spices, salt, baking soda).
In a food processor, blend the pitted dates until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, coconut oil, ground dates, egg, maple syrup, vanilla, and coconut sugar.
In threes, fold dry ingredients to pumpkin mixtures with a rubber spatula – add in additional whole oats if you’d like and chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth out.
Sprinkle the top with a combo of coconut sugar/ cinnamon and/or chocolate chips.
Bake for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean (depending on how your oven runs), let cool and enjoy!