Raw Vegan Pan de Muerto and Cacao Carob Cookies

Each year around Halloween and Dia de los Muertos one of my favorite traditions is to visit a Mexican bakery and bring home warm, fresh Pan de Muerto.  Sometimes I'll even make it from scratch.

This year I set about finding a raw recipe to keep up the tradition.  Pan de Muerto is normally a sweet yeast bread made with white flour.  Many of the recipes include orange zest and anise seed, and some contain orange flower water.  Next year, I'll experiment with raw bread recipes that include these ingredients, but this year I simply used a raw pumpkin bread recipe found here.

Here's my adaptation: 

2 cups nut pulp

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp golden flax meal

2 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

1 1/4 cups packed dates

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp.cinnamon

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp salt

The nut pulp was made by making various nut milks and then adding the pulp to a storage container in the freezer.  It was thawed for the recipe. 

The pumpkin puree was made by placing fresh shredded pumpkin flesh in a high speed blender.  Add the dates to the pumpkin puree in the blender and blend again until smooth.

Place the pureed pumpkin and dates in a bowl and add the additional ingredients, stirring by hand.

The dough will have a very thick, batter-like texture, close to the consistency of mashed potatoes.  Because of the flax meal, it will continue to thicken if you let it sit for a bit.  Form it into the desired shape on a Teflex sheet placed on a dehydrator screen.  Basically I laid spoonfuls of the batter on the screen to form an outline of a man, then built it up until it was 1/1/2 inches thick.  I used my hands to smooth the top and edges the best I could, then used the last of the batter to built up the features of a face on the head.

Dehydrate for at least 8 hours at 105 degrees, or until it's firm enough to peel off the Teflex and flip over onto the screen.  After 8 hours I flipped him over again, used the handle of a spoon to deepen the man's "eyesockets," and pushed in raisins.  After 8 hours, I flipped him over again, and continue to dehydrate him for a total of 2 days.

We had it for breakfast, slathered with this Quick Raw Apple Butter: 

3 apples, cored
about 28 deglet noor dates
1 tbsp cinammon

Blend in a high speed blender and serve.

Cacao Carob Cookies

Original recipe found here.  My adaptation:

2 cups mixed carrot and beet pulp
1 cup raisins
1 medium zucchini, peeled
2 tbsp coconut oil

2/3 cup flax meal 

1/3 cup raw cacao powder

1/3 cup carob powder
2 tbsp raw honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
organic chocolate chunks for garnish, (raw if you can find it)

In a food processor, blend all the ingredients together except the flax meal.  Turn out into a bowl, and stir in the flax meal until the mixture thickens into a dough like consistency.

Roll the dough into balls and flatten slightly, making an indentation in the top center.  Fill each center with garnish.  Place on a dehydrator screen, and dehydrate at 105 degrees for 24 hours.