seasonal – zezoo cooks

Pumpkin Spice Black Tea + Chai-spice Pumpkin Brownies

baking, black tea, fall, gluten free, seasonal, sweet, tea, tea pairing cover, winter

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You can use my discount code AMRUTA10 to get 10% off a one-time purchase on @simplelooseleaf teas via links in my post!

The Simple Loose Leaf Pumpkin Spice Black tea is Fall in a cup for tea lovers. It is warm and delicious, and a perfect accompaniment to my easy, one-bowl, gluten-free pumpkin brownies. Grab the recipe here!

To elevate the brownies to the tea’s level, I added some homemade ground chai spice to the mix. It adds a layer of warmth to the brownies that goes really well with chai spice in the tea itself, making this a perfect fall treat!

To get this delicious tea, and to browse many other Fall and Winter teas, check out the Simple Loose Leaf website!

Grab the recipe to these delicious gluten-free pumpkin brownies here!

Chai-spice Pumpkin Brownies

american, baking, black tea, chocolate, cookies, dessert, fall, freezer friendly, gluten free, seasonal, snack, sweet, tea, tea pairing, tea pairing cover, vegetarian, winter

Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links to Simple Loose Leaf products. ZezooCooks may receive a commission if purchases are made via these links (at no additional cost to you).

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The Simple Loose Leaf Pumpkin Spice Black tea is Fall in a cup for tea lovers. It is the tea lover’s answer to all the “Pumpkin Spice Latte” madness that takes over the United States come September – temperatures in the 90s notwithstanding – and can be a bit much if you are not a fan of adding cinnamon to everything just because its “Fall”. As it usually is with tea, the Pumpkin Spice Black is understated, warm and delicious, and a perfect accompaniment to these easy, one-bowl, gluten-free pumpkin brownies.

To elevate the brownies to the tea’s level, I added some homemade ground Chai Spice to the mix, along with cinnamon (I’m strong but not that strong…it is October after all). It adds a layer of warmth to the brownies that goes really well with chai spice in the tea itself, making this a perfect fall treat!

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Peach cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, snack, summer, sweet, themed, vegetarian

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Just as blueberries own the month of July, for August it has got to be peaches – hands down. Peaches and nectarines dominate the farmers markets around here starting late June, and boy do they rule in August! These cupcakes adapted from smitten kitchen are one of my first “summer” bakes from a decade ago, and I can confidently say that I’ve made them – with a few tweaks here and there – every summer since. Light batter, juicy peaches, and brown sugar cream cheese frosting so perfectly matched to the cupcakes’ flavor, this one’s a keeper. I’ve made this into a layered cake for many summer birthdays over the years, and it just had to be the final installment of my seasonal cupcake project! In fact, when I started planning it, August was one of the first months I locked in with Peach (even though it was the last month in the series)!

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Blueberry cupcakes with blueberry cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, freezer friendly, frosting, seasonal, snack, summer, sweet, themed, vegetarian

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Another no-brainer of a selection for my seasonal cupcake project – blueberries for July! No other berry, nay fruit, is better than blueberries in the month of July…at least until the peaches take over come August.

I’ve made a lot of blueberry muffins and crumb cakes over the years, and they all have a more rustic, wholesome quality to them, which I totally adore, but for these cupcakes, I wanted something more decidedly “cake” like, something more ‘dessert’ and less ‘snack’. This recipe below fits the bill perfectly. Please don’t skip the streusel-ish brown sugar and cinnamon topping – it adds amazing crunch and a really unique texture contrast with the plush cupcake and the smooth, creamy frosting! If you didn’t know already, the combination of blueberry, brown sugar and cinnamon is to die for. Now you know!

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Strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, seasonal, snack, spring, summer, sweet, vegetarian

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Easy, simple, summery strawberry cupcake recipe to help you zip through your strawberry picking/farmer’s market haul! What’s great about this recipe is that it can be made from strawberry puree, so if you can puree some peak season strawberries right now, you can recreate the summery feeling whenever you feel like it!

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Vegan whole wheat mango cupcakes with vegan mango frosting

american, baking, birthday, cake, cake art, celebration, cupcakes and muffins, dessert, frosting, indian, seasonal, snack, spring, summer, themed, vegan, whole grain

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For me, the month of May is all about mangoes. Growing up in India, the month of May is the peak of mango season; my mind is flooded with memories of “aamras and puri” (mango pulp and fried mini roti), mango milkshakes, “amrakhand” (the traditional shrikhand, a thick, sweetened yogurt, with a mango twist) and countless mango-based desserts and cakes that my mom made for our birthdays (my sister and I are both May-born).

So for the month of May as part of my cupcake project, the fruit of the month just had to be Mango. It didn’t matter what else is in season in California at the moment, it had to be mango! I’m always looking for delicious vegan recipes for my mom to bake in India with the ingredients easily available in India, so I decided to make these mango cupcakes vegan (and while I was at it, whole grain, with the use of whole wheat pastry flour)!

These cupcakes are light and moist with a great mango and cardamom flavor, and the mango frosting (made vegan with the use of Country Crock plant butter instead of regular dairy butter) is like cardamom-scented ball of fluff!

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