372 Days/30w5d

It's been a while since I've done a recipe! Earlier, a friend posted on Facebook about making pumpkin bread and it sounded so good! It was also kind of funny because earlier I happened to stumble across a can of pumpkin puree in my pantry while I was looking for something else. I bought one too many cans last Thanksgiving when I was making desserts and never used the second one!

I've never made pumpkin bread before so I hope it turns out ok! It's in the oven as I type this. I always thought that pumpkin bread was a fairly healthy snack so I was a bit surprised to find that most of the recipes called for a full cup of oil and three cups of white sugar. I think next time I do this, I may try out this recipe which calls for brown sugar (and less of it) instead of white sugar and doesn't use any vegetable oil. Or I may try substituting the oil with applesauce. Here is the one that I used for tonight because I happened to have all of the ingredients:

Pumpkin Pie Bread
3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice***
1 teaspoon of salt
3 cups of white sugar
1 cup of oil
4 eggs
1 (15oz) can of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup of water

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin.


3. Stir in flour mixture alternately with water.

4. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. For best flavor, store wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for a full day before serving.
Picture coming soon!

***I also didn't happen to have any pumpkin pie spice so I made my own using this recipe which makes 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. I just tripled it for my recipe since it called for 3 teaspoons:

1. Measure 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into a small bowl or cup.

2. Add 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.

3. Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground allspice or ground cloves.

4. Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.

5. Stir to blend.

Edited to add: This turned out pretty good, but I had to make a few adjustments. Baking for 60 minutes at 350F had the top overdone and the middle completely raw. I lowered the temperature to 325F and baked it for another 15 minutes. The outside is a lot crispier than I would have liked (there was really no way to salvage that by then), but the inside is PERFECT! If I use this recipe again, I will start out at the lower temperature and bake for longer.