Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Gretchen-Joanna, here's the recipe I used today. I just tasted a little bit. I think I baked the mini-loaves too long, and for some reason it tastes just a tad bland -- like it needed more salt. Butter on it would instantly take care of that problem :)

Pumpkin/Cranberry Bread/Coffee Cake

2 1/4 cups flour
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (I used 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1/2 tsp ginger)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil (I used 1/4 cup coconut oil & 1/4 cup soft butter)
1 cup pumpkin (I used a whole 16 oz can, which is significantly more than a cup, but I hate having leftover cans in my frig.)
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries (fold these in last)

I did heat the pumpkin and the spices in a saucepan on the stove, hoping that it would remove any metallic taste from the can. This meant I had to wait for it to cool also. Then I added the coconut oil and butter, and then the eggs, and mixed it well. I then put it in the refrigerator to let those fats solidify again, so they would help the bread to rise more as it baked. I think this is a good thing to do, and it seemed to work.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, soda & salt. Add the pumpkin mixture to this and blend gently, just until all dry ingredients are absorbed. If you have cranberries, fold them in last. This zippy flavor is wonderful in this bread, but sometimes it's hard to find them out of season.

Butter the pans you will use. This will make a bundt cake, probably 2 regular loaves, or about 5 mini-loaves. Gauge your cooking time according to the size of pan, from 50 minutes for the largest to about 40 minutes for the minis.

And thanks to Carolyn for the recipe. I'm eager to try it again with the cranberries.

Enjoy, ladies!