Pumpkin Bread

 

Every year around mid-September I start craving pumpkin: pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cheesecake, and my new favorite: pumpkin bread. Starbucks sells this bread for about two bucks a slice, but you can make several loaves at home for around the same price! Here is my favorite recipe for mouth-watering pumpkin bread:

Starbucks Style Pumpkin Bread 

Printable Recipe 

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (if you are high altitude like I am, use about 1/4 cup more flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda (for high altitude, use scant teaspoon-fulls, or 1 3/4 teaspoons)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger     

 

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar

 

until well blended. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture 

 until just blended. At this point the handle popped off my whisk. Again. I need to break down and buy a new one, but the frugal, daughter-of-a-Mennonite-missionary-kid in me won't let me.

Now comes the most tedious step of all quick bread and cake baking: greasing and flouring the pans. Unfortunately it is also one of the most crucial steps (I'm not going to explain how I learned this, just know that there were tears involved).

 

 

You'll need Crisco, flour, two small loaf pans (I use 8x4 in), and clean hands. They won't stay clean for long.

*Note: this recipe will make three loaves, so if you have three loaf pans, go ahead and grease and flour them all. I only have two.

 

Using your fingers, spread the Crisco around the pans, making sure to cover every surface until they look like this:

Add a little flour to each pan and tap it around so it covers the Crisco-coated sides and bottom. 

 

Dump any remaining flour so that your pans look like this:

 

Pour batter into the prepared pans. I only fill them about halfway full because I am a wimp and don't want to risk starting another fire by overflowing batter getting too hot at the bottom of the oven. True story. There were tears involved that time too, only they were smoke-induced.

 

At this point, I got a little crazy and added sunflower seeds to the top of one of the loaves.

 

Now bake for 55-60 minutes at 350F or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 

Aren't they pretty?

I let the loaves cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before putting them on a wire rack. Then, I wash one of the pans and make loaf number three. I added chocolate chips to the third loaf. My husband doesn't care for pumpkin and chocolate together, but I think it is delicious!

I like to make muffins with the leftover batter. They are good plain or topped with sunflower seeds, but this time I topped them with streusel I made from butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, flour and oatmeal.

 

 

 

 

Bake these at 350F for about 30 minutes, do the toothpick test.

Looks good enough to eat. Actually I think I will, thank you!

 

My kids are my best critics. Here's my Little Miss. She would smile, but she's too busy chewing!