Mmmm...Pumpkin Bread!

Last week on Facebook I mentioned that September was up and coming and that meant that I would have to begin burning pumpkin spice scented candles and hunting down the Perfect Pumpkin of 2010 in the local pumpkin patches. A friend asked if I would also be making apple pies - no apple pies here, but pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread galore! In fact, last year I was making several loaves of pumpkin bread each week - thus the need to go on the South Beach kick this year! At any rate, several of my Facebook Friends requested that I share the pumpkin bread recipe with them via the blog...so I'm obliging them and I hope you'll try it too - these are beyond moist and wonderful!

The recipe actually came from my mom, though she doesn't remember where she got it (possibly the Tulsa World newspaper years ago), but she's been making it forever and it is really yummy! I made it for the first time in the fall of 2009 and it even turned out for a "baking dunce" like me. It's the perfect (I think) blend of bread and sweet yummy goodness. Slather some cream cheese icing on it and it becomes a cake. And there's nothing quite like a slice, hot from the oven and covered with butter. {drool}

INGREDIENTS:

SIFT TOGETHER (& set bowl aside)

1 2/3 C. flour

1/4 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg

CREAM THESE 3 TOGETHER (I use my stand mixer for this part)
1/3 C. solid shortening (I used butter - worked great)
1 1/3 C. sugar*
1/2 t. vanilla

*Note: I tried using Splenda last year as I was feeling bad about all the sugar we were eating, but the loaves didn't rise and they were total flops - I threw the whole batch out. Perhaps I did something wrong, but I haven't had much luck using Splenda in baking.

ADD: 2 eggs to above cream mix and beat (I added to stand mixer)
ADD: 1 C. canned pumpkin to above creamed mix (in stand mixer)

Add dry ingredients and 1/3 C. water to creamed mix (in stand mixer) - alternating between the dry ingredients and water. Can fold in 1/2 C. nuts (I don't). Bake in greased loaf pan at 350-degrees for 45 to 55 minutes (my mom says you just have to check it with a toothpick - sometimes it needs to bake longer). Makes 1 (large) loaf. If doubling to make 2 (large) loaves it takes 70 minutes to bake.

My mom always uses individual mini loaf pans and she says that one recipe makes 4-6 of the small loaves. I don't have individual loaf pans, but I do have this cool pan that I got as a wedding gift and didn't use for the first 9 years of married bliss - and then once I started, I never looked back! 

It's like a muffin pan, but it's actually 8 mini-mini loaves and without doubling the recipe I was able to fill all the loaf - um - holes? :-) It worked great! You need to fill the mini loaf pans about 1/2 to 3/4 full of the batter. Mine were somewhere between the two. I set the timer for 20 minutes and then checked them (since they were smaller loaves), but ended up leaving them in for another 14-16 minutes, so 34 - 36 minutes total baking time.

So there you go...give it a try! It's really wonderful bread and pretty easy to make. Hooray for fall and all things pumpkin!! While you're at it, check out the recipe that Jessica over at Life as MOM shared - and the link ups as well - lots of pumpkin yumminess!