If it’s October it must be Pumpkin Bread! This is a delicious quick bread recipe my sister first made years ago, and I’ve been making ever since tasting my first slice.
It’s a simple loaf to make… add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, fold in the raisins and walnuts, and into the loaf pan it goes.
I made a couple changes in the recipe. First, since my raisins seemed a little on the hard side, I soaked them in orange juice to cover just long enough to plump them up a bit. I figured a hint of orange would complement the pumpkin and spices and no harm there. Secondly, I decided to gild the lily by sprinkling a little sugar on top before baking ( it gives a nice crunch to the crust), and since I had a bag of pumpkin seeds in the pantry why not throw some of those on top as well?
Aside from being a really flavorful bread, and easy to make ( I use my hand mixer for this one, but a wooden spoon would work as well), the loaves freeze beautifully. They’ll make a great addition to your Thanksgiving table or you can serve them for breakfast Thanksgiving weekend. Make sure you bake extra because you’ll want to have one for snacking now!
Pumpkin Bread
2 eggs
½ cup canola oil
1 and ½ cups sugar
1 and ½ cups pumpkin puree (canned is fine)
1 and 2/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and ½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon each cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg or 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I’ve always used the individual spices)
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix sugar, eggs, oil, and pumpkin together. Sift the dry ingredients and add to the pumpkin batter.
Add raisins and nuts.
Bake in a greased and floured 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or til tests done.
Cool in pan 30 minutes. If not using the pumpkin seeds, you can sprinkle the cooled loaf with powdered sugar.
