Many years ago I used to always pick up an extra pumpkin around Hallowe'en. I'd scoop out the seeds and oven roast them, and I would break down all the pumpkin flesh and puree and freeze it. I stopped doing it a few years ago for no reason that I can tell, but this year I received a free pumpkin and couldn't resist the urge to fill my freezer with potential baked goodies.
I love having a full freezer. Right now it's filled with pesto and home made chicken stock and pumpkin puree and peach pie filling and other things I've made by hand or am going to use to make other scrummy things. We have a little little freezer right now, the kind that goes over a fridge and a quarter of it is taken up by the ice maker.
One day, I'll have a grown up house with a garden and a grown up freezer and I'll get to store things that I grow myself. This is a big goal of mine, one that will take quite a while to accomplish I'm sure, but will be worth it when I get there!
Pumpkin Bread is a big big favorite of mine. I love to load it up with spices and I adore how moist it is. It's just hearty and delicious. I have a vegan house guest right now and I wanted to make something that he could partake in. I was flipping through some of my staple recipes when I realized that this recipe only had one non-vegan ingredient in it, and that could be very simply substituted with something that might make the bread even yummier. I have to admit, it's unlikely that I'll ever make this recipe in a different form ever again.
Vegan Pumpkin Bread
If you want a little extra texture, sprinkle the top of the bread with crushed walnuts. You can use apple sauce instead of apple butter. If you don't want this to be vegan, use three large eggs instead of the Apple Butter. You can also mess around with the spice mixture based on taste.
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Cup Pureed Pumpkin
6 Tablespoons Apple Butter
2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1 1/2 Teaspoons Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1/2 Teaspoons Ground Allspice
1 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
2 Tablespoons Crushed Walnuts (optional)
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Mix the top ingredients together up to and including the oil, then add in the flour and baking soda. Pour the batter into a 9x5 Loaf Pan and sprinkle with the walnuts. Loosely cover with foil to stop the loaf from getting too brown, you'll want to tent it so that the loaf can still rise a little. Bake for one hour, then take the foil off and bake for another fifteen minutes for color and crunch. Insert a knife into the center to make sure it come out clean. It may need more time in the oven as this is a big big loaf.
Makes one delicious really big loaf.
I like to save the seeds and crush them up and put them on top-- they are tasty and pretty. :)
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