pumpkin bread

I am a California girl at heart. I grew up in San Diego, went to school in Los Angeles and then moved up the coast to San Francisco. So I never really experienced seasons. Rain & fog in SF doesn't count. It was pretty much sunny and warm 365 days of the year and a seasonal treat was a Cherry & Coke Slurpee from 7Eleven. And even those flavors were all year round.


Now living on the East Coast is a totally different story. There are seasons. And seasons mean seasonal flavors. And one of my favorite seasonal flavors is pumpkin. The original recipe called for a brown butter icing which probably took this bread over-the-top! We went out to dinner last night with friends and I didn't have time to make it. Plus, I wanted to give our friends a little loaf of pumpkin bread to enjoy this Sunday morning. And quite honestly, this bread tastes so great just by itself.
So here it is.....pumpkin bread.


Pumpkin Bread from the beautiful blog honey & jam


Makes 2 large loaves


3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder
3 cups granulated sugar
***I cut the sugar down to 2 cups***
1 cup unsalted butter, really soft
3 large eggs

1 15 oz. can of pure pumpkin 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract ***This is not in the original recipe, but a little vanilla never hurts***
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and spray two medium loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the wire whisk attached, dump in the sugar. Take the butter and put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, so that it is half melted. Dump it into the sugar. Add the eggs. Cream these three ingredients together on medium speed for about 2 minutes or until fluffy. Add the pumpkin and vanilla (if adding) and combine well.
4. In three batches, add the dry ingredients and mix gently until each batch is just incorporated. Scrape the sides between each batch.
5. Pour half of the batter into a one of the prepared pans. Fold the pecans (if adding) into the remaining batter and then pour it into the other prepared pan. Bake side-by-side for about one hour or until an inserted knife comes out clean the top is golden.
6. Cool on wire rack.


Brown Butter Icing
1/2 c. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1-3 Tbsp. milk

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter, and let it cook till it’s a delicate brown color. Remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, combine powdered sugar with browned butter. Add 1 Tbsp. milk. Add more milk as needed to reach spreading consistency.

This bread definitely tastes great all by it's self. But I'm addicted to this yogurt butter by Brummel & Brown. Just a tiny spread of it put it over-the-top for me.














***When I was searching for a recipe for pumpkin bread, I noticed A LOT of them had a considerable amount of sugar in them. I decided to cut the sugar down to 2 cups instead of 3 and I still feel like I could have taken out another 1/2 cup.***