Archive for September, 2009

Today, at the request of a friend, I tried my hand at pumpkin bread from scratch. I amended and played with a few recipes and came up with one that is absolutely delicious and so simple. Best of all, there’s no dairy, so it’s a perfect recipe for anyone who can’t handle dairy in their food. (There is butter on the pans, but I’m sure that shortening could substituted for it instead.)

Two loaves of pumpkin bread (a doubled recipe) fresh out of the oven.

Here’s the recipe:

Carly’s Homemade Pumpkin Bread

• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 c pumpkin purée
• 1/2 c olive oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 c water
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift together flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water, and spices and mix. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well incorporated. Do not over mix.

Pour batter into a WELL BUTTERED 9x5x3 loaf pan. (Having it well buttered is very important. Mine just slid right out of the pan.) I like to sprinkle sugar on the top of the batter in the pan because it makes a nice, sweet, crispy crust on the top of the bread, but that’s optional.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for ten minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Pumpkin bread can be frozen for up to a month. If you double the recipe, you’ll have some for now, and some for later. Just wrap the extra loaf in foil and stick it in the freezer.

Enjoy!

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit: I’m a bit of a pumpkin addict. I love pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin butter, pumpkin bars… Pumpkin anything, really! So, this fall, I’ve decided to try my hand at making all things pumpkin from scratch. My first attempt: pumpkin butter.

I searched high and low for recipes for pumpkin butter and used those as a basis to formulate my own. Unfortunately, pie pumpkins aren’t yet available for sale (that I’ve found, at least) so I had to used canned puree this time around.

Homemade pumpkin butter on toast.

Here’s the recipe:

Carly’s (Not So) Famous Pumpkin Butter

• 1 qt (I used one 29oz can of Libby’s 100% pumpkin) pumpkin puree
• 1 c brown sugar (can use more to taste)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer on the lowest setting, stirring frequently, until pumpkin butter is thickened to the consistency you want. (I think I simmered mine for almost an hour.) Remove from heat and immediately portion into plastic tupperware containers.

I would suggest only keeping a small container in your fridge, since you should only store the pumpkin butter in your fridge for 2-3 weeks. Freeze the rest.

A note: The FDA advises strongly against home canning pumpkin puree or pumpkin butter due to pumpkin’s low pH and thus the possibility of contamination by the bacteria clostridium botulium. They recommend instead freezing excess. However, if you would like to attempt home canning your pumpkin butter, Ball Jars has a tutorial on how to make said canning safer, and it can be found here.

I hope you enjoy your homemade pumpkin butter! It goes great on toast, waffles, English muffins, mixed in oatmeal, and (my personal favorite) spread on saltine crackers.