Pumpkin Bread

I had half a can of pumpkin purée left from a batch of rice pudding and decided to make pumpkin bread with it.  After reading a few recipes, I decided to start with this one from Allrecipes, cut it in half, and change a lot of it.

The biggest change was the use of applesauce.  That's my new go-to for oil reduction in quick breads, especially because I can whip some up in 15 minutes while getting the rest of the ingredients together.  I was able to reduce the amount of oil to almost nothing and replace the water with something flavorful, which also let me reduce the sugar significantly.  The total amount of liquids is the same as the original recipe.

I decided to replace the walnuts that are in most similar recipes with some of the dried fruit I always have around for oatmeal, granola, and snacking.  I already had out some dried apricots that I was going to chop up for oatmeal, and it looked like just enough for this instead.

Try not to be intimidated by the very long list of ingredients.  Half of them are in the 1/4 tsp to 2 Tb range.

*1 C pumpkin purée
2 eggs
1/2 C applesauce
1/6 C (coffee scoop) vegetable oil
*1/6 C milk
1-3/4 C flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
*1/2 tsp cinnamon
*1/4 tsp cloves
*dash ginger
*1/2 C finely chopped dried fruit and/or nuts

1.  Grease or butter a loaf pan.  Preheat oven to 350º.

2.  Beat together the pumpkin, eggs, applesauce, oil, and milk.  In a large bowl, sift together the flour, both sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

3.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.  Pour in the wet mixture and stir until just moistened.  Add chopped fruit or nuts and stir again to distribute.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until loaf passes the toothpick test.

4.  Cool loaf in the pan for several minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.  This is the kind of loaf that is better after resting a day or two.  Once cooled to room temperature, wrap securely in plastic wrap.  Keeping it in the fridge will extend its life a couple of days.  You can also slice it the next day, wrap in foil, and keep in the freezer.  Then you can pull out one slice at a time for breakfast or tea.

Makes one loaf, about 12 to 16 slices

Difficulty rating :)