Pumpkin Bread

Yes, I Really Love Pumpkin, you’ll notice that if you stick around here awhile.

I could happily eat pumpkin muffins all year round, no matter the season. There’s just something cozy and comforting about them that never gets old.

The recipe I use is adapted from a simple pumpkin bread recipe I tucked into my homemade cookbook. And when I say homemade, I mean it quite literally- it’s just an old 3-ring binder we had lying around. Nothing fancy, just pages filled with family favorites and time-tested recipes.

One of the most special things in that binder? A collection of recipes from my late Grandma Edna. My favorite aunt sent me nine separate emails, each with several attachments of one of Grandma’s recipes. I printed them on cardstock, hole-punched each one, and snapped them into my binder. Now, every time I flip through those pages, I feel connected to the strong women in my family who cooked before me.

There’s something so meaningful about cooking from a recipe with history. And when it involves pumpkin? Even better.

Pumpkin Bread
ingredients:
1 3/4 C. Pumpkin (1can)
3 1/3 C. Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
2 C. Sugar (it originally called for 3, but I never use the full amount)
2/3 C. Coconut oil or Butter
2/3 C. Water
4 Eggs
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Cinnamon

I have no patience for beating eggs, or separating dry ingredients from liquid.  So I just put everything into a bowl & mixed it.  With my fancy kitchen aid mixer that I am in love with.
For bread, bake at 350 degrees for just under an hour.  This time I made 24 muffins and 1 loaf of bread, the muffins I took out after about 35 minutes, the bread I turned off after 45 minutes, but left in for another 15 minutes… so the timing isn’t terribly important.  I’d say if you want a general rule- 350 for 40 minutes, then do the toothpick check.

For the frosting I used a recipe I found here.

Ps- A cute little story from my “childhood”.  My grandmother used to make the BEST pumpkin pie.  I used to say Punky for pumpkin… I heard the phrase “I love grandma’s punky pie” repeated often, as apparently it is something I used to say when my grandparents came to visit.  It wasn’t until about a year ago when my husband corrected me I realized that I was still saying punky pie, rather than pumpkin pie. Ha!