How to Make Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Now that pumpkins are in season, it’s time to start baking with them! This spiced pumpkin bread uses canned pumpkin puree. However, you can always substitute it for the homemade version. Here’s the recipe:

Spiced Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Adapted from Epicurious.com


Ingredients:

3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 16-ounce can of pumpkin purée

3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray two standard loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. You can also butter and flour the pan if you don’t want to use cooking spray.

Beat sugar and oil together in a large mixing bowl using an electric beater that has been set on medium-high speed until well combined. Beat in eggs one at a time until it is smooth and creamy.

In another large bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, and salt using a fine-mesh strainer or a special sifting tool. Add half of the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir gently with a wooden spoon. Add the remaining dry ingredients and stir gently until well combined. Be careful not to over mix or else the batter will get too hard. Gently stir in the pumpkin purée and stir until well combined.

Pour batter evenly into each of the loaf pans. Bake in the center of the oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This should take about 1 hour and 10 minutes, depending on the oven. Test the loaves at the 1 hour point so that you can gauge how much longer it will need.

Place the pans on wire cooling racks and let cool for about ten minutes. Loosen the sides of each of the loaves with a sharp knife. Remove the bread from the loaf pans and place on the wire rack to cool all the way through.


Variations:

Nutty Pumpkin Bread. Prepare the recipe listed above. After the batter is mixed, gently stir in 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts. Pour into greased bread pans and bake as usual.

Chocolaty Pumpkin Bread. Prepare the recipe listed above. After the batter is mixed, gently stir in 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and bake as usual. After the bread cools, you can frost it with chocolate icing, if desired.

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread. Prepare the recipe listed above. Gently stir in 1 cup dried cranberries just before pouring the batter into the loaf pans and bake as usual. After the bread cools, you can ice it with vanilla frosting, if desired.

Pumpkin Muffins. Prepare the recipe listed above. Line a muffin pan with paper muffin cups. Fill each muffin cup halfway with batter and bake in an oven that has been set at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. This should take about 15 minutes. Note that you can also turn any of the other variations listed here into muffins, as well!