make it monday: pumpkin bread

Happy Monday! Today I am going to share one of my favorite recipes. About 3 years ago, I wanted to make something with Aislynn on the first day of Fall, and I had pumpkin bread on my mind. It turned out that none of the grocery stores had canned pumpkin and didn't even know if they would have any by Thanksgiving. This was due to a pumpkin shortage. When I finally did see some canned pumpkin at the fancy grocery store (about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving), I bought the last 4 cans. I didn't end of trying Pumpkin Bread until closer the Christmas that year, but once I did, we had it a lot:) It is spicy and delicious, moist, and tastes even better the next day. Now I make it every year, multiple times, in the Fall, and it is something we all look forward to once September comes.

Pumpkin Bread (makes 2 loaves and 12 muffins)

Ingredients

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce*

2/3 cup water

3 cups white sugar

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour*

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

*The original recipe calls for vegetable oil instead of applesauce and all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour. In some recipes you can tell when there are healthier substitutions, but this is one of the few, that I can do the full substitution and for our family, we can't tell a difference in taste or texture.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray 2 loaf pans (I *think* the ones I use are 8.5x4.5 inches?) with non-stick spray and line one muffin pan with liners. (The original recipe calls for 3 7x3 loaf pans, but I didn't have those!)

2. In large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, applesauce, water, eggs, and sugar until well blended. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended.

3. Fill the muffin liners 2/3 full, and divide the remaining batter in to the loaf pans.

4. Bake for 18 minutes, and check the muffins. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted into the center. Rotate the loaf pans, and continue to bake 28-30 minutes. You may need longer...the bake time is off from the original recipe since I am baking the in different size pans. When a toothpick comes out clean, they are done;)

5. Let cool for a bit in the pan, and then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Source: adapted from All Recipes