Felt a little chill in the air today morning. Just wanted to go back home and bake something intoxicating & aromatic to get into Christmas mood. Pranav was also looking in the fridge for some yummy treat last night; although he didn’t tell me anything and settled with a dry fig. (He loves to nibble on something sweet along his tea I know that). Pumpkin bread just fitted into the whole scenario brilliantly. It’s an incredible bake, If you have not tried it yet; you must.
Pumpkin bread is all about comfort food – A hot cup of milk and a slice of Home baked moist pumpkin bread will be a great satisfaction. I plan to skip dinner and just enjoy with my comfort food in the bed watching Quantico tonight.
Pumpkin Bread is a heavenly sweet, moist, fragrant bread loaf with such an incredible texture. An easy recipe, it don’t require any fancy equipment – just mix the ingredients and bake. It’s a very flexible recipe as well. Combine the dry fruits, spices, & nuts all of your choice; the pumpkin bread will adopt the flavor – will gel with it in an absolutely joyful way. It’s a true bliss – HAPPY BAKING.
Few points :
1. I went a little extra in trying out the combos, and added a cream cheese layer in between the loaf. Was so happy to see that white creamy line in the middle of each slice. Looks inspirational. But – but – but That is truly optional; you can easily skip that layer and the bread will still taste delicious.
2. If you want the bread to taste mostly pumpkin; don’t go over board with the spice. A little hint will do an incredible joy and will lift the pumpkin flavor beautifully.
3. For the pumpkin puree – You can either buy it or make it home. Both will work just fine. Don’t buy the pumpkin puree can with spice already added. Here is a link to make an easy creamy pumpkin puree at home.
4. For the cream cheese filling – Don’t over mix the cream cheese, Don’t use electric blender, Just a whisk will smooth the cream cheese filling quickly. Over processing will result in cream cheese too thin and runny and will not stay in the middle layer.
5. Use two spoons to place the small dollops of pumpkin batter and cream cheese for the neat layers.
6. The size and the depth of the loaf pan could lead to variations in the time of baking. If you feel that the cake is done on the top but still not cooked in the middle – Lower the temperature and cover the top with a loose foil and adjust the baking time accordingly. That does not mean you keep opening the oven door to check. You can only open the oven door after 35 to 40 minutes of baking time. Or the center will sink.
7. I have used pumpkin seeds on the top and mixed some in the loaf as well. If you find salted pumpkin seeds use those. They give a beautiful contrast to the sweet flavor of Pumpkin Bread.
INGREDIENTS
1. 1/4 cup of roasted chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistachio) You can use any or mix all.
2. A handful of pumpkin seeds
3. 2 cups of all purpose flour
4. 1 tablespoon of baking powder
5. 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
6. 1/4th teaspoon of ground cloves (optional)
7. 1/4th teaspoon of ground ginger (optional)
8. A dash of salt
9. 2 eggs room temperature
10. 1 cups of granulated white sugar
11. 100 gm of butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
12. 200gm of pumpkin puree
13. 1/4th cup of water
14. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
For the cream cheese filling
1. 100 gm of cream cheese (room temp)
2. 3 tablespoons of sugar
3. 1 egg (room temp)
METHOD
Preheat the oven at 180*C (350*F) butter and lightly flour a loaf pan (appro. 9X5 inches ) You can place a parchment sheet cut to the size of the bottom of the loaf pan.
For the Cream Cheese filling
In a bowl, beat the cream cheese using a whisk along with sugar until smooth. Add the egg and combine. Don’t over mix and set aside.
In a bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, and ground spices and combine all using a whisk. Add in the chopped and roasted nuts and few pumpkin seeds , (Save some toasted nuts and seeds to sprinkle on the top of the loaf) set aside.
In another bowl whisk the eggs until lightly beaten. Add the sugar and melted butter and combine all. Stir in the pumpkin puree, water and vanilla extract . Add the pumpkin puree mix to the flour mix and combine all using a rubber spatula. Again – Don’t over mix.
Pour half of the pumpkin mix into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top using a spoon or off set spatula. Using two clean spoons, scoop out small quanties of cream cheese spread evenly on top of the pumpkin mix – placing small dollops all over evenly. Top the cream cheese with remaining half of the pumpkin batter evenly. Sprinkle the remaning nuts and pumpkin seeds on the top and bake for 55 to 60 minutes at 180* C. The tooth pick when inserted in the center will have few miost crumbs, but that is o.k. because we have a cream cheese layer in the center.
When done; let the loaf cool on the wire rack for about 15 minutes – then remove the pumpkin bread from the pan. When the bread is completly cool cut into slices using a sharp knife and serve and enjoy !
Homemade Twix bars
