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My Favorite Pumpkin Bread

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Moist and flavorful pumpkin bread. This classic recipe is perfect for pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins.

My Favorite Pumpkin Bread of All Time

 

*Sometimes things need a refresh. My favorite pumpkin bread was originally posted in 2010 with some painful-to-the-eyes photos. And while my photography skills have thankfully improved, the recipe, that I’ve loved ever since I was a kid, has not changed. My mom and I both make it every year! So here we are again with my very favorite pumpkin bread from childhood and some photos that I like to think are much easier on the eyes.*

In case you haven’t noticed, I have a sweet tooth:-) I always have room for dessert, but if you can make a side dish that tastes like a dessert, isn’t that even better?  Combining that with the fact that pumpkin is one of my all time favorite dessert flavors, you can understand why I’d be a fan of pumpkin bread.

Seriously good (and easy) pumpkin bread

I’ve had lots of pumpkin muffins and breads, some are dry, some are too dense, and some just lack a true pumpkin flavor.  This recipe, however, produces a light, moist and flavorful bread that also works for muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins
Just for kicks… one of the original photos!
Pumpkin Bread
And another, ouch.

This recipe is super easy.  It is the one my mom has been making for years and she had gotten it from a friend of hers originally.  You can do all of the stirring by hand so no mixer necessary.

First, take your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt) and whisk them in a large bowl.

Set that aside and combine your wet ingredients, pumpkin, oil, water and eggs. Then add your wet ingredients to the dry. Stir until well combined. Pour into your pans and bake until bread and muffin tops are rounded and a knife comes out clean.

Perfect pumpkin muffins that are so easy to make

The recipe is originally set to make 3 pumpkin bread loaves, however I wanted a little bit of variety and made muffins too. (Sidenote: an ice cream scoop makes the perfect transfer to muffin tins). Eat it as a side dish or for breakfast.

My Favorite Pumpkin Bread
 
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Moist and flavorful pumpkin bread. This classic recipe is perfect for pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Makes: 3 regular-sized loaves; 3 dozen regular sized muffins or 6 dozen mini muffins
Ingredients
  • 460g (~3½ cups) all-purpose flour
  • 635g (3 cups) granulated sugar
  • 10g (2 teaspoons) baking soda
  • 7½g (1½ teaspoons) salt
  • 4g (2 teaspoons) cinnamon
  • 2g (1 teaspoon) nutmeg
  • 425g (~1¾ cup) canned pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling
  • 237 milliliters (1 cup) canola oil
  • 160 milliliters (2/3 cup) water
  • 220g (4 large) whole eggs
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Grease pans with non-stick cooking spray and/or line muffin tins with cup holders
  3. Whisk together dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl and set aside
  4. Combine wet ingredients (pumpkin through eggs)
  5. Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and mix well until combined
  6. Pour batter into baking pans
  7. Baking times for different forms:
  8. Loaves: 45 minutes to 1 hour
  9. Regular muffins: 18 to 25 minutes
  10. Mini muffins: 16 to 20 minutes
  11. Bake until bread and muffin tops are rounded and a knife comes out clean
  12. Cool pumpkin bread out of baking pans on wire rack
Notes
Store bread wrapped in seran and muffins in a ziplock bag at room temperature up to one week or frozen up to two months
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What is your favorite dessert-like side dish?

Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.

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Easy Low Fat Pumpkin Sheet Cake

 

Pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins, what could be better?
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Matt’s Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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matt tasting banana

I like bananas…

Last week we were going to my godparents house for dinner and Lauren said she would make banana bread. She was feeling a little under the weather, so I said I would do it.

I basically did Lauren’s Upside Down Banana Bread Recipe without the caramelized bananas plus chocolate chips (my favorite).  I didn’t think the caramelized bananas would travel well, so I dropped that part of the recipe.  Here is a link to the original recipe, which I doubled to make two loaves.

Sooo, it turns out that baking is really hard.  I’m normally pretty good in the kitchen when it comes to cooking. I like to experiment with different spices and usually just improvise with whatever ingredients are available. Then there is my basic rule of thumb, “when in doubt add cheese.”

However, I discovered this is not really how baking works. You have to follow recipes and be exact.  I am bad at that. I am used to just throwing a little bit of this and a little bit of that into whatever I’m making and see how it comes out!

First step, “raisin bran…” What?! Raisin Bran?! The first obstacle was reading Lauren’s handwriting. It actually said “mash bananas,” Lauren got a pretty good laugh out of that one. I’m glad she was there to answer all my questions.

I combined the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and then did the wet ingredients in a different bowl. I mashed the bananas, added sugar, eggs, oil, applesauce and vanilla and mixed it all together. I poured the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients, flipped the switch on the mix master and done!

I definitely made that seem much easier than it was. It took me like 15 minutes to mash the bananas together, was a wooden spoon the right tool to use? Probably not. I switched to a fork and that didn’t help much. Can anyone help tell me what I should use next time?

Here are a few pictures to document the experience.

matt studying recipe

Following Lauren’s advice – reading through the whole recipe before doing anything.  If I could only decipher her handwriting…

all ingredients

What you’ll need…

dry ingred

Mix the dry ingredients

mixing banana

I can make chicken parm, roast a turkey or braise a brisket, but I seemed to be having trouble mashing bananas!

mixing wet

Add all the wet ingredients and mix.  Apparently sugar is a wet ingredient?

mixing all ingred

Put them on top of the dry ingredients and whisk

batter with chips

To finish it off, I reverted to my brand new baking rule of thumb, “when in doubt, add chocolate chips.” I added almost a whole bag. Lauren thought this was funny, but I like chocolate chips!  No need to measure, that’s just how I roll…

in oven

Bake at 350 for ~35 minutes, I had to ask Lauren to check if they were done.  Just like she asks me when the chicken is done.  Role reversal!

done

I baked them in this Williams Sonoma pan. Lauren says they are pumpkins, but I say bring it to the beach to make sand castles!

I’m going to let Lauren do the baking from now on, she definitely makes it seem easier than it is.  So, if you think baking is hard, you are NOT alone!

From now on, I will stick to what I’m really gifted at: tasting!

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Matt’s Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients:

5 medium extra ripe bananas (to make 2 cup mashed)

1 cup of sugar, separated

2 large eggs + 2 large egg whites

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray 2 loaf pans with cooking spray.

Combine flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Mash together bananas and sugar.

Whisk remaining wet ingredients into banana mixture (vanilla through applesauce).

Add wet ingredients to the dry and combine.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan before removing.

Slice and enjoy!

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