One of my very favorite things about the Fall is definitely the smells - the autumn leaves, pumpkin bread, apple pies, cinnamon, nutmeg....mmmm. There is something about these treats that warm my spirit - they are cozy, delicious, and soothing. Today, Layla and I decided to bake together. She loves helping me measure, pour and, of course, taste. And I love that she's learning about volume, gravity, and mixtures through our simple kitchen experiments.
I've never made Pumpkin Bread before but got a recipe from WholeFoods and decided to give it a try. It was a treat and Layla really liked her "Pumpkin Cake!"
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=1461 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We doubled this recipe so we would have enough to share! (We did not add nuts, and we didn't have any oat bran - so I put some oatmeal in the food processor and used that.) A sweet harvest treat.
Ingredients Canola oil cooking spray 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 1/4 cup oat bran or wheat germ 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 6 tablespoons cane sugar 1/3 cup canola or sunflower oil 1/3 cup honey 1/3 cup milk 1 1/4 cups fresh or canned pumpkin puree 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup chopped walnuts
Method Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch loaf pan with canola oil cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, oat bran, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda. In a second large bowl, combine sugar, oil, honey, milk, pumpkin, egg and vanilla then add to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in walnuts.
Transfer batter to prepared loaf pan and bake until cooked through and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack then remove from pan and set aside to let cool completely.
