Pumpkin bread

Pumpkin Bread

Points and pics to follow. (Major guessing on the points... 4 per serving?)

I bought a small pie pumpkin a few weeks ago for Robin's first Halloween pumpkin. We didn't carve it because I wanted to use it for baking after Halloween.

I got this recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens (BHG) cookbook, but of course its been "Hollified". The recipe does calls for a 15oz can of pumpkin. Robin's pumpkin ended up being 1lb and 3oz after being pureed, so i just used the whole thing.

Preparing the pumpkin:
First, I scrubbed the outside of the pumpkin with antibacterial soap and a washcloth. The pumpkin wasn't organic and I didn't want pesticides and other yuck to get into the flesh when I cut it open. Then, I cut the stem part out, just like you would if you were going to carve the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern, then I pulled out most of the seeds and stringy parts. Yes, it still had the "Eeew" factor that it did when carving pumpkins when we were little kids. Then, I cut the pumpkin in half long ways. The pumpkin's skin is REALLY tough, so it's a little hard to cut. Please be careful when cutting the pumpkin... I don't want anyone getting their finger cut off!

To remove the rest of the stringy parts, I used a spoon and forcibly scraped the inside of the pumpkin. The flesh of the pumpkin is pretty stringy itself, but its easy to tell when you've scraped out the guts. They are more orange and slimy than the flesh.

The instructions for cooking the pumpkin came from the Super Baby Foods (SBF) book by Ruth Yaron. The pumpkin was 2 pounds after de-stemming and gutting it. SBF said to add 3 tablespoons of water to the bowl per 1 pound of winter squash. Cover and microwave for 8 minutes for each pound. My Pyrex bowl wasn't large enough for both halves, so I did two batches. I cut each half in half again longways before microwaving.

After the pumpkin was done cooking, the flesh very easily separated from the skin. I pureed the first batch while the 2nd batch was cooking. Then, I pureed the 2nd batch. Viola! I can't wait to buy an organic pumpkin so I can make some pureed pumpkin for Robin to eat!

Note: I have no idea why, but I always put a "g" at the end of the word pumpkin. Weird!

Recipe from BHG cookbook:

• 3 cups sugar (I used 2.5 cups)
• 1 cup cooking oil (I used 1/2 cup of olive oil and it still came out really moist)
• 4 eggs
• 3 1/3 cups flour (I used 1 cup of oatmeal, ground in the food processor plus 2 1/3 cups of flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg)
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 15oz can pumpkin (I used my pureed pumpkin)
• 3/4 cup raisins

As I was typing this, I thought a tablespoon or two of vanilla extract would be really good in this. I usually put some vanilla in sweet baking recipes even if the recipe didn't call for it. I can't believe I forgot! Darn!

• Preheat Oven to 350 and grease 2 loaf pans. (I dont have loaf pans so I used one 9x13 rectangle pyrex and one 9x9 pyrex cake pans).
• In large mixing bowl, beat sugar and oil w/ electric mixer. Add eggs and beat well. (I have a kitchenaid mixer which does a GREAT job of mixing, so I didn't beat in the eggs at this point. It would have beat the eggs too much, causing the batter not to rise enough). Set aside.
• In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Alternately add flour mixture and water to sugar mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined. Beat in pumpkin, then fold in raisins.
• Pour into pans and bake 55 to 65 mins for loaf pans. I baked mine for 40 minutes, since the batter wasn't as thick in my pans and it would have been in a loaf pan.
• The instructions say to cool completely on wire racks, wrap and store overnight before slicing. HOWEVER, who really wants to wait overnight to enjoy some delightful pumpkin bread?? I just waited until it wasn't hot and I dug right in. I didn't even take it out of the purex pan.

Another Note: If I had it, whipped cream would have been good on it.

Oh, and I roasted the pumpkin seeds too! While I was preparing the batter, I arranged the cleaned seeds in one layer on a baking sheet and dried them off a little. I sprinkled them w/ cajun spice and baked at 325 for about 30 minutes. Yum!