Recipe for Spicy Pumpkin Gingerbread

I make gingerbread all year round. It travels well and I have to make three packed lunches five days a week! This recipe is my tried and true, go to safe bet. It has a lot of ingredients in it for a “quick” bread but I promise it is worth the effort. At this time of year I add pumpkin to the mix to shake things up a little.

This is the first time I’ve used fresh pumpkin in this recipe and I am thrilled with the result!  I put the fresh pumpkin in a strainer for about thirty minutes and was amazed at how much water drained out. Even after that the puree was quite light and I think this really adds to the moist texture of the bread. The pumpkin taste is identifiable but does not compete with the gingerbread spices, of which there is a lot because that’s how we like it! Feel free to cut back on the kick.


 

Spicy Pumpkin Gingerbread

1 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of butter, melted

2 eggs

¼ cup apple sauce

¼ cup molasses

8oz pumpkin puree - fresh or canned

1 tsp. vanilla

1 ¾ cups flour

1 tsp. ginger

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. cloves

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a loaf pan. In a large bowl, mix the sugar, butter and eggs. Add the applesauce, molasses, vanilla and pumpkin and incorporate.  

In another bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

As soon as the bread was cool enough to cut, Computer Boy was eating a “slice” (I use the word loosely) and giving it a thumbs up, which is why I have no photos of the whole bread!  When is this kid going to stop growing? You know, girls are supposed to be the ones made of sugar and spice- not in this house, I have a boy full of sugary spice and, more importantly, fresh pumpkin.

 Sue