Tea Bread To Share...Again

My last post was for a spicy, moist, delicious gingerbread that you can bake in smaller pans, which make it easy to share. As we start gearing up for the holidays, I hope to post some more sharable baked goods so that you can choose to bake a small goodie as a gift for friends, family and neighbors instead of spending money buying them something. People truly appreciate gifts that are handmade...as long as they are also tasty.

This time the gift is for family members, but it works just as well for friends and neighbors. The batter for this yummy pumpkin chocolate chip bread was baked in four small loaf pans. Each little loaf will yield slices to go with a hot beverage like coffee, tea, or cocoa. Since the family members who will be receiving theses little pumpkin delights have a tradition of afternoon coffee with a little something sweet, I suspect the little loaves will be gone in no time!

This recipe goes together quickly. Be sure to divide the batter evenly between the pans and don't over-bake. I would suggest checking them at least 5 minutes before they are supposed to be done. Have some foil handy to cover them if the tops seem to be browning too quickly. 

Pumpkin Nut Bread…with Chocolate
Makes 1 loaf

                                                        Large Loaf

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan or four small loaf pans. (I used a baking spray that includes flour.)

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl (both flours, soda and powder, spices).

Put the pumpkin, brown sugar, milk and eggs in a mixing bowl and mix until well blended.

Add the dry ingredients and begin to combine. Add the nuts and chocolate chips and mix just until all are well blended.

Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in preheated oven 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

If baking the four small loaf pans, divide the batter evenly between the pans and smooth the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan(s) five minutes, then turn out of pan(s) and cool top side up on a cooling rack.

Pantry Perfect

This morning I brought a lovely quick bread I'd baked to a meeting, so my worry about not baking during the project wasn't justified. Some baking will continue...it's one of my creative outlets after all.

Because the project does come with time constraints, I headed to my pantry for the ingredients, especially the canned pumpkin. I know that pumpkin seems like a fall and winter flavor, but a good pumpkin bread is delicious any time of the year. This one has vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger for flavor, plus a dollop of Irish whiskey, for fun. I used both white and brown sugar, some eggs, some room temperature butter, and all purpose flour leavened with both baking soda and baking powder. At the end I threw in some dried cranberries, too. The finished bread was a golden brown with a lovely deep gold interior.

The recipe began as a King Arthur Flour recipe without the cinnamon, ginger, Irish whiskey, brown sugar or butter. I also changed the method because I used butter and creamed it with the sugars and vanilla, then added the eggs and water. Once these liquid ingredients were combined, the addition of the mixed dry ingredients went very quickly, yielding a very light and tender bread. It makes two good sized loaves. You could even freeze a loaf for later enjoyment. Since it goes together so quickly, give it a try.

You might wonder why I end up changing so many things. Why not start with a recipe that is closer to what I want to bake? Well, King Arthur Flour's website has so many recipes that I know I'll find one that will work as a starting point. They really seem to test their recipes, so I know the proportions will work. After that it is easy for me to make the substitutions since I have so much experience with baking. For this one, for instance, I wanted something similar to pound cake, so I used the creamed butter and sugar base instead of the melted butter or oil. Those give a slightly heavier texture to the finished bread. I can assure you that you won't want to leave out the Irish Whiskey (unless you replace it with bourbon) because it adds a hint of smokiness that is wonderful with pumpkin.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread with Dried Cranberries
Loosely based on a recipe found at King Arthur Flours

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups (or one 15-ounce can) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup Irish Whiskey
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, then cream in the sugars.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each egg into the batter before adding the next egg.

Add the pumpkin, water,  and the Irish Whiskey and mix to combine well.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the flour mixture to the batter and beat only until barely combined.

Mix in the dried cranberries, if you're using them.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pans. and smooth tops a bit.

Bake the bread for 60 to 80 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean; and that same tester inserted about 1/2" into the top of the loaf doesn't encounter any totally unbaked batter.

Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack. When it's completely cool, wrap it well in plastic wrap, and store it overnight before serving.

Yield: 2 loaves.