Really Good Pumpkin Bread

Dave is getting seriously spoiled this week. TWO pumpkin baked items in one week. We had cream cheese and pumpkin puree left over from the Maple-Pumpkin Stack Cake so I whipped up a loaf of this last night (halved the recipe). I absolutely love when I have all the required ingredients already in the pantry. That doesn't happen often! 

Published September 1, 2012.  From Cook's Illustrated.
Canned pumpkin puree often lends a raw, metallic flavor to pumpkin bread. We cook down the puree to eliminate those off-putting flavors. Instead of dirtying more dishes, we mix the quick bread right in the pot, adding cream cheese and buttermilk for their tangy flavor. A quick-to-assemble topping adds texture and keeps the loaf from getting soggy the next day. 

The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches; if using a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness five minutes early. Makes 2 loaves.

TOPPING 
5 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
 
BREAD 
2 cups  all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 (15 oz) can unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed  light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 ounces cream cheese , cut into 12 pieces
4 large eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped fine (optional)

1. FOR THE TOPPING: Using fingers, mix all ingredients together in bowl until well combined and topping resembles wet sand; set aside.

2. FOR THE BREAD: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in bowl.
 
3. Combine pumpkin puree, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook mixture, stirring constantly, until reduced to 1½ cups, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove pot from heat; stir in granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and cream cheese until combined. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until no visible pieces of cream cheese remain and mixture is homogeneous.
 
4. Whisk together eggs and buttermilk. Add egg mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk to combine. Fold flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until combined (some small lumps of flour are OK). Fold walnuts into batter. Scrape batter into prepared pans. Sprinkle topping evenly over top of each loaf. Bake until skewer inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let breads cool in pans on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove breads from pans and let cool for at least 1½ hours. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cream Biscuits

Perhaps it's just the love affair I'm having with my my new oven, but lately I've become addicted to baking. When I came across this recipe for cream biscuits on Orangette's blog, I had to give them a try. The kids are home on spring break and I thought I would surprise my daughter with some fresh from the oven biscuits when she finished up with her morning treatment.Adapted from The Breakfast Book, by Marion Cunningham, she says that these biscuits belong in your permanent recipe file, and she is right about that. I’ve tried a lot of biscuit recipes, and this is my new go-to, easy. It is not for those seeking a light breakfast - the amount of cream and butter is, shall we say, festive. It’s an epic biscuit.

Island Pork Tenderloin Salad & Coconut Bread

Frugal living. It's a trait I inherited from my mother. Sometimes my frugal nature is what drives my recipe search. Take for instance, self-rising flour. I bought a bag the other day, and used 3 cups to make beer bread. Then I discovered that I already had an open bag (another trait that I also inherited from my mother). So what does one do with all that self-rising flour? She goes to epicurious.com and does a search using "self-rising flour". This is how I ended up, in a round about way, with Island Pork Tenderloin Salad. I first arrived on the recipe for Coconut Bread, which claims "This bread is slightly sweet, like some corn breads, and works well as an accompaniment for the Island Pork Tenderloin Salad . It also makes a nice island-style tea bread when served in the afternoon with lime marmalade and hibiscus tea."

While I don't plan on drinking hibiscus tea in the afternoon anytime soon, I thought I would at least try the salad, which by the way is an Epicurious Blue Ribbon Recipe. 95% would make it again out of a whopping 612 reviews. The salad was excellent. A 4 fork rating from me! I would skip the bread next time. It was nothing to write home (or blog) about.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Candied Ginger

I've been reading Molly Wizenberg's book, "A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table". Molly is the author of one of my favorite food blogs: Orangette. Each chapter contains a story about her life, accompanied by a recipe. I could not resist trying her Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Candied Ginger. It calls for "small chunks of candied ginger, to taste", I used 1/3 c. and it was perfect. The only other modification I made was to bake it in 3 mini loaves instead of one big loaf. I figured I could freeze one or two to enjoy later. Yeah, not so much. They have all been eaten already.