Deliciously Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Before I left for my trip, I wanted to make sure that we had a yummy snack for the kids to munch on. I checked the pantry and had all of the ingredients to put together some mini-loaves of my favorite spiced pumpkin bread in the world. Smear this with a little butter and a cup of coffee, and you have the ultimate coffee shop experience at home.

This batter makes four mini-loaves so I was able to wrap one and put it in the freezer, leave two out for eating, and I gave a loaf of it to my mother-in-law who took a day off to help us with the kids while I am out-of-town. Wrapped in tin foil, I stamped a tag with a little thank you rubber stamp and tied the loaf off with a little raffia. I hope nothing says thank you and I appreciate you like a loaf of this pumpkin bread!

The best part about this bread, of course, is that all of the ingredients can be found and stocked in your pantry. The other great part is that it is inexpensive and easy to make. That makes it a winner in our house!


Spiced Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in walnuts, if desired.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.