The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16-ounce can pumpkin puree
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped raisins
Instructions:
Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Next, in a medium sized bowl combine the flour, baking powder and soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Whisk them to blend them together thoroughly.
Once the dry ingredients are mixed together, grab a large bowl for the wet ingredients. Combine the sugar, vegetable oil and eggs. Beat them on low speed of an electric mixer, if you have one, or whisk them together until they are well blended. Next, stir in the pumpkin puree into the egg mixture.
Once you have combined the pumpkin puree evenly in with the wet ingredients, begin to combine the contents of the two bowls. Do so by gradually adding the sifted dry ingredients into the pumpkin and egg mixture. Be sure to stir well after each addition to be sure to mix it thoroughly. Be sure to mix around the bowl completely, making sure to mix any flour ‘pockets’ there may be in the batter. Once the batter is well combined, fold in the walnuts and raisins.
Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt cake pan or loaf tin for the batter. Then spoon in the batter to the pan or tin.
Bake the bread in the oven for approximately one hour and 15 to 20 minutes, or until you can insert a wooden toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.
Once the bread has baked, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for approximately 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. Then allow it to cool on a rack before serving.
Sprinkle the bread with powdered sugar or serve with cream cheese and enjoy!
Commentary:
As fall approaches, and Starbucks has released their seasonal pumpkin spice drinks, this bread is perfect to welcome in the new season. This pumpkin spice bread can be quite versatile and served as a dessert or eaten as a breakfast bread. You can add a sauce or serve it with whipped cream for more of a dessert, or simply serve it with cream cheese or a glaze for a breakfast bread.
You can also alter the recipe a bit to suit your tastes. For this recipe, if you don’t like walnuts or raisins you can leave them out or substitute them for other fruits and nuts such as pecans or cranberries. Additionally, you can substitute the sugar with brown sugar, either completely or in parts.
This bread is great to serve for guests, but if you have left overs it freezes well. Simply wrap the bread in aluminum foil or put them in food storage bags and store them in the freezer. To warm it up, thaw it at room temperature then heat it up in the oven at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes.