Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

Moist, delicious, perfectly spiced pumpkin bread.  It doesn't get any better, in my opinion.  I know I've mentioned in the past about my love affair with pumpkin. I think this bread would even be a hit with those who don't quite share the same level of pumpkin love that I do.  I've tried a few different pumpkin bread recipes and this is by far our very favorite.  I always lighten it up a bit by doing 1/2 cup of oil and 1/2 cup of applesauce.  But it is phenomenal either way.  My family always gobbles this bread up so quickly!  I love how soft it is and the spices blend together so well--no spice overwhelms the other so it's a perfect marriage.  Enjoy!

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread adapted from Allrecipes

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 C vegetables oil (or 1/2 C and 1/2 C applesauce)

2/3 C water

2 cups white sugar

1 C light brown sugar

3 1/2 C all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmet

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.  

2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugars until well blended.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.  Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended.  Pour into the prepared pans.

3. Bake for about 50-60 minutes in the preheated oven.  Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  

Pumpkin Cake

I am a huge fan of pumpkin!  When I was in college we would make frequent visits to Great Harvest (a bread store) on Tuesdays to get free samples of their pumpkin bread.  I know, I know....a very cheap, college student kind of thing to do.  I've tried to make it up by actually buying a loaf or two when I go there now.  When I started dating my husband I made him go in there with me one night and he was embarrassed by the whole ordeal.  I thought poor college students had no shame--but apparently he did and so we laughed about it and I stopped mooching their yummy pumpkin bread after that.

So this cake does a fantastic job of fulfilling my pumpkin love.  It is really, really moist and pares perfectly with the cream cheese frosting.  Which, I must add, I am not usually a big fan of.  But I love the frosting with this particular cake.  I also love that you make it on a 10x15 pan and so it goes great when you're taking dessert to a crowd.  Try it...I think you'll like it even if you don't love pumpkin as much as I do. This was the cake that I even made for my daughter's first birthday many years ago.

Pumpkin Cake from Barbs (aka my mom)

2 C flour

1 tsp soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 C granulated sugar

4 eggs, well beaten

2 C pumpkin

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 C vegetable oil

Beat eggs; add pumpkin, cinnamon, oil, and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add rest of dry ingredients. Grease a 10x15 inch pan.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Spread on frosting after cooled.

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 C butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 C powdered sugar

Combine and mix until well blended.

Pumpkin Blondies

We were able to get away and go to a cabin as a family this last weekend.  My little brother is moving to North Carolina tomorrow with his wife and brand new baby :(.  So it was our last hoorah before they move.  My uncle has this fabulous cabin where we just relaxed, played games, talked, read books, and ATE lots of good food.

I brought along this recipe to share while we were all together.  I guess it attests to how good they are when we made a trip into the teensy little town nearby to buy more white chocolate chips to make these AGAIN.  We seriously polished off the pan before they had even cooled!  The second pan of blondies had a small sliver that survived to the following morning and we all decided that they were even MORE delicious the second day.  In fact, I'd recommend following the directions (we were just too enticed by their scent while baking) and letting them cool completely before slicing into them.  They were so, so, so delicious!  The white chocolate pairs perfectly with the pumpkin and I'm sure you'll be wanting to make a second batch after you make them, too.

Pumpkin Blondies from Dinner & Dessert (see blog for original source)

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 package (12 ounces) white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled).  Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into squares.

Tips: I used unsalted butter for the first batch because I had brought it.  However, I only had salted butter for the second batch. I reduced the salt to about 1/4 tsp and we all agreed that there was no difference between the two.

Pumpkin Waffles

With fall slowly starting to creep in I've been itching to share some of my favorite falls recipes. These waffles are seriously to die for!!! Seriously.

I acquired this delectable recipe when I wanted to put together and share some new recipes pre-blogging a few years back and had asked my close friends from high school to share some of their favorites. My friend, Michelle, sent me over this recipe and said that I had to try it. I will never regret trying them!

They are AMAZING! Wait...did I already say that? There is just the right amount of pumpkin (I was worried it would be overwhelming) that pairs perfectly with the yummy buttermilk syrup. My husband gets SO excited whenever I make these. He claims he could eat this syrup with his shoe and it'd still taste good. Me...I'll just stick to eating it on these delicious waffles. We made these for a birthday breakfast party for my daughter last year and they were a huge hit with the adults and children. I get asked for this recipe all the time. You really do have to try these and let me know what you think.

PUMPKIN WAFFLES from Michelle T.

4 eggs separated
1 ½ cups milk
1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup margarine
1 T Vanilla
2 cups flour
2 T baking powder
1 T cinnamon
1 T sugar
½ tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt

Beat egg yolks then add milk, pumpkin, margarine, and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients and then add flour mixture. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into mixture. Cool in fridge several hours or overnight. Serve with hot buttermilk syrup.

BUTTERMILK SYRUP
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup buttermilk
1 tsp. karo syrup

Bring to a boil then remove from heat. Stir in 1 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. vanilla.

Tips: I made these earlier this week for dinner on the fly when we were running low on groceries. I usually always chill them overnight but was really craving these (and had leftover pumpkin in the fridge) and so I made them and let them chill for about an hour. The result--they still came out perfect. So I think I won't stress so much about having them always chill overnight. They may have been slightly flatter--but very slightly. (And in case any of you might have noticed...I did post this recipe a couple of years ago pre-picture days and so here it is re-posted with a picture).