Pumpkin Bread with Maple-Walnut Streusel

Nesting is funny. It seems to take different forms for different people. A friend of mine dusted all the baseboards in their house. Deb from Smitten Kitchen made brownies. My mom decided it was high time she move an entire giant pile of firewood from one side of the garage to the other. So far, I have been knitting up a storm, getting a jump on Christmas gifts (WHAT?! You think I should wait until I have a tiny human who depends on me for her every need to start making and buying gifts?), finishing up the painting projects in our new condo (apparently I can't imagine bringing my baby home to a bedroom without a purple accent wall), and listening to Christmas music (I know, I know). I've also noticed that every time I go to the grocery store, I wander around looking for things to stock up on, you know, in case this is the last time I ever get to go to the grocery store.

I had thought that I would be extremely annoyed to have the presidential election coincide with the end of my pregnancy, but it turns out it's a pretty entertaining race (did you see the debate last night? I thought they were going to start throwing punches!), and it's not too shabby to have them tell me on the news every morning exactly how many more days there are until my due date, which is one day after the election. I plan on voting unless I am in labor - luckily I only have to walk (waddle?) half a block to my polling place.

This recipe is oh-so-similar to the one I posted last year, but with enough of a difference that I wanted to post it here anyway. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread with Maple-Walnut Streusel

1 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup melted butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2/3 cup milk
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

For the streusel:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup brown sugar
dash of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons real maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour two standard loaf pans.  Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In another bowl, stir together butter, sugar, eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, dates and walnuts.  Add to dry ingredients and fold together, taking care not to over mix.  Divide evenly between loaf pans. Toss the streusel ingredients together in a small bowl with a fork and sprinkle evenly over both loaves. Bake 50-65 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

Yield: two loaves

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Brown Butter Glaze

A couple of Saturdays ago, we found ourselves facing a crisp fall day that had absolutely nothing planned in it! Days like these have been pretty much nonexistent in our lives lately, so I decided this would be the perfect day to find an orchard and go apple-picking! The problem with wanting to do such a quintessential fall activity is, if you happen to live in the middle of a big city, you might have to drive a couple of hours each way to get your u-pick fix. Unfortunately, we still haven't completely recovered from our travel marathon month of August (we drove over 2,000 miles), so we decided to strip the experience down to bare bones: fresh apples, of course, and (almost) more importantly, warm doughnuts.



For this recipe, you will need a special doughnut pan. You can usually snag one in the kitchen section of TJ Maxx, or you can order one online. Alternatively, you could definitely bake these in muffin tins (or mini muffin tins!), but then... they wouldn't be doughnuts, now would they? And let's just be real, please: a baked doughnut would never beat a fried one in a contest, but it's a lot less hassle (and a lot less blatantly indulgent).

Happy fall!!

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts
adapted from shutterbean.com

makes 6

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter
3-4 tablespoons milk
1/4-1/2 teaspoon mace (or a little more nutmeg)
1/2 cup pecan halves (optional)

Coat a doughnut pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk to combine.

Scoop the batter into a large freezer bag, snip off a corner of the bag, and pipe the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 13-16 minutes, until donuts spring back when lightly touched.  Cool in the pan for 3 minutes, and then turn onto a rack to cool completely.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and cook, swirling constantly to keep from burning, until it turns golden and smells toasty and amazing. Add the butter to a small bowl with the powdered sugar, mace or nutmeg, and milk, and whisk together, adding more milk if necessary to achieve the right consistency. Toast the pecan halves in a dry skillet over medium heat, tossing frequently, until fragrant. Chop roughly.

When the doughnuts are completely cooled, dip each one into the glaze, allowing it to drip off, and sprinkle toasted pecans on top. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

It seems to me that it happened every single year in elementary school: there would be one day when we crowded around a bowl and made pumpkin muffins.  To this day, every time I open a can of pumpkin, that memory comes flying back.  It's as powerful as the smell of tempera paint or that hand soap in the bathrooms.  Isn't it strange how specific and tangible olfactory memory is?

This is my take on a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, the Fannie Farmer Baking Book.  When I was growing up, I think I baked almost every single cookie in it.  It's a fantastic reference book - every chapter begins with a "Basic Master Recipe" that goes through the steps for bread, pie, cake, quick breads, crackers, and cookies in painstaking detail.  There are drawings and suggestions for pairings and substitutions.  Most of all, everything I've ever made from it has turned out beautifully.  It also contains the recipe for the best scones in the world.  It's a great book.  When I moved out of my mom's house, I bought myself a copy, knowing that it wouldn't feel right to be in the kitchen without it!

This is a dense, spicy bread, studded generously with dates and nuts.  After the bread is baked, the dates become moist, unidentifiable pockets of sweetness.  It's best within a day or two, but after that it's fantastic toasted and spread with salted butter.

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup oat flour (grind old fashioned oats in the blender until powdery)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup melted butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2/3 cup milk
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour two standard loaf pans.  Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In another bowl, stir together butter, sugar, eggs, milk, pumpkin puree, dates and walnuts.  Add to dry ingredients and fold together, taking care not to over mix.  Divide evenly between loaf pans and bake 50-65 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.

Yield: two loaves