Pumpkin Bread with Toasted Walnuts

Recipe by The View From the Great Island

I’m lobbying for year round status for my favorite versatile ingredient…pumpkin is one of my most treasured foodie joys, and I hate to see it treated like a fall fad.  Why should banana, zucchini and carrot be welcome in March and not pumpkin?  Food bloggers get a lot of flak for overdoing this particular orange squash, and I understand that sometimes we go a bit too far… but I really think it’s a food worth celebrating.  And if it can’t be a year round pleasure then I say indulge with abandon while it’s PC to enjoy it. Today’s understated recipe illustrates my point.  This quick bread has just the right amount of sweetness, earthy pumpkin flavor, light spice, tender crumb, and strong walnut presence.  It has the perfect crumb, actually, and I think that’s largely due to the pumpkin.  It’s heaven any time of the day, but I have a fondness for it at breakfast.  Slather it with butter or cream cheese if you want.  Eat it warm from the oven or cold form the fridge.  If you have a toaster oven, you’re golden. This bread is a celebration of two things, really — pumpkin and walnuts.  I used walnut …

Ingredients

• 1 heaping cup walnut halves (the bigger the pieces the fresher the flavor)
• ¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1½ cups sugar
• ½ cup walnut oil (you can substitute vegetable oil)
• ⅓ cup buttermilk
• 1½ tsp apple cider vinegar
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp allspice
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1¾ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Method

1. Set oven to 375F
2. Spread the walnut out on a dry baking sheet and toast for about 15 minutes, just until you start to smell them...let them cool a bit before giving them a rough chop.
3. Whisk together the pumpkin and the eggs. Then whisk in the sugar, oil, buttermilk, vinegar and spices.
4. Sift in the in the flour and baking powder and mix just until combined. Fold in the walnuts. Don't over mix.
5. Turn the batter into a 9x5 loaf pan that has been sprayed with oil and lined with parchment paper with ends that extend beyond the top of the pan. This just makes it easier to remove the cake from the pan.
6. Bake for about 55 minutes to an hour, or until the cake has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it.

View the recipe instructions at The View From the Great Island