Spiced Pumpkin Bread

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It’s finally autumn, and you know what that means: pumpkin! Pumpkin spice shows up at every store, every seasonal section is filled with orange-colored treats, and recipe blogs like mine start publishing our pumpkin recipes.

I’m not that big a fan of pumpkin itself. I like carving them, but eating them? Eh, I’ll pass. Pumpkin spice, though, now that’s a different story. I look forward to it all year. That combination of cinnamon, allspice, clove, nutmeg… oh, it just goes so good in all kinds of treats. Pumpkin pie was always a holiday staple growing up, as I’m sure it was for a lot of you out there.

Over the last few years, though, I’ve been getting away from the standard pie, lattes, and coffee cakes that everyone makes. I’m trying out all sorts of delicious new recipes. Pumpkin spice brownies? Pumpkin spice muffins? Pastries of some kind? Stay tuned, I have a lot of ideas, though of course I’ll only post them if they turn out well enough to share.

Today’s recipe, to kick off October and usher in the fall, is a quick bread. Quick breads don’t use yeast, and actually have a lot more in common with cakes than they do breads. This one isn’t quite the tea cake you might expect from something like banana bread, though. It’s surprisingly light, moist and fluffy without being cloying or dense. It’s also melt in your mouth delicious, and let me tell you, it was impossible to have just one slice.

For this recipe, all you really need is a couple of loaf pans, a mixing bowl, and a mixing spoon. I make it in my stand mixer so it goes faster. I also buy canned pumpkin, since it’s a lot easier than making my own pumpkin puree. You can make your own if you want, of course, it’s just not on my to-do list these days.

You can also make changes to this recipe to make it your own, if you want. I find that if you double the cloves, you get a stronger and spicier taste. My partner likes it a lot, I prefer it to be more subtle. You can also add in some ginger, cardamom, and black pepper to make a chai spice mix and make pumpkin chai bread. I plan to give that a shot next time I make this recipe.

Overall, this is a really easy recipe to make, and it leaves you with two loaves of fabulous, moist bread that you’ll struggle to leave alone.

5 from 2 votes

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

A pumpkin spice quick bread made with simple ingredients.

Servings 2 Loaves

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Equipment

• Stand Mixer
• Whisk
• Rubber Spatula
• Loaf Pan

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Flour
• ½ Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• ½ Tsp Baking Powder
• ½ Tsp Ground Cloves
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Nutmeg
• ½ Tsp Allspice
• 1½ Sticks Unsalted Butter Softened
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Can Pumpkin Puree 15 oz.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325°F
• Grease loaf pans with butter or cooking spray, then dust with flour.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Whisk or stir to combine.
• In mixer, beat the butter and sugar until blended into a sandy consistency.
• Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, one at a time, beating to combine until the mixture is fluffy.
• Add the pumpkin and continue to beat for 6-8 minutes, to combine thoroughly.
• Add the flour and spice mixture to the wet mixture, continuing to beat until combined.
• Divide the batter into two loaf pans.
• Bake until a skewer/knife/cake tester comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes. Larger loaf pans will cook slightly faster and result in thinner, wider loaves.
• Remove from oven and let cool until the loaves can be removed without falling apart, about 15-20 minutes.

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Bread, Cinnamon, Dessert, Holiday, Homemade, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Spice