I adapted a Pumpkin Bread recipe from the Joy of Cooking 1997 edition to use up whatever ingredients I had lying around (mainly aging canned pumpkin) and then later discovered my bad of not reading the recipe closely enough.
The error? It called for 1 cup pumpkin puree.
I used an entire can of Organic Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Puree (that expires next month!). That’s 1 3/4 cups.
The result of my hacked recipe is a nearly creamy, molten pudding-like pumpkin bread that’s firm yet decadent…but read what I used. You won’t believe how virtuous the ingredients are!
It just goes to show that a little experimentation goes a long way. When it doesn’t fail, anyway.
You will need 3 bowls to make this.
Pan: I used an 8×8 metal brownie pan lined with foil and liberally slathered with melted butter. The original recipe calls for a 9 x 5″ loaf pan.
In a small bowl
Whisk together
- 1 1/2 cups Graham Flour (that expired 4 years ago) – Or you can use non-expired, all-purpose flour which is what the recipe calls for.
- 1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped into small pieces
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg (Nutmeg is key for that “pumpkin spice” flavor)
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
In a small bowl
Mix
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
In a large bowl:
Pour
- 6 T olive oil (the recipe called for softened butter. I wanted to get rid of my olive oil and pretend I was being healthier. That being said not only did I melt about 2 T of butter on the pan that the batter went into, but once the bread was 3/4 done I melted more butter all over the top so it would soak in.)
Gradually beat in (I used a whisk):
- 1/3 cup organic erythritol*
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
*Erythritol is a 0-calorie, non-GMO corn-based sweetener that looks like granulated sugar and that they say has 70% of the sweetness of sugar. I tried the Swerve brand from Amazon and also got a Confectioners non-sugar to test out. It’s been fun experimenting to see when the flavor and texture can work in baking. I mean, how magical to reduce sugar without an unsavory flavor!
