Pumpkin Bread

Well, yesterday was our first snow and this morning it's a mere 23 degrees with a blanket of frost meeting a wall of fog outside.

The days of hoody's, hats and down sweaters have arrived! Sullivan is madly protesting. He doesn't like his new hat at all or icy cold hands all the time. The only way to his heart right now is by being dressed in a warm fleecy outfit and tightly tucked in his chair by the fireplace or resting snugly on a warm, heart-beating chest. If you ask me, he's got it right!

Fall brings us back inside, baking loaves of bread and cooking endless pots of soup. Long periods of warm snuggling have replaced barely clothed bodies playing in the sand. Sweet warm air and the din of little breathy chests, rising and falling fills the house. The sun is being turned out on the Play Doh table in a rainbow of colors. And finally, some time for me to tackle house projects I've been wanting to do for months. Sullivan's room is getting a tree on the wall. The art I've been wanting is getting ordered. Theo's room is getting a collage wall. I'm beginning the hunt for our dining room light fixture. Eric and Theo are putting the final touches on our garden beds this afternoon. Any day, a box of bulbs will arrive. No longer a big belly in the way, I can't wait to get back in the dirt, planting a row of assorted peonies and the peony-tulip hybrids that I'm most excited about. A new nesting begins!

So this pumpkin bread~I've been baking it for years. I stopped using the recipe a few years ago now, knowing it's flavors and texture so well. It's my absolute favorite. The original recipe is from an old Food & Wine, and it was this recipe that I concocted my banana bread from. Today, I'm going to try to turn it into a apple spice loaf. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp. baking powder

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 c. fresh or canned pumpkin

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 c. milk

raw sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 35o. Butter a 9x5" loaf pan. In a bowl, sift together first six ingredients. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, then beat in pumpkin puree. Stir vanilla into the milk. Beat the dry ingredients in at low speed in two additions, alternating the milk mixture. Spread batter in pan and sprinkle sugar over the top. Bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Hoping all is warm and well at your house, too.