Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Perfect Pumpkin Bread

Now that Fall has clearly arrived and Hallowe'en is imminent, I was in the mood for pumpkin bread. I had some leftover caramel sauce from Tom's birthday cake, so I thought: "When I make the pumpkin bread, I should make a caramel glaze for it." I found some time this past weekend to do some baking. And there you have it -- Sunday morning serendipity.

Except that I was out of my favorite white whole wheat flour, which doesn't particularly affect the taste of baked goods but does improve the nutrition quotient. But that was not going to deter me -- I was already going to be using butter, sugar and caramel sauce; there was little redeeming health value already, so why worry???

You'll notice, too, that I used Coffee-mate in the glaze. I could buy a gallon of milk every single day of my life, and I still wouldn't have any milk available when I want it. 19-year-old males go through it at a pretty good pace. It is incredibly frustrating, especially when you want a bowl of cereal, to find no milk in the house; but I have learned to adapt when I'm baking, 'cause that's the kinda girl I am.

So here is a lovely, moist, quick bread for a weekend, for a party, to go with coffee, whatever you can think of. Easy to make -- have I ever given such simple instructions before??? -- and delicious to eat. Enjoy!!!

Pumpkin Bread with Caramel Glaze

Bread:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup pumpkin
2 eggs
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped fine
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour
3/4 cup sugar

Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons caramel sauce for ice cream
1 tablespoon vanilla caramel Coffee-mate

Make the bread: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8"x4" glass loaf pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the wet ingredients; add the dry ingredients, and mix well. Pour batter into the loaf pan.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and let cool until lukewarm on a cooling rack.

Make the glaze: In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Spoon over the bread, spreading the glaze over the top of the loaf and letting some of the glaze drip down the sides. Let cool completely, then slice and serve.



9 comments:

Unknown said...

I love pumpkin bread. What a great idea on the glaze... I bet it tastes wonderful!!!!

Cranberry Morning said...

I especially like the addition of a caramel glaze! Great idea. :-) I can just imagine this freshly baked. Mmmm. Yum!

Sheila said...

Looks yummy! So, I could use whole wheat flour?

Unknown said...

This looks so awesome! The glaze is going to add some delicious flavor! Thanks for posting this. We are going to post it from @WalnutLovers on twitter this morning. Remember to save some of these amazing recipes and posts for #WalnutWednesday. Thanks!

Heather S-G said...

The glaze alone!! Zoinks..that's delicious looking, Mary :D

Kelly said...

Caramel glaze on pumpkin bread?! Genius!!!

Robin said...

What is funny is that I love pumpkin bread or muffins. However, I am not big on pumpkin pie. Weird, huh? It isn't that I won't eat it... well, actually I won't. I figure if I am going to eat the calories, I am going to save them for something I really like! Somewhere in a box I have a little cookbook with a delish recipe for pumpkin chocoloate chip muffins. Haven't made them in FOREVER, but they are so good! If/when I find it, I will share it with you:-)

Kelsey said...

OMG, you had me at pumpkin! I am eating pumpkin everything right now!

Aleksandra Nearing said...

That looks wonderful! Thanks for the recipe - perfect for fall!


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