Holiday Pumpkin Cravings & a Recipe for Banana Pumpkin Bread
Yeah. More pumpkin. You see, while you were taking in all things orange squash at the beginning of autumn, I was skipping around Italy, filling my belly with deep red wines and soft, wild boar sauce coated gnocchi. Sad, isn’t it?
Please, disguise your pity for me. Just give me this one thing to rest my weary cravings. My weary pumpkin cravings. Give me a chance to get this whole I need as much pumpkin as humanly possible thing out of my system, okay?
You see, I also missed Thanksgiving. I spent most of the day in a stainless steel kitchen making homemade pasta and eggplant parmesan. Delightful, yes {that’s a story for another time}, but it was no Thanksgiving.
The funny thing is, I didn’t realize it was Thanksgiving until after all of our food was made and we sat down to eat our feast. Five of us squished around a table overlooking the beach in Positano, savouring every bite, drinking wine, and enjoying our conversation with some lovely people from New York and Georgia. It was then that it occurred to me — I should be doing exactly this at home; in a different setting, with different food, different people. It was then that I thought, oh! I can’t wait to get home and start baking with some pumpkin.
So last week, I made these Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins. A few days later, I made this Banana Pumpkin Loaf. A couple days later, I made it again, but added cranberries. I’ve practically been living off the stuff for the last week {at least it’ll help get my pumpkin needs out of my system, right?}.
If you missed Thanksgiving {hypothetically, of course. Unless you did, in which case, I offer my condolences to your belly}, what would you miss the most? Would it be pumpkin, or something else entirely?
Banana Pumpkin Loaf
Makes one large loaf or two small loaves
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup oat bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 ¼ cups pure pumpkin puree
¼ cup grape seed oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup milk mixed with ½ teaspoon lemon juice
A handful of salted pepitas
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease one or two loaf pans; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flours, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. In another large bowl, whisk banana, pumpkin puree, grape seed oil, eggs, vanilla, and sugars.
3. Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ones, followed by the milk and lemon mixture, and the other half of the dry ingredients; mix just until incorporated between each addition. Fold in cranberries, if using*.
4. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan(s) and sprinkle generously with pepitas. Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes for the large loaf, or approximately 45 minutes for the smaller ones. Loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan(s) for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving or storing.
* Add 1 cup of fresh or frozen cranberries for a little extra moisture and tartness. You may want to increase the granulated sugar by ¼ cup if you prefer a sweeter loaf.
