Trials and Tribulations of Pumpkin Bread

I have been craving pumpkin muffins since I read that Starbucks has pumpkin cream cheese muffins. I try not to visit this establishment too often, as I get myself in trouble with the $3.00 coffee drinks and caloric baked goods. So, as I usually do, I decided to make them myself. I save money, and make alot more friends at work.

I’m always after finding recipes lower in fat and calories, so I don’t feel so bad when I eat 5. I found a recipe on a certain recipe website that had no oil or butter, but instead used applesauce. I have always had luck using applesauce as a replacement for fat when making other quick breads and I thought this would be no exception. Well I was wrong, dead wrong.

What I ended up with was a gummy, dense…brick of pumpkin, some eggs and flour. I really hate when I waste ingredients. Even thought nothing was expensive, I just hate it.

So I ventured over to my favorite bread blog, The Fresh Loaf and sure enough there was a picture of a light and fluffy loaf. I knew Floyd wouldn’t let me down.

So the next night I let my butter soften and prepared for another round of pumpkin bread. I was nervous, as I didn’t want to waste another batch of ingredients. The batter was stiff so I added a bit of unsweetened applesauce to loosen it up. I made a dozen muffins and a small loaf for a swap this month. After only about 5 minutes the muffins had already started to puff up (I guess the two tablespoons of baking powder were super fresh!) After 25 minutes, I ran in to peek at the outcome. After swiftly removing the muffins from the oven, I popped one out and cracked it open to inspect the interior. SUCCESS! Light, fluffy, moist…just perfect. I slathered on some butter and took a bite….my craving has been satisfied.

A perfect pumpkin muffin. Check out the recipe here. Thanks for a perfect loaf Floyd!

I took the batch to work and everyone raved about them, even my manager who doesn’t really care for pumpkin devoured one with a grin on his face.

I really need to start a snack cart at work…..

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4 Responses to “Trials and Tribulations of Pumpkin Bread


  • thomas
    October 13th, 2005 23:32
    1

    I seriously hope you pack Evan’s bag with some goodies next week!

  • shannon
    October 16th, 2005 06:40
    2

    have you tried using the butter that has the canola oil in it so it is soft right out of the fridge? If so, how do you think is compares to using regular softened butter?

  • Jen
    October 17th, 2005 12:45
    3

    Thomas- I will have to pack the goodies in his checked luggage as I don’t think they would make it all the way to Seattle…but don’t worry I have something special planned :)

    Shannon- I am a big fan of real butter, but I also grew up on Country Crock, I love that on bread and rice (not so much in baking), the canola/butter spread is cool but it soften so quickly that I found if you leave it out even 15 minutes its almost completely “melted” and it got all over my fridge. I didn’t mind the taste, but it was a pain when it liquified so quickly.

  • randi
    November 15th, 2005 07:49
    4

    It’s good that its melty if you leave it out, that means its not hydrogenated which is terrible healthwise.

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