Loaded Pumpkin Bread

Yeah yeah, pumpkin spice everything is such a cliche. But that doesn’t mean it’s not genuinely delicious. Pumpkin bread is a Fall season standard. This recipe inspired by Rabbi Gil Marks is packed with dates, golden raisins, walnuts, and all the Fall feels. I brought it to my zen group and they gobbled it up at our last meeting☯️. This recipe can be doubled and made in a ten inch tube or bundt. If I did that, then I’d mix powdered sugar with fresh maple syrup and make a yummy glaze.

Ingredients:

One and a half cups all purpose flour

One tsp baking soda

Half tsp baking powder

Half tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

Half tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp ground ginger or pumpkin pie spice

one cup packed brown or granulated sugar

one cup pure packed canned pumpkin

Half cup vegetable oil

Two large eggs lightly beaten

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup each golden raisins and chopped pitted dates

1/2 cup chopped walnuts.

Preheat to 350. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Sift all dry ingredients together and set aside (not the nuts, dates, raisins).

Mix pumpkin, sugar, oil, eggs, water and vanilla. Add flour mixture at once and stir just to combine. Over mixing makes for a dense cake.

Gently add in nuts, dates, and raisins. Pour into pan and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar if desired. Bake about one hour until tester emerges clean. Cool in pan for ten minutes and then on a rack. Secret: I have made this lazily in one bowl with no sifting and it was still delicious and moist.