More fall stuff: Pumpkin Bread

Continuing on about fall... we got a couple of pie pumpkins at this weekend's farmers market. Using insights from perfecting the banana bread recipe for the last few years, we decided to make pumpkin bread.

Warning you right now though. It's ridiculously hard to stop eating this stuff. I was feeling pretty awesome about myself until three of us sat down and polished off almost an entire loaf in a single sitting. It was delicious but even beyond that, there's just something pretty much addictive about it that makes you shovel it into your mouth.

Whatever, I warned you. But if you want pumpkin bread, which you should, then read on!

Ingredients
(makes 1 loaf)

• 1 medium pie pumpkin
• 1 and 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (regular flour is fine too)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 1/4 tsp allspice (optional)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Procedure
Preheat oven to 385F. Cut pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds  and save them for roasting -- roasted pumpkin seeds make a tasty snack. (Note: If you're only making a single loaf, you only need one of the halves. I'm not sure how well a cut pumpkin will last, but it'll probably be fine in the fridge with some plastic wrap on it. We just doubled the recipe to accommodate all the pumpkin puree we ended up with.)

Rub the cut sides with butter and sprinkle on a bit of salt. Place pumpkin halves cut side up onto a baking sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the flesh is pretty mushy.

When the pumpkin is done, scoop out the flesh and put it in a mixing bowl (alternatively, just peel off the... peel; this should be really easy by now). If it's mushy enough, just mush it with a fork. If not, use an immersion blender (we baked our pumpkin for about 50 minutes and it wasn't quite fork-ready, but an immersion blender worked great; we left it a bit chunky but you can make it as creamy as you like). Set aside.

In another bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla (and allspice and cinnamon if using) and whisk together thoroughly. Add in dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder) and mix together slightly -- just enough to get it mixed together. Don't over-mix, or you'll have a kind of dense/tough bread with big air holes in it. Add in the pureed pumpkin. You don't want the batter to get too wet or else it'll taste kind of under-cooked (but if you're okay with that taste, it's not hurting anyone!), so add in a bit at a time until it reaches a nice consistency. It shouldn't be somewhat viscous if you try to pour it.

Grease a loaf pan, and pour the batter in until it's about 3/4 full. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Do the toothpick test (or fork test if you're too lazy to find a toothpick), but keep in mind that if you put in a ton of pumpkin, the toothpick may not come out totally clean even though the bread is cooked through.

Enjoy with tea! Keeps for a few days covered in foil and kept out of dogs' reach.