So I know it's been about 95 degrees for the past few days (i even pulled weeds in the yard in a swimsuit on Saturday afternoon, haha!), but TODAY it was a nice change of close to 70, cloudy in the am, and a little drizzly in the afternoon. Now usually I'm not one to love rainy, cool days (well mainly the rain part), but it was nice to feel a little fall in the air, especially THIS YEAR, b/c that means January is right around the corner! :) But I've been looking forward to enjoying a caramel apple spice cider from Starbucks - yum, yum - and it was the perfect day for one of those tasty treats! (My usual right now is a chai tea latte, which does have a little caffeine, but nothing overboard...)
Being all in the fall spirit as I was today, I took a long gaze at the pumpkin bread at Starbucks, too! Of course I knew I didn't need that and the yummy drink (at the same time), but it inspired me to come home and make a homemade version of my own! Healthier AND it probably cost me all of $4 to make two loaves, which is what one piece would have cost at Starbucks (I know, look at me, so very thrifty...haha, it's all about priorities, people, you know, cutting back a little here and a little there...how else can you spend practically a morgage payment at a baby store in one day if you don't save that $4 on a starbucks pumpkin loaf!!??!!) ;) hehe.
So, I thought that I'd post the yummy recipe (and the changes I made) in case you are feeling like a fall domestic diva yourself and want to give it a try! By the way, it turned out AMAZING!!! I just had a loaf slice with a tall glass of milk and it was oh-so-delicious! Nicholas took some to the hospital tonight, too! So, here goes (Pumpkin Gingerbread from allrecipes.com):
Ingredients:
3 cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 2/3 cup water 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground allspice | 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder |
Directions:
| 1. | Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. |
| 2. | In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice and cinnamon. |
| 3. | In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans. |
| 4. | Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour. |
My Changes:
-For the 3 cups of sugar, I used 1 1/2 of white splenda blend sugar and 1 1/2 of brown splenda blend sugar.
-Instead of 1 cup of vegetable oil (holy cow!), I used 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and 3/4 cup of apple sauce.
-I couldn't find (or either they were out of) the pumpkin puree, so I used the Libby canned pumpkin pie mix and it worked perfectly.
-Note: I already had all of the spices except for ground ginger, and that was on the spice aisle, too, just had to get a different brand than usual.
-For the 3 1/2 cups of flour, I used 2 cups of all purpose flour like the recipe said, and then the other 1 1/2 of wheat flour (why not throw in a little nutrition!)
-I also stirred in 1/2 cup of walnuts and 1/3 cup of pecans (just b/c that's how much I happened to have in my pantry!) and it was the perfect addition.
-Oh, and I almost forgot, I added just a tiny bit of streusel topping before popping it in the oven. Basically I just melted 1/3 of light butter in the microwave, then eyeballed a little bit of flour, splenda sugar (like a tablespoon of each white and brown), took a handful of pecans and crunched them up, AND I was out of oats (oatmeal didn't sound as good to me as it usually does in the first trimester), but I needed something else to make the mixture less runny - b/c you want it to be crumbly/sticky - so I used a packet of plain instant oatmeal, ha, and it was perfect!!!! I just sprinkled/plopped drops of this mixture on top of the two loaves and put them in the oven! You don't have to do this but it just added a little something extra!
It did take a little more than an hour to bake, but it was WELL worth it!!! I'll definitely be making this again!
Happy Fall, Ya'll! :)
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