recipes

Pumpkin-Apple Bread

JOY journal

“They’re back! Pumpkin-spice brake pads.” sign on a West Coast auto shop

I shared this recipe last fall, but, as the above quote verifies, pumpkin mania has obviously come ’round again! You know who you are. Enjoy!

Oh, yeah…

Pumpkin Apple Bread

Butter (or coat with canola oil if you’re dairy free) two loaf pans. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degree C).

In large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons baking soda. Mix well.

In a smaller bowl, combine 2 cups (about 1 can) unsweetened pumpkin puree, 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce, 5 eggs, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves. Mix well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and hand stir just until mixed. Pour into prepared pans and bake 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted right in the center comes out clean. (If you don’t bake this long enough, the center will be gooey.) Cool in pans five minutes, then turn out onto rack. Enjoy alone or with apple butter or cream cheese (or vegan “cream cheese” if you’re dairy free).

This bread freezes well. Slice ahead of freezing and package in smaller portions if you want to use in individual lunches.

Published by JOY journal

After a long career writing for local newspapers — and, on rare occasions, for publications such as The Washington Post — Nora's word life is now focused on blogging and occasional writing projects of special interest. Also the author of several books, Nora lives in Appalachia with her husband and a goodish dog named Finn, who is delighted whenever the family's two adult daughters are home from college.

21 thoughts on “Pumpkin-Apple Bread”

  1. Argh, cups… I so much prefer grams when making cakes and breads! Oh well. I am keeping your recipe for future reference, when they start selling pumpkins again over here. I have often wondered: what kind of squash is pumpkin purée made from? I tend to use butternut for cakes.
    Have a beautiful fall season, Nora!

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    1. I’m not sure if America will ever go metric. It is what it is.

      I have made this bread with pumpkin cooked down from scratch, but I think it actually tastes better with canned purée. From what I have read, canned pumpkin in the U.S. is more hubbard squash than actual pumpkin, which accounts for the very dark orange. Butternut would work fine in this recipe. The bread would be lighter in color, and if you are cooking the squash down from scratch, I suspect the texture wouldn’t be quite as dense based on my past experiments with whole pumpkins.

      Happy fall you, too, Joëlle!

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    1. It works well for mini loaves. Actually, it works even better as it’s easier to avoid that gooey-center problem. (I like to make mini loaves of this recipe and cranberry bread at Christmas and wrap them up in waxed paper and red yarn bows as small gifts.)

      Mini-loaf sizes vary. I would prepare at least four, spoon in enough batter to fill each about 2/3 the way and then redistribute over more or fewer loaf pans if you need to. You just don’t want a pan filled to the brim with this recipe. I suspect it would overflow in the early stages of baking. You’ll also have to keep an eye on the timing, but it would probably take at least 50 minutes to get the center done even in mini sizes.

      Have fun experimenting!!

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