Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Everywhere!

Oh, Wonderful Fall!

We are now entering into my favourite season. Crisp mornings with that indescribable Fall smell; the reds, orange, yellows, golds and browns; everything pumpkin; creating a spooky Halloween display/haunt. It is beyond a doubt the most wonderful time of the year.

It is also my busiest and most stressful time of the year. The harvest will begin and with that the process of preserving - freezing and canning. The building of my Halloween Haunt display, Chabby House, which is detailed on its own page and website. There is also baking. Cakes, squares and cookies for the celebration which is quickly coming upon us – Halloween. All of this in-between the in-house decorating and everyday cleaning. Yes, I take on it all on by my own choice. I LOVE it.

So, in my quest to begin to celebrate all that is Autumn, I decided to pull out some of my frozen pumpkin from last years’ harvest and recipes that I saved in the 90s from a community flyer. From the three recipes listed on the sheet, I have decided to try out the Pumpkin Tea Loaf.

Pumpkin Tea Loaf

2 cups flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp ginger

 ½ cup molasses

1 cup pumpkin

 ½ cup shortening

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp grated orange rind

¾ cup sugar

 2 eggs

 1 cup chopped walnuts

Beat together the first 7 ingredients.  Combine pumpkin & molasses and add to dry ingredients.  Cream together shortening, vanilla, orange rind & sugar until well blended and add to mixture.  Add eggs one at a time; beat after each time.  Stir in walnuts.  Turn into greased & floured 9 x 5 x 3” loaf pan and bake at 350°F for 55-60 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. 

While I do not recommend making changes to a recipe the first time you make it. I did make a few. I switched out walnuts for pecans. I am not a huge fan of walnuts and find that pecans have a milder and sweeter flavour that goes well with pumpkin and fall spices. I also switched out the shortening for butter. I try to avoid shortening when I can. It has little, if any, flavour. I also went the lazy route and just used cooking spray on my loaf pan instead of the process of greasing and flouring. Next time I will take the time to grease and flour.

Even before baking the batter smelled great. It was very similar to gingerbread and due to the molasses quite sticky. I ended up having to add about 10 minutes to my baking time to ensure the loaf was cooked in the center. This could be due to living at a high altitude. The smell when pulled from the oven was delicious. The loaf lived up to the scent and did not disappoint. It was tasty, moist and not overly sweet. I will definitely make this loaf again and look forward to trying it warm with maple whipped cream piped on top.