recipes@decwrl.UUCP (12/12/86)
PUMPKIN-BREAD(D) USENET Cookbook PUMPKIN-BREAD(D)
HALF MOON BAY PUMPKIN BREAD
PUMPKIN-BREAD - A dessert bread made from pumpkins
Every year in Half Moon Bay, California there is a Pumpkin
Festival, at which prizes are given for the largest pumpkin
in the world. Never mind that for the last two years the
winner has been in Nova Scotia: the citizens of Half Moon
Bay take pumpkins very seriously.
At Christmastime in Half Moon Bay, people give each other
little tins of this bread as presents. I also take it back-
packing, because it's pretty resistant to being squashed
(and tastes fine even when it is).
INGREDIENTS (3 1-pound loaves)
3 cups granulated sugar
3 1/2 cups
all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups cooked pumpkin
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups
chopped walnuts
cream cheese (optional; for serving)
PROCEDURE
(1) Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F.
(2) Butter your containers well.
(3) Sift the dry ingredients together into a large
bowl.
(4) Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients,
and add the eggs, oil, pumpkin and water. Beat
thoroughly. It's easier to get all the lumps out
if you use an electric mixer.
(5) Stir in the walnuts with a wooden spoon.
(6) Pour the batter into the containers, filling each
only half to two-thirds full.
(7) Bake for 60-90 minutes, depending on the sizes of
your containers. If you're using a very small
container, start checking much sooner. The bread
is done when a toothpick in the middle comes out
clean.
(8) Cool about ten minutes, then loosen the edges of
the bread with a knife, and turn out of the pans
to cool the rest of the way on a rack.
NOTES
For baking containers, you can use a loaf pan, metal cans,
or whatever. I usually use 1-pound coffee cans, and it
takes three of them. If you want tiny loaves, you could
probably use soup cans.
I think the nuts are important in this recipe. Unless you
absolutely hate them, leave them in.
It's not necessary, but you can serve some good cream cheese
with it to spread on the slices if you like.
RATING
Difficulty: easy to moderate. Time: 15 minutes preparation,
90 minutes cooking. Precision: measure the ingredients.
CONTRIBUTOR
Vicki O'Day
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, California, USA
hplabs!oday