happy thanksgiving 2012–velvet pumpkin cinnamon bread

I am writing this post early since we are off to Squaw Valley (Lake Tahoe) for the Thanksgiving Holiday. I couldn’t leave without posting a pumpkin recipe.  I got this from a co-worker who made this healthy pumpkin bread and it was yummy!  Thanks Jackie for the recipe and for bringing this treat into the office.

I am also excited to introduce my mini series!  My mini series features my very own daughter–who at 8 helps me with baking.  I am also teaching her how to use my camera, but it’s still very clunky and heavy for her to hold.  I don’t expect her to have the same love and passion I have for baking, after all this is my dream not hers.  However, as long as she is interested in baking with me–I will gladly continue to bake with her.  Plus having a helper is so much easier.

I decided getting her point of view through an interview was the best format.  I asked her if she wanted to use her real name or something made up just for our mini series.  Of course she selected the latter.  So without further ado, meet purple sweet potato and our very first mini series post for ai love baking!

• ai love baking: Hi honey, what do you like about baking?
• purple sweet potato: It’s a cool activity you can do with family and friends.
• ai love baking: What is probably the very first thing I taught you about baking?
• purple sweet potato: Always wash my hands and put my hair up.
• ai love baking: Hahaha actually you are right! Good girl.  So what do you think of this recipe?  Do you like pumpkin?
• purple sweet potato: Yummy of course!
• ai love baking: Let’s look at the recipe–it says we have to do some sifting, what does this mean?
• purple sweet potato: It means to put through that wire thing so that we don’t have lumps.
• ai love baking: Good, and it says to make a well in the flour.  What does this mean?
• purple sweet potato: You have to push the flour to the sides and make a round circle in the middle for the liquids.
• ai love baking: Good girl–okay you ready to bake?
• purple sweet potato: Yep ready to make some sweetness!

I’ve made some adjustments to the original recipe and will note that in the recipe below.

Velvet Pumpkin Cinnamon Bread

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Serves	16
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	1 hour
Total time	1 hour, 10 minutes
Meal type	Bread, Dessert
Occasion	Thanksgiving

Healthy pumpkin cinnamon bread that is low fat, low sugar, and made with real pumpkin puree, not the canned stuff.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk (1%)
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon light olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cinnamon chips
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar

Directions

Step 1		Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 10x5x3 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
Step 2		In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, milk, butter, and oil. Mix until fully incorporated. Set aside.
Step 3		In a larger bowl, sift all-purpose flour, almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
Step 4		Stir in white/brown sugar and cinnamon chips and mix well.
Step 5		Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Slowly pour in the pumpkin mixture. Stir with a fork until just moistened. Do not overmix. This will cause the bread to become hard.
Step 6		Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for about an hour or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Step 7		Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Note

I made quite a few adjustments in this recipe.  Here are some of the original ingredients and proportions:

1 cup canned pumpkin (I used 1 1/2 pumpkin puree that I made myself from a Sugar Pie Pumpkin)

Egg substitute equivalent to 2 eggs (I used regular eggs)

1/3 cup fat-free milk (I used 1%)

2 tablespoons light margarine (I used unsalted butter)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used light olive oil)

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used a mixture of all-purpose flour, almond flour, and coconut flour)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I don't like nutmeg so I omitted this)

1/2 cup chopped pecans, dry roasted (purple sweet potato suggested we use cinnamon chips instead)

1/2 cup light brown sugar (I reduced it to 1/4 cup)

I just had to take a quick shot of purple sweet potato with the camera and ai love baking’s “staging” box.

She really did take the photo below (okay I do have to put a disclaimer that I edit all my pictures with Photoshop including this one).  The layout, props, and overall composition was her doing.  She even went outside to pick some of these pretty Japanese Maple leaves.

How can I not be proud of her?!  She did great for our very first mini series.  So what is purple sweet potato’s rating on this recipe?

Tagged: cinnamon, healthy pumpkin bread, pumpkin, thanksgiving recipe, velvet pumpkin cinnamon bread