Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Easy does it. Cornmeal Pumpkin Bread.



There is a blog life after this Gratitude Challenge, I promise. And, to prove it to you, my handful of dedicated readers who I am sure are tiring of seeing another post about how grateful I am for this and this and that, I want to let you in on something good that I made the other day. Cornmeal Pumpkin Bread. In my pantry these days are bare pickins’, so when I saw that I only had ¾ cup of flour and about 20 cups of cornmeal, I decided to stray a little bit from my favorite Pumpkin Bread recipe.



I love recipes these days that I can whip together in no time flat, without messing with my behemoth mixer and 10 different bowls. I have a hard enough time staying up on the house work, especially this week with a sick little guy in the house. I have been trying to use up misc ingredients that are lying around too, like that half butternut squash in the fridge that Z wont eat, and that almost empty can of pumpkin left from the other days coucous stew. Perfect. Many times I find that I need to get to the store for something, but today, everything just fell into place, out of my cupboards and into the baking pan. I love when that happens. Like I said, easy pleases me.



I wasn’t sure what would happen when I replaced much of the flour for cornmeal, but I was really pleasantly surprised. The same pumpkin flavor and a little earthiness and nice texture imparted by the cornmeal. This recipe may have just become my new favorite pumpkin bread.



Cornmeal Pumpkin Bread



2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 ¼ cup pumpkin or butternut squash puree (or a mix of both, as I did)
1 large egg
1/3 cup oil. I used canola, but an olive or nut oil might be interesting too.
¾ cup plus 2 Tablespoons flour
1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons cornmeal, fine.
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon cinnamon

350, grease a 9 in square pan, or a loaf pan.

Beat together sugars, pumpkin and egg. Drizzle in oil and beat to combine.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients and then add them into the wet. Use a spatula to combine, taking care not to overmix. Pour into pan and bake for between 45-50 minutes,
depending on your pan.