Camilla Saulsbury is a big name in the arena of cooking contests. She won two of the biggest national competitions -- National Chicken ($100,000 prize) and Build a Better Burger ($50,000) -- and has won money in scads of others. And now she has a lovely blog called Enlightened Cooking that focuses on healthy food.I thought I'd try one of the first recipes she posted, Cinnamon-Spiced Butternut Bread. I made it as she directed but used canned pumpkin instead of butternut squash (one of her suggested variations). Instead of her two large loaves, I made four small loaves. She suggested a few variations, and I did one of my own -- using mini chocolate chips in two of them. As I expected, it was delicious -- very moist and a little less sweet than some of the other pumpkin breads I've tried. If you want the directions for baking regular-size loaves, be sure to go to Camilla's recipe.
Cinnamon-Spiced Pumpkin Mini Loaves
Adapted from this recipe by Camilla Saulsbury
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2/3 cup canola oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin
1/3 cup lowfat buttermilk
Optional: chopped dried fruit, chopped nuts, or mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350°. Spray 4 mini loaf pans with Baker's Joy (or another nonstick baking spray with flour); set aside.
In a large bowl whisk the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, cloves and nutmeg; make a well in center of mixture. In a medium bowl whisk the oil, eggs, thawed squash and buttermilk until smooth. Add squash mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. If desired, fold in dried fruit or nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pans, smoothing tops.
Bake 45-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool loaves in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove loaves from pans and cool completely on wire rack. Makes 4 mini loaves.