Pumpkin Bread

Just thought this was a really funny photo of the apple I received at Panera (St. Louis Bread Co.).

Now here is the recipe for super yummy-awesome people will ask-you-how-you made-it pumpkin bread!  School has started for most children (mine still has 3 weeks until school starts) and Fall will be here shortly.

Pumpkin Bread
yield 2 loaves

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil and 3/4 cup applesauce OR 1 cup oil
4 eggs
1  (15 oz.) can of pure pumpkin
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground clove
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 cup water

1.  Preheat oven 350 degrees.  In large bowl, mix sugar, applesauce and/or oil, eggs and pumpkin.
2.  In medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
3.  Alternate adding and mixing the dry mix and the 1/2 cup of water until incorporated.
4.  Pour into 2- 8 or 9″ loaf  pans and bake for 50-70 minutes.

I usually use little mini loaf pans that you see at the Michaels stores all the time.  They are so cute!  Make great gifts, too.   I bake the loaf inside the pan, take it out, clean the loaf pan, wrap the bread up and place it back in the cleaned mini loaf pan.  Tie around a bow or tea towel!  If you use mini pans, then shorten your bake time.  I believe they bake in 40 minutes, but start checking with a toothpick at 30 minutes just in case.

**This tastes much better the next day.  The flavors are much more mingled and pronounced.

**Update:  I just made this for the 6th time with real sugar and almost all applesauce.  I almost topped 1 cup of applesauce but left room for about 2-3 Tbs. of canola oil.  The bread was much better with real sugar – no twang from the Splenda and still good using almost all applesauce to substitute for the oil.