Spiced Pumpkin Nut Bread
Ingredients
3 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 15 oz. can solid pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 t. ground cloves
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1 c. coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
Toast chopped walnuts in sauté pan on top of stove over medium heat, watching them carefully, and stirring them occasionally. It takes me about 5 minutes to begin smelling the aroma, which lets me know they’re done. When they are just beginning to toast, dumping them out quickly onto a saucer will slow the browning process down dramatically. (You don’t want to burn them, which can happen in a heart beat: that’s why you watch them carefully.)
Preheat oven to 350º.
Prepare loaf pans by either using a baking cooking spray, or by wiping them down with shortening (or butter), and then coating them with flour ( about a tablespoon full of flour, shaken around the pan until all sides are coated). This will help the loaves slide out of the pan, and onto your cooling rack.
Beat sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Stir into pumpkin mixture in two additions. Fold in toasted walnuts.
Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes, depending on your oven, and they type of loaf pan you used. (Glass loaf pans tend to take longer than metal loaf pans, for example.) Using a sharp knife, loosen bread from the sides of the loaf pans. Turn loaves out onto cooling racks, and cool completely.
