Warrior Pumpkin Bread

Warrior Pumpkin Bread is a recipe that comes from a volunteer for my daughter’s high school marching band. The entire band loved it! I don’t know where the recipe came from originally. Oddly, this is my daughter’s favorite pumpkin bread recipe because it doesn’t taste overtly of pumpkin; it’s very subtle. You still get the pumpkin and the warmth of the baking spices, yet you aren’t overwhelmed by them. The amount of batter this recipe makes is a little bit awkward. It’s a little too much for the Pyrex loaf pan that I use. Fortunately, the batter also makes fantastic muffins. Bake muffins for about 17 minutes. If you use the small disposable loaf pans, you could probably push it to two whole loaves. The original recipe called for 1 full teaspoon of both nutmeg and cloves; I have reduced them here to one half teaspoon of each. The full teaspoon seemed like a lot to us so we’ve never had the bravery to try it with the full teaspoon.

Makes one loaf

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 C granulated sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 of a 15oz can pumpkin puree
3/4 C canola oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together all dry ingredients and set aside.
In a large bowl mix wet ingredients with an electric mixer for two minutes.
Continue to mix while slowly adding in the dry ingredients, about two additional minutes.

Grease sides and bottom of a loaf pan. Pour prepared mix into loaf pan. Bake in the center of the preheated oven for 70 minutes.

Cool in the pan for ten minutes. Gently turn out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.