By Kathryn McLean
October is very much pumpkin season. Thanksgiving is all about autumn’s bounty: the last of summer’s tomatoes and corn plus all of the season’s apples, pears, pumpkins and squash. Neighbours decorate their front doorsteps with pumpkins and hay bales. And Halloween definitely features pumpkins!
Of course, pumpkin (with spice) is on so many menus throughout the fall season. Yes, pumpkin spice coffee and tea beverages, but also pumpkin cookies and muffins, loaf cake and pie. Also savoury dishes like pumpkin soup, and roasted pumpkin with sausage and sage.
But the trick about cooking with pumpkin is that while it’s a fall staple here in Ontario, it doesn’t have a lot of flavour on its own. It can be kind of bland and watery; that’s why almost every pumpkin, or even squash, recipe you come across will include brown sugar or maple syrup, and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
Maybe the roasted pumpkin will be tossed with root vegetables or mashed with butter and fresh ginger. Or baked into a pie that has sugar and spices.
Pumpkin pie is a top pumpkin dish for me. When I was growing up, my grandmother often baked pumpkin pies for our family and I remember the pies always had a thick pumpkin filling, heavy with cinnamon.
I think that pumpkin pie is the sort of dessert that if you buy it from the grocery store, it’s a nice pie. Even the more inexpensive supermarket version is still good. And if you buy one from a bakery, it’s a really nice pie. But if you make it yourself with a butter crust (or you know someone who makes one themselves and shares), it’s probably the best pumpkin pie you’ll have.
I think it’s probably also true for pumpkin muffins and cookies and other baked goods. One of the easiest sweet pumpkin recipes to make yourself is a pumpkin loaf – you don’t need any special equipment or patience rolling dough.
This pumpkin loaf recipe can be baked in an ordinary loaf pan, or double the recipe and use a 9-10” bundt pan. You can also bake it in an 8×8” baking dish. If you want to add a little more sweetness or visual appeal, add a simple glaze.
Pumpkin Loaf
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
½ cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar (packed loosely)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
Pinch of salt
1½ cups all purpose flour
Butter to grease baking pan
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, oil, eggs and brown sugar. Mix until smooth. Add baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, salt, flour. Mix until smooth.
Butter the baking pan, and pour the batter into it. Bake for 30 minutes if using an 8×8” pan; 40 minutes for a loaf; 45-60 minutes for the double batch in a bundt pan.
Allow the loaf to cool for 30 minutes in the pan before tipping out onto a rack or dish. Cool completely before adding glaze or icing.
Optional glaze: Combine icing sugar, ground cinnamon and milk in a small dish and mix well until no sugar lumps remain; pour over the top and sides of the cooled loaf/cake.
Bon appétit!