It was a hard week at work and I didn’t sleep particularly soundly last night. I am in the midst of planning a fundraising event and that, coupled with adjusting to the end of daylight savings and losing that last bit of much-needed sunlight on my commute home, has been wreaking havoc with my sleep. Waking up at an unreasonably early hour for a Saturday morning, I decided to busy my mind with something constructive (and yummy) and put my nervous energy to good use.

I’ve always found baking to be such a comfort. Not just the obviously delicious end result, but the process itself. I like how exact it is, but how you can also experiment and get creative if the mood should strike. So I pulled out my recipe box, mixing bowls and the ingredients for this yummy Pumpkin Bread. I love this bread. It is wonderfully spicy and pumpkin-y, and not to mention easy to make; the perfect comfort food for a nice fall day.

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Ingredients

1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I prefer Libby’s, but any pumpkin will do, as long as it is just the puree, not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
1 1/3 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 1/2 cups and 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F; grease and flour a 9x5in loaf pan (I use coconut oil, because I like the extra flavor it adds to bread crusts. I feel like cooking spray or butter can leave it tasting kind of burnt.)
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter (at room temp) and sugar together. Then, blend in the pumpkin, applesauce, eggs, vanilla and orange zest. It will seem a bit grainy, but that’s okay-it’s supposed to be.
3. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix well.
4. Add the flour and spices into the wet pumpkin mixture, and fold until just combined.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 45min to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should sprint back when lightly pressed.
6. Let sit for five minutes before removing to a cooling rack. You should be able to get about 10-12 nicely sized slices out of one loaf.

Enjoy!