Pumpkin Bread

This past weekend I attended a pumpkin carving party hosted by a friend. The best thing about a pumpkin party is seeing all the interesting designs that people come up with. These Halloween pumpkins don't just consist of your typical triangular eyes and noses, but they consist of images of flying witches, haunted house, headless horsemen, and even Garfield.

The next best thing besides being able to witness those creative designs is being able to taste all the yummy Halloween sweets that the guests bring. It's like a fat's kid heaven.

To go with the theme, I brought some pumpkin bread made from a wonderful recipe that I got from Joy of Baking. No recipes that I have tried from there has ever failed. The look and taste of this bread just creams Fall. It has just the right sweetness and moisture, and the cream cheese adds very nice contrast to the pumpkin flavor.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounce package (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Pumpkin Bread:
1 cup (110 grams) pecans or walnuts
3 1/2 cups (490 grams) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 large eggs
2 cups (400 grams) granulated white sugar
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 - 15 ounce (425 grams) can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup (120 ml) water or milk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter and lightly flour two - 9 by 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pans. Set aside.

Cream Cheese Filling: In your food processor, process the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and process until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing until well incorporated. Stir in the flour. Set aside.

Pumpkin Bread: In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly beaten. Add the sugar and melted butter and whisk until blended. Whisk or stir in the pumpkin, water, vanilla extract, and nuts.

Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir just until the ingredients are combined. (A few streaks of flour is fine.) Do not over mix as it will make the bread tough.

Divide the batter in half. Take one half and divide it evenly between the two prepared pans. Divide the cream cheese filling in half and place each half of filling on top the two pans of batter, smoothing the tops. Top with the remaining half of batter. Bake the breads for about 50 - 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Place pans on a wire rack and let cool for about 10 minutes before removing breads from pans. Can serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. Store leftovers in the refrigerator or else freeze for later use.

Makes 2 loaves.