Just because November is Gone, Doesn't Mean the Pumpkin Can't Stay!

Christina here, from Home Says Hello! My darling cousin, Nissa, let me contribute to her fun, musically delicious blog. Initially, I was going to post my pumpkin pie recipe because I've had such success with it in the past few years, but this year, I misplaced my secret recipe and all the photos I took of preparing the pie just so I could post it to Eat to the Beat got deleted.

Well, lucky for my husband and I, we were kind of pied out, so to prepare for this week's seasonal delights, we made a pumpkin cream cheese bread. I found the recipe on joy of baking. The recipe works best with fresh, pureed pumpkin which is quite easy to make.

Pumpkin Puree:
1. cut the top off a pie pumpkin
2. cut the pumpkin in half and gut the pumpkin but save the seeds! You can roast them later.
3. Cut the pumpkin into quarters
4.  place your pumpkin quarters on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees or just bake until soft.
5. Take the pumpkin out of the oven and you'll notice the skin of the pumpkin is rather shriveled/loose/soft. Peel the skin off (sometimes using a knife helps, but I usually just use my fingers).
6. Once you have the skin off, place the chunks of pumpkin in your food processor or blender, add a little water and blend away! Eventually, you'll start to see your pumpkin turn into a golden, smooth, pumpkin puree!
7. I store my puree in freezer ziplock bags. Anything will do though. It may be easier to go the bag way if, like me, you decide to puree three pie pumpkins and find yourself with 2 gallons of puree. Because of my inability to stop and think about numbers, we've had three pumpkin pies, 24 pumpkin cookies, two pumpkin bread loaves, and still quite a bit of pumpkin puree left.

Ok, now on to the tasty recipe!

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 (450 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

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Pumpkin Bread: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 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pans. 

To toast nuts:  Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes or until brown and fragrant. Cool completely and then chop coarsely. **I did not add these. I don't like crunchy things in food that is meant to be soft :)

Cream Cheese Filling: In your food processor, process the cream cheese just until smooth. Add the sugar and process just until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing just until incorporated. Do not over process. Stir in the flour. **You can also use a stand mixer, which is what I did, but I think I over processed. Don't worry, if you over process, it just means the filling will seep into the bread, rather than create a thick streak through the center of the loaf. Still tastes good!

Pumpkin Bread:  

• In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

• 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 (use two spoons to place small dollops of batter on top of the filling). Bake the breads for about 55 - 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.  ** Make sure you divide evenly enough. I got caught up in chit chatting with my husband and filled most of my loaf pan with batter, before I realized I put too much in. It still came out good though!

• 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.

Ok, get in the kitchen with my girl, Ella, singing one of my favorite Christmas songs and bake your little heart out!