Perfect Pumpkin Bread

It’s pumpkin season!  Everyone is blowing up my Facebook, twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest with all things pumpkin and I’ve finally faced the fact that it’s fall and I’m ready to join in.

Fall in the city is a bit different than the hayrides and pumpkin patches I grew up with.  But it’s a different and fun experience celebrating with Oktoberfests overlooking the skyline.

How we do Halloween in the city – Biergarten Oktoberfest overlooking the Empire State Building

And then there are the little things….

Pumpkins, hayrides, and Halloween Oreos …. oh these are a few of my favorite things.

But the most important treats are the apple cider and pumpkin flavored goodies.  Homemade is best….

I’ve actually never made pumpkin bread but I am an expert at banana bread.  It may be the first thing I’ve ever baked outside of my Easy Bake Oven.  After years of perfecting that recipe, it’s time for a new challenge.  So I dug up some recipes and did some thinking, measuring and experimenting.  And I have to say, it’s a great feeling of success when you mess with the science of baking and invent a new custom recipe that’s amazing.

I actually drafted this recipe while the bread was still baking – I had confidence it would be worth sharing – and called it “Pumpkin Bread”.  After I tasted it (multiple times) I added “Perfect” in front.  I think I created a keeper!

For this recipe, I did a mix of white sugar and brown sugar which made the bread very moist, mixed with a full stick of butter, of course.

Then it was creamed with some basic ingredients: eggs, canned pumpkin, milk, vanilla.

Then I added in the dry ingredients (flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon), mixed, and spread in the pan.  This was a heavy loaf.

Finally, it was baked to golden perfection for about an hour.

Yum! Sliced and served with a little bit of butter, this was the ideal breakfast, coffee companion, snack, or dessert.  It’s already time to make more…