Pumpkin Bread - Better Than Any Candle

(photo courtesy of Google Images)

When my husband and I were first married and looking for our first home, we spent more time shopping for a town than a house. We have never regretted our decision. It is a great small town. 

Our first street was U shaped, so sort of a cul-de-sac but not quite. It was a great street with great neighbors. One of our neighbors came over and brought us some pumpkin bread. She also gave me the recipe!  I still use it today because it is so good and makes your house smell like heaven, thus explaining the title of this post. As a matter of fact, my husband's car had a cracked windshield, and the repair couple came today to fix it in our driveway. When I opened the door to sign the paperwork, they started raving about the smell (and maybe hinting a little, and I would have given them some if I had actually thought of it while they were here - I'm a little slow sometimes).

Without further ado:

Makes one 9x5 inch loaf

1 1/2 C flour

1 C packed brown sugar

1 C pumpkin (I used canned)

1/2 C (thus one stick) butter (unsalted is better IMO), softened

2 eggs

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda (get mixed up between the two? have no fear, you need equal amounts of both!)

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground cloves

1/2 t ground ginger

Throw all ingredients in a large bowl and beat until well mixed.

Pour into a greased 9 x 5 inch baking pan (grease it with the wrapper from the stick of butter you used - easy!)

Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes - check center with a toothpick

Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

We are expecting lots of fun next week here in the Northeast - a hurricane mixed with snow? So I am doing some baking this weekend to make myself feel better because I most likely will be dealing with no power (and let's hope nothing worse than that) for a few days.