Judi's (5th Grade) Pumpkin Bread/Cake

Name: Judi's (5th Grade) Pumpkin Bread/Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 2 loaves
Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups flour; 3 cups sugar; 2 teaspoons baking soda; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 2 teaspoons ground cloves; 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg; 2/3 cup water; 3 eggs; 1 cup oil; 2 cups canned pumpkin pie filling; 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or 1 cup pecans; 1 cup raisins or 1 cup currants

Submitted by DeSouter

"While in 5th grade, Sister Dorothy brought a bunch of students to the convent next door to whip up some pumpkin bread for a bake sale. Boy were we all psyched to get inside the fortress that was the convent. And we were shocked to find that those nuns were living it up a lot more than we thought. What a complete shock to find out that they had LIQUOR in there! Scandalous. They had the most gigantic pantry anyone could imagine and the place was decked out with professional appliances. But I guess when you are cooking for a huge crew daily, you need to run your kitchen like it's a restaurant. This recipe was phenomenal and I have been making it, to rave reviews, for a good number of years now. This is sort of a quick bread, but not too dense, which makes it a bit more like a cake. I love to eat this spread with some real butter. Mmmmmm."

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Ready In:: 1hr 10mins
Ingredients:: 12
Yields:: 2 loaves

ingredients

3 ¹⁄₂ cups flour
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
²⁄₃ cup water
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups canned pumpkin pie filling
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or 1 cup pecans
1 cup raisins or 1 cup currants

directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients then toss raisins and nuts into it (coating these items with the flour mixture keeps them suspended rather than letting them sink to the bottom).
Mix remaining ingredients, beating until smooth.
Add dry ingredients, mixing well.
Pour into two 4 x 9 loaf pans or if you want to do it Sister Dorothy's way, into two greased 1 lb coffee cans.
Bake for 1 hour.
Cool for 20 minutes in the pan before removing to cool on a wire rack.
Do not leave the bread in the pan longer as it may not come out clean.

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Reviews

This was an okay version of pumpkin bread/cake, but both flavor and texture left something to be desired. It was very sweet, and the spices were quite mild. If I made it again, I would probably decrease the amount of sugar and increase the spices by half. After baking for an hour, the bread passed the toothpick test, but after cooling it was still a little sticky in the middle. On the positive side, it was very easy to make. and would be nice with a cup of tea.

Cinnamon Turtle

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

DeSouter

United States

Being a born and bred New Yorker with lots of varied ethnic food influences growing up, you can find me enjoying anything from Bloodwurst to Chicken Jahlfrezi to PBJs with fresh-ground honey roasted peanut butter and yummy homemade strawberry jam, and don't forget my friend Anna's mother's Pomodoro Sauce (via Bari, Italy). When it comes to eating and cooking, many native New Yorkers seem to be of whatever background that is on their plate at the moment. I notice that a good number of Zaarites list "pet peeves" here. Many list whiny people as their peeve. Hey...I live in NYC where almost EVERYONE whines and complains, so I don't notice anymore. What burns my biscuits is seeing recipes that call for some really funky ingredients like Kraft (cough cough) Parmesan cheese in the green can and chicken from a can. I had never even heard of chicken in CAN(???) until last year. Get the best quality ingredients you purse will allow. That includes spices. Those jars of spices that sell for 99 cents are no bargain if you can afford something better. Do yourself a favor and if possible, go and explore any ethnic food markets in your area. They have the most wonderful spices and herbs and they are usually priced well. And you'll find so many other goodies you'd never have even known about. (I know this isn't possible for everyone, but then there's always the internet) Sorry, I am the product of an "ingredient snob" father and I just can't help having inherited that gene to a certain extent. And again, I'm a New Yawka...we are SLIGHTLY opinionated. You're reading about the person who drives (I kid you not) 3 hours upstate and 3 hours back just to get THE sausage I need for my Thanksgiving stuffing. So call me fanatical. I am a rather good baker and for a short time I had my own dessert biz...until I found out how hard it can be to work for yourself. So I went back to working as an Art Editor in publishing.

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