The Sobremesa 32.
Maple Pepita Pumpkin Bread
Ah, October 1st.
It means a lot of things, depending on how you look at it.
It’s the 274th day of the year. It’s the day Disney World opened. It’s the day Julie Andrews was born.
But in my world, it’s the day that we start eating A LOT OF PUMPKIN SHIT!!!
There’s nothing Americans seem to love more than eating pumpkin things during the Fall. Even though widely accepted as “basic” we just can’t help ourselves. Even if you’re not exactly reaching for the PSL, I know you’re just a *little* jazzed to eat some pumpkin sweets.
I try to avoid getting trapped into the pumpkin wormhole. Once I saw Pumpkin Spice Pickles and Pumpkin Spice Deodorant, and I knew we were done for as a civilization. BUT there are still wonderful pumpkin items we can enjoy, nay SHOULD enjoy, and not let those pumpkin spice marketing bastards ruin it all for us regular folk. YOU HEAR THAN PUMPKIN SPICE PICKLE PEOPLE!!?!?
In my mind, there is nothing more appropriate to eat this time of year than a good ole’ pumpkin loaf. Hey, I’ll even eat this all year around!
It’s perfectly spiced, moist (YES - MOIST!!!), not too sweet, and I add a little maple crunchy pumpkin seed on top for the *chef’s kiss.* Not to mention, I love desserts that I can eat for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or for dessert - and that’s exactly what this bread is. This one is for us.
Oh, and it will make you feel Fall as fuck.
Maple Pepita Pumpkin Bread
Makes one 9x5x3 loaf
Maple Pepitas
Ingredients:
½ cup unroasted, unsalted pepitas
¼ cup maple syrup
Pinch of cinnamon
Make em’
Toss pepitas with maple syrup and cinnamon and line on a baking sheet
Bake at 300 F for 15 mins, tossing in the middle of the bake
Note, don’t let them cool too much after you bake or else they will get super stuck to the pan.
Protip: I recommend making extra of these to snack on while you wait for the pumpkin bread to bake! They’re also delicious on salads :)
The Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
1 ½ c flour: I do 50/50 whole wheat and All-Purpose
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. nutmeg
1 c sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/3 c water
½ of a 15 oz can pumpkin pureé (Libby’s for life)
Do it!
Set your oven to 350 F.
Shmear your loaf pan with butter or spray with a non-stick spray.
Whisk all of your dry ingredients together.
Beat the sugar and oil well with an electric mixer.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well.
Alternate the dry ingredients and the water to the mix: Add 1/2 of dry ingredients, mix, add half of water, mix, then add the remaining dry, mix, and then add the remaining water, mix.
Fold in the pumpkin puree gently.
Put your bread in the oven, and after 15 minutes, pull the bread and add the maple pepitas on top (the pepitas are heavy, so if you put them on in when the dough is too wet, it will cause the bread to sink down in the middle). Put back in the oven for the remainder of the bake.
Bake for 45 - 50 min. It’s ready when you poke it with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
check out my Instagram reel for a video tutorial!
Happy baking.
Love ya mucho
xox
Tessa
beauty!!! yep - orange orange orange