When I arrived home on Saturday from our trip to Rhinebeck, the newest issue of Cooking Light was waiting for me. The super bright Holiday Special and Double Issue titles called to me immediately. So after showering and settling down from a long day of walking, I cozzied up on my couch and began to flip the pages.
I still have not found words to describe the feeling of staring at page after page of eye catching recipes redone for a healthier lifestyle. The holiday cookbook features recipes like a lighter Eggnog, Rosemary Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Shallots, Garlic-Roasted Kale, and Apple Poblano Whole Roast Turkey, to name a few. As the wheels in my head have been turning to come up with a way to convince my mother that allowing me to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal is a wise (and more waist friendly) idea, I couldn't stop thinking about the Autumn Pumpkin Bread recipe.
So to the grocery store I went, and voila!
I didn't alter the recipe too much. Having worked with stevia in the past, and as my grocery store was out of the granulated blend, I decided to forgo the Sun Crystals for good old sugar. Stevia is a natural, plant based sweetener that has become popular as a sugar sub because of its no calorie, sweeter-than-sugar nature. While I love it in my coffee, and I have not yet tried the Sun Crystal variety, stevia is a bit sweet for me in baked goods. I also subbed the pecans with walnuts, due to my personal dislike of the former. The result is a fluffy bread with only 30 more calories and the same grams of fat per slice. I will definitely try whole-wheat flour on my next attempt.
Autumn Pumpkin Bread
(adapted from Cooking Light Magazine)
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter
2 eggs
12 oz pumpkin puree
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 x 5-inch baking loaf pan with PAM baking spray.
In a large bowl, cream the butter, vanilla and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after eeach egg. Stir in pumpkin puree.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and baking powder in a seperate bowl.
Mix in the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Fold in walnuts.
Pour into loaf pan. Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove and let it finish cooling on a rack.
