Alex and tabs book club

This whole week I have been looking forward to baking pumpkin bread. When school ended today, I ran to the store, picked up the needed ingredients, and immediately got to baking. The weather was chilly and gloomy, making it the perfect cozy activity. While the bread was baking, I watched Fantastic Mr. Fox. I made a cup of autumn harvest tea from Trader Joe’s which is full of apple spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It is my favorite tea to drink in the fall. My roommates and I talked and laughed a lot while I was baking and I love hanging out with them. I had my first immunology exam this week and was so ready to relax and eat pumpkin bread!

I made Butternut Bakery’s pumpkin bread recipe. All credit goes to her for this delicious bread. I love her blog so much and she is my go-to for recipes. Everything on her blog is so wonderful. I had never made this pumpkin bread recipe before so I was so excited to try it out. My camera skills are not great so please check out her blog because she is so talented!

Here is a link to her blog and the pumpkin bread recipe: https://butternutbakeryblog.com/pumpkin-bread-with-maple-glaze/

This pumpkin bread was extra special because it has a streusel topping and maple glaze! I decided to add coffee grounds to the streusel topping which I enjoyed because it gave it a more bitter coffee flavor and complemented the bread like a pumpkin spice latte. I also added chocolate chips because I love chocolate with pumpkin. The base of the recipe has oil and milk which gives it a dense and moist texture. It is loaded with cinnamon and pumpkin spice. The bread was super big in my loaf tin and making a decadent slice. I also loved the component of adding a maple glaze. The glaze seeped into the streusel and then hardened up and it cooled. I think this bread would also be good without a strudel and a cinnamon sugar topping or with cream cheese. The recipe was very fast and easy to make. First, the streusel ingredients are combined and put in the fridge to rest. Then, the dry ingredients are combined in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. The ingredients are all combined with a whisk and then the batter is poured into the loaf pan and baked at 325 for 1 hour – 1 hour 20 minutes. The wait time is perfect for reading a book, catching up on work, or watching a movie. Here is a photo of the final product! So decadent and delicious. Also, your house is going to smell super delicious.

Recipe: All credit to Butternut Bakery

Ingredients:

Streusel topping:

1/4 cup unsalted butter (55 g)

1/2 cup all purpose flour (65 g)

1/4 cup brown sugar (50 g)

2 tbsp white sugar

1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

note: I also added in ground espresso!

Pumpkin bread:

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree

1 cup (200 g) white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar (100 g)

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk (110mL)

1 3/4 cup flour (230 g)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp pumpkin spice

1/2 tsp salt

Maple Glaze:

1/2 cup powder sugar (60 g)

1/4 cup maple syrup (85 g)

Instructions:

1. preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line 9×5 pan with parchment paper
2. whisk dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin spice)
3. whisk together sugars, pumpkin, eggs, oil, vanilla in a separate bowl
4. add in 1/2 of the dry ingredients then the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients
5. add chocolate chips if desired
6. put streusel on top (and more chocolate chips if desired)
7. bake 1 hour and 20 minutes
8. mix powder sugar and maple syrup to make the glaze then pour on top of the warm bread
9. enjoy!!