Welcome to Fall!

Yes!!!!!  Fall is officially here.  Althought the weather occasionally thinks otherwise, we are definitely headed in the right direction.  

One of my favorite parts of the season is the Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks.  In fact, I even became a fan of Starbucks on Facebook just so I could get the early alert that the "PSL" was available again in a Starbucks near me.  I kid you not...I need help people.  And now I have another little problem as well.  A friend recently introduced me to the pumpkin loaf and I am now addicted to yet another non-health food.  Thus I HAD to figure out how to make it myself right?  I mean why limit myself to enjoying it once a week or so.  That would be the healthy approach...


This recipe was the result of my search for copy cat Starbucks pumpkin loaf recipes.  It's not exactly the same, but it is equally good, I promise.
  

These are Pumpkin seeds, also known as Pepitas

Autumn Pumpkin Loaf
Ingredients:


1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water 
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon  Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 


Directions: 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease three 7x3 inch loaf pans or a bundt pan and set aside.


In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended.  In a seperate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamom, nutmeg and ginger.  Stir the dry ingredients into the the pumpkin mixture until just blended.  Pour into prepared pans.


Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven.  Loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.


Optional: I like to sprinkle the top with roasted salted pepitas before baking.  These can be found in healthfood stores and occasionally in the mexican section of your grocery.


enJoy!