Autumn Breads~ Zucchini Pear and Pumpkin Apple~ Food Memories and You

Buon Giorno Everyone!

Life here has been slightly chaotic and blogging has had to take a bit of a back seat. Jobs around here have been quite scarce so this past weekend Mr B. and I decided to go with our backup plan- Pattie will expand her business and start offering some new services. 

Pattie is a bit nervous, but my children have a bad habit of requiring food several times a day, so here we go!

I have some strong encouragement from some VERY dear friends and a hard push from another.

Thanks Lynn! :)

I was actually undecided about today's blog post till I got a call last night from a former personal training client. Her life has been insane lately and she's suffering from the Mommy guilt as she's not able to spend as much time as she'd like at home. She told me that while driving home last night she noticed the changing leaves and a memory popped into her head of her mom meeting her after school with fresh baked pumpkin bread. So, could I bake her some for her kids to find?

But of course!

As it happens, one of our book club m,embers brought a delicious Pumpkin Apple bread to our meeting Monday night. She had gotten it at a local market, but of course I wanted to make my own. I did some searching and, lo and behold, I found just what I was looking for on one of my very favorite blogs EVER- One Perfect Bite

Mary had a recipe that actually originated here in Cary, NC, so how perfect is that?!

I tweaked it just a bit, adding ginger to both the batter and the topping~ Enjoy

Pumpkin Apple Bread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Gourmet Magazine
Rebecca's Bakery in Cary, North Carolina

Ingredients:

For topping

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons Turbinado sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

For bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1 (15-oz) can solid-pack pumpkin

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2-1/4 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 Granny smith apples (I used Fuji), peeled, cored, and chopped (2 cups)

1/4 cup finely slivered and chopped crystallized ginger

Directions:

1) To make the topping: Blend together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.

2) To make the bread: Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F (See Note ***). Butter two 9 X 5 inch loaf pans. Set aside. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice into a medium bowl. Whisk together pumpkin oil, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl. Add flour mixture, stirring until well combined. Fold in apples and ginger. Divide batter between buttered loaf pans- about 4 cups each. Sprinkle half of topping evenly over each loaf. Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of bread comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool loaves in pans on a rack for 45 minutes, then turn out onto rack and cool completely, about 1 hour. Yield: two loaves.

Note***~ My loaf pans are dark- I set the oven to 325 degrees and baked for  60 minutes- perfect!

While I was at it, I decided to send along another loaf that my family loves. This time of year when everyone is trying to use up all those prolific zucchini is the perfect time for this bread. I usually add fresh, ripe pears, but today I decided to use one of my quarts of gingered pears from last year (well drained, of course)

Zucchini Date Pear Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped dates

2 ripe pears, chopped (or 1 quart of homemade canned pears, drained and chopped)

1 cup chopped walnuts- OPTIONAL

Turbinado Sugar for topping- OPTIONAL

Grease and flour  (or spray with Pam) two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees 

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Stir in chopped dates to coat pieces of dates with flour

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini, pears, and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans. Sprinkle top with sugar, if desired

Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. This is a very moist bread- make sure it’s fully baked.  Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

With a good smear of creamy mascarpone on a just warm slice, this is Fall comfort at it's best

Tutti a Tavola!

As Always,

Buon Cibo, Buon Amici,

Pattie and Allie