Quick Maple Pumpkin Bread – Winning Recipe On PBS, with all the spice flavors of Autumn, in loaf or individual muffins, for your pumpkin passions.
What Are Quick Breads?
What are quick breads? Just that, quick!
They rise with baking powder and baking soda and usually bake to perfection in under 30-minutes, much like muffins.
Yeast breads require about an hour of rest time to rise before baking, which is why we love this pumpkin quick bread recipe. It’s quick!
However, there is a quick yeast bread, sort of, that fits in between these two options; flatbreads, or pita bread.
And you are in luck, because I actually have a Pumpkin Pita Bread recipe that is fantastic.
Quick Maple Pumpkin Bread – On TV
Have you ever created a recipe that comes out fabulous but wondered if others would think so too?
Well, do I have a true life story for you!
One of the recipes I planned to make on The Great American Recipe on PBS, was my maple pumpkin bread.
There I was, still in the competition on episode 6 and my pumpkin maple bread was next on the list for me to make.
And then something very unexpected happened…
My recipe became part of a Recipe Swap Theme on the show.
One of the other contestants had to make my recipe.
Her comment? “I don’t bake and I don’t like pumpkin”.
Oh boy was this going to be a true test to my recipe!
Winning Recipe On PBS
How did it go, you ask?
With a little explanation and a few tips, Nikki nailed my pumpkin maple bread recipe!
The judges comment? “This is the best maple pumpkin bread I’ve ever had and I want this recipe”!
What did I end up preparing, if Nikki prepared my pumpkin bread?
Excited as well, I got Foo Nguyen’s Vietnamese fish recipe, but put my own Mediterranean twist on the recipe, actually changed it completely and guess what…
Both the Fish dish and the Pumpkin bread recipes won ‘outstanding’ recipes for that round!
Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin seems to be one of those happy appearances every September and stays with us till the end of the year.
While pumpkin is a squash, and doesn’t have a strong flavor on its own, it does lend itself to a huge variety of recipes we all love, both sweet and savory.
Maybe that’s because pumpkin is actually a ‘fruit’ and not a vegetable, as we often tend to think they are.
Children love the annual trip to a pumpkin patch to pick the family’s Autumn harvest of pumpkins.
Mom, dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles all get to feel like a kid again on Autumn outings like this.
So why not have a great pumpkin bread recipe to look forward to making each Autumn as well!
Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin muffins are made in my kitchen from the onset of September and pop up all the way through December.
Why? Because all the flavors baked into this Maple Pumpkin Quick bread, have such festive flavors of those warm spices we all love this time of year.
When following this recipe to make muffins, simply place the batter in muffin tins, reduce the bake time to about 25-minutes and leave off the drizzle.
Instead of the drizzle, you can put a pecan on top and a sprinkle coarse raw sugar before baking, for an added treat.
Maple Pumpkin Bread – The Dichotomy Of Seasons
Who doesn’t love the flavor of maple!
It is another one of those flavors we love in the Autumn.
However, I’m not sure how it became a flavor we associate with Autumn flavors since it is harvested in the springtime.
But hey, It is certainly a keeper for me and adds an amazingly warm undertone of flavor to this pumpkin bread.
Quick Bread Baking Pans
It’s funny how the size and shape of a baking container changes the theme of the thing we are baking.
When I want to give the gift of baked goods, I will usually rely on mini-loaf pans to bake my goodies in, simply because they are easy to wrap and plenty to gift.
One recipe, such as the one here, will make four mini loaves.
When I am baking for the kids or want goodies ‘to-go’ I usually turn to any one of my muffin tins.
Muffin tins make it easy to bake with lots of healthy ingredients and send loved ones off with home baked goods in their lunch or snack.
For elegant brunch parties, or large family gatherings, I will bake in a long loaf pan, like really long. It looks abundant when served and is easy to make numerous slices, either thick or thin.
Pumpkin Spice
It’s funny how when we think of pumpkin, we are actually thinking about the spices that are usually associated with pumpkin; nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, allspice, ginger and of course cinnamon.
Where would our Autumn latte’s be without this exotic, aromatic, mood changing scent of these spices!
You may not know this, but the price of pumpkin spice in the store usually goes up in Autumn or is not available at all until then.
No worries. Make Your Own! Here is a quick and easy recipe I make every year, store in cute glass jars and have ready for Autumn: Homemade Pumpkin Spice Blend.
Ingredients Needed
- Butter
- Maple syrup
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Pumpkin
- Pumpkin Spice Blend
- Salt
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Powdered sugar
- Sugar Maple leaf garnish – optional
Equipment Needed
- Large Loaf pan – for family gatherings, I like to make this recipe in a large, oversized loaf pan, such as this one, because it looks impressive.
- Disposable mini-loaf pans make for an easy bake-and-give away option.
- Mini Loaf pans – instead of a large loaf pan, mini-loaf pans make it easy to give this maple pumpkin bread as gifts. These are the mini-loaf pans I use for that.
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Whisk
- Drizzle Fork and Spoon
- Sauce pan
- Non-stick spray
- Oven
My Muffin Madness Cookbook
Now that I’ve got you thinking outside the box about muffins, are you ready to try other creative and delicious muffin recipes you won’t find anywhere else?
Hot off the press this year: My Muffin Madness Cookbook!
Quick Maple Pumpkin Bread – Winning Recipe On PBS
Equipment
- Large loaf pan or 12 cup muffin tin
- Non-stick spray
Ingredients
- 12 tbsp Butter melted, cooled
- 1 cup Real Maple Syrup
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp Cloves
- 1/2 tsp Allspice
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 3 Eggs
- 2 cups Pumpkin cooked, pureed
- Brown Butter Maple Drizzle
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 4 tbsp Maple syrup
- 3/4 cup Powdered sugar extra for dusting
- Purchased maple leaf candy optional for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Melt 12 tbsp butter
- Prepare baking pans with a spray of non-stick cooking oil
- Lightly dust pans with powdered sugar
- In a large mixing bowl, or a stand up mixer, mix melted butter, sugar and maple syrup.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk eggs and pumpkin and add to the melted butter mixture
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder/soda and spices
- Add to the batter and mix. Batter will be thick
- Transfer to the prepared baking pan/pans
- Bake until done. About an 1 hour if it's one large loaf pan, or 25-minutes if using individual baking mini-loaf pans, or a muffin tin.
- Drizzle
- Melt 2 tbsp butter with 4 tbsp maple syrup and whisk in enough powdered sugar to make a slightly thick, but pourable glaze to drizzle on the bread.
- Assemble
- Cool the bread and remove from pans. Drizzle with Maple drizzle and place a maple leaf on top. An optional chocolate drizzle can be added
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.