Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

A non-dairy pumpkin spice loaf to wow any house guest. Great for a crowd, this fall dessert is a perfect go to with a quick clean up and very little effort.

If you wanna prep in advance to make this even simpler, you can create a pre-packaged Pumpkin Spice mixture (in a ziplock) to quickly throw into the bowl next time.

Ingredients:

3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup olive/grapeseed/coconut/canola oil
4 eggs
2 cups pure pumpkin puree
3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground allspice
½ cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 loaf pans with parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray.

Process sugar, oil and eggs until well combined.

Add pumpkin and process again. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add to the pumpkin mixture alternately with water. Pulse until just combined.

Pour batter into the 2 loaf pans and bake for 65-70 minutes.

Aside from being healthy and colourful, pumpkin is very easy to use in many baked recipes. Be sure to use “pure pumpkin” and not pumpkin pie filling which has added sugar and other additives. A great loaf to serve for Sukkot/Thanksgiving or any time in the fall/winter.

Science Fact of the Week:

Since we’ve already spoken about the health benefits of pumpkin, we thought it was important to talk about the choice of oil in this recipe. By using an oil base we can replace butter, making this non-dairy and a lighter alternative. Grapeseed oil contains Vitamin E, which as an anti-oxidant has been tied to lower risks of cancer, heart disease and other chronic illness. Olive oil, coconut oil and regular canola all work well for the recipe, feel free to use whichever you have on hand.