I've had a ginger craving for some time now. This was perhaps brought on by the lack of gingerbread cookies at Christmas. I'm not going to say exactly why there were no gingerbread cookies, but let's just say that a certain someone for Christmas Eve dinner, maybe a cousin; who typically makes gingerbread, failed to bring some for her family even though she already had it made. I don't want to get any more specific than that, this is hardly the place, but you know who you are :P :). Cravings aside, I also love pumpkin bread, so when you find a recipe like this in your bookmarks it's like Christmas all over again. You know, Christmas without the need to hold back tears due to the painful realization of no gingerbread (perhaps I'm laying it on too thick? :)).
Though to be fair, if you're having a craving for gingerbread cookies specifically this ginger bread might not satiate you. It definitely hits similar notes, just not as hard. To make up for this you have the additional flavours of pumpkin and nutmeg, which brings me to my minor changes. Other than halving the recipe, I increased the amount of ginger and added nutmeg. The reason for the ginger is obvious at this point, and with pumpkin involved, I couldn't help but add nutmeg. I also omitted the orange zest, as I'm not huge fan of orange in baked goods; and went with two whole eggs instead of one and a half. Try as I might, I can't seem to find any half eggs at the grocery store. They should stock them next to the half and half.
Now as a public service, this is another one of those recipes where the smell wafting from your kitchen may cause you to momentarily forget where you are. Thankfully, the flavours live up to the scent. This bread was pretty darn good. The texture was moist and wonderfully soft. The sweetness was light, and there is just enough ginger that you get that spicy kick, but not enough to be overpowering. And the combination of the ginger and nutmeg leaves you with this nice, warm, lingering aftertaste that is so good, even though you might not be able to say precisely why (I'm sure that makes sense.. somewhere).
It's unusual that I make something that I already have a terrific recipe for. It's a risk versus reward thing. Why make something unproven when you can bake something guaranteed to be good? In this case though, it was different enough and offered a combination of flavours that was too tempting to resist. And I'm happy I didn't. The bread has a wonderfully light and spicy flavour that might require an intervention to stop eating. Especially if you're like me and need a good ginger fix because someone in your family may or may not hate Christmas :). (Sorry :).. last time... promise :) )
~Adam
Ginger Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from One Perfect Bite
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (163g)1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar (100g)
1/2 cup packed golden yellow/light brown sugar (110g)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 tbsps unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 8x4" loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, grease parchment paper.
In a small bowl add flour, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Whisk to combine.
In a large bowl add pumpkin, sugars, eggs and butter and whisk until completely combined.
Add dry ingredients to wet and with a wooden spoon stir until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (this took me 47 minutes).
Allow to cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan and cooling completely.
I went through a (small) container of ginger during the 'holiday season' baking! I remember baking ginger banana bread, but I love the idea of amping up the ginger in pumpkin bread as well! I bet it would be great with different add-ins as well, like walnuts, chocolate chips (or both).
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I have a similar OCD issue about 'halving' eggs for recipes. I especially hate 'lite' recipes that have one egg and one egg white. Because, you know, that whole extra 50 or so calories from the yolk spread over 24 servings is going to be a total diet-buster.
I didn't use enough ginger over the holidays (I don't know if I used any), so I needed a huge fix :). Ginger is always the last spice I think of which is probably why I don't use it in more things.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it depends on the recipe, I've had a few recipes where I ignored the half egg requirement and ended up with something way more cakey than it should have been. But because this was a quick bread, I wasn't too worried about it. Though I agree, not using that egg for caloric reasons is a little ridiculous :). Granted, I typically have boxed egg whites on hand, so that one egg white isn't always a problem :).
I once forgot to put in the two eggs required by a banana bread recipe, and unintentionally created a vegan recipe that worked quite well. Quick bread recipes are forgiving--additionally, pumpkin and banana breads tend to turn out a bit different every time because of the variable water content of the fruit.
ReplyDeleteCooking Light, an otherwise sane magazine, is particularly guilty of 'half egg' or 'one egg and one egg substitute' nonsense to shave off a few calories, presumably because some readers will make a 208 calorie serving of a dessert, but not a 220 calorie recipe.
I've also never understood, given the widespread availability of boxed egg whites (with no scary extra ingredients like fake eggs, just whites) why some recipes for things like angel food cake make such a big deal of 'being worth all of the spare yolks you'll have.' I'm kind of like, 'um, just get the egg white stuff, right?'