- Jenny
There are certain things in life that occur time and again that, try as I might, I simply cannot brook. The partial list alone, which really does shame me, includes: aggressive gum-chewing, wet towels on the bathroom floor (which oddly does not annoy me quite as much as mismatched socks found under various pieces of furniture, which I think underscores my flexibility) and people who bring store-bought baked goods to an event when the note sent home from whatever person is torturing you with this request for treats specifically stated that such goods will be offered for sale.
Miss a parent teacher conference, fail to comb your hair, don’t mow the lawn, fall asleep at your desk during an important Senate floor speech or lay five purses across the movie seats to save them even though you know perfectly well only four friends are coming. But please do not re-sell an Entenmann's donut at the bake sale.
When the instructions call for “something healthy,” as it did for a recent sale for the school 5K, may I suggest Ginger Molasses Pumpkin Bread, which mixes up right quick and is a very big notch above your average pumpkin bread.
I chose this recipe because I assume people might like a hearty slice of bread after a run, rather than a chocolate chip cookie, though I make no health claims about either item relative to the other. What makes this bread special is the ginger kick you get from the mix of fresh and powdered ginger.
The mixing is quite straightforward -- you will note that this is all done easily by hand and that your bowl of wet ingredients will smell vaguely of Christmas. Once you add the ginger, that scent will overwhelm everything else in the bowl, and you will start to worry vaguely about people who don’t care for ginger. This will mellow slightly as it bakes.
If you do not have turbinado or another raw sugar, I would not substitute with granulated; just skip that final step. The results of Foxes’s recipe are a hearty, fragrant loaf, with a crust almost like that of a cake donut on the top, and a soft, deeply ginger body.
Now, the baking directions call for 40 minutes, but my bread was plenty soft in the middle after that time; your oven times will vary but be careful because this bread can look deceptively dry on the top while still plenty moist in the middle. In fact, I will tell you that the person who got the very middle slice may have consumed a bit of undercooked batter. I hope they are more tolerant than me. (Or is it I?) I have no tolerance for my own grammar!
Ginger Molasses Pumpkin Bread by Foxes
Serves 8
2.5 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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Butter and flour a 9" x 5" loaf pan.
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In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, and nutmeg.
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In another bowl, whisk together the egg, pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, vegetable oil, molasses, and buttermilk until well combined.
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Add the fresh ginger and vanilla extract to the wet ingredients and mix well.
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Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (do not overmix).
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Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
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In a small bowl, mix the turbinado sugar with the remaining teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the batter.
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Bake 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
By day, Jennifer Steinhauer, aka Jenny, covers Congress for The New York Times. By night, she is an obsessive cook.
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Jestei
I don't eat tripe.
Some past articles from this author you'll love:
New Mother's Magic Elixir (Lamb Stew)
Lemon Tart with Olive Oil
Maloreddus with Anchovies, Orange, and Malvasia
42 Comments on Ginger Molasses Pumpkin Bread:
Hi Jennifer: Per discussion of no-bake bake sale items, I found this recipe. I'm not sure it sounds particularly appetizing, but it does provide another home-made alternative when needed!
Orange Ball Cookies
Put the vanilla wafers in a large food storage bag and crush them with a rolling pin,
or pulse them in the food processor until you have fine crumbs.
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
12 ounces vanilla wafers
6 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
16 ounces powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans
3 1/2 ounces (by weight)coconut, or about 1 to 1 1/2 cups by volume
Instructions:
Crush vanilla wafers until fine. Mix together the crushed vanilla wafers, orange juice concentrate, powdered sugar, butter, and chopped pecans.
Shape mixture into walnut-size balls; roll in coconut. Store balls in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
I included this in my Christmas baking. I am done making breads, muffins, scones and a bundt cake for the week before Christmas as my youngest will be staying with us till the 26th and I expect a lot of company. I hope it came out ok but for the future if it isn't quite done you can cut it up into slices and toast it.
Great point thank for for trying them.
Made this recipe twice. First time very undercooked but delicious. Second time used a larger pan and cooked longer with better results. I think muffins are the way to go. I added raisins and crystallized ginger to the batter and incorporated the ginger "sugar" from the ginger container with the turbinado.
That is great. I will make them as muffins next time to avoid that cooking time issue.
Why are we hating on the non-baking crowd? Some women bake others macrame others carve wood and some very talented women do all three. Sure it would be nice if every one understood the importance of quality ingredients, however I don't know that the judgement helps. Show up with your delectables and when they ask "how you did that?!" Share with them how easy it was and how great Food 52. Yeesh.
I don't object to people who can't bake. I object to people who SELL things they bought at the grocery store at a BAKE SALE.
I SO agree about re-selling baked goods that were old when they got to Albertson's! If you must bring something and you don't have an oven, you can make Rice Krispie Treats in a microwave. I use real butter and add butterscotch chips. There is no excuse for not baking for a bake sale. Thank you.
or just work the craft booth. there is no shame in not baking. but the store bought thing is a trend that must be stopped immediately.
I made this yesterday, spurred on by all the comments. Took it out after 40 minutes, when the toothpick was clean, let it cool, and then only once it was too late discovered that, despite the clean toothpick, it was only halfway done. I tried cutting around that but without much success. I hope others had better luck.
as i allude to in the story, the one issue with this recipe is that the top appears done before the middle is. i agree it is an issue; you just have to bake it longer.
One of the benefits of having an 8 months old: I know I'll be up at 6am (perhaps earlier) so I can make this before school tomorrow morning. So excited. Sorry I didn't see it earlier in the week, but it will be perfect before tomorrow's chilly walk to school. Ive been swapping out coffee with homemade chai, imagine these together.. Awesome. Can't wait to wake up!
tell us how it turns out
One of the benefits of having an 8 months old: I know I'll be up at 6am (perhaps earlier) so I can make this before school tomorrow morning. So excited. Sorry I didn't see it earlier in the week, but it will be perfect before tomorrow's chilly walk to school. Ive been swapping out coffee with homemade chai, imagine these together.. Awesome. Can't wait to wake up!
I am not much of baker since I am a celiac, but saw this and I had to make it. Doubled the recipe to use the whole can of Whole Food's organic pumpkin, and I used Meister gluten free flour. I though the dough was a bite stiff and the final bread was rather dense. It tasted ok, but I wish it was lighter and had more spice kick.
Hm sorry to hear this could it be it does not work GF?
Sounds delicious, and Jenny, reselling grocery store bakery cookies/muffins/breads - it gets my goat too. Is it because I took the time to bake or is it because home baked is superior - or is it because some parents seem to think the rules don't apply to them?.........I could go on and on about that (carpool line in particular). I adore pumpkin bread and this recipe sounds wonderful! Thanks for another entertaining article!
Does anyone have any results to report? How did this recipe turn out?
i made this last night for my "Holiday Treats" class. We made them in mini loaf pans (recipe makes 3 mini loaves). I added 2 T. melted butter and 2 t. crystallized ginger (minced) and a sprinkle of cardamon to the topping. It was really good! It will definitely go into the rotation!
Thank you madame... I didn't have buttermilk. Drrr. I missed that on the list some how. So, I used the spicing from this recipe and substituted the base of the bread. I still really want to try this one! The crystalized ginger sounds amazing. If you're a fan of that, have you tried Diane Kron's chocolate covered crystalized ginger? Amazing. http://www.dianekronchocolates.com/
I doubled the recipe to use the entire can of pumpkin that I had, added an extra egg to make up the volume (1.5 cups of pumpkin instead of 2), and used 8.5 x 4.5 pans, since I didn't have a 9 x 5. The loaves are in the oven now, baking nicely with no overflow. The fragrance is also overtaking the lingering smell of burned onions from last night. When the smoke alarm goes off, dinner is served!
BTW, when I made this into muffins, I used roasted butternut squash that I'd pureed and then frozen. After thawing it out, I let it sit in my yogurt cheese draining box (a nifty square two-part device called "the Wave" and made by Donvier) while I prepared the other ingredients. You could also use a colander or strainer lined with a wet handkerchief or cheesecloth. ;o)
This has so many of my favorite things about fall in it. I'm plotting when I can make this...
First the soup and now the bread. My Thanksgiving menu is coming together.
She lives, unearthing gems......with words and recipes. Jenny - sprinkle some of humour dust on me.
I made this recipe tonight as muffins -- 12 gorgeous, generous-sized ones, which I baked for 23 minutes at 350 degrees. Outstanding! ;o)
Thanks AJ for the muffin tip-off. One to add to a growing list!
AJ - So great to meet you @ Omnivore. Thanks for signing my book and for all your awesome tips.
KB, consider adding a few nuts. I'm going to, next time, to give the muffins a bit more textural interest. ;o)
Jenny--you make rainy Mondays bearable with your wonderful recipes and good humor! Your flexibility is in your thinking, my dear!
sounds very good, ....will keep this one!
sounds very good, ....will keep this one!
There was a can of pumpkin wanting to become my afternoon tea... so now I have this bread (cake?) on my counter. Because I am incapable of following precise directions, I swapped out 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour and used crystallized ginger (because I had no fresh.) Ten minutes of cooling is killing me.
Mrs W, hope you managed to stay alive to eat a warm (cool_ slice of pumpkin cake! And I like the crystallised ginger addition.
or until the toothpick comes clean. can't wait until it's cool and I can "sample" it!
Make me some pleeeeease! Oh how I've been craving pumpkin bread. Workload is trying to keep me from baking. I think I need to rebel.
Between the holidays and the season of school bake sales, I was looking for more quick bread options. Love this, thanks Jenny for highlighting another hidden gem.
I happen to have a few cups of freshly roasted pumpkin in my refrigerator looking for projects. The gingerbread combo with pumpkin looks perfect - and easy! Great way to start the week.
Me Talk Pretty One Day. A must read. Settled on the couch with a hot cuppa and some of this bread.
Wish I had this for second breakfast this morning. Yum. I have to keep my sentences ridiculously short today to avoid tripping all over my construction. Mondays, especially. Thanks, Jenny for showcasing this recipe.
Have you seen that book Woe Is I by Patricia O'Connor? I love that you can use either me or I.
Thanks for the recipe, sounds good and doable. Pumpkin bread is usually really moist and dense, this one seems quite enticing because of the double ginger and (doughnutty) crunch on top. Yum!
Sounds perfect for Thanksgiving, so add to the list of priority possibles. Lucky bake sale goers!
(As for grammar in/tolerance, I like to avoid the dilemma by saying 'than I am.' My concern is for person/they -- I'm a classicist and would rather say he in the generic sense. Ah, well, gender equality is not possible in the English language any more!)
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