Pumpkin Bread

"Oh pumpkin season! There’s a chill in the air,kids and adults alike are planning their Halloween costumes,and carving pumpkins are pouring out of the local market. Now’s the time for pumpkin bread, don’t you think? Not all pumpkins are equal when it comes to cooking. Those large carving pumpkins? Probably best left to carving, and maybe salvaging the seeds to roast.Jack-o-lantern pumpkins are raised more for their durability than for their taste. Most people use canned puréed pumpkin for baking recipes like this because of the consistent results. If you want though, you can easily roast up a sugar pumpkin, butternut squash, or kabocha pumpkin for itspurée. You’ll get more roasted and caramelized flavor that way. Steaming also works, though you’ll miss the extra flavor from the roasting. This pumpkin bread recipe is quite adaptable to different types of pumpkin purée and spice mixes. We took an old recipe from Fannie Farmer as a base and have made several changes toit over the years. These days weuse melted butter instead of vegetable oil (though you can easily use oil if you want), and we’ve added some ground ginger, grated orange zest, and molasses. We havealso made a lovely optional glaze for the pumpkin bread—with orange juice, orange zest, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Enjoy! Recipe updated, first posted 2006. If you are missing the original version of pumpkin bread we had posted, just swap out olive oil for the melted butter, and omit the ground ginger, molasses, and orange zest...."