Saturday, 17 October 2009

• Recipe: Chai-Spiced Bread with Pumpkin Butter

  This is a guest post from Spork or Foon?
  

  
  
  

  
  Talk about a fall dessert in a bread. Earthy, sweet pumpkin is flavored with the delicious and complex flavors of cinnamon, ginger, star anise, black pepper and cloves from the chai tea.  The bread is unbelievably moist, and incredibly versatile, as I also made a healthy version with applesauce, which was equally as moist and delicious, but a little more dense.
  
  The smells that wafted through my apartment when this bread was baking were heavenly.  It was as if fall was sucked from the air outside and found a home in my apartment for the hour that the bread cooked in the oven. This bread comes together so quickly, which I guess is why it must be considered a quick bread.
  
  I made some pumpkin butter to pair with the bread.  I have never tried or tasted pumpkin butter, or apple butter for that matter, so I really wasn't sure what the ingredients were or what the consistency would be like.  I found a great recipe on Smitten Kitchen's website and went forward with my butter making conquest. Oddly enough (to me), it did not turn to butter.  The consistency was more like a very thick applesauce. I was confused but it was delicious, so I decided to go with it. 
  
  It was sweet and creamy and wonderfully spiced, and the best part was that there was actually no butter so I wouldn't feel bad about eating it – by the spoonful.
  
  Chai Spiced Pumpkin Bread: adapted from A Bowl of Mush
  
  (To make the healthy version of this bread, substitute the butter for 1/2 cup applesauce.  I also  found that the healthier version took longer to cook, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.)
  
  Ingredients:
  

  • 1/2 cup butter (softened) (***or 1/2 cup applesauce)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 can of pumpkin puree
  • 2 black tea bags steeped in 1/4 cup hot milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tablespoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon Chai Spice
  • pinch of black pepper
  • pinch of all spice

  
  Directions: Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Fold in the pumpkin puree and the milky tea (make sure the tea has completely cooled before adding).  Set asideIn another bowl mix together the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Add the spices and whisk to incorporate.Add the flour mixture into the pumpkin mix and gently fold until just combined.  Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes at 350F (for the healthier version, you may need to bake longer, up to 1 hour and 20 minutes. If you don't want the bread to brown any more, tent some aluminum foil over the top.)
  

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