Sunday, October 14, 2012

Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Bread




Simply yummy, moist and delicious pumpkin bread! This is amazing at breakfast with a nice cup of coffee or tea and equally delicious as an afternoon or after dinner treat. 

I really like to roast my own "baking pumpkins" when making almost any pumpkin recipe because it's easy to do, and tastes great. I always find the best baking pumpkins at my local farmers market, but of course you can use a 15 oz can of pumpkin if you don't want to be bothered baking a pumpkin.




RECIPE
Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2-1/2 cups sugar
4  farm fresh eggs
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin (or use your own pumpkin puree)
3-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup pecan pieces (optional)

Crunchy Crust Topping
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
2 tbls. butter
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Cut butter in with a fork and mix really well until it resembles course sand. Sprinkle on top of batter prior to baking.

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in pumpkin. Gradually add combined dry ingredients, mixing after each addition just until moistened. Stir in nuts (optional).

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 x 5-inch loaf pans (or 6 mini-loaf pans)  Sprinkle Crunchy Topping on top of batter.

Bake 55 min.or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 min.; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. For mini-loaves, bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Yield - 2 large or 6 mini-loaves

Enjoy
,
Mary

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