Pumpkin Spice Bread

Once again it is my favorite time of the year - fall!  And to me fall is synonymous with one thing: pumpkin.  Each year I anxiously await the arrival of all things pumpkin - pumpkin beer, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie (I really could go on and on.)

I hate to play favorites, but if I were forced to, I might have to say that pumpkin bread is my favorite fall treat of all.  But unlike the other pumpkin filled treats that I enjoy, it is one thing that I have never tried to make.  I have only ever really made bread once (click here for a refresher) and although it ended up tasting fine, I walked away feeling like bread baking might not be for me.

This year, I was determined not to let my past bread baking experience deter me from trying to make my favorite tasty treat, and boy am I glad that I gave bread baking another shot!  This time around, all of the ingredients came together in the recommended proportions, and the bread was so delicious that I could have eaten the whole loaf in one sitting.  You should give this recipe a try even if pumpkin isn't your favorite thing - the pumpkin flavor isn't too dominant and the spices give it a wonderful flavor.  (And as an added bonus for all of you with allergies or dietary restrictions, this recipe is dairy and egg free!)

Pumpkin Spice Bread

1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup unsulphured (dark) molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 F and spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray:

Combine pumpkin:

molasses:

vanilla extract (I finally had an excuse to use the delicious extract I brought back from Tahiti!):

with sugar and oil in a large bowl and stir to mix:

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger:

And stir to mix.  Add the flour and spice mix to the pumpkin mixture in three additions, stirring to mix well after each addition.  Once you have added all of the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture, the dough should look something like this:

Spoon the dough into the loaf pan and use a knife or spatula to smooth out the top of the loaf to ensure even baking:

Set your timer for 65 minutes (total torture once you begin to smell the delicious bread baking!):

Once the bread has finished baking, transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes (leave the bread in the pan for now):

After 10 minutes, run a knife or spatula along the edges of the pan to loosen the bread from the sides of the pan.  Invert the bread onto a cutting board, and then turn over to slice:

Although this bread tastes great anytime, I definitely recommend trying a piece right out of the oven while it's still warm.  Heaven!

Panamania!

 Hello all!  I know, I know - long time no blog.  I apologize.  I have been traveling and computer-less (and dare I say, slightly more sane in a Facebook and iPhone-less world).

But now I am back, and although I haven't spent much (or really any) time in my kitchen, I figured I could share some of the fun and delicious foodie adventures that I experienced on my travels through - drum roll please - PANAMA!

We had the best meal of our trip in Panama City at an adorable restaurant called S'cena in the colonial neighborhood of Casco Viejo.  Here's the view of downtown Panama City from outside the resaturant:

We worked up an appetite for dinner by spending the day on a Jungle Cruise in the midst of a monsoon on the Panama Canal, where we got up close and a little too personal with these guys:

We started the dinner with ceviche:

And seared ahi:

And followed it up with salmon topped with fried plantain chips:

And steak with pineapple risotto:

S'cena may have been our best meal, but Panama City definitely wasn't the only place where we found good food.  At our hotel in Boquete, we woke up to find this complimentary breakfast waiting for us:

And as if all of that deliciousness wasn't enough, they brought out homemade apple cinnamon empandas too:

The meals (and Jungle Cruise) were definitely huge highlights of the trip, but hands down the most unique experience that we had was touring a coffee plantation!

We learned that Panama has some of the world's best coffee, which is consistently rated a perfect 100 points and sells for $300 per pound in Asia, although it is rarely exported to the US.

When the coffee "cherries" ripen, they turn red.

You can eat them just like a grape.  The seeds (or coffee beans) look like this:

They lay the beans out on this rack to dry in the sun for several weeks:

And once they've dried, they shrink and look like a raisin:

The coffee beans shrink too:

Here's what the beans look like prior to roasting (I think they resemble peanuts):

One of the coolest parts of the tour was that I got to do the roasting (the garb reminded me of when I used to volunteer in the ICU in college)!

First, I had to weigh out 4 pounds of coffee beans:

And load them into the roaster:

I had to heat the beans up to 450 degrees:

They have to be cooled off rapidly before they burn and turn the coffee bitter:

So the machine has this spinning device to aerate and more rapidly cool the beans:

The final product:

Good to the last drop!

Thanks for the memories Panama!