Name: Marcia Brumit Kropf
Class Year: 1967
Country of Residence: U.S.A.

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

Halloween is a fun family holiday in the U.S. When I started celebrating the holiday with my children, the first step was to carve our own pumpkin. We then roast the pumpkin seeds and make pumpkin bread from the flesh we removed when making the jack-o-lantern. This is a reasonably healthy pumpkin bread recipe and has been much loved for decades by my children and now my grandchildren. And it’s a wonderful activity to do together.

Pumpkin Quick Bread

Serves 8-10. Takes approx. 45 minutes plus 1 hour baking time.

Ingredients:

.5 cup sugar
.5 cup vegetable oil
.75 cup pureed pumpkin
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
.5 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
.25 teaspoon salt
.5 cup raisins (or .25 c dark raisins, .25 c golden raisins)
.5 c chopped walnuts

Instructions:

1. After carving pumpkin, clean fruit of the strings and seeds.  Place in a glass bowl with a bit of water and microwave until soft.   Drain off any water and puree the pumpkin flesh in a blender and cool.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, pumpkin, and eggs.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour and the wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Fold this into the pumpkin mixture just enough to moisten the dry ingredients.  
4. Stir in the raisins and the nuts.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan (or two mini-loaf pans).  Or you can make muffins.
6. Bake for one hour in a pre-heated 350 degree oven or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Check at 50 minutes, if using mini-loaf pans or muffins.
7. Set the pan on a rack for 10 minutes and then turn out.    This bread freezes very well.

Source: Jane Brody’s Good Food Book by Jane E. Brody, Bantam Books, 1985.