Pumpkin Tea Bread

If any of you have been following my personal blog, cjs-kitchen, you may know that I put up a lot of pumpkin this last fall.  I baked and pureed 2 pumpkins at a time and froze the final product in 1 or 2 cup packages so I could enjoy baking with pumpkin this winter.  When I saw this recipe in Grandma's files I knew I had to try it and immediately got a package of that wonderful, orange puree out of the freezer to thaw. 

I made this bread on Wednesday, January 18 and I'm just now completing this post because our power has been out since the 19th!  If you've been watching the news or live in Western Washington you know we've been having some crazy winter weather.  I'm actually staying at the resort where I work for the 2nd night in a row, just so I can be where there's power and not contribute to any additional messes out there! 

Anyway, we had a lovely snow day Wednesday - the WHOLE FAMILY ended up home (the kids ended up out of school all week and finally went back today, the 23rd - YIKES!) and I baked this bread as well as some cookies, we watched movies, snacked, relaxed and just had a lovely day together. 


The bread was delicious.  In fact, I sent a loaf (this recipe makes 2) over to my in-laws who reported that they wanted a permanent order placed for a loaf any time I make it! They like to spread butter on it, but we all like it just the way it is.  It has a lovely moist texture and plenty of flavor.  It's the perfect thing for a comforting bite in the morning when the power's out, or in the afternoon when you want a snack, it would pack well in lunch boxes or even be good as an after school snack.   I think you'll enjoy it - I know we did!

Pumpkin Tea Bread

2 C Sugar
1/2 C Oil
1 small can pumpkin (2 C)
2 1/2 C flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon or allspice

Mix together sugar, oil and pumpkin in a bowl so sugar dissolves.  Mix together dry ingredients and the dissolved pumpkin, oil & sugar. 

1 C raisins, washed and plumped
1 C Walnuts if desired


Line 2 tins with wax paper.  Grease these & fill tins 3/4 full.  Bake 1 hr and 15 min at 350 degrees or until done.

Chris' Note: To plump the raisins, simply pour some boiling water over them and let them soak for about 5 minutes. If you like raisins but don't enjoy them in baked goods this is a good trick - it makes them nice and juicy again so they don't dry out in the baking process.  Also, I used waxed paper per the instructions above, and had a tough time separating it from the bread on the ends.  In other recipes, I've used parchment paper with much better success so I would suggest using parchment instead.