Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Bread

As we've discussed before, my favorite season is autumn. By far. I love the smells, the leaves, the chill in the air, sweaters and fall jackets, and most of all the food... cider, lots of fresh local apples, fair food, baked pumpkin everything.... I know it's spring and no one wants to think about fall again for a long time, but while there's still a bit of a winter chill hanging on, I thought this bread was appropriate. It smells and tastes like fall. I'll bet if you take a slice outside on one of the nicer days and close your eyes, you could almost hear the leaves falling. Is that just me? Ok, well it's still delicious... and vegan!



This recipe will wrap up Joy the Baker Appreciation Week. The Kale-Spinach-Banana-Peanut Butter Smoothie, Trail Mix Cookies, and now the Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Bread all came from Joy Wilson's newly released Joy the Baker Cookbook. No, I'm not a paid spokesperson for Joy the Baker. I'm just a huge fan, wanted to break in my new cookbook, and spread the word that Joy the Baker is made of pure awesome.

Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Bread!

Ingredients
3 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
2 C. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 - 15oz. can pumpkin
1 C. vegetable oil
1/3 C. pure maple syrup
1/3 C. water
1 C. chopped pecans
8 whole pecan halves (optional)

Method
- Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease two 8" loaf pans and set aside.

- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, and water.

- Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture all at once. Fold the ingredients together, making sure to incorporate the flour mixture well, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl. Fold in the chopped pecans.

- Divide the batter between the prepared pans and, if you want to, arrange 4 pecan halves on the top of each.



- Bake for 60-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for about 20 minutes in the pans, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm.



Now, as you can see, I did not arrange pecan halves on top. Instead, I mixed together about 1/4 C. brown sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkled it on top. I love me some cinnamon-sugar on top of my breads. You could go either way.

This bread is wonderful. If two loaves seems like too much, one loaf would make a great gift... or if it's just too good to give away, freeze it for later!

Yes, I totally made it un-vegan by smothering it in butter and enjoying it with a glass of milk. It's ok, I'm not vegan, the recipe just happens to be!

Whelp, that brings JtBAW to a close. Not sure what's coming next. I want to get hiking some day this week, hopefully someplace new that I can blog about. When my Hunger Games cookbook gets here, be prepared for a series of Hunger Games posts to tie in with the film release... recipes, possibly a discussion of the book(s), a review of the movie, etc. Until then....

Enjoy!