Pumpkin Bread

What do you give to your friends and coworkers for the holidays? Do you buy something or make something? Me? I usually make something to give. I’ve made dozens of cookies, spiced nuts, double-decker fudge and I even gave plum liqueur one year when I had access to a bunch of backyard plums, but this Pumpkin Bread has been a staple of my Christmas giving for at least 20 years. It’s hard for me to believe I’ve been making this bread for so long.  The pumpkin bread is just that good. This quick bread is moist, tender and very flavorful, and it disappears quickly.

The recipe originally calls for baking the pumpkin bread in two 9 x 5 loaf pans, but I like baking them in the mini pans, so I have more to give away.  You can easily double the batch for 10 mini loaves, but be careful because the batter come to nearly the top of my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl.

Pumpkin Bread 
Adapted from Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook
Printable Recipe
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
1 14.5 can pumpkin puree
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour five 5¾x3¼ mini loaf pans.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and cloves.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine the sugar, cream cheese and butter and mix at medium speed until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Mix in the pumpkin. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Fold in the nuts. Pour into the prepared mini loaf pans. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the pans. Serve warm, or cool completely on wire racks and store in an airtight container or wrap in cellophane to give as gifts.