Yes, LA is having a heat wave, but the calendar says it’s fall. So here at The Lexingtonienne, we (and by “we” I am referring to myself) are going with the calendar.

I love fall and am so excited that it will be OCTOBER on Friday!

I love October. The weather is often perfect. The leaves start to change. If you’re in Lexington, it’s time to head to the racetrack, place your bets, and sip bourbon.

Actually, correction. I mostly love October. I do not love the days getting shorter. And I especially do not love Halloween.

Halloween scares me.

I don’t like haunted houses. I don’t like that all the horror movies come out at this time of year and that the previews suddenly burst onto your TV just when you were innocently watching “Too Fat For 15: Fighting Back” on Style Network and were feeling all warm and fuzzy because Tanisha’s down to 396 pounds.

I don’t like that people try to scare children on Halloween. I think it’s mean.

And I really do not like skeletons.

But I do like that you can buy every kind of candy in fun-size. It’s good to stock up. You know, in case you have a trick-or-treater.

And I do like pumpkin patches and apple orchards. And I especially love this pumpkin bread.

PUMPKIN BREAD
Adapted from the Joy of Cooking

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 C milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/3 C sugar
2 large eggs
1 C pumpkin puree
1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans
1/3 C raisins or chopped dates (optional – I opted for “no thank you”)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder.

Combine milk and vanilla in a separate glass or bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy (about 30 seconds). Gradually add sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. Add pumpkin puree, beating on low speed just until blended.

Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 parts, beating on low speed until smooth. Do not overbeat. Fold in nuts and raisins or dates.

Pour batter into loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes. Gently run a knife around the edges of the pan, invert to unmold the bread, and cool completely on a rack.

This is excellent served by itself, or you can serve it with softened butter or cream cheese.

Pumpkin bread also freezes well. After cooling the bread completely, wrap tightly in heavy duty foil. Place in a gallon-size freezer bag and push all of the air out of the bag before sealing. I have frozen pumpkin bread for up to a week and it works beautifully, but I would venture to guess it would be safe to go up to a month. You could try for longer, but you are on your own. 😉

xoxo,