Eggless Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Life is Good: we have fresh-baked pumpkin bread!

I joined a new mom's group and we've had two meetings so far. I really enjoy all of the women at my table and am excited to get to know them better as the year progresses.

As one of the coordinators of the group, I was asked to bring a treat to share. September's weather in Minneapolis has been everything from crisp to hot, but I decided it wasn't too early for pumpkin bread!

And of course, I have to share the recipe with all of my How to be Pleasant friends! This pumpkin bread is quite possibly the best pumpkin bread you will ever consume! Really! However, there is a WARNING that goes along with it: you will have a hard time leaving it alone! (I have to hide it from myself so that I will only eat one slice!)

As with all of my recipes, this one is eggless because of my kiddos' allergies. It also happens to be vegan. The original recipe calls for eggs, but I have adjusted mine using applesauce and baking powder as the egg substitute. Many people ask me what I use as an egg substitute and why I use the applesauce/baking powder combo so often. The fact is, eggs act as a binder in baked goods. They aren't there for taste, just consistency. So if you ever have a recipe that calls for beaten eggs, the applesauce/baking powder combination is a perfect substitute. The baking powder makes the applesauce foam up just like beaten eggs.

The original recipe also suggests a much larger amount of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, which I have decided overpowers the flavor of the pumpkin, so I have adjusted that, too, in my own recipe. Here it is!

Susie's Eggless Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
3-1/3 cups flour
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
dash of ginger (may omit, if like me, you do not enjoy the flavor)
1 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cups applesauce
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup water
2 cups canned pumpkin 

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce and baking powder until foamy and fluffy.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together oil, water, and pumpkin.
5. Add applesauce mixture to oil/water/pumpkin.
6. Combine all wet and dry ingredients until smooth. (Mixer not necessary, this is easy to do just with a spoon.)
7. Bake in greased and floured loaf pans for about 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, then turn out loaves on a rack to cool. Yields 2-3 loaves, depending on pan size.

NOTES: The baking time will depend on your oven, so start checking the bread after 50 minutes by inserting a cake tester or good ol' toothpick. You can serve this with a simple powdered sugar glaze or cream cheese frosting, but I think it is delicious without it! You can store this in the refrigerator for about two weeks (if you can leave it alone that long!) or freeze it. 

Space Party Cupcakes

Life is Good: We have a five year old!

Recently, our big kid turned five. (*Holds hands to cheeks, shakes head.*) The time has flown by. Indeed, the hubs and I agree that these have been the best five year of our lives!

Since our oldest is silly for space, nutty for Neptune, and mad for the moon, of course, we threw a space-themed party!

I love a party! I mean I lovvvvvvve a party. And the prep is just as much fun as watching our guests enjoy it. This year was especially thrilling because the big kid and I did a lot of the party brainstorming and preparation together.

Baking with my grandmother was a wonderful thrill of mine as a child, so I have been including our big kid in (eggless, due to allergies) baking since he could dump a cup of flour into a bowl. He and I made these blueberry muffin cupcakes for the party. We talked about the different ways that I could decorate the cupcakes---like astronauts faces, maybe with a rocket shooting off of the top, or perhaps an alien? Then I made the mistake of suggesting suggested that it might be fun to let everyone decorate their own cupcake as an activity for the party. The birthday boy jumped at the chance. And as far as party activities go, it was a great idea! (I was just a little bummed that I didn't get to try my hand at decorating them myself...)

The prep was pretty simple. I purchased takeout containers to house all of the decorating supplies. I made different colors of frosting using my Grandma's recipe. Guests could also use chocolate chips (my kids have egg and nut allergies, so these were a blessing to find!), marshmallows, craisins, and fruit snacks that I cut into inch and a half-sized pieces.

The birthday boy thought the fruit snacks looked like alien antennas and asked if we could make the marshmallows look more like eyeballs. That's my kid! So I dipped a toothpick into black food coloring and dotted some marshmallows in the center. Voila!

I threw a plastic tablecloth over the dining room table so that when all of the guests had jumped into their rockets and zoomed home to planet Earth, all I had to do was pull up the sides of the tablecloth and throw it all in the trash!