Pumpkin Molasses Bread – enjoy all the warm flavors of autumn with this delicious & moist quick bread.
It’s November already. How quickly the seasons change – winter will be here with the next moon. Thoughts of snow make me smile & shudder at the same time.
Fall baking is my favorite and I pretty much bake that way year round. Funny, now that fall baking is in season, I haven’t done much of it. The days get shorter yet the “to do” list just gets longer.
I started off a dark & rainy day with a bit of a baking failure. It left me a bit moody but I decided this days baking would not be defeated by it. I would go to a tried and true favorite.
I have quite a few different pumpkin bread recipes that I bake and love. This is my favorite. The first loaf of this bread disappeared in just a few hours. Turns out it’s everyone’s favorite.
This bread is fall baking at it’s best. It’s has all the comforting flavors of the season. No one flavor is overwhelming nor is it too sugary sweet. It’s a perfect balance of pumpkin, molasses, warm spices and sweetness.
Though I prefer using fresh ingredients whenever possible, I used canned pumpkin on this occasion. My chickens enjoy pumpkin so much that pumpkins rarely make it into the house anymore.
This bread is simple to put together. I always like to mention to not go crazy stirring the wet and dry ingredients together when making a quick bread. Stir until just combined. Over stirring will result in a tough bread with too much chew.
I prefer to eat this bread plain, but it is also delicious with a smear of butter, jam or cream cheese. It made a fabulous breakfast paired with a cup of coffee and glass of milk. I’ll be a bit less of a morning grump if there’s a piece left for tomorrow’s breakfast.
This Pumpkin Molasses Bread is a must try for all pumpkin lovers. Keep one loaf for yourself and gift the other. Or keep them both. I don’t judge 😉
Thanks for stopping by! Happy Baking!
-Amanda-
- 3¼ cups flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1¾ cup pumpkin puree OR 1 - 15 oz. can
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup applesauce
- ½ cup unsulphured molasses
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Grease/spray 2 loaf pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, eggs, vegetable oil and applesauce until thoroughly mixed.
- Stir in molasses and both sugars until thoroughly mixed.
- Pour flour mixture into pumpkin mixture. Mix until just combined - DO NOT over mix.
- Spoon/pour bread mixture evenly between both loaf pans.
- Bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of loaves comes out clean.
- Cool on wire racks. Enjoy 🙂
Oh yum – I love pumpkin breads and adding molasses sounds terrific!
Thanks Amy! I really love molasses as long as it’s not overpowering. Folks get a bit heavy handed with it in my neck of the woods 🙂
I’m almost jealous that you have chickens. I want some chickens, too. You sound just like me when I try something new in the kitchen and it doesn’t turn out right, too funny. My mood is sour for a couple of hours then I think about how many recipes that have turned out. I love pumpkin bread, but never made it with molasses before. I tried a vintage Betty Crocker recipe for Anadama bread that used molasses and it was nasty. I guess molasses and yeast bread don’t taste good together. But, molasses in gingersnap cookies taste good, so I think it would taste good in quick breads. Your pumpkin bread look so good.
Lol – baking failures. I had to rewrite that part because it was super bitter at first. It’s always a bummer when you have high hopes for something and it’s a total flop. Boohoo. We dust ourselves off and go back in for another round, that’s all that matters 🙂
I LOVE having chickens – my girls are such sweeties. They’re not a whole lot of work either. The egg laying does slow down during the winter months and I’m gonna sub flax eggs in a lot of my baked goods. I won’t buy eggs from caged hens, but I do have a few local spots that have free range eggs that I can grab if absolutely needed.
I love molasses, just not heavy amounts of it. I’ve had molasses yeast breads before and they were good? I live in an Amish/Mennonite area and molasses is a common ingredient in most local breads and baked goods. Maybe the recipe just used way too much molasses…?
Wow, this bread looks fantastic, Amanda! What a creative, tasty use of pumpkin.
Thank you so much, Anu 🙂
WOW! That looks gorgeous and delicious!
Thanks so much, Kushi. I enjoy this bread year round 🙂