Fall is my favorite season. It’s when I feel the most inspired to bake, go on walks down paths filled with crunchy leaves, enjoy all the cozy soups, and stop to watch the leaves change. Life gets busy- but there’s something so distinctly magical about Fall that makes us stop in our tracks and admire the transitional changes, the colors, and breathe in that crisp, cool air a little slower.
After dropping the older munchkins at school- I’ve been loving going on a leisurely walk with my Mr. Miles. Nothing beats his little face and chubby hands when he picks up auburn leaves and hands them over to me along with a scrunched up kiss. He’s one year-old now and seems just as excited and intrigued about leaf piles, long autumn walks and pumpkins.
Despite my well-known penchant for Fall, I didn’t quite feel the same way about pumpkins. You wouldn’t actually believe that I didn’t get myself to try anything pumpkin until well into my teens… in fact; I am thinking I was edging closer to twenty.
My sheer reluctancy to welcome pumpkin baked goods into my life stemmed from two things: the fact they weren’t exactly popular where I grew up and secondly- pumpkin just sounded extremely unappealing and bland to me. One of those “meh foods”, you know. I was rather neutral to it and it definitely did not feature on my list of favorite things.
Years later, I take it back… I take it ALL back and have since made up for it by eating glorious amounts of pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, roasted pumpkin, curried pumpkin soup and most recently- this ridiculously good pumpkin loaf that makes the classic easy, approachable and then a little EXTRA with a cinnamon sugar crumb topping. That topping though, let me emphasize that again… THAT crumb topping is the perfect finisher; making it almost coffee-cake like, but better. It adds texture and zing and you’re going to love it as much as we all did.
Bonus perks: I can’t even begin to tell you how good your house will smell: think- a pumpkin spice candle scent! Your house will smell like Fall and your heart will be so happy once you give this easy bread recipe a try.
Other (but not all) reasons you will LOVE this fool-proof pumpkin bread:
- It’s affordable! You can use either all-purpose standard flour or the gluten-free variety. You could also use spelt flour!
- You only need two bowls- NO mixer required.
- You can use your choice of coconut or brown sugar.
- You can use softened coconut oil for vegan options- or vanilla ghee and/or grass fed butter. The key here is softened- not melted. Makes ALL the difference!
- It’s got the best texture; a moist nice slice that holds together and makes it enjoyable to the last bite.
So I’ll let you get to it.. it’s easy, hearty, not overly sweet and made with real food ingredients you can feel good about! I love mine with a cup of hot, fresh coffee or a glass of cold, vanilla almond milk. It’s delicious with a dab of melty butter, sunflower butter, almond butter, or just as is.
You could also add walnuts and chocolate chunks or chips into the batter before baking.
Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Sugar Crumb Topping
Ingredients
- 1 + 3/4 cups of all purpose standard OR gluten-free flour
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon of cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
- 2 eggs at room temperature (whisked)
- 1/2 cup of softened (but not melted) coconut oil OR grass-fed butter
- 1 cup of coconut OR brown sugar
- 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree
Cinnamon Sugar Crumb Topping
- 3/4 cup of almond flour
- 3 Tbsp of coconut or brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp of coconut flour
- 3-4 Tbsp of melted coconut oil OR grass-fed butter
- 1/4 tsp of sea salt
- 1/2 Tbsp of ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
- 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup or brown rice syrup
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 325F and line a baking pan with parchment paper or grease with non-stick spray. I like to “grease” mine with coconut oil (bottom and all 4 sides).
In a large bowl, mix all your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves.
Incorporate wet ingredient bowl to dry ingredient bowl and mix until smooth, but don’t over-mix. Make sure to get to the bottom of the bowl, and scrape any dry flour bits into the mixture.
Prepare the crumb topping: mix all dry ingredients & set aside. Mix oil and maple together, and then combine wet to dry.
Pour batter onto pan and using clean hands or a spoon “drop” dollops of crumb topping onto the top of the batter and bake for 55-65 minutes; or until a toothpick comes out clean. All ovens vary. I like to adjust my baking rack to the bottom, so the top of the loaf does not brown too much. 😉
Enjoy every bite! x
By: Aleyda | The Dish On Healthy
