I had planned on making a traditional gingerbread recipe for the holidays, but then I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Gingerbread at Allrecipes.com that sounded good. It makes two 9 x 5″ loaves, and I was very happy with how they turned out! It’s a yummy recipe you can enjoy all winter long!

I substituted milk for the water, canola oil for vegetable oil, and added a ginger glaze. If you prefer your quick breads without a glaze, these loaves are so moist and flavorful, they don’t really need one…so you can’t go wrong either way! These loaves take an hour to bake, which is great when the weather is cold…your kitchen gets nice and warm and scented with a great pumpkin-ginger aroma! 

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PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD by NancyC, adapted from AllRecipes

Makes two 9 x 5″ loaves

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil or light olive oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease and flour two 9 x 5″ loaf pans; set aside.

 In large bowl, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add milk and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves. 

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed.

Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven at 350˚F for 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaves comes out clean.

Let loaves cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely before adding glaze, if desired.

GINGER GLAZE:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 4 Tablespoons milk or Half and Half (light cream)
• 3/4  to 1 teaspoon ground ginger

In small bowl, blend powdered sugar and milk or Half and Half; mix until well-blended. Stir in ground ginger and blend well.

Drizzle over cooled loaves, as light or heavy as you want. (You may have some glaze left over…I always save the extra glaze in a small container and refrigerate it…there’s usually something else I bake later that I can use it on!).

NOTE: If you want to make mini-loaves for gifts, this recipe makes six 3 x 5″ mini-loaves. Or you could make one large loaf and 3 mini-loaves. The baking time for mini-loaves is about 35 minutes.

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Gingerbread is a wonderful treat on a cold day and this pumpkin version is so good! Are you a fan of gingerbread?