Just when we thought the sunshine would never end, we’re now back to the grey and rainy days that are the norm for this time of the year.  Well, the weather may not be ideal, but it’s a good excuse to stay indoors and bake!  Fall is, after all, the start of the holiday season – beginning with October, the month of Thanksgiving.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Thanksgiving dinner/potluck (hard to believe, but it was my first Canadian Thanksgiving dinner ever!) and had the traditional turkey and stuffing, plus delicious baked mashed sweet potatoes with pecans.  We also had freshly baked apple pie made in the style of a french apple tart, with a frangipane (a mixture of sugar, butter, eggs and ground almonds) base, topped with apple slices and cinnamon sugar.  And there was lots more food!

This being the time of year for all things pumpkin, I decided to bring a pumpkin dessert.  Not everyone likes pumpkin pie, so I decided to make Pumpkin Gingerbread after I found a good and simple recipe.  I just cut down on the sugar, substituted some of it with brown sugar, and doubled the amount of spices.  It was so tasty and moist that even people who don’t like pumpkin, liked this!  It goes well with vanilla ice cream!

(Adapted from AllRecipes.com)

PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD (Makes 2 – 9×5″ loaves)

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 (15 oz./425 g) can pumpkin puree
4 tsp ginger powder
2 tsp allspice
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cloves
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Lightly grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans.

2. In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add vanilla and water and beat until well blended. Stir in    pumpkin, ginger, allspice, cinnamon and cloves.

3. 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.

4. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.