Welcome to fall weather!

I know. Autumn doesn’t officially start for another 2.5 weeks. But Saturday was the first day since back-to-school and football season started where the temperature in Chicago was below 70 degrees! Many of my friends could not dread this more, but I absolutely love cooler weather. The combination of bright sunshine, vibrant blue sky, and a chill in the air gets me in the mood to bake! That, and to wear sweaters and scarves again…

Anyway, I recently recorded an episode of America’s Test Kitchen, and while I don’t particularly care for the pointless Chris Kimball and his obnoxious demeanor, I do find the female hosts rather entertaining. The episode I recorded featured this walnut pumpkin bread. I wasn’t planning on baking this for myself since I’m not down with pumpkin, but I was going to visit my friend who LOVES pumpkin bread. Seriously. She would buy this stuff so frequently at Starbucks that she could tell when they changed the recipe. (She wrote a letter of complaint and received a ton of free Starbucks coupons. Though, I don’t think they changed the recipe back to the original.)

Back to the bread. This is a pretty simple recipe, and you end up combining all the ingredients in the same pot where you cook the canned pumpkin. The smells from all the spices give your house a heavily scented, home-y aroma. And, the streusel topping is a fun twist. Although I usually don’t care for ATK recipes (they seem a bit joyless from the meticulous amount of testing done), this recipe was right on the money as the bread was a hit with my friend and her family! That being said, I’ll eschew my displeasure of ATK recipes when it’s one I don’t normally make, like pumpkin bread.

Pumpkin Bread
(from America’s Test Kitchen)

Makes 2 loaves (or 1 lg loaf and 3 mini loaves)

Topping
5 tbsp packed (2 1/4 ounces) light brown sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Bread
2 c (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 (15-ounce) can unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 c (7 ounces) granulated sugar
1 c packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
4 oz cream cheese, cut into 12 pieces
4 lg eggs
1/4 c buttermilk
1 c walnuts, toasted and chopped fine

Instructions
1. FOR THE TOPPING: Using fingers, mix all ingredients together in bowl until well combined and topping resembles wet sand; set aside.
2. FOR THE BREAD: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans. Whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in bowl.
3. Combine pumpkin puree, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook mixture, stirring constantly, until reduced to 1½ cups, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove pot from heat; stir in granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and cream cheese until combined. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until no visible pieces of cream cheese remain and mixture is homogeneous.
4. Whisk together eggs and buttermilk. Add egg mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk to combine. Fold flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until combined (some small lumps of flour are OK). Fold walnuts into batter. Scrape batter into prepared pans. Sprinkle topping evenly over top of each loaf. Bake until skewer inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let breads cool in pans on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove breads from pans and let cool for at least 1½ hours. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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