By Nadia W.

Fall is in full swing, which in my world means leaves are changing colour and, well, pumpkin. The food blogs that I read have been filled with pumpkin recipes, so I developed a hankering to create something with pumpkin myself…despite my lack of baking pedigree.

I found this great banana pumpkin recipe online. I know, you’re probably thinking, not another loaf recipe. I was planning to attempt a recipe I found for peanut butter chocolate cookies but as I’ve shared on the blog before, I don’t consider myself a baker. In fact, I’ve had little success with baking. So I got spooked. But I did commit to working on my skills, and since banana bread is my one and only specialty, this seemed to be a natural next step.

So when I saw the recipe, I thought hey, this is something I can do. Baby steps. I played around with the recipe a bit by using organic spelt flour instead of all-purpose flour. I also included a half teaspoon of nutmeg, and as I did not have vegetable oil, I used sunflower oil. I also found it was not necessary to add the no- diary milk, as the mixture did not require it.

The end result was a great tasting bread which relaxed my senses as it was baking. I hope you have the same experience if you try it. And I promise my next baking attempt will not be a loaf recipe! 

Pumpkin Banana Loaf

(adapted from http://wwaln.blogspot.com/search?q=pumpkin+banana+bread)

Ingredients:

3/4 C vegan sugar
1/2 C maple syrup
1/4 C vegetable oil
1-1/2 C whole wheat flour
1-1/2 C spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
2-4 tablespoons non-dairy milk (if needed)
1 16 oz. can of pumpkin puree
2 ripe bananas

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two bread pans .

In a large bowl combine sugar, maple syrup, vegetable oil, baking soda and spices. Add flour and stir well to combine. Now add bananas and can of pumpkin. Dough should be pourable, but not runny. Add non-dairy milk if needed.

Pour into pans and bake for one hour. Cool in pan for 15-20 minutes then remove to wire rack.  Makes two loaves.