….Yeah, yeah, yeah….it’s April 9th and I’m making a fall bread. Well I couldn’t resist! I found this recipe on Hillary’s blog and I have been waiting to make it! I realized I already had all the ingredients, and on a cold snowy day like today, I thought it would be the perfect baking experiment (I say experiment, because I am still a novice baker)! It’s still baking as I speak, so not sure what it looks like yet, but there is a great harvest aroma in my kitchen and the batter tasted good, so I think they will taste great!
Butternut Harvest Loaves
This beautiful recipe is courtesy of Hillary @ Nutritionnutontherun.com
- 2 cups butternut squash puree (1 medium squash)
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup pecans
- 1 cup pumpkin seeds (I didn’t have these on hand, so I didn’t add them)
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 4 eggs
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk ( I didn’t have buttermilk, but I mixed 3/4 cup skim milk, and just under a Tablespoon lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes!)
Making the puree:
- Wash and cut the squash in two halves, remove the seeds and place the halves in a rimmed baking sheet, face up, with 1 cup of water in the pan. Cook at 375 F for 1 hour minimum, until the flesh is fork tender.
- Remove and let cool before scooping out the flesh.
- Place in a food processor and mix until smooth.
Making the loaves:
- Place the nuts and seeds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes at 350 F. Remove from the oven and let cool before grinding them. Keep 1/4 cup on the side for decorating.
- Turn the oven temperature to 325 F.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl. (I don’t like sifting, so I just mixed them!)
- Add the seeds, minus 1/4 cup. Mix with a wooden spoon.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the oil and two types of sugar and use the paddle attachment to mix on medium speed for 4 minutes.
- Add the roasted butternut squash and continue to mix for 2 minutes.
- Then, add one egg at a time.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the flour and the buttermilk alternatively, until the liquid is absorbed each time.
- Transfer the batter into 2 buttered loaf pans measuring 9 x 5 x 3″. Fill 2/3 to the top. (I used 1 loaf pan and 1 muffin pan)
- Sprinkle with the reserved seeds.
- Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out dry. Remove and let cool for 20 minutes before unmolding onto a cooling rac
- ENJOY! I’ve never seen Nate run up the stairs so fast–he wanted to be sure he could have one that was warm out of the oven! He thought they were delicious, as did I! This will definitely be a keeper recipe.
Have you ever made something out-of season? I always say, as long as my taste-buds are wanting it, I can make it. How about you?
❤ God Bless
***disclaimer—I’m not sure why there are numbers before pictures, I couldn’t figure out the formatting… 😉 ❤ Novice blogger 😉
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