Pumpkin-Date-Apple-Nut Bread or Autumn Loaf or Some Other Name That’s Not Coming To Me

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The other day, my friend Jonathan tweeted, “One more post about pumpkin spice lattes, and I will get a job at Starbucks just so I can spit in every pumpkin spice latte I make.” Despite being a PSL (surely it needs its own acronym) fan, this quite literally made me LOL. As soon as Starbucks started offering them, every other Facebook and Twitter post was about them.

And then, seemingly, as soon as the temps dipped below 80, every blog was posting something containing pumpkin.

If you are already over pumpkin (please don’t be, it’s only September), you may want to avert your eyes. But, if  you want a tasty, healthy quickbread that also includes other autumnal favorites like apples and dates, then stay a bit.

Originally, I intended on making a date nut bread to use up some dried dates that had been sitting in my cabinet for too long. However, none of the date bread recipes looked good to me, for one reason or another. Most of the time, they were just really unhealthy and didn’t lend themselves especially well to substitutions. I am a person who uses all the full fat, calorie-laden ingredients when making desserts, but I’m not one who does that for breakfast. I just can’t justify it, and neither can my metabolism, which is slower than molasses. You will rarely see me make a muffin or quickbread that has a ton of butter, sugar, oil, etc. in it, and this one is no different.

Quickbreads/muffins are the one baking thing I feel very comfortable with, in terms of making up my own recipes. I’ve been doing this for several years  now, and it’s really all about ratios. I used a few of my old muffin recipes as springboards and came up with the loaf below. I decided to add the pumpkin not only because it’s Fall, but because it keeps baked goods incredibly moist, and you can cut down on the amount of butter and/or oil quite a bit (sort of like substituting applesauce). The loaf is also studded with apples and walnuts, which I really enjoy in quickbreads. I loved the way this bread turned out, and I hope you’ll try it!

 

Pumpkin-Date-Apple-Nut Bread or Autumn Loaf or Some Other Name That’s Not Coming To Me

18 thoughts on “Pumpkin-Date-Apple-Nut Bread or Autumn Loaf or Some Other Name That’s Not Coming To Me

  1. Well, unlike your friend Joe, I absolutely LIVE for the day when it is socially acceptable to cook with pumpkin again! If it were up to me, I’d use it all year round. But I think everyone would get very bored.

    I love this bread! It definitely has all the best of autumn in it.

  2. Yes, one does overload on the pumpkin recipes in the fall, but this one sounds well worth it. It looks wonderful and sounds like it tastes fabulous.

  3. “slower than molasses…” LOL! Great line! I don’t get the fascination with spiced pumpkin lattes (it almost sounds like soup). I do however enjoy cooking with pumpkin and I love what you have created here Elly! Spicy, warm and great with a real cup of coffee!

  4. Call it “one of the best things I ever ate!”. Seriously! I made this today and it’s SO good! I only had 4 ounces of dates on hand but I love what they added to the recipe. I also added about 1/2 cup chopped almonds and used 2 small apples from my tree. This will be a keeper recipe for me…..Thank you!

  5. Thank you for the wonderful recipe. I made muffins in place of a loaf – easier for the kids to grab and go. I was out of applesauce and walnuts, but didn’t change any other ingredient. The family said it was their new favorite muffin! Thanks for the delicious recipe. It is being filed under “tried and true” recipes.

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