Spiced Pumpkin Bread

I get so excited for fall flavors every year!  Apples, pears, cranberries, cinnamon, squash, pumpkin...I love them all.  Really, I can't get enough!  This pumpkin bread is a great way to get your pumpkin in.  It is very light, but you wouldn't know that from tasting it!  It has a great moist texture, and the pumpkin and spices blend perfectly.  This is perfect with a nice cup of Rooibos tea -- my favorite. 

(Look carefully at the background there, and you can see how cookbook and magazine crazy I am!  And that's not even half of it!)

Spiced Pumpkin Bread
(yields 1 9X5 loaf, 12-18 slices)
source: Cook Healthy Cook Quick

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 Tbsp canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs, lightly beaten

cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Coat a 9x5 baking pan with cooking spray.

2. Combine the first 8 ingredients (flour through cloves) in a medium bowl.

3. Combine pumpkin and next 4 ingredients (through eggs).  Add to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.

4. Spoon batter into the prepared baking pan.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, than turn out to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.