Spiced Pumpkin Bread
The time is here for all things fall, and I relish the days in San Diego where there is a slight crispness and coolness in the air. Pumpkin no longer feels pre-mature and neither does apple cider. Yesterday was a gorgeous day as some dear friends and I supported our friend Earth Mama as she catered a completely gluten free, vegan, deliciously hearty farm to fork meal down at Suzie’s Farm.
It was their seasonal Farm to Yoga event. The autumnal spirit was alive as the sun went to sleep a little sooner and the lights strewn across the grand eucalyptus trees met the dark of the new moon. It is the definition of hyper-local dining, as Kristin (Earth Mama) harvested heaps of kale just the day before in the field we served the dinner, and used Suzie’s own butternut squash, and other herbs and ingredients for the feast.
Included in the menu was a Harvest Kale salad with a creamy tahini herb dressing, butternut squash soup, quinoa flatbread pizzas, one with a pumpkin chipotle sauce and market veggies, the other with her grandfather’s Sicilian marinara with yams, onions, and a walnut pesto drizzle, and finally the delicious almond flour spiced cookie with coconut caramel and stewed apples. It was incredible.
Before I went down to the event, I enjoyed my Sunday morning by baking some gluten free spiced pumpkin bread and cooking up some chai spiced apple cider. You can bake a pie pumpkin from the market first or if you use canned pumpkin, I suggest Farmer Market Foods BPA free lining canned pumpkin. Let me know what you think and mostly, enjoy.
Recipe:
2.5 cup almond flour
1/2 cup pumpkin (feel free to increase the amount of pumpkin and decrease the amount of almond flour if you would like, perhaps 1 cup pumpkin to 2 cups almond flour)
1/2 cup organic unsalted butter or ghee
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix (made up of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger and cloves)
few extra shakes of cinnamon
1 tsp all spice
1/4 cup almond butter
procedure:
Preheat the oven to 350. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Stir the wet into the dry ingredients and blend using a mixer. Bob’s red mill almond flour is a bit coarser, and can result in a bit of a grit. If you like that, hand mix and you are good to go! If you want a finer texture, either blend with the mixer, or, ideally, use this wonderful almond flour here.
Scoop into a bread load pan and bake for about 35-40 min. Keep an eye on it, you will know when it’s done by its golden top and clean fork or toothpick check. I like to make a little warm drizzle for the top and I usually just melt some butter on the stovetop on low, and add some almond butter, maple syrup, and a few shakes of cinnamon for a extra decadent and healthy topping!
As for the chai spiced apple cider, all I did was cook some apple juice on the stove top with some mulling spices and few Tulsi Chai Masala herbal tea bags. Strain and serve. It was soo good!!
