It is Fall in Ohio so f I don’t post a recipe with pumpkin, I think I get my midwest female blogger card revoked. When I write recipes, I usually look all over the world wide web for what I want to make to search for some inspiration. Today I found these three recipes: Pumpkin Spice Banana Bread from Crazy for Crust, The Pumpkin Banana Bread You Have to Try from Hip Foodie Mom and Pumpkin Banana Bread from Just a Taste. All of these are just different enough for me to come up with this tasty recipe I’m about to tell you allllll about. 
While I obviously wanted to make something with pumpkin, I also had some bananas that were a little past their prime. Speaking of past prime bananas, has anyone ever actually finished all of theirs without having at least one or two head to the freezer once it turns brown? I’m pretty sure I’ve never accomplished this feat. Just a quick tip (that took me years to realize) — make sure you take the banana out of its’ slimy brown skin before you put it in a baggie and then in the freezer. Chopping up a frozen banana with skin is way harder than a banana with no skin.
My gripe with pumpkin flavored items is that they typically have basically zero pumpkin in them. I’m pretty sure (thanks to St*rbucks) that we’ve been conditioned to think that anything with cloves, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg is “pumpkin flavored.” This bread is a little more pumpkin, a little less spice. That being said, since canned pumpkin is pretty rich and wet in texture, it can make your bread heavier and dense. I tried to offset that by creaming the butter and sugar to make it a little bit lighter.
I have to tell you about one of the best spice creations in existence. Cake Spice from Penzey’s Spices is a game changer. It’s a nice little blend of China cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves. I also toss it in my coffee every morning, yum. If you aren’t familiar with Penzey’s Spices, it’s a lovely little store that is filled with every type of spice or spice blend that you could ever imagine, need or want. Here in Columbus, we have an actual storefront right down the street from us and if you’re in Pittsburgh, you’re in luck too! Don’t worry for those of you who can’t walk inside the store, you can do all the shopping you need on their website. 
After you fall in love with Cake Spice and your whole house smells of yummy fall goodness, you’ll remember that you aren’t quite finished with your bread. You’ll notice in the recipe that it calls for a whole cup of pumpkin, 2 eggs anddd two mashed bananas. Yes, this is a lot of moisture and you can definitely do a half a cup of pumpkin, nix the eggs or you can keep it all and enjoy the denseness of this bread. Just know that if you lessen any of those ingredients, you might need to lower your cooking time a little bit.
Once you pour the mixture in your buttered and sugared loaf pan, crumble some brown sugar on top for just a little extra sweetness. If you’re feeling adventurous, add that sugar to some flour and melted butter and make an actual crumble. After you take it out of the oven, make sure you pop it out of the loaf pan since that sugar will get a little sticky if it sits in it too long. After it cools down, cut off a piece, toss on a dollop of butter on it and enjoy!
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon cake spice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 mashed bananas
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease your glass loaf pan with butter and sprinkle a bit of brown sugar in there too.
- Sift the dry ingredients (flour, cake spice, salt, baking soda) into a bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and brown sugar together in your mixer until nice and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes on medium.
- Add mashed bananas, canned pumpkin and vanilla to butter mixture. Mix together, then add the dry ingredients until fully combined.
- Pour into buttered loaf pan and top with crumbles of brown sugar.
- Bake for 55-70 minutes, until bread is brown and finished cooking.
- Check bread at about 45 minutes and if it is getting a little toasty but is still a bit moist on the inside, place a piece of foil on top to avoid burning.
Ed Green
Sweet. I will definately be giving this one a try.