2 people, 2 cats, 1 car, 2,000 miles. To say that I am exhausted would be an understatement. But the good news is that we made it (drove from OH to CA)! The cats were unbelievably good in the car, in fact, they probably did better than I did! Now I’ll be spending the next week or so cleaning, moving, organizing, and searching for the lost pieces of my mind. Ha! In the meantime, I have another fabulous blogging friend helping me out with a guest post today! I first met Krystal “in real life” at last years Foodbuzz festival and she has quickly become one of my favorite people (and a fellow SoCal girl!). Besides being sweet, fun, and adorable, she’s also a fabulous blogger and mommy. Check out her delicious posts such as S’mores Whoppie Pies, Carrot Cake Cheesecake, and Migas Casserole – bonus, adorable pictures of her baby at the bottom of each post! Thank you so much for helping me out, Krystal!
Hi-ya Sunny Side readers!
My name is Krystal from Mrs. Regueiro’s Plate, and I’m so happy to be able to guest post today on Sunny Side Up. I have been following Jessica’s blog for quite sometime, and she’s such a sweetheart to call a friend, too. We actually met in real life last year at the Foodbuzz Conference and hit it off like old friends. She’s the perfect person to have around when you want to split a peanut butter sundae or share some scrumptious lobster tacos. I can’t wait until she returns back home to sunny SoCal and we can meet up again and foodie patrol the streets.
Since you may not know me – a few things…I am a stay at home mama to an almost 6 month-old Elena, who takes up ALL of my time, but she’s the sunshine of my life. Whenever I manage to spare some free time, I enjoy cooking and baking, sewing, crafting, gardening and watching movies/tv shows off on Netflix. Since my free time has been cut significantly, I have accepted to make some shortcuts, make adjustments, and accept that all meals don’t always have to be gourmet or perfect. Getting a meal on the table for dinner is successful enough for me and spending quality time with my little sweet cookie and husband are the best things in life.
I wanted to share my new favorite recipe for Pumpkin bread. I absolutely love everything about Fall, the change in colder weather (when it eventually happens in SoCal since we’re still experiencing 90 degree temp. days), all of the delicious holiday foods, the sweater and scarf combo wearing days, and everything pumpkin foodie related. My go-to recipe was the Starbucks Pumpkin Bread because it was utterly drool-worthy but this new recipe makes for one really good pumpkin bread. It’s absolutely creamy and the pumpkin flavor is really rich and balanced. I like that the cream cheese is melted into the batter giving this extra buttery note to the bread. The sweet streusel topping and crunchy pepitas give that extra contrast and crunch to the pumpkin bread, too
It’s a classic pumpkin bread taken up a notch! Thanks for letting me guest post Jessica!
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Sept./Oct. 2012
Ingredients:
For the topping:
5 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
For the bread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 can unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into 12 pieces
4 large eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped fine
2 tablespoons of pepitas (optional)
Preparation:
For the topping: In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients using your fingers until well combined and resembles coarse sand. Set aside.
For the bread: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 9×5 loaf pans with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda until combined.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the pumpkin puree, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Cook mixture, stirring constantly, until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and cream cheese until combined. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until no visible pieces of cream cheese remain and mixture is homogeneous.
In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and buttermilk. Add egg mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk to combine. Fold flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until combined (small lumps of flour are ok). Fold walnuts into batter. Scrape batter into prepared pans. Sprinkle topping evenly over the top of each loaf.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Let breads cool in pans for at least 20 minutes. Remove from pans and transfer to cooling rack. Let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours. Serve warm or room temperature.
Yield: 2 loaves
) then I just want to share that starting Monday I am doing a week long feature on Christmas cookies! Stop by all next week for some Santa- friendly treats!
