Pumpkin bread is an autumn classic. From the many recipes out there, I chose the Pumpkin Cider Bread from the the October 1991 issue of Gourmet magazine (RIP); what drew me to this one was the lovely-sounding reduced cider as an ingredient. I love reducing liquids to syrupy sweetness, be it pomegranate molasses, tamarind chutney, red wine sauce, or balsamic reduction.
In the comments someone said she made this with apple juice concentrate and got the same results, and she’s probably right, but I’m going to pretend I didn’t read that.
This was adapted just slightly to use spices I already had in my kitchen, and to use melted butter instead of vegetable oil, which btw you can substitute at a 1:1 ratio. Also skipped the baking soda but only because I totally missed that on the list, heh (I did use the baking powder).
This bread is fine as is, but becomes glorious when toasted right in the toaster, slathered with butter, and sprinkled with sea salt.
Pumpkin Cider Bread
Adapted from Epicurious
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp orange zest
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
Preheat oven to 350° F and butter a loaf pan.
In a small saucepan, boil cider until it is reduced to 1/4 up and let it cool. Whisk together pumpkin puree, eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, orange zest, cider, and spices.
Separately, whisk together flour and baking powder, then mix with wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in walnuts.
Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean (start checking at 50 minutes, and if the top is getting too brown cover with foil. Didn’t need to with mine). Cool in the pan.