PUMPKIN-BREAD(D)         USENET Cookbook         PUMPKIN-BREAD(D)

HALF MOON BAY PUMPKIN BREAD

     PUMPKIN-BREAD - A dessert bread made from pumpkins

     Every year in Half Moon Bay, California there is a Pumpkin
     Festival, at which prizes are given for the largest pumpkin
     in the world. Never mind that for the last two years the
     winner has been in Nova Scotia: the citizens of Half Moon
     Bay take pumpkins very seriously.

     At Christmastime in Half Moon Bay, people give each other
     little tins of this bread as presents. I also take it back-
     packing, because it's pretty resistant to being squashed
     (and tastes fine even when it is).

INGREDIENTS (3 1-pound loaves)
     3 cups    granulated sugar
     3 1/2 cups
               all-purpose flour
     1/2 tsp   salt
     2 tsp     baking soda
     1 tsp     cinnamon
     1 tsp     nutmeg
     4         large eggs
     1 cup     vegetable oil
     2 cups    cooked pumpkin
     2/3 cup   water
     1 1/2 cups
               chopped walnuts
               cream cheese (optional; for serving)

PROCEDURE
          (1)  Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F.

          (2)  Butter your containers well.

          (3)  Sift the dry ingredients together into a large
               bowl.

          (4)  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients,
               and add the eggs, oil, pumpkin and water.  Beat
               thoroughly.  It's easier to get all the lumps out
               if you use an electric mixer.

          (5)  Stir in the walnuts with a wooden spoon.

          (6)  Pour the batter into the containers, filling each
               only half to two-thirds full.

          (7)  Bake for 60-90 minutes, depending on the sizes of
               your containers.  If you're using a very small
               container, start checking much sooner.  The bread
               is done when a toothpick in the middle comes out
               clean.

          (8)  Cool about ten minutes, then loosen the edges of
               the bread with a knife, and turn out of the pans
               to cool the rest of the way on a rack.

NOTES
     For baking containers, you can use a loaf pan, metal cans,
     or whatever.  I usually use 1-pound coffee cans, and it
     takes three of them. If you want tiny loaves, you could
     probably use soup cans.

     I think the nuts are important in this recipe.  Unless you
     absolutely hate them, leave them in.

     It's not necessary, but you can serve some good cream cheese
     with it to spread on the slices if you like.

RATING
     Difficulty: easy to moderate.  Time: 15 minutes preparation,
     90 minutes cooking.  Precision: measure the ingredients.

CONTRIBUTOR
     Vicki O'Day
     Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, California, USA
     hplabs!oday
     From: oday@hplabsc (Vicki O'Day)
     Newsgroups: mod.recipes
     Subject: RECIPE: Pumpkin cheesecake
     Date: 16 Jan 86 08:38:54 GMT
     Organization: Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto CA
     Approved: reid@glacier.ARPA

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