By Ella Mathas

For as long as I can remember, the fragrance of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger immediately brings me back to the kitchen, standing beside my grandmother as we make her famous pumpkin bread. Every fall since I was little, I’ve watched her mix all the ingredients to create the most delectable loaf of pumpkin bread. My favorite moment is when we taste the raw batter to ensure we’ve added the perfect amount of spices. As a kid, I felt I was secretly getting away with a crime. Yet, if you really focus, you will know – even feel – if you need more nutmeg or ginger to create the perfect batter. In my opinion, nothing says fall like homemade pumpkin bread sourced from your grandma’s recipe. Yes, this recipe originated from one she found in a magazine ages ago, but it has been tweaked to perfection through countless trials and errors, and you’re now lucky enough to have it.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups canned pumpkin puree
• 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs
• 4 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon*
• 1 ½ tsp ground nutmeg*
• 1 tsp ground cloves*
• 1 ½ tsp ground ginger*

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9×5 inch loaf pans
2. In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin, oil, sugar and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended.
3. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
4. Bake in a preheated oven for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours. The top of the loaf should spring back when pressed or when a toothpick comes out clean.  

*may need additional spices after tasting the batter