WARNING: This bread is HIGHLY addictive. May cause urges to eat entire loaf in one sitting.
You think I'm kidding? Wait until you have one bite of this deliciously moist, dense, pumpkin-spice-filled loaf of goodness.
Did I mention this is also low fat, dairy free and gluten free?
I made this merely on a whim. With my competition prep in full swing, I wanted to create a dessert that could fit within my nutrition plan. This meant something that was low in fat for my training days, but at the same time not super high in carbohydrates either. Because I absolutely hate wasting food, I first investigated what I had in my refrigerator - an open can of pumpkin puree and an overly ripe banana. In addition to that, I also had a few newly acquired loaf pans (thanks mom!) that I was itching to use. I saw a great opportunity for a low fat treat as pumpkin and banana are regularly used as butter and oil substitutes in baking!
Baking is always tricky to do without a recipe, at least for me. Add in the fact that this was a low fat recipe and gluten free, I had absolutely no idea how this would turn out. The base of this bread is cassava flour. This flour has changed the way I approach gluten free baking. Cassava is a hard root vegetable, also called yuca (not to be confused with yucca), arrowroot or tapioca. This flour is 100% grain, nut and gluten free! Cassava flour, flour made from the cassava root, is almost indistinguishable from all-purpose flour. While I use cassava flour in my recipe (and I highly recommend and encourage you to give it a try!) you could probably substitute an alternative gluten-free flour blend like Cup 4 Cup, however not almond or coconut flour as they have very different baking characteristics. If you absolutely must have wheat based all-purpose, I'm sure that will work as well, although I haven't tried it with different flours.
This bread isn't overly sweet, which is just the way I like it. In fact, I've only added 1/4 cup of unrefined coconut palm sugar. When I was researching recipes for pumpkin bread I was surprised to find that most had upwards of 2 cups refined sugar! Not for me! The majority of the sweetness comes from a ripened banana - nature's sweetener. Rest assured, with all natural ingredients this is a guilt free treat!
Pumpkin Loaf
Prep Time: 10 min
Baking Time: 45-55 minutes
Servings: 12
Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 cup cassava flour (or Bob's 1-to-1 Gluten Free Flour or All-Purpose Flour works just as well!)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1-1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1 ripened banana (brown spotted)
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 2 eggs
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or grease with a small bit of butter or coconut oil.
- Whisk together cassava flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat banana and coconut palm sugar with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until banana is 'creamed', much like if you were beating butter and sugar. Do this until light and fluffy and sugar is well incorporated.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add pumpkin and mix to incorporate.
- Beat flour mixture into wet ingredients. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes in pan before removing. After 10 minutes, remove from pan to a board or plate and all to cool completely.
Nutritional Information (1 slice, total loaf makes 12 slices)
90 calories - 1.5g Protein, 18g Carbohydrates, 1g Fat