Thanksgiving / Pumpkin bread

Having lived in the UK for so long Thanksgiving was but a memory for me.
As a child in the US with an English mother we did celebrate Thanksgiving, she embraced the American cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes- no marshmallows in sight though! I remember Thanksgiving through Christmas as one long, exciting period beginning and ending with the same turkey meal!
It was sad circumstances that bought me to the UK, my mother had died and when I came here to live with my Aunt, among so many other things, Thanksgiving was lost to me. It is not celebrated here and I always had to go to school or work, in fact I always found it quite a sad day. I tried to recreate it one year in my early 20s and had one of my saddest moments when my one baked sweet potato fell & smashed on the floor. I was devastated!
Last year I discovered Twitter and as I followed in many others Thanksgiving preparations I had a revelation- I was going to celebrate Thanksgiving again! My husband and I went to an American restaurant in London for Thanksgiving dinner- I loved it!

This year we aren’t going out but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed following all the Thanksgiving talk and preparations on twitter. I will raise my glass on Thursday (when I get home from work!)
to join in the celebrations.

I tried making pumpkin pie a while ago but my oh too European husband couldn’t bring himself to try it so instead I will make this Pumpkin bread (which for some reason my husband finds more palatable!) to enjoy over the weekend. Its a combination of 2 recipes cut from magazines a long time ago.

The mix of white and brown sugars and flours is me trying to be healthier and using as little processed food as possible. The measurement conversions are as accurate as I could get, I constantly struggle trying to convert US to UK. I use the UK measurements when making this.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

225 gram pumpkin puree ( 8 oz )

2 large eggs

115 ml vegetable oil (1/2 cup)

80 ml water (1/3 cup)

200 gram brown sugar (7oz)

100 gram white sugar (3.5 oz)

200 gram wholemeal flour (7oz)

70 gram white flour (2.5 oz )

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp grated nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C, 350 degrees F

Grease and base line one 2lb loaf tin

In a large bowl mix the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugars.

In a separate bowl whisk the rest of the dry ingredients (flours and spices).

Fold the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mix.

Pour into prepared loaf tin

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour (my oven takes an hour) until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in tin for 15 minutes or so before turning out onto cooling rack.

Made by Jayne