Cozy, cool weather this weekend, which means it is high time to bake something seasonal.
Something with a satisfying crunch, but also warm and soft – enter the sweet potato and ginger bread.
This can be made as savory or sweet as you’d like – serve on its own, with some homemade preserves, apple butter, or cream cheese.
You’ll need:
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 T fresh grated ginger
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 T cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 T molasses
- 2 T apple butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 T pumpkin seeds + more to top
Topping: pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, sugar, about 1 1/2 T in total.
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake the sweet potatoes in the microwave – it took me abut 15 minutes on high. Peel, cut up, and mash.
2. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the oil and the sweet potatoes.
3. Butter a loaf pan and pour in the batter, evening out the top with a spatula. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and pumpkin seeds.
4. Bake for about an hour, until a toothpick comes out clean and the loaf has come away from the sides of the pan and cracked slightly on the crusty, crumbly top.
Step 5: make some tea.
Molasses just does wonders for bread and this looks wonderful.
I completely agree – great extra dimension of flavor.
This sounds really good, the apple butter and molasses.. nice.. c
Really fall-like in flavors, very homey. There is barely any left in the house – it’s been popular!
I very much agree with step 5 π looking really tasty!
Can’t do without tea! π
I love the whole pumpkin seeds in this bread!
Thanks! They toast up very well both inside the bread and on top.
I’m not all to familiar with sweet potatoes as they are not very common here, but should there be sweet potatoes in this recipe?
Looks really good without it though, and absolutely something I should try in December π
Aha! π
They may also be called yams, but you’re right, they are not so common in Europe.
I’ve been thinking of making pumpkin bread again, but I should try this one on the office guinea pigs!
Lucky guinea pigs π
So lovely – love the pepitas on top! BTW, your gravatar image is very relevant to me right now … I’m currently harvesting my saffron as they bloom each day, and for about an hour every evening, I’m wrist-deep in those adorable purple flowers. π
That’s so great – they are beautiful flowers, aren’t they? How difficult have they been to harvest?
It’s not too bad – you pluck off the flowers at their base, peel back the petals and then snip off the three stamens right above where it fades from orange to red. The hard part is the timing – you have to pick them the day they bloom … but they don’t all bloom together … so one day it’s 20, the next, 5, the next, 30. It’s a commitment. π
Quite exciting but, as you said, takes some discipline! But, imagine, you have your own home-grown saffron – how lovely!