Pumpkin Gingerbread

Happy first day of fall!  How should we celebrate?

With another pumpkin recipe, of course!!

This Pumpkin Gingerbread is so good.  The flavor-- though still predominantly ginger-- isn't quite as intense as typical gingerbread.  The addition of pumpkin tones the ginger flavor down a bit while adding lots of substance and body.

Add a drizzle of maple glaze...it's a perfect celebration of fall.


Today's Playlist

• "Rebel Rebel"...David Bowie
• "Troublemaker"...Weezer
• "I'm Yours"...Jason Mraz
• "Dani California"...Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"...Green Day
• "Love Interruption"...Jack White
• "In One Ear"...Cage the Elephant
• "What A Wonderful World"...Joey Ramone
• "Story of My Life"...Social Distortion
• "All Day and All of the Night"...The Kinks

Pumpkin Gingerbread with Maple Glaze (makes one loaf)

Printable Recipe

Gingerbread ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 10 tablespoons melted butter (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

note: additional butter and flour needed for greasing the pan (or use non-stick cooking spray)

Maple Glaze ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
• pinch of salt

Gather your ingredients.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.

Butter and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, or use nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, ginger, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl until combined.

In a large bowl, stir the melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla together until thoroughly combined.

It will be very liquidy and runny.

Stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture just until incorporated.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan.  Bake for one hour to one hour and fifteen minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (or with only a few moist crumbs).

I can say from experience that this gingerbread takes about an hour and ten minutes in my oven, but I usually set the timer for one hour just in case.

And then I stick a toothpick into it, which comes out completely coated in wet batter, so I put it back into the oven for an additional 10 minutes.  

I just can't bring myself to bake it for one hour and ten minutes right from the get-go!  

While the gingerbread is baking, prepare your maple glaze.

Gather your ingredients.  You can see that there is some crystallized ginger in the photo. 

 I was thinking that I would chop the ginger and sprinkle it over the glaze, but a lot of thoughts went through my head as the gingerbread baked and by the time it came out of the oven I wasn't in the mood for crystallized ginger anymore.

Feel free to sprinkle your gingerbread with crystallized ginger if you have it. Or chopped pecans.

To prepare the glaze, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium/high heat until it's bubbly.  This will take about a minute.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup and vanilla until combined.  It will bubble at first, but as you whisk it will calm down.

Whisk in the confectioners sugar and a pinch of salt until smooth.  Set aside until your gingerbread is finished baking.

Ta-da!  It finally passed the toothpick test.

I let the gingerbread cool down for about 10 minutes and then place it onto a serving platter.  Serve it while it's still warm, or after it's cooled.  Either way, it's out-of-this-world delicious!

You can either drizzle the glaze on top of the loaf (like the photo at the top of this post), or drizzle it over the slices as you serve them.

Enjoy.