Heralding Fall: Honey Glazed Pumpkin Spice Loaf

Tis’ that time of year again! It’s fall, season of hot beverages on instagram, facebook posts about pumpkin spice lattes permeated with yuppie zealousness and ultimately, time to cozy on up. Fall is traditionally the time to bring in the harvest. Here above the 49^th parallel we joyously stuff our mouths with all things pumpkin, apple, plum and cranberry celebrating the beauty of our changing daily landscape all the while muttering ominously that “winter is coming”. 

Flannel shirts and wool socks aside, this is the time where we can most feasibly excuse any decadent eating (aside from you know, CHRISTMAS. It’s coming too!) under the great overarching banner that with cold on the way we need our reserves. Fall is a time of great beauty where sweaters, glorious large sweaters and tuques, simultaneously hide any new curves as well as mussed up hair under a thin veneer of seasonal fashion leaving us to enjoy the season to its fullest. So with the excuses established and the stereotypes set, it’s time to hit the kitchen and make some nice, rich, and even nearly-kind-of-healthy pumpkin spice loaf!

Let’s get to it!  

Ingredients:

2/3 c. Pumpkin puree (canned or fresh, if fresh cook it down until very thick)

2 Eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

½ tsp. salt

½ c. Olive Oil

1/3c. Milk, mixed with 1/2tsp vinegar

2c. Wholewheat Flour

1 ¼ tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Cinnamon

Grated nutmeg to taste

¼ tsp each of ground ginger and allspice

1/8 tsp cloves
-2/3 c. Sugar

~1/4c. honey for the glaze

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

                                               Combine milk and vinegar, set aside until thickened

                                

                                                               Oil a standard loaf pan

                            

                                                            Measure out your ingredients

                                                          Combine your dry ingredients

                                                            
                                                               ...and your wet ones

 

 

                                                             Combine the two together

Pour into your loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes or so, until browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

                          Once your loaf is ready, pour the honey over the hot loaf to let it soak into the crust

                                                Let cool and enjoy, preferably with hot tea!