Each Year I eagerly wait for September 1. And then on that day I make the first Pumpkin Bread of the year. I Love the soft orange color, the way the pumpkin spice mix fills the house and hits you when you walk in the front door.
This year I felt the need to update my recipe... I wanted to see how close I could get to the Starbucks Pumpkin loaf feel, while keeping GF and on the lower sugar side. The recipe comes close!
While I often make these as muffins, you can absolutely make this very same recipe into a loaf. Just bake for 40 – 50 mins. I find butternut squash puree to be much more flavorful than pumpkin (did you ever notice that pumpkin kind of tastes like nothing?!) So if you have time to make your own and use it I do recommend that. Sometimes you can find canned butternut squash too.
I've written this recipe with Bob's Red Mill Cup for Cup gluten free flour mix. But you can sub in All Purpose flour of course. I really love to make these half Spelt flour and Organic AP flour. Either way, it all works. Gluten Free can tend to either go too crumbly or more chewy- depending on the exact flour blend you use. To get the traditional Starbucks 'crumb', you will need to use All Purpose flour.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin or butternut squash puree (or 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree, I keep a few cans on hand for when I'm craving pumpkin things fast!)
4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter ( I use kerrigold)
1/3 cup water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup applesauce
2 cups raw sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1cup nonfat Greek Yoghurt
zest of 1 Lemon
for the Streusel topping:
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup GF flour mix
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 TBSP melted butter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 and line your pans with parchment paper. This will make two regular size loaves, five mini loaves, or 24 muffins.
In a large bowl mix together all the wet ingredients (not the yoghurt yet) and the sugar. Whisk together well, get some air in there and make sure there are no lumps.
Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix in 1/2 of the dry mix to the wet, then add the yoghurt, the finally the rest of the dry mix. Don't overmix!
Spoon into the prepared loaf pans or muffin pans, filling to 3/4 full.
To make the Streusel Topping: In a small bowl mix together the flour, sugar and pumpkin spice, then mix in the the melted butter. It should look like dry breadcrumbs. Spoon on top of each loaf.
Place in the middle rack of your oven and bake for 30-40 minsfor loaves, 20-25 mins for muffins (or until golden brown).
NOTE: With gluten free baking you really want to avoid opening the oven before the 20 min mark - the influx of cold air can cause the muffins to sink. I use the oven light and watch them that way.Allow to cool for 10 mins before serving.
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