Pumpkin Bread

I know I jumped the gun on celebrating fall as it doesn't technically start until this Friday. I can't help it; I love fall!  For supper club last night, Stacy made a delicious rosemary crusted pork tenderloin, and I was charged with bringing dessert.  It had to be fall appropriate, and it had to be quick and easy (I was crunched for time).  Pumpkin Bread was the obvious choice!  I hit a little roadblock when I found out that Safeway hadn't stocked canned pumpkin yet (maybe should I have questioned my recipe choice at this point?), but thankfully Whole Foods had a few cans and held them at Customer Service for me.

Pumpkin Bread

Bread
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
1/4 teaspoon ginger

Streusel
3 1/2 Tbs all-purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs butter, softened (just use the remaining stick of butter from above... think it's a little more than 2 Tbs)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350.  Make the streusel topping by combining the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and then cutting in the softened butter.  Mix in walnuts.

For the bread, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  While it's creaming, whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.  Add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar mixture and beat until combined.  Add the pumpkin and mix.  Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.  Don't over mix.

Pour batter into slightly greased/sprayed muffin tins or bread pans.  Cover with streusel topping.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.  About 20 minutes for 12 muffins.

I need some practice with the parchment paper liners!  It was a bit trickier than I anticipated.