The Last Two Wizened Apples = Pumpkin Bread

Have you ever noticed how quickly eating seasons can change?

For example, when the calendar wings its way into November around here, we're all into soup.

Starting right about now, soup is starting to seem a little less desirable and I know I'd better use up the ones I have in the freezer by March or they'll get left behind, accumulating freezer burn until I have to throw them away.

Starting in late August with the first Paula Reds and continuing through the search for good Northern Spys around Thanksgiving, apples flow through this house in many forms—pie, cobbler, sauce, etc.

And then, without planning it, our fruit tastes switch to citrus when there's still a couple of apples left kicking around in the refrigerator's fruit bin. They soften and their skins wizen up, like the ones pictured here, because no one (not even me, the apple queen) wants them.

This morning, we peeled and chopped up two of the final four wizens for pancakes topped with applesauce and cinnamon/sugar. These last remaining apples from the 2010 season were just peeled and chopped for inclusion in pumpkin bread.

Here's my favorite Pumpkin Bread recipe. I substituted the apples for the raisins in the version I made today.

Pumpkin Bread (makes 2 loaves)

1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups (one can) cooked pumpkin
2 eggs
2/3 cup molasses
2/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (or chopped apple)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons baking soda

Grease two loaf pans. Measure out the oil in a 2-cup measuring cup. Add the molasses then pour into a mixing bowl. (By doing it this way, the molasses slides right out of the measuring cup.) Beat the two eggs in a separate container then add to the oil and molasses. Add the pumpkin and mix thoroughly.

Add the salt, baking soda, spices, raisins, sugar and nuts. Mix thoroughly.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Measure and mix in the flour. The batter will be thick.

Divide into the two loaf pans and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Let cool then tip out of the loaf pans.