Perfect Pumpkin Bread

Now that Fall has clearly arrived and Hallowe'en is imminent, I was in the mood for pumpkin bread. I had some leftover caramel sauce from Tom's birthday cake, so I thought: "When I make the pumpkin bread, I should make a caramel glaze for it." I found some time this past weekend to do some baking. And there you have it -- Sunday morning serendipity.

Except that I was out of my favorite white whole wheat flour, which doesn't particularly affect the taste of baked goods but does improve the nutrition quotient. But that was not going to deter me -- I was already going to be using butter, sugar and caramel sauce; there was little redeeming health value already, so why worry???

You'll notice, too, that I used Coffee-mate in the glaze. I could buy a gallon of milk every single day of my life, and I still wouldn't have any milk available when I want it. 19-year-old males go through it at a pretty good pace. It is incredibly frustrating, especially when you want a bowl of cereal, to find no milk in the house; but I have learned to adapt when I'm baking, 'cause that's the kinda girl I am.

So here is a lovely, moist, quick bread for a weekend, for a party, to go with coffee, whatever you can think of. Easy to make -- have I ever given such simple instructions before??? -- and delicious to eat. Enjoy!!!

Pumpkin Bread with Caramel Glaze

Bread:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup pumpkin
2 eggs
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped fine
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour
3/4 cup sugar

Glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons caramel sauce for ice cream
1 tablespoon vanilla caramel Coffee-mate

Make the bread: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8"x4" glass loaf pan.

In a large bowl, stir together the wet ingredients; add the dry ingredients, and mix well. Pour batter into the loaf pan.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and let cool until lukewarm on a cooling rack.

Make the glaze: In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Spoon over the bread, spreading the glaze over the top of the loaf and letting some of the glaze drip down the sides. Let cool completely, then slice and serve.