Today's forecast: 16" of snow and large helpings of pumpkin bread

You heard me right, sixteen (now more like eighteen) heaping inches of white stuff has been dumped unceremoniously over the landscape. It's also waaay too cold for my liking with the low being -13* and the high a balmy 12*. And don't even get me started on the windchill..!
 All this called for some baking. (... and coffee :)

 Enter Pumpkin Spice Bread! A scrumptious new recipe I braved on the culinary frontier -- it was very daring because I was a tad short on pumpkin - yes the key element - so I had to... improvise. But it turned out great! And aside from the exploding flour and dumped vanilla, everything else went perfectly!
 Want to try this too? Mini loaves are perfect for holiday gift baskets.

Mini Pumpkin Spice Loaves

{From Christmas with Southern Living 2008}

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

3 cups sugar

3 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

3/4 cup golden raisins (optional)

2 cups canned pumpkin

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears.

 Combine flour and next six ingredients in a medium bowl. Add pecans and raisins, tossing to coat. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with pumpkin, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in vanilla.

 Spoon batter into 12 greased and floured 5"x3" loaf pans. Bake at 325* for 45 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clear. Cool in pans on wire rack for ten minutes, remove from pans, and let cool completely.

All this snow also gave me lots of photo ops...

To see much more click here.

-Gwyn