Drunken Pumpkin Bread

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Moist and flavorful with rum, raisins and fall spices, this pumpkin bread will quickly become a family favorite.

This particular pumpkin bread is one of my all time favorite recipes–simple to prepare, impressive results. For the record, this bread didn’t start out tipsy–that was my doing. It all started back in the 80s, when a door-to-door salesman (yep, you read that right) appeared one day at my office. He was peddling this cookbook–the The Culinary Arts Encyclopedia of Cooking–a 794 page tome containing more than 4,000 recipes and devoted to all things cooking. At the bargain price of $20, I bought one for me and one for my BFF.

With thousands of recipes from which to choose, it was the Pleasin’ Pumpkin Bread that caught my eye first. While I’ve tweaked the recipe more to my liking, even the original, unaltered recipe was still the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever tasted. Of course, my version is even better–incorporating fresh pumpkin puree, spiced rum, and golden raisins. It’s all good.

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups Pumpkin Puree
  • 1 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1/3 cups Spiced Rum
  • 4 Eggs
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 1 cup Brown Sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoons Nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoons Ground Cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoons Ground Ginger
  • 3 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
  • 1 cup Golden Raisins

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine wet ingredients (pumpkin through eggs) in a large stand mixer bowl then mix to combine. Add sugars, baking soda, salt, and spices and mix thoroughly.

Mix in flour 1 cup at a time until thoroughly blended. Stir in raisins.

Divide batter equally into 2 greased 9-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 F for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool before slicing.

Makes 2 loaves.

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