Healthy Fall Equinox Squash Bread

September 30, 2012September 30, 2012 karenkaren 0 Comment

My fall CSA boxes started arriving this week and I’ve still got squash from the summer CSA boxes to use up. In order to make room for the new stuff that started showing up on Thursday I decide to make a nice fall squash bread last weekend. Last year at the holidays I made this squash bread recipe. I like it quite a bit but I wanted to tweak it for a couple reasons

  1. I didn’t have all the nuts required
  2. I’ve been using agave nectar in place of sugar
  3. I wanted it to have more fiber

Here is my riff

Healthy Fall Equinox Squash Bread
Recipe Type: Quick Bread
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 60 mins
Total time: 1 hour 30 mins
Ingredients
  • 2 cups roasted butternut squash puree
  • 3/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
  • 3/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup ground flax seed
  • 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup + 2 tbs agave nectar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
Instructions
  1. Toast the walnuts in a large skillet. I typically leave them whole, toast them, allow them to cool, then chop them up
  2. Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon.
  3. Add the nuts and mix in.
  4. With a mixer combine oil, brown sugar, and agave nectar. Beat for about 3 minutes.
  5. Add squash and mix about 2 more minutes.
  6. Add eggs one at a time until mixed in.
  7. Fold in the flour mixture and buttermilk 1/3 at a time.
  8. Make sure batter well combined
  9. Place batter in two greased bread loaf pans.
  10. Bake at 325 degree for 60 – 90 minutes.
  11. Check to see if done at 60 minutes. To test doneness, insert a toothpick into center and make sure it comes out clean.

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I ended up making 1 large and 4 small mini loaves because that is the number and types of bread pans that I have on hand. The small loaves cooked more quickly than the larger loaf, about 60 minutes. The larger loaf was closer to 75 minutes. They smelled awesome while they were cooking. I removed them from the pans and place them on baking racks to cool overnight. As far as taste they had a great texture and just the right amount of sweetness. I’ve got two more squash (1 butternut, 1 acorn) so I suspect that I might be making more of these in the coming months.