Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear

This weekend I visited my family back in Boston. Presented with the, now rare, opportunity to have a full kitchen to myself I clearly had no other option then to bake.

Papa Bear:

My dad has an extreme love for pumpkin. Our house is always stocked with canned pumpkin just in case anyone feels like having a spur-of-the-moment pumpkin creation. Tonight was no exception and as a thank you for not making me take the bus home I decided to make him some Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread.

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 15-oz can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup egg beaters
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon rolled oats

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, combine the first In a large bowl, combine the first nine ingredients (all of the dry ingredients except for the cranberries and oats). Set aside In a separate, larger bowl, combine the wet ingredients — pumpkin, egg beaters, and vanilla extract. Gently incorporate the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture, stirring until just combined.
Run a knife through the cranberries to break up any large clusters. Slowly sprinkle the cranberries into the batter, making sure that they’re spread evenly throughout. Pour the batter into a 9″x 5″ loaf pan prepared with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle the oats over the top of the pan.
Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!
(From A Second on the Lips)

It came out perfectly. He slathered on some cream cheese and sprinkled more cranberries on top, but it was great plain too!

Mama Bear:

My mom, in all of her adorableness, over-prepared for my arrival by buying twelve bananas for one night. She is great. But, we didn't want to waste all the extra bananas. The obvious answer is banana bread! She wanted something healthy so I made her this low fat but highly delicious loaf.

The recipe...

Ingredients:

• 7 ripe medium bananas, mashed (Optional- I microwaved them for two minutes to ripen them further)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 2-1/2 cups unbleached whole wheat flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two 8x5 inch loaf pans with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add egg whites, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Add flour mixture and walnuts, then blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix.

Pour batter into loaf pans and bake on the center rack for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the pan cool at least 20 minutes, bread should be room temperature before slicing.
(From Skinnytaste)

This bread came out very dense and full of moisture. Once in a while I even got a bite of pure banana. My mom and I love it that way because, as you can tell by the twelve bananas, we are a banana loving family.

Baby Bear:

My turn! I've been craving pumpkin pie since Thanksgiving ended so in the absence of a pie crust I made crustless pumpkin pie. The middle is my favorite part anyways. YUM.

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

(can be gluten-free)

• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup flour (Almost any will work, including all-purpose gluten-free, but not coconut flour) (42g)
• 1/3 cup xylitol or brown sugar (You can use a liquid sweetener. It’ll just be a bit gummy) (53g)
• 2 extra tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 (15-oz) can pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp milk of choice (210g)
• 2 tbsp oil, or omit and increase milk to 1 cup
• 1 tsp ener-g powder or 1 tablespoon ground flax (I used a tablespoon of cornstarch)
• 2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 F, and grease a 10-inch round pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine first 7 ingredients, and stir very well. In a separate bowl, combine all liquid ingredients with the energ or flax, and whisk. Pour wet into dry, stir to combine, then pour into the pan and bake 35 minutes. (It’ll still be gooey after baking, but that’s ok.) Allow to cool completely before transferring uncovered to the fridge to “set” for at least 6 hours before trying to slice.

While the taste came out just like pumpkin pie, the texture was more like a custard. I topped mine with redi-whip and it was a mini-thanksgiving in my mouth.

So there it is Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear's weekend. Full of delicious baking. And everything came out juuuuuust right.