Delicious Pumpkin Bread

I saw this recipe in the Colfax Gazette. She (Judy Gehring) said it originally published in Taste of Home in 1998. What caught my attention was using vanilla pudding "cook and serve" as one of its ingredients. What? I guess it wasn't too unusual as I have a spice cake mix that you can make a pumpkin Bundt cake using instant vanilla pudding. That made more sense. But I was intrigued and wanted to try it. We had the Christmas bazaar on Saturday. This would be a good time bake it. It makes five small loaves-perfect- or two large loaves.

Four loaves were taken over to the church. The fifth was a taster. Oh my gosh we were both surprised. The bread is light, almost cake like, as noted on the original recipe. This one is a keeper.

I've mentioned before, food makes a nice gift to anyone and everyone, for any reason or no reason.

INGREDIENTS:

5 large eggs 2 c. sugar

1 ¼ c. canola oil 1 can 1(15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin

1 tsp baking soda 2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon ½ tsp salt.

2 pkgs (3.oz ea) cook and serve vanilla pudding

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add oil and pumpkin: beat until smooth. Combine remaining ingredients: gradually beat into pumpkin mixture.

Pour batter into five greased 5 ¾ x 2-inch loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack to cool completely. Freeze option: Securely wrap and freeze cooled loaves in plastic and foil. To use, thaw at room temperature.

MY NOTES:

I looked up the original recipe and for two large loaves it says to bake about 75 minutes. I checked on my small loaves and it only took about 30-35 minutes, but my oven was at 350 degrees. So check about that time. It's easy enough to use the toothpick test.

What do you bake at this time of year? If that was another chapter in your life, then check out the bake sales, or Zonia Dedloff usually has a table full of homemade yummies.

ENJOY!