Favorite Pumpkin Bread

After this month's recent challenge with the Cake Slice Bakers, I started thinking about my favorite pumpkin bread. It's been awhile since I've made it mostly out of sheer laziness and a over abundance of cookbooks mostly unused which are staring at me reproachfully wondering when I'm going to get around to them. But with fall officially here and the leaves turning all sorts of lovely colors, it's finally inspired me to drag this book out and try to give it a slightly healthier spin by substituting apple sauce for the oil. And as it's a quick bread, it's easy even for a lazy girl like me to whip up on a fall afternoon. The recipe will make 2 large loaves or three smaller loaves. I opted to make a small bundt cake and 4 mini loaves instead. 

 Even with the substitution of apple sauce for the oil, this still made a very moist and tasty cake, with a pleasing pumpkin flavor and just enough of a cinnamon hint to go very well with the store bought chocolate dulce de leche sauce I served along with the cake.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a plate of cake with my name on it taunting me from across the kitchen.

 Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from: Better Homes and Gardens Complete Book of Baking  

3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup apple sauce
4 eggs
3 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup water
(1) 16 oz can pumpkin

Mix apple sauce and sugar together. Add eggs. In separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Add dry mix to apple sauce/sugar mix, alternating with water, beating on low speed until combined. Beat in pumpkin.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes if using large loaf pans. If using a bundt pan and mini loaves as I did and you  forget to set the timer, cook loaves for approximately 30 minutes and bundt cake for 40 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool.