Pumpkin Banana Bread

I have a pumpkin bread recipe that I really like but sharing a regular old pumpkin bread recipe would be boring and I'm not in the business of boring you... at least not intentionally.  Therefore, when I saw this hybrid recipe I figured it would be a different take on the classic.  Plus I like banana bread and pumpkin bread so combining the two together should be great right?

The bread is made by mixing together ripe bananas, pumpkin puree and sugar together.  Then eggs and oil are added, followed by the dry ingredients... flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt.

The original recipe says that it will make three loaves of bread.  I cut it in half and then decided to put it all into one loaf pan (which is typically a recipe for me making a huge mess of overflowing batter all over the bottom of my oven).  Much to my surprise the bread didn't rise all that much so there was no catastrophe to report.  Sorry to disappoint you, but it does lead me to question what size pan this person refers to a "regular-sized".

The one addition I made to the original recipe was to sprinkle some pumpkin seeds on top.  Aside from the fact that I bought a giant bag of pumpkin seeds when I made bran muffins, I thought they'd add a little crunch and additional pumpkin element to the bread.

This bread is very good but it tastes like banana bread.  Likely because there's twice a much banana in here than pumpkin (2 bananas to 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree) and pumpkin has a pretty mild flavor to begin with.  This being pumpkin week, I wanted more pumpkin flavor. 

Apart from the lack of pumpkin flavor, I was a fan... it is very moist and I liked the crunch that the pumpkin seeds added on top.

CA liked it too but he agrees it is too bananay to be called anything other than banana bread.  Oh well, I guess it wouldn't be real life if every one of the ten pumpkin recipes of pumpkin week(s) were big time winners.

Pumpkin Banana Bread
adapted from Stick To Your Hips

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Flour
2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Ripe Bananas, mashed
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
3/4 cups Sugar
1 Egg
1 Egg White
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 T Pumpkin Seeds

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Coat a loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the bananas, pumpkin and sugar on medium speed until well combined.  Add the eggs and oil and mix on low speed until just combined.  Add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Top with pumpkin seeds (if using) and bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely before removing from the pan.


Enjoy!
Julie