Pumpkin Pineapple Walnut Bread

The other night I was in the mood for muffins but imagine my shock to find no muffin tin in the kitchen! What's a gal to do? Make a bread (and when there is no bread pan, improvise!) Yes, the mother of invention is necessity and if you do not already know that a round shaped bread tastes no different than a rectangular one, let me be the first to tell you, they do not.

This bread was originally inspired by a ginger beer recipe that a friend from Jamaica told me about - making ginger beer with the rind of a ripe pineapple and and a little added sugar. So then what to do with the remaining pineapple fruit? I realized that it would go wonderfully in a pumpkin walnut muffin/bread. Without the muffin tin, bread it was!

It is unnecessary to make this from fresh pineapple, so I have suggested crushed pineapple in the recipe below. My pineapple was not quite ripe so I had to cook it with 1/4 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar to bring up its sweetness. Just so you know, this recipe won out over a pineapple lime chutney, but that recipe will surely show its face in the near future - it was a close call!

By the way, those of you with a sweeter palate may want to increase the sugar to 1 cup; a tester said it wasn't sweet enough for her. I was looking for a savory muffin so it was fine for me.

Pumpkin Pineapple Walnut Bread

1 cup whole wheat bread
1 cup all purpose white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup crushed pineapple
1 cup puree pumpkin (canned or homemade)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flours, salt and baking soda. In separate bowl blend eggs and milk. Mix in melted butter, sugar, pineapple and canned pumpkin. Add spices and walnuts and blend well. Add blended ingredients to flour mixture and blend just until flour is absorbed. Bake 50 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Chicken Mulligatawny at An Edible Mosaic
Chocolate Gelato at The Italian Dish
Barese Sausage at Proud Italian Cook