I’m milking pumpkin season for all it’s worth. You see, us New Zealanders don’t bake with pumpkin. This pumpkin-mad season is all quite foreign, quite exotic, and altogether quite fun.

Also uncommon in New Zealand is pumpkin carving. With Halloween barely celebrated (compared to North America anyway) and giant orange pumpkins near impossible to find, carving is quite a novelty. I may have gotten a little ambitious in my first carving attempt, combining NZ and Canadian culture with a Hei Tiki carving but it turned out alright ; )

To the typical Kiwi, pumpkins are to be diced and roasted until crisp (with a little rosemary), served with aioli alongside Sunday’s roast or tossed through couscous to make a salad. To scoop out, puree and throw in baking seems absurd, most-likely an attempt to fool your offspring into getting their beta-carotene when they won’t touch their dinner plate.

But I took a stab, and replaced banana in a favourite banana loaf with pureed pumpkin, the sugar with maple syrup and the millet with toasted pecans. I also subbed in almond meal, flaxseed and oats for some of the flour to create a truly substantial “morning tea”. This is one moist loaf, perfect for this snowy fall weather and to crank those levels of beta-carotene and the resulting Vitamin A.

Maple Wholewheat Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from Cookie & Kate

1/3 cup melted coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin purée
1 teaspoon brandy (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, plus more to swirl on top
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
¼ cup flaxseeds
¼ ground almonds (almond meal)
¾ wholewheat flour
½ cup oat bran (or lightly processed rolled oats)
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Turbinado (raw) sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 325˚ F (165˚C) and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together melted coconut oil, maple syrup and eggs. Beat well.

Stir in pumpkin purée and brandy, then the salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then mix briefly into batter until it is evenly distributed. Add flaxseeds, ground almonds, oat bran and flour and mix just until combined. Stir through pecans, reserving some for the top.

Spread batter into the greased loaf pan. Sprinkle over turbinado sugar and remaining chopped pecans.

Bake for 60 to 65 minutes. Insert a cake-tester in the top to check for done-ness – it should come out clean. Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for 5 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes before slicing. Serve with cream cheese and brandy butter or enjoy plain with tea.