Pumpkin-Yogurt Bread

Pumpkin bread might be my favorite of the quick breads. Or maybe that's just the fall-euphoria talking. Oh who am I kidding, I've never turned down a piece of bread in my life. But! This bread is not so bad for you, seeing as it only has half a stick of butter and is mostly non-fat Greek yogurt and pumpkin. It's practically healthy. Except for maybe the powdered sugar I sprinkled on top.

I definitely made this bread to have for breakfast the next morning, but half of it ended up in Rich's mouth by 10 pm that night. I will say that Grady liked it too and took a nice bite of it himself.

You'll need: All-purpose flour, brown butter, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, Greek yogurt, and pumpkin. I know pumpkin pie spice has cinnamon in it already, but I wanted just a bit more cinnamon kick.

You can do this with a wooden spoon or a hand mixer. Start with mixing the brown butter and sugars together.

The yogurt and pumpkin really amp up the moisture factor.

Add the eggs one at a time until completely incorporated.

And the vanilla is the last wet ingredient.

In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients-- flour, spices, baking powder, soda, and salt.

Add the dry into wet and fold until just combined.

The batter is lighter than you might think.

Spread the batter evenly in a 9x5 cake pan that you've buttered and floured. In this case, I also lined the bottom with parchment paper and left a little overhang so that I could just pull the bread up when I was ready to cool it fully.

It stays a vibrant orange with that sort of rustic top. Or maybe you smooth your bread better than mine, and I'm just fooling myself into thinking it looks rustic.

If you mix a little butter, cinnamon, salt, and maple syrup together you get...

Maple butter! I know, shocking. Earth shattering.

The point being I think bread needs butter, and a spiced bread might as well have a spiced butter.

I did this little photoshoot on my sister's deck, where I had two willing participants. Holly (left) is regal and kept watch. Buddy (right) is a yard dog and sniffed around everything. I love them both.

Buddy always tries to get in on the action. In fact he ate a piece of Nick's slice the next day while Nick wasn't looking.

Pumpkin-Yogurt Bread (makes one loaf)
Adapted from Ingredients, Inc

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown butter, cooled
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
3/4 c non-fat plain Greek yogurt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 350º. Butter and flour a 9x5" loaf pan.
• In a large bowl, stir together sugars and butter. Add the pumpkin and Greek yogurt and stir to combine. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla extract.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and remaining ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and fold in until flour mixture is just incorporated. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
• Bake 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cool in the pan five minutes then run a knife around the sides and pop bread out. Let cool fully on a wire rack.