I can’t help but mess with a recipe. My husband says it is impossible for me to make the exact same dish twice. He is correct.
I was able to spend yesterday afternoon just relaxing and looking through magazines for inspiration. I was intrigued with the multiple banana bread recipes in the October issue of Cooking Light. There were three variations on a basic recipe, and I was most taken with the “Banana Foster Bread.”
I decided to try the recipe by attempting to follow the recipe as exactly as I could and then substituting pumpkin for the bananas. (I thought the cognac and the spices would go well with pumpkin.)
I did follow the recipe pretty exactly, but I could not find really ripe bananas at the store. To improvise, I sliced the bananas (just like you would for real Bananas Foster) and sauted them like the recipe directed. (I used three sliced bananas which I figured equaled about 1 1/2 cups.)
MMMM...what a great aroma!
Then, I very carefully poured the hot mixture into a blender and very carefully pureed the mixture. I let it cool to room temperature before I finished the recipe.
I really encourage you to check out the link to this recipe . Amazingly enough, it is remarkable how stuff comes out when you follow the recipe. The “Bananas Foster Bread” is a keeper.
Inevitably, I decided to change it up. I used pumpkin instead of the bananas, skipped the sauteing, added less cognac and less sugar. Here are my revisions for “Pumpkin Foster Bread”:
1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1/8 cup cognac or dark rum, divided
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Preheat oven to 350°.
Place pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, and cognac in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix to combine. Add yogurt and eggs. Beat with a mixer at medium speed.
Combine flour and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture; beat just until blended. Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; place on wire rack.
For glaze, combine 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 tablespoon cognac, and 1/3 cup powdered sugar; stir until well blended. Drizzle over the warm bread. (I highly recommend the glaze!)
Finished pumpkin bread with glaze---ready to eat!
This recipe is a keeper, too; however, I really need to work on the name. It is a bit moister and denser than the banana bread. Both are sure tasty, though.
