Super Moist Pumpkin Bread & Muffins

I had a couple of recipes in mind when I made the pumpkin purée, one of which was pumpkin bread. I thought it would be a nice treat for my mom and H, when they arrived for Thanksgiving weekend. I couldn't decide between making the bread or muffins. I ended up making the bread, and halfway through baking it, also making muffins.



The recipe that first inspired me to make pumpkin bread was Orangette's Pumpkin Bread with Roasted Hazelnuts while I was browsing recipes on Saveur.com (yours truly was also featured for my grilled pizza recipe!). However, I was looking for a dairy free recipe because my mom doesn't like dairy so I found a vegan recipe. My mom preferred the muffins because she thought the bread was too moist. I really enjoyed both and thought the spices made it taste like pumpkin pie. The pumpkin purée added a nice tinge of yellow to the muffins. I would probably choose muffins over bread because it takes half the time to bake.

Super Moist Pumpkin Bread & Muffins - Makes 12 muffins or one bread
Adapted from Post Punk Kitchen and Orangette.
I cut the white sugar in the recipe and didn't miss it - I think the sugar could be further reduced to taste. I liked the idea of adding roasted hazelnuts mainly because my mom really likes them. I also added cranberries since it seemed timely for Thanksgiving.

½ cup hazelnuts, or to taste
1-¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup pumpkin purée
½ cup vegetable oil
⅓ cup coconut milk
½ cup cranberries, or to taste
¼ dried cranberries, or to taste

Roast hazelnuts in a hot pan until golden brown.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Add the pumpkin purée, oil, and coconut milk, and mix until all of the flour is absorbed.
Fold in the toasted hazelnuts, fresh and dried cranberries.
For pumpkin bread: Bake for 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
For muffins: Bake for 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool on a rack.
Tada!


Making the batter and adding cranberries and hazelnuts.


The pumpkin bread was very moist.