Welcome to Tag Sale Tastes’ Pumpkinpalooza! Despite the fact that it’s still technically summer for another three weeks (but really, go ahead and put those white shoes up), the stores are already full of a veritable pumpkin patch of pumpkin spice products and autumn décor. I’ll be checking out some of these products, for better or worse, along with some recipes and other pumpkinalia.
Like Tina Turner in Proud Mary, I’m going to take the beginning of Pumpkinpalooza and do it easy. And so, to kick off Pumpkinpalooza, I’ll begin with Pepperidge Farm’s limited edition Pumpkin Spice Swirl bread:
This is one of ten different swirl breads that Pepperidge Farm offers. Who knew?
Checking the ingredients, you’ll notice that pumpkin is one of the ingredients, although it’s so far down on the list that I have to wonder if it’s just there for show: The pale slices are thick-sliced, with a faint spice (?) swirl and dotted with little cinnamon-flavored blobs:
If you try this bread straight out of the package, you’ll probably find yourself checking more than once to see if, in fact, you are nibbling on the package and not the bread. But — if you lightly toast the bread and butter it, it morphs into something that is actually quite good.
In fact, my kids love this bread. I don’t necessarily know that I could tell the difference between this and Pepperidge Farm’s Cinnamon Swirl bread if I were eating it blindfolded — seems like one spice swirl is pretty much the same as the next. But if you want to ease into pumpkin spice season gently, a little pumpkin spice swirl toast in the morning is a pleasant way to do so.
I found these vintage Czech spice jars on ebay. I love the clean lines and neat lettering. I actually have quite a little collection of black and white Czech pottery, which I started collecting unintentionally about 15 years ago. I’ll share it with you one of these days. But today, three of these spice jars have my full attention:
These, along with cinnamon, are the spices that make up pumpkin pie spice, and are the inspiration for today’s recipe.
What’s that? August is too early to be posting a recipe for pumpkin bread or thinking about fall? Oh silly you, have you been living under a rock? Here’s a photo I took at Michael’s on July 5:
Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins
Alright, I can cut Michael’s a little slack for jumping the gun. After all, it is a craft store, and crafters do need to get working if they are going to have their creations ready for fall. (You haven’t started? What are you waiting for?)
But how do you explain this photo taken at Randall’s grocery store on July 29?
Scary to see jack o’ lanterns in July
Yes, like a cheap pair of underwear, pumpkin spice season is slowly creeping up on us. I’ve already seen articles about how we will be introduced to pumpkin spice Peeps this season, and Starbucks is going to use — wait for it — REAL pumpkin in its Pumpkin Spice Lattes, along with removing the caramel coloring and artificial flavors. (Starbucks is largely credited with creating the pumpkin spice craze when it introduced the now-famous pumpkin spice latte, or PSL, in 2003). In fact, it was pretty much a full-blown assault at the grocery stores this weekend, where I saw everything from pumpkin spice room freshener to pumpkin spice whipped cream in a can.
Last year my friends (real and virtual) got a laugh out of poking fun at pumpkin spice mania, and they sent me lots of photos of products — some intriguing, some gross. Hunting down pumpkin spice flavored or scented things became almost like sport. This year, starting in September, Tag Sale Tastes is going to have its own Pumpkinpalooza, with reviews of pumpkin spice products, recipes, and other pumpkin-related things. I’ll be trying out the products on friends, family, and co-workers. So be on the lookout — let me know if you see something that merits review or mockery.
Maybe you’re wondering how I have the audacity to post a recipe for pumpkin spice bread, after making fun of all things pumpkin spice. Because I want to be FIRST!! You know what I mean, right? Urban Dictionary defines “first” as a word that is said when you are the first one to post a comment on a video, picture, or article on the internet. I want to be like all those obnoxious people on Facebook who wish you happy birthday the day before your birthday, just so they can be FIRST! So here’s to beating out all the other bloggers in the whole world this year with what I hope is the FIRST! pumpkin spice bread recipe of Fall 2015.
Inspired by the Czech ginger, cloves, and nutmeg jars, here is a great recipe for Pumpkin Ginger Bread. This is a favorite recipe of my family’s — moist, dense, and spicy. Although I usually disregard the advice from people like Martha Stewart who say to replace your spices every 6 months (what am I, made out of money?), this time of year you would do yourself a favor to buy, if nothing else, a fresh jar of ginger and cinnamon — it really makes a difference in your holiday baking. Your house will smell amazing as the loaves bake.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt pan, or two loaf pans.
Place eggs and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Slowly add oil and continue beating until combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Add dry mixture to egg mixture alternately with water. Beat in pumpkin. Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake approximately 1 hour, until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool in pan at least 15 minutes before removing from pan. (If necessary, run a knife between the edge of the bread and the pan, in order to loosen it.)
3.5.3251
Mmmmm — the house smells just like pumpkin spice candles, or is it air freshener?
The pale slices are thick-sliced, with a faint spice (?) swirl and dotted with little cinnamon-flavored blobs:
