Ingredients:
Makes 2 loaves
Topping
5 Tablespoons packed (2 ¼ ounces) light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
Bread
2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 (15 ounce) can unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into 12 pieces
4 large eggs
¼ cup buttermilk
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped fine
1/3 cup minced crystallized ginger
For the topping: Using fingers, mix all ingredients together in bowl until well combined and topping resembles wet sand; set aside.
For the bread: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pans. Whisk
flour, baking powder and baking soda together in bowl.
Combine pumpkin puree, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook mixture, stirring constantly, until reduced to 1 ½ cups, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove pot from heat; stir in granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil and cream cheese until combined. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until no visible pieces of cream cheese remain and mixture is homogeneous.
Whisk together eggs and buttermilk. Add egg mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk to combine. Fold flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until combined (some small lumps of flour are OK). Fold in 1/3 cup minced crystallized ginger. Fold walnuts into batter. Scrape batter into prepared pans. Sprinkle topping evenly over top of each loaf. Bake until skewer inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let loaves cool in pans on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and let cool for at least 1 ½ hours. Serve warm or at room temperature.
(Herb Day 2015 hospitality table recipe)
