My all-time favorite cookbook is a little spiral-bound gem called Just Like Evelyn. It’s the recipe collection for the ASI Children’s Center at Cal Poly, one of the most special places in my world. This recipe is a simple adaptation of their pumpkin bread recipe to make it vegan and gluten-free. Enjoy!
Chef’s note: This recipe makes 2 loaves (12-16 slices per loaf) or 24 muffins. I wouldn’t recommend doubling this recipe, even with a stand mixer.
Allergen Alert: None 🙂
If you don’t need this to be gluten-free, you could substitute 1.75 cups all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour (or 2.75 cups all-purpose flour) for the 2.75 cups GF flour, and leave out the xanthan gum entirely.
Shopping List
Fresh Produce
- None this time.
Spices & Seasonings
- Salt (iodized table salt, not sea salt)
- Pumpkin pie spice
Other Groceries
- GF flour blend (such as my mix)
- Xanthan gum
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Sugar
- Canola oil
- 1 can (16 oz.) 100% pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)
- Unsweetened applesauce
Equipment
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer and large mixing bowl
- 2 glass 9×5-inch loaf pans or 2 one-dozen muffin trays with liner papers
- Oven
Ingredients & Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix the wet ingredients.
- 1.75 cups vegan sugar
- 2/3 cup canola oil
- 1 can (16 oz.) pure pumpkin
- 3 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
In the stand mixer or large mixing bowl, blend these ingredients until smooth. Scrape down the sides.
- Finish mixing the batter.
- 1/3 cup water
- 2.75 cups GF flour blend – add slowly, 1/2 cup at a time
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1.5 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Add the rest of the ingredients, ideally in this order, one at a time while the mixer is running. Mix until smooth and yummy. (Remember, vegan baking means no raw egg, so feel free to nibble away!) Even though it’s vegan and gluten-free, the texture should be like standard muffin batter – too thick to drink through a straw, but thin enough that it drips slowly off the edges of the spoon when you scoop it up.
- Grease or line the pan. If making loaves, grease the glass loaf pans with Earth Balance vegan butter or canola oil. If making muffins, I recommend using paper muffin cup liners instead of greasing the pan.
- Baking time!
Divide the batter evenly into the two loaf pans or 24 muffin cups. Bake 45-55 minutes for loaves of pumpkin bread, or 15-19 minutes for muffins, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the tops are a golden brown matte finish. (Yes I know, the batter starts out brown, but it shouldn’t be so shiny anymore, and you should be able to see a slightly darker golden medium brown on the tops of the mounds.) For loaves, cool 30 minutes in the pan before removing. For muffins, cool 5-10 minutes in the pan before transferring to cooling racks.
Source
Adapted from the “Pumpkin Bread” recipe, page 41, in Just Like Evelyn: The ASI Children’s Center Recipe & Child Feeding Guidebook, ©2003. Recipes compiled by Evelyn Ruehr, cookbook designed by Marie Curtin as her senior project.