It’s finally October which means I’m all about pumpkin! There’s a huge hype about pumpkin spice, but what most people don’t realize is that pumpkin is really good for you. It is packed with nutrients and soluble fiber, which means that it will keep you full, but it’s also really easy to digest.
A lot of pumpkin bread recipes are loaded with sugar and fat, but this reduced guilt pumpkin bread cuts back on a lot of the unnecessary calories. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that this recipe has no butter and sugar in it because it does, but it has less of both ingredients, and has a lot of pumpkin, Greek yogurt, whole wheat flour, and oat flour , which makes it a great option for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert!
This reduced guilt pumpkin bread is totally delicious and is sure to become a seasonal favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of pumpkin puree (I used the organic canned pumpkin from Trader Joes)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground clove
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1 stick (½ cup) salted butter, melted
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt (I use 2%)
- 2 eggs at room temp
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup oat flour (ground oats)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- Additional rolled oats to sprinkle on top (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the pumpkin, spices, butter, brown sugar, molasses, and vanilla bean paste, and mix to combine. Next, mix in the yogurt, then add the eggs one at a time until everything comes together.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and oat flour, and whisk to combine and remove any lumps.
Note** you can buy oat flour at the store or make your own. I always make my own by grinding down rolled oats until they become the consistency of whole wheat flour. You can also use regular whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I find that the whole wheat pastry flour yields a better texture and lighter pumpkin bread.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until everything is just combined and dry ingredients are moistened.
Line a standard loaf pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Add the batter to the loaf pan, and sprinkle with additional rolled oats if you’re using them. This just creates a pretty topping.
Bake the reduced guilt pumpkin bread at 350 degrees for one hour until the pumpkin bread is cooked through. Let it rest in the pan until it’s cool enough to handle, then slice and serve. This makes 12-15 servings.
After it’s fully cooled, I would suggest storing this reduced guilt pumpkin bread in the fridge. The pumpkin purée adds a lot of moisture, so leaving it at room temperature for more than a day or two could turn the bread bad. If you store it in the fridge, you won’t have to worry at all. You can also slice and freeze the pumpkin bread so it lasts even longer. Just pop a slice in the toaster when you want to enjoy it!