Pumpkin Bread

My mother-in-law gave me a couple of small pumpkins for the boys to decorate for Halloween only they never got to because we didn't have any paint couldn't really afford paint and I didn't really want paint in the house anyway. My boys have painted my couch twice now and I'm not looking to give them another opportunity. Suddenly I had 2 pumpkins that I couldn't just throw away because then I'd of felt bad, so I used this tutorial to make pumpkin puree. I had 12 CUPS of puree and no ideas what to do with it. This is a combination of several recipes and it turned out fabulous!

Ingredients:

3 cups flour SIFTED
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 and 1/3 cups pumpkin puree
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 eggs, beaten
1 and 1/2 cups raisins (optional)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, pie spice, salt and baking powder. Add pumpkin, oil and eggs; mix well. Fold in raisins and nuts.

Pour into loaf pans and sprinkle the tops with cinnamon and sugar to give it a little crunch, you can also sprinkle more nuts on top.

Bake for 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool 15 minutes before removing from pans.