Pumpkin Banana Bread

A good friend of mine gave me a large can of pumpkin last weekend and I have been having lots of fun finding new recipes to make with it.   I had a few banana's on my kitchen countertop that needed to be turned into banana bread, so I went searching for a pumpkin-banana bread recipe and I found this one at the Taste of Home website.  It had great reviews, but I still made a little change to the recipe.  I'm not a big fan of baking w/ shortening, unless it's for pastry, so I substituted butter for the shortening.   I also cooked my bread in a bundt pan.  I started doing this a few months ago, when my little "I can do it myself" 3-year old wanted to cut her own bread from the loaf pan.   Having it in a bundt shape is a lot easier for her to slice (with a butter knife, don't worry!) and it has also solved my problem that I was sometimes having of my bread not being totally cooked in the very middle.   I also had to add 10-15 minutes to the cooking time, because the original recipe is baked in mini loaf pans.

This bread is really yummy, but I wish it had a bit more pumpkin flavor to it.  I might add some pumpkin pie spice next time.   But, I will definitely be making it again!

Pumpkin Banana Bread-


1/2 cup butter
1 - 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Beat in the bananas, pumpkin and vanilla.  Combine the flour baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradual add to creamed mixture.  Fold in the nuts.

Pour into a greased bundt pan.  Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool before removing from the pan.

I hope you're having a wonderful day today....it sure is a beautiful Autumn day here!

God Bless,
di