Cherry Pumpkpin Nut Bread

Hello!! It has been a while :) Spring is in the air and the sunshine just feels so nice.

My friend Daniele came to visit a few weeks ago for March break. She mostly came to see her little baby nephew, who is so cute, but I got to see her and hangout for a few days which was really nice. Why is BC so far?

Hi Daniele! 

Anyway, Daniele said she was thinking of getting a stand mixer but wasn't sure if she would use it. I suggested she pick a  bread recipe from my Kitchen Aid cookbook and I could show her how it works. Well, she ended up picking a recipe that had didn't even use the Kitchen Aid. Oops. And it isn't so much a bread in the normal bread sense but more of a bread in the almost cake-banana bread variety. It is still pretty healthy and tasted really good. It was one of those times where the stars just lined up and I had all the ingredients on hand..dried cherries.. pumpkin puree.. walnuts.. what are the chances?

Full disclosure Daniele pretty much made it on her own. I didn't help much as I was busy preparing a chicken to cook.. wow who are we? so domestic ;)

We couldn't stop eating this and it didn't last long. Daniele brought some over to her sis and cousin and fam and they all really liked it too.

The only disappointment for me was when I forgot it had dried cherries and not chocolate chips..They  really look like melted chocolate once cooked. Might try with chocolate next time.

Ingredients:
- 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
-1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg  ( we just used pumpkin spice mix that had cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup chopped dried cherries
- 1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil


Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 9x5 loaf pan
- Combine flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, walnuts and cherries in a medium bowl
- Combine pumpkin, egg and oil. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.
- Spread mixture into pan and spread evenly. Bake 45-55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in pan. transfer to wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!