Pumpkin Parkin

This is an adaptation of a Banana Bread recipe that I've used a couple of times and has always gone down really well. It is very simple to make too. If the flesh of your pumpkin is particularly squishy, you could use it neat, but I think that a quick roasting (for about 20 minutes on 200C) with a generous sprinkle of cinnamon, really helps bring out the sweetness of the pumpkin, so I'd advise you do this anyway. Plus you'll need the heat for melting the butter.

Ingredients

• 285g/10oz plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 110g/4oz butter, plus extra for greasing
• 225g/8oz golden caster sugar
• 2 free-range eggs
• flesh of one small/medium pumpkin (aprox 200g), roasted and mashed with about 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• Squeezed juice of half a lemon
• Optional pinch of grated nutmeg

Method

Cream the butter, sugar and still warm pumpkin until melted and runny. If you still have any large or hard lumps of pumpkin, blitz in a food processor or use a had blender to smooth out. You can still have a few smaller lumps in, this won't affect the finished product.

Shift together the flour, bicarb or soda and nutmeg and add a little to the pumpkin/butter mix, then add a little of the beaten egg. Take turns with each until they are all combined. Finally add the lemon juice and stir.

Pour out into a small greased loaf tin and bake in an oven pre-heated to 180C/350F/Gas 4, for about 50 minutes. Should be golden and well risen, use a skewer to check that it is done through. Turn out onto wire rack.

You can icing if you like, an aromatic orange flower water icing goes particularly well, or perhaps even toast up some pumpkin and sunflower seeds, then glaze them onto the cooled loaf using honey or syrup.


Image: Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net