I’m staying up late tonight, waiting for Casey to get home from the airport, and taking advantage of a quiet house and a sleeping baby. Although it’s hard for me to focus on work and ignore the red “record” light streaming from the DVR – reminding me that Survivor is on right now.
When Casey travels, I usually don’t watch the shows we watch together – so that we can catch up together later in the week or weekend. I find things like Sex and the City marathons, or weird prison shows that scare me and make it hard to go to sleep. Sometimes I cheat and watch the best ones (New Girl, Mindy Project) because I know I’ll want to watch them again later.
Why am I talking about this? This recipe has nothing to do with television, or my ramblings. I’ve had it in my head for over a week, and I was so happy that the end result turned out just as I had imagined. A quick look through my recipe page shows that I have a serious thing for quick breads. I don’t care much for yeast, rise times, and proofing – but I can bake banana bread all day.
Don’t be fooled by the pepitas – this isn’t pumpkin bread. It is pumpkin bread’s distant cousin – butternut squash bread! Have you been to Trader Joe’s recently? You can buy a GIANT butternut squash for $1.69 each. I bought an alarming amount of them on Monday, and my pantry closet shelves are now buckling under the weight of our squash mountain. Making this bread helped ease the load a bit, although we’ve still got a lot of squash to eat!
Roasted Butternut Squash Quick Bread
Prep Time: 70 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Ingredients (1 loaf)
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1 cup all purpose flour
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1/2 cup whole wheat flour
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1 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon sea salt
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1/2 cup granulated sugar
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1 teaspoon cinnamon
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1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
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1/2 teaspoon allspice
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1/2 teaspoon ginger
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1/4 teaspoon cloves
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1/4 cup maple syrup
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1.5 cups butternut squash puree (about 2 cups cubes)
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2 eggs
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1 teaspoon vanilla
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1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Carefully peel, de-seed, and chop a butternut squash into cubes. I know there are other ways to cook a squash – roasting whole or boiling – but cubing and roasting allows the squash to develop some browning, which results in so much flavor. Don’t skip this step – it’s worth the extra time!
Cube squash and toss in a bit of olive oil. Spread evenly on a sheet pan and roast for 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once squash has roasted and browned, remove from oven and allow to cool for a bit. You can also pre-cook the squash the day before you are baking, if needed. Transfer two cups of roasted squash cubes to a food processor or blender.
Blend until pureed and smooth. It will look like baby food! Two cups of cubes should yield about one and a half cups of puree.
Scoop into a small bowl, and add the rest of the wet ingredients – maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk to combine, and set aside. In a larger bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and spices. Then add the wet to the dry, and mix until just combined. Fold the pumpkin seeds in with a spatula.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle a handful of extra pepitas on top of the batter. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes – the top should be golden and starting to crack! (Make sure you turn the oven down if you roast your squash on the same day.)
Allow to cool to room temperature. Slice and serve!
The squash provides great flavor and moisture, keeping this loaf light and fluffy. It works well enough that no additional oil is needed!
The bread is dark and crispy on the outside, and deliciously soft on the inside – just as it should be. The pepitas offer a little bit of crunch in each bite!
This bread is delicious on it’s own, and even better when paired with a hearty winter soup. I have one particular soup in mind – that I’ll share with you tomorrow!
For the parents out there, know that it is toddler tested, and approved.
And for those with four-legged children, it also sparked quite a bit of interest from the pups. No surprise there though.
As always, enjoy!
39 Comments so far
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haha – love the pics at the end :)
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I’ve never heard of using squash in bread before but it sounds delicious! Hope I can look half as cute as Cullen does eating it :)
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I LOVE The Mindy Project. Mindy Kaling cracks me up. Her delivery is just hilarious.
Have you read “Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me?”, Mindy’s book? Even if it’s hard to catch a free minute to read, this one is a fast & enjoyable one. Highly recommend.
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What are pepitas?
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Emily Malone Reply:
December 6th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Pumpkin seeds!
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This looks amazing! I have not thought of squash quick bread. I will be trying it soon, and taking a trip to TJs.
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I started having babies 19 years ago, and my #7 just turned 7. Most days it’s a welcome relief not to actively be in the wee one business, but then I read your blog and see Cullen’s chubby little hand taking some pumpkin bread and my heart explodes and I think, “I’m only 44. I could do it. I could have another.”
No, I couldn’t. So keep posting Cullen pictures, okay?
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This bread looks fantastic, andI love that this recipe contains no oil. I am so excited to make this!
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The bread looks delicious.
Isn’t Survivor wonderful this season? I can’t believe you had the ability to not watch it. I don’t know if I would have been able to hold out!
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Yum! I love butternut squash bread and can’t wait to try this recipe!
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I secretly watch New Girls if he isn’t available the next day. I keep it to myself if I have and just rewatch it later with him too.
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My mom made this for us when we were growing up, accidentally, when she bought butternut squash puree instead of pumpkin puree. We didn’t notice the difference!
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What a great idea to use butternut squash! I also like the added maple syrup. Looks like it would pair well with a fall soup :)
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Do you have any tips or techniques for peeling raw butternut squash? Am I crazy for thinking it’s SO CHALLENGING?
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Yay savory quick breads! Too funny that we both posted one today!
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You can always cube it and freeze it :) Sautee later :)
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Yum! Is it fairly easy to peel, de-seed and cube a whole butternut squash? I have never tried it, but with the low price at TJ’s right now, I can’t justify buying the pre-cubed squash at a much higher price.
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
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I love bread! Bread, bread, bread. Give me more!
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My husband grows several types of winter squash (butternut and relatives), but not actual pumpkins, so I never technically make pumpkin bread. We use the cooked pureed squash for “pumpkin” custard as well as breads, soups, and lasagna. With over 500 pounds of squash harvested just this year, we need lots of options!
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Yum! I’ve never made butternut squash bread, but I love quick breads. I’ll have to try this one!
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Just made this…its fantastic!! Thanks for a great recipe!
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Never would have thought of butternut squash bread but it sounds and looks good!
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I have had a butternut squash on my counter for at least a month and so I jumped right on this recipe tonight. I used 2 “chia eggs” rather than chicken eggs. I also sprinkled on some brown sugar for the final 10 minutes for a little sparkle and crunch ;)
It was delicious! The roasted flavor of the squash and the pepitas on top really came through and added some depth. However, the edges seemed dry – I blame the chia egg sub – so maybe some oil would help others who are veganizing it? I was thinking coconut oil. However the middle was nice and moist so less oven time might have done the trick. Regardless, I really do love it! Great recipe.
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First of all this bread looks delicious! Second of all, when my husband goes out of town I watch a show called Disappeared on the Investigative Discovery Channel. I usually can’t sleep and call my mom because I too scared to take the dog out for his evening pee. (yes, I’m 30) Why do we enjoy scaring ourselves when we are alone? I think I am a freak!!!
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The bread looks amazing! I love butternut squash bread and your recipe looks divine!
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That looks delicious. Can’t wait for the soup recipe that you are pairing it with. I think it would taste really good with a creamy cheese (for non-vegans!)
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YUM! My son loves butternut squah and I know he will love this.
My son is one month younger than Cullen and I love your updates about him!
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I have never heard of squash bread before, but I LOVE squash so I bet I’d like this too! It looks real yummy, I’ll have to try it!
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Lori and I have been on a quick bread kick lately, need to make these! yum!
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i bought butternut squash for roasting as a side, but decided to call an audible when i saw this recipe. made it tonight–good flavor, especially nice when warmed up w the butter.
i would, however, advise against pureeing the squash in a blender. mine is top-notch, but it became a real hassle w this. i wound up switching to the food processor.
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Blender’s gotta be a Vitamix or equivalent to work
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I would love to try this recipe. Would I be able to substitute the one cup of all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour? Is it a 1:1 ratio?
Thank you,
HJ
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This is DELICIOUS!! I just made some…it got out of the oven not even 30 minutes ago and half the loaf is gone…and I only have one roommate
I used a kitchen aid blender and it worked just fine
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Just made this tonight it was delicious! I used spelt instead of all purpose flour and added half a cup of chopped walnuts. We ate it with chili and a smear of whipped earth balance…yum!! Thanks for the great recipe.
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Love the idea of using butternut squash as opposed to pumpkin for a change! This looks like the perfect quick bread, I might have to add some cranberries ! :)
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This. Looks. Amazing. I am printing the recipe out now and am going to try it tonight!
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My fiance doesn’t like butternut squash (or pumpkin, or sweet potatoes) so I’m going to turn this into a (vegan) spiced banana bread recipe! I love all your recipes and all the pictures of your kids (I miss the dogs!).
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Emily Malone Reply:
December 12th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Haha the dogs are here! They were on the blog last week! :)
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[...] dinner was cooking downstairs in the kitchen. I made my hearty lentil vegetable soup and roasted butternut squash bread for the family. Seemed to be a hit – there is not much soup left, and the bread disappeared [...]
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