If there's anything the past few years have taught us, it's that we love banana bread. We are drawn to its natural sweetness, the subtle banana flavor mixed with nuts, the warm spices. Having a slice with a cup of coffee makes for an almost perfect breakfast.
Almost. There's one thing that would make it truly perfect, and it's a simple addition to your favorite banana bread recipe: canned pumpkin. It will not only give your baked good a delicious taste of fall but also bring some moistness to your loaf.
Adding canned pumpkin to a banana bread is simple. You don't need to swap out any ingredients. You simply add a half to a full cup of pumpkin puree to the mixture at the same time you add the bananas.
If you want a little of that PSL flavor, add some pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. You do need to think about how much moisture the canned pumpkin will add to your bread. Canned pumpkin is about 90% water, which gives your bread a nice sponginess.
However, too much liquid and it will end up soggy. How to eliminate the moisture The simplest way to remove the moisture is to squeeze it through a cheesecloth, However, you can take a few extra minutes to cook the pumpkin on the stove over a low heat for five to 15 minutes. Cooking down the pumpkin not only eliminates some of the liquid, but it also concentrates the flavor of the pumpkin.
It will also caramelize some of the natural sugars in the pumpkin and give you a sweeter end product. The cooking time will depend on how.
