Fall

I realize that when most people think of Fall they think of leaves turning, kids going back to school, fires in the fireplace and all that. Not me. For me, it's not Fall until my house smells like these. This version of Fall happens to be in the form of mini muffins (better to pack in Bean's lunch & no, it.is.not. a treat. sshhhhhh!). In the past its been in the form of bread. The best pumpkin bread in the world bread. This is my Auntie Kay's recipe and as kids we used to stack piece upon piece on our plates until the whole pumpkin bread tower would topple over. That's how we knew we had enough to get through Thanksgiving dinner. It was the only recipe I asked for the first year I decided to have Thanksgiving with friends in my little San Francisco apartment right after college instead of going to the big family dinner 40 miles south. It just wasn't going to be right without that bread.

Forget the cousins and the turkey, I needed the bread.

Auntie Kay's Pumpkin Bread

4 eggs (slightly beaten)
3 cups of sugar
(I've only been using one cup so it's not so "treaty" if you know what I mean.)
2/3 cup of milk (whole milk is best)
1 cup of oil
2 cups of canned pumpkin
3 1/2 cups of flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. baking powder

bake at 350 degrees
(5 small bread pans: 45 minutes)
(2 big bread pans: 1 hour)
(muffin pans: 20 minutes)
(smally muffins: 13 minutes)

I literally throw this all in one big bowl and mix together with a whisk or spatula. So easy and good.

Happy Fall.