Sweet Potato Spice Bread
Things have been all kinds of busy lately.
There’s a lot going on and that leaves less time than I would like to cook, much less set aside the time to take pictures and write up recipes for the blog. But since this is one of my outlets to rest/recharge from my day-job, I still make time in however best way I can.
One of those ways, in both a booking/blogging sense, is through making quick bread. I’ve mentioned before that we eat breakfast for dinner pretty frequently in my household, and quick bread of some sort usually makes an appearance as a part of that.
Quick bread is bread that’s made without yeast and, thus, doesn’t require a lot of preparation or rising time. It can literally made in more or less, an hour (thus the ‘quick’ part). Examples of quick breads would be gingerbread, pancakes, banana/zucchini bread; basically bread that’s made with baking powder and/or baking soda that acts as the leavening/rising agent in lieu of the yeast.
Whenever I’m in a hurry to make breakfast for dinner, I will usually default to making pancakes, or some kind of quick bread that we eat alongside eggs, sausage and bacon. This was one of those times.
I’ve been doing quite a bit of baking with sweet potatoes lately, which is evident not just in today’s post, but in a few more to come in the upcoming weeks. While I find them delicious all on their own, they’re also a great baking ingredient. Mashed potato is great for keeping bread doughs from drying out, and I find that sweet potato gives a warm and savory flavor that’s perfect for the tastebuds this time of year.
Like just about all quick breads, this loaf comes together very quickly (pun kinda intended). Apart from being very tasty, it’s also in the You Can’t Screw This Up recipe category–which is yet another reason for you to give it a try, whether it’s for keeps, or maybe even for a tasty holiday gift.
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Sweet Potato Spice Bread
Recipe Adapted from Allrecipes.com
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 cup mashed sweet potato
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 chopped, toasted pecans
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9 x 6 loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg cinnamon, ginger and sugar.
Add the eggs, oil, and milk; mix until well blended. Finally, stir in the mashed sweet potatoes, pecans, and dried cranberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow bread to cool in the pan at least 15 minutes before removing. For best flavor, store overnight before serving.
Sharing at Fiesta Friday #407, co-hosted this week by Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook.
Do you first cook the sweet potato (not yam) or buy canned sweet potato?
Typically I do cook it myself, but that’s just because I’m cheap, and a raw sweet potato is cheaper than the ones you can buy pre-mashed.
Now, the method by which I cook them when they’re raw varies according to how lazy I feel that day (haha)–most times I do roast it in the oven, but sometimes I’ll just prick it all over and nuke it in the microwave; either way works fine đŸ˜‰
Thanks. I notice how different sweet potatoes taste vs yams.
What a lovely bread, and lovely combination of spices!
This sounds fabulous!
Thank you Elaine–it’s really delicious autumn eats đŸ˜‰
It looks it, totally my kind of flavours x