Pumpkin Ginger Bread

This is one of my favorite fall and winter treats. I always make this as a bread, but it's just as easy to make as muffins--just shorten the baking time (how much depends on the size of your muffins). I know that ginger is hardly a local product, but the pumpkin, milk, and eggs can be.

1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp dried ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup mashed cooked pumpkin (or other winter squash)
½ cup chopped candied ginger

Preheat the oven to 350˚. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then add the milk, vanilla, and oil and whisk together. Add the brown sugar and whisk until it is well blended. Add the pumpkin and whisk until fully blended. Stir in the candied ginger.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Fold together gently until just mixed.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing, then cool the rest of the way on a rack.

Makes one loaf.

Variation: Substitute dried cranberries for the candied ginger.