Reduced Calorie Pumpkin Bread

Who thought reduced calorie pumpkin bread could be so good?  Well, I’m hear to tell you it is.  Aren’t you lucky?  Anyway, my bestie’s mama, Sharon (Hi Sharon!) tweaked up a recipe and came up with this little gem (I tweaked it a tad bit more as well).  Anyway, it’s moist, it’s pumpkin-ee and a perfect fix with coffee.

So here’s the thing, I was looking at nutritional information for regular, full-calorie pumpkin bread and it averages about 179 calories per slice.  Now, they consider one slice to be 1 ounce in terms of weight.  I can tell you right now that no one ever cuts a 1 ounce slice of pumpkin bread and considers that a serving.  It’s minuscule and definitely wouldn’t hold a slab of butter.  This means that a regular slice, one that you would just normally cut and looks like “normal size” weighs about 2.4 ounces (based on a 12 serving loaf made in an 8 x 4 pan).  So one slice of regular pumpkin bread is about 429 calories.  OUCH!

So this lovely recipe will cut your calories in half, coming in at only 228 calories per 2.4 ounce slice.  That’s a huge savings. 

How can you not make this?

Now, since you are saving so many calories, you can slather on the butter..he-he. Or cream cheese, or…or…

So give this one a try, save the calories for all the mashed potatoes you’ll be eating this season.

Reduced Calorie Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from Sharon H.

Cooking Spray
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 tsp table salt
2 eggs, large
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar Splenda, packed
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tablespoons unsalted pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 350^o F.  Prepare an 8 x 4 baking pan by spraying with cooking spray.  I like to line my pan with parchment so I can remove the loaf easily after I take it from the oven.  Laying the parchment over the cooking spray makes it stick to the sides.  Then I press the parchment into the pan and clip it with clothespins to hold it in place until I pour my batter in the pan.  DO NOT PLACE CLOTHESPINS IN THE OVEN.

Here is a picture with the parchment clamped down.

Mix all ingredients, except the walnuts and the pumpkin seeds, in a bowl with a blender.  Stir in chopped walnuts.  Pour into prepared baking pan.  Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Now, I was feeling a little experimental so I actually baked two loaves, both were exactly the same except I left out the honey in one loaf.  I did this to see if it still tasted good enough with the mindset that someone with diabetes might be able to enjoy this recipe as well. 

The loaf without honey still had a slight sweetness, but tasted good, just less sweet.  Leaving the honey out lowered the calories slightly and changed the total carbohydrates by almost 7{5396afcf7ebcb011d88226d96591fa60d0bb5a6cac0179c8121d60c005c366a8}.  Nice. 

Nutritional Information: (with honey)
Based on 12 servings, each serving 2.4 ounces

Calories: 228
Total Fat: 14.2 g (1.9 g Saturated)
Cholesterol: 30.8 mg
Sodium: 191.7 mg
Potassium: 75.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 22.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.6 g
Sugars: 12.7 g
Protein: 4.3 g

Removing the honey lowered the calories to 199 per slice, the total carbohydrates to 15.2 g and sugars to
5.1 g.

Here is a real behind-the-scenes-shot.  While I’m photographing food, Abby, is always, waiting and hoping something will drop to the ground.  Her 100+ pound self leans on me and sits on my feet during most shots.  I thought you might like to know.  We love her.

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