It’s been a long day, and as I needed a change of scenery, I drove down to the Retreat and worked there today. Leaving ridiculously early means I had almost no traffic and caught a lovely sunrise, but — one thing you didn’t know about me — I’m not a morning person unless I have a plane to catch. All this means that I’m tired and feeling singularly uninspired (apparently, my muses don’t like getting up early either). Not wanting to break the posting streak quite yet and wanting to be a good friend, I’m giving you my Pumpkin Spice Bread recipe. It’s so wonderful that you’ll want to eat the entire thing in one sitting. (Go ahead. No Judgey McJudgeboat here.) And if I can successfully bake it, anyone can. I can’t take actual credit for the recipe itself; it came from the Junior League of Wheeling, West Virginia. Yes, I do read Junior League and church cookbooks to de-stress. As the daughter of a proud West Virginian (see all the things you’re learning about me today?), I feel certain that whatever lovely Mountaineer woman created this recipe wouldn’t mind my sharing. I encourage you to bake this on a cold, dismal day, as it will make your house smell amazing and your mouth extremely happy.

Pumpkin Spice Bread
1 stick of butter
1 1/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. water
1 c. canned pumpkin puree

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.
Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs one at a time. In a smaller mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the 1/2 cup of water, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the pumpkin. Spoon into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (that was 1 hour + 10 minutes for me). Cool in the pan for 10 minutes , then turn out onto a wire rack or cutting board to cool completely. Makes one loaf of deliciousness.

Oh, I also caught the sunset driving back from the Retreat.