[Vegan] Cranberry Pecan Butternut Squash Bread

Sometimes, I go a little crazy at the market. Today was no exception. The squashes and late season melons and watermelons were just calling to me. I took home one of each. I also grabbed the first bag of this season's cranberries at Trader Joe's yesterday and they were just waiting for their first calling.

During my weekly meal prep today, I roasted my butternut squash. It's pretty simple, just make a few knife incisions to release steam, and pop into a 450F oven until totally tender. Takes about an hour of idle time for a decent size squash. Then, scoop out the seeds and peel away the skin (should come off easily). Puree the flesh (think baby food or canned pumpkin) and measure just shy of two cups for this recipe or - better yet - weigh out 15 oz.

Any decent sized squash will yield MORE than enough for this recipe. And if you don't want to deal with squash, get a can of pure pumpkin puree. But please, none of that spiced/sugared pumpkin pie filling. Also, most squashes will work lovely here my favorites are always butternut and acorn but do let me know if you find another variety works well.

Squash + Cranberries are a pairing made in heaven (kind of like orange and cranberries actually....) and this bread doesn't dissapoint. Added bonus: it's vegan. But kind of by accident. It doesn't need eggs or butteriness because it gets all that moisture and richness from the squash.

I actually added some crystallized ginger to this bread, but in the end I found it more distracting than anything so I'm not including it in this recipe. I also didn't use as much cranberries, but I wished that I had. If you don't like cranberries as much as I do either leave them out or half the amount -- it's up to you. If you don't want them to be so tart, you can substitute an equal weight of dried cranberries which are sweetened so they're not so tart.

I baked only half the recipe and froze the remaining batter in an airtight container for another day. However, if you prefer not to bother with two loaves, you can easily halve the recipe since it has no eggs in it to worry about halving.

Vegan Cranberry Pecan Butternut Squash Bread

makes 2 loaves, adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (or 1.5 c more all purpose flour)
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
15 oz (just under 2 cups) butternut squash puree OR 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1 cup chopped pecans
1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries, roughly chopped

1. Heat the oven to 350F. Lightly oil and flour your standard loaf pan(s) - 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches.

2. Mix the dried goods: flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, & spices

3. Mix the wet stuff: squash puree, vegetable oil, maple syrup, & water.

4. Add the wet goods to the dry goods and combine. When fully combined, fold in the pecans and cranberries.

5. Split the mixture into two and put half the mixture into one of our floured loaf pans. Put the remaining into either another loaf pan, set aside for when the first loaf is finished, or freeze in an airtight container with a piece of wax paper covering the surface for rainy day*.

6. Bake for at least one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean with just a few clinging crumbs.

7. Allow to rest for 20 minutes before digging in!

*OK, today was technically a rainy day so I mean ANOTHER rainy day.