Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

November 6, 2009

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

I’ve got a guilty conscience.  Here’s a little peek inside:

Dear Coworker David,

Tonight when you were detailing the twenty one shots you had for your twenty first birthday, I stopped listening at about shot number four… the Raging Bull I think you said.  How do you remember all twenty one shots after twenty one shots anyway!?   Sheeesh!  Though I was smiling and nodding tonight, I heard not a word you said.  True.

Dear Downstairs Neighbor,

Is it noisy down there?  Does it seems sometimes like I’m stomping around on my second floor apartment floors?  Probably.  I am.  I can have some heavy feet from time to time.  Do I do it on purpose?  Sometimes.  Yes.  To be fair, I do this because, as you know, I left cupcakes on your doorstep for you one afternoon and I watched you discover them and take them to the dumpster to throw away.  I saw you do that.  Not cool.  Not cool at all.

Dearest Friend (pssst!… that’s you),

Sometimes I make recipes vegan simply because I’m out of eggs and/or butter.  It’s true.  A severe and persisting egg shortage in my house was the inspiration for the Vegan Pumpkin Bread.  If you’re vegan, you’re probably annoyed.  That’s ok.  I can be annoying.  If you’re not vegan, you’re probably happy to know that you can still bake up some wonders without eggs and butter.  Your call.

Love,

Joy the Baker

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Pumpkin Bread.  Ooooh, you’re a tough one to futz up.  Pumpkin adds moisture and flavor that just won’t quit.  When combined with plenty of spices, pumpkin bread becomes a treat that will stay fresh and moist for days and days.  This version is sweetened with both brown sugar and maple syrup.  I. Love. It.

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

makes 2 loaves

Print this Recipe!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour ( or whole wheat flour… or just use only all-purpose flour)

2 cups light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree, or just under two cups

1 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup water

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven.  Grease and flour two loaf pans (mine are 8x4x2) and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.

In a medium bowl, carefully whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup and water.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold all of the ingredients together.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, finding any stray flour bits to mix in.  Fold in most of the chopped walnuts, reserving some to sprinkle on top of the batter once in the pan.

Divide the dough between the two greased pans and sprinkle with a few walnut pieces.  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven.  Let rest in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.

Serve warm.  Maybe even wrap one loaf up in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for future munching.

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{ 150 comments… read them below or add one }

micah rose November 6, 2009 at 10:47 pm

OK…seriously? Who throws cupcakes away? Especially if they were left by a ridiculously amazing baker? Hmm…whatev.
Regardless, I HATE pumpkin bread…but this recipe looks amazing. I think I will make it tonight…even though its nearly midnight. Hope the baby doesn’t smell the bread and wake up. Oh well…its a risk I’m willing to take*)

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Terresa Wellborn November 7, 2009 at 1:15 am

mmm. Vegans of the world, unite!

PS: one of the very best pieces of chocolate cake my mouth ever met was (drumroll) vegan. When I found out, I about died. It was that good. As this looks out-of-this-world good, too.

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Alyssa December 6, 2009 at 2:14 am

Desperately searching for vegan chocolate cake recipe to change my friends minds about how awesome it can be. Dont have the recipe by any chance do you?? :)

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jen November 7, 2009 at 8:38 am

Yum! My bread turned out great. It’s almost like a cross between pumpkin bread & gingerbread. One thing I would have done differently (because my pans are alarger loaf pan size than listed in the recipe) would be to just do one loaf with more batter in it & bake a few muffins. Both of my loaves are quite low (2-3 inches tall). Another great recipe Joy!

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Anna November 7, 2009 at 1:22 pm

I’m cooking a pumpkin so that it doesn’t go bad – as i write – and I thought that I would check to see if you had any pumpkin recipes. As usual, you are there for me!I can’t wait until it is cool enough to mash up and make this bread!

I pity your neighbor for being too cranky or paranoid or just plain ungrateful that he/she can’t accept kindness and generosity. What a sad way to live.

21 shots? In one night?

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Nabeela November 7, 2009 at 4:37 pm

I’ve actually done that to a food gift recently. But I didn’t do it to spite them or anything…I just know that having yummy desserts at home is dangerous for me(cuz I’d eat it all in an hour!). So I throw them out…but I always make sure to thanks the gift giver though.

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steph (whisk/spoon) November 7, 2009 at 4:52 pm

what–someone threw out your cupcakes?? the nerve! vegan or not, this bread looks delicious!

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Emily November 7, 2009 at 4:58 pm

In the spirit of “make do with what you got,” I took this recipe and made substitutions galore… molasses instead of maple syrup, olive oil instead of veg., pecans instead of walnuts. I also only have a rather large loaf pan, so I filled that up, and made muffins with the leftover batter. And they still turned out great! I’m eating a muffin right now. Thank you! You helped me make my Saturday just a little productive.

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Nicole November 7, 2009 at 7:03 pm

That looks yum! I’m in.

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Rhubarb and Venison November 7, 2009 at 8:48 pm

Just made this bread – one loaf w/ walnuts for me, one loaf with choc chips for my honey – and it’s great! I too constantly run out of eggs, and I just boiled up my jack-o-lantern so I had plenty o’ pumpkin to use up. Thanks for the recipe!

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Elizabeth November 7, 2009 at 11:11 pm

LOL…purging is good….purging with dessert is better

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Anna November 8, 2009 at 1:04 pm

Your downstairs neighbor seems pretty mean. Too bad the cupcakes went to waste, but this looks delicious. Can’t wait to get home so I can try baking this!

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Andrea November 8, 2009 at 2:08 pm

Ooooh my heart sank when I read that your neighbor dumped your (likely very pretty too) cupcakes. One can always take them to work. Take them to your hairdresser…they (stylists) always love surprise food…can share with the clients even…Looks like a yummy recipe…and sometimes we are out of eggs…or butter…and yes sometimes we can perform great labors of love…even on birthdays..and not receive a thank you note…It does make one wince a little bit…You are awesome Joy the Baker!!!

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Molly P November 8, 2009 at 2:13 pm

I made this bread yesterday and it’s so good! I love that the top gets nice and crunchy but the inside stays moist. YUM! Thanks for the recipe.

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NJ November 8, 2009 at 5:08 pm

Question??? Is this 2 cups flour + 1 1/2 cup wheat/and or all purpose flour for a total of 3 1/2 cups of flour

or

just 2 cups or just 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour?

Thanks

N

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Whitney November 8, 2009 at 5:30 pm

I am oh soo happy about this. Especially after my fiasco with some pumpkin muffins a few weeks ago. I can’t believe some jerk would throw away your cupcakes!! Here’s a cool idea to piss off your cupcake wasting neighbor: DANCE PARTY!!! at 2 am. on a weeknight. ok, that may be a bit too far. oh so fun, though.

But seriously, maybe you should try leaving vegetables.

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cookeaze November 9, 2009 at 6:57 am

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread are new to me – this looks interesting and delicious! I am more than super excited to try these.

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donna November 9, 2009 at 8:00 am

Have you tried brown rice syrup in place of sugar or maple syrup? I’ve baked with it a couple of times. I’m going to try this recipe and sub it for the maple syrup.

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Annie November 9, 2009 at 11:23 am

Did your neighbor know they were from you? Maybe he didn’t know who left them in which case I would have tossed them too…

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Mélanie November 9, 2009 at 2:51 pm

Not vegan… and totally happy to learn what I can do without eggs and butter! :)
One egg left in the fridge. Looks like I’m gonna try your recipe soon!

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Rachel November 9, 2009 at 8:57 pm

Joy-
Simply delicious recipe! We eat primarily vegan because of food allergies, but we still LOVE your blog. We were thrilled to see this recipe. I am sure that may darling little daughter will devour this for breakfast… yep, I am that mom who will give this to her for breakfast. :) Thanks for the great treats!

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Ruth November 10, 2009 at 8:23 am

Thanks for the great pumpkin bread recipe…it was delicious and I already have requests from my friends to bake more right away!

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CandyCornucopia November 10, 2009 at 9:25 am

Oh Yummy Day! I made this Sunday morning…by the afternoon only one remained…glad I immediately put the 2nd one in the freezer or it wouldn’t of made it to Monday!!! Thanks for posting a fantastic recipe.

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Claudia November 10, 2009 at 12:08 pm

I love the confessions almost as much I love seeing what you’re baking.

Not really into vegan food, but recently a friend included a vegan cupcake in the four that she brought for my birthday because she knew I’d “appreciate” it. Not sure where she got that idea, but hey, it was yummy.

I will try the pumpkin bread out on my unsuspecting partner – then I’ll have my own confession.

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Kelly November 10, 2009 at 12:42 pm

My new favorite recipe for pumpkin bread! I didn’t have any vegetable oil so I used coconut oil and it was perfection. I can’t stop eating it…

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gourmandelise November 12, 2009 at 12:50 am

Toutes tes photos sont magnifiques et appétissantes, bravo!! Ce pain à la courge a l’air délicieux!!

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Nancy November 12, 2009 at 9:55 pm

Hey Joy,

I bought ingredients for this recipe but missed the part about cloves and allspice. You think I could just hike up the amount of cinnamon and nutmeg instead? About how much would you use?

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Irene November 13, 2009 at 10:58 pm

Love! Thank you!

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marykate November 14, 2009 at 9:02 pm

i’ve been waiting to try out this recipe and finally got to it. i can’t go without cheese myself but have many vegan friends who need thanksgiving desserts just like the rest of us. and i have to say this is delicious!! lacking a loaf pan, i made it in muffin form and they were had an intense crispy top, which is totally my favorite part of sweet breads. yay!

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marykate November 14, 2009 at 9:03 pm

ps. hilarious. i am so irked when people detail every drink they took the night before. drinking is not so novel!

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LEC November 18, 2009 at 3:39 pm

This recipe knocked my socks off- and I’m neither vegan nor a baker of vegan goods! Incredibly moist, spicy, and pumpkin-y, not to mention a great crumb and easy to make.

I made a half recipe (worked beautifully) using mini-muffin tins lined with papers (also worked beautifully). Used a 6 oz. ramekin to bake remaining batter- turned out the cutest, most delish mini cake (was perfect last night with gingersnap gelato).

Thank you for this wonderful recipe! My vegan farmer friend (for whom I made this) thanks you, too. This recipe is a keeper that will become part of my regular fall baking rotation…

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Rachel January 13, 2010 at 5:53 pm

Your quick breads post came just in time. How did you know that just last night, I was looking for a pumpkin bread recipe that didn’t use butter or eggs (because I don’t have them, and I do have a gigantic can of pumpkn purée). Thanks Joy!

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shasta February 17, 2010 at 8:32 pm

while this recipe looks delicious, i would probably throw away cupcakes left on my doorstep too. probably a better idea to include a note for that kind of thing.

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Julie @ Willow Bird Baking March 4, 2010 at 7:51 am

I made this for my friend who is nixing dairy from her diet while breastfeeding (hey, that pingback up there is from me!). We all enjoyed it. My boyfriend and I might have slathered ours with butter . . . more apologies to vegans!

Thanks for a great recipe.

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Heather - Ghost Baker March 9, 2010 at 4:59 pm

Made this yesterday and it turned out great, even without the walnuts. Thanks for opening my eyes to vegan treats :-)

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Chrissy April 18, 2010 at 1:52 am

This is crazily delicious. I just made 2 loaves and was planning on giving one away. But now… I just don’t know if i can part with it. This pumpking bread is my new favorite thing. Thank you SO much.

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Jenny April 22, 2010 at 8:12 am

I’m gonna try this out this weekend but it won’t be vegan! I’m subbing honey for all of the sugar, reducing the oil by half and using Greek yogurt in its place. I’m excited to make this finally, its been on my list for a while now even though it isn’t fall anymore pumpkin bread is a nice treat anytime!

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joythebaker April 22, 2010 at 8:54 am

wow! let me know how it works for you!

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Niki April 25, 2010 at 7:20 pm

I’m not vegan but I like to have a few vegan recipes in my repertoire for friends who are. I made these for the first time a few months ago as a gift for a vegan family. They got very high reviews from the gift-ees so I made them again for my husband, whose preferred breakfast is two muffins and several cups of coffee. This recipe yields 24 standard-size muffins. These are excellent muffins– moist and sweet and flavorful. My daughters enjoy them as snacks– especially when I throw in a few handfuls of chocolate chips. Today I made one and a half batches. I only had the one can of pumpkin so I added 2 mushed bananas to the wet ingredients. Delicious, easy, somewhat wholesome– the kind of muffin you want to bake up again and again. Thanks, Joy.

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Jessanna May 17, 2010 at 11:42 am

made it with my 4 kids.. they loooved eating the batter! it was nice to not have to worry about semolina..ha its in the oven, and will be ready when they wake up from their nap!
thanx hun

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Jasmine May 23, 2010 at 6:54 am

Made this yesterday and it went down really well with everyone. This is a keeper.

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Laura June 18, 2010 at 2:02 pm

Hey Joy!
I follow your blog, and I finally made time to try one of your recipes. Today was a definite bread day, so I chose one from you top ten quick breads list. I was a little uneasy about the whole vegan thing, but it turned out splendidly! One note – even Walmart only carries pumpkin puree during the holiday season. Thank goodness for friends with large pantries :)
Keep up the joy!

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Lisanne September 21, 2010 at 12:47 pm

Your neighbor just threw away your cupcakes???!!! That’s just all levels of not right. Seriously, you gotta say something to him. Something like… “I’m so sorry, did you have a food allergy I was unaware of? Because if you did I feel terrible that I offered you my baked goods and understand entirely why you didn’t want to consume them. It’s totally cool. I just wish you would have brought the cupcakes back and told me! Oh, my. Just think I could have made you blow up like a balloon!” Then you laugh, he laughs awkwardly and you go about your business. Except you just brain ninja’d him and he’ll think twice about throwing out baked goods the next time. From someone else, because he doesn’t deserve your baked goodies!!
Oh, and p.s. I am now going to hunt for all the dang pureed pumpkin I can find. Last year’s pumpkin bust made me miss all things pumpkin so I am on it. Fellow readers, if you go to your store and they are all sold out, I’m sorry. It was me.

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Lisanne September 21, 2010 at 12:50 pm

haha I had to laugh when I realized the post date! Okay, so saying something to him now would just make you look crazy. LOL

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Erica September 30, 2010 at 10:02 am

Joy,

You are hilarious. I am going to attempt to make this tonight for a dinner party I am having. When I was reading your message to your downstairs neighbor I almost peed my pants. Thanks for the laugh.

Erica

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Anna October 7, 2010 at 3:17 pm

bread is equally AMAZING with butternut squash! thanks joy!

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Amy October 8, 2010 at 8:20 am

I just wanted to say that this bread is not in your index under vegan. I was looking for it( i made it before and it is amazing) Just a headz up :)

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Mary Margeson October 8, 2010 at 11:15 am

Oh my goodness. So, here I am, preparing for a girl’s scrapbooking weekend next week, and I was thinking that my “snack contribution” should be pumpkin bread, and I thought…”hmmm…wonder what J the B is posting about today?” (FYI…your site is an EXCELLENT procrastination tool!) and so I pop over, and what do I see? This recipe! Guess what the girls are getting next weekend:?

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Adi October 10, 2010 at 12:37 pm

I can totally relate! I really wanted to make cookies the other day, and we were out of eggs. I found online that you can substitute 2 tbsp water, 2 tbsp vinegar, and 2 tsp baking powder. I have no idea how, but it worked! crazy baking science…..I have to ask my food science major friends!

But this bread looks delicious, vegan or not. I can’t wait to start making some fall treats! (your apple walnut bread is one of my favorites)

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Indigo October 15, 2010 at 5:11 am

I was a bit unsure about this because pumpkin isn’t a big thing in baking here in the UK, at least not the same way as in the US – but this was absolutely DELICIOUS; I made it this morning and just had a thick piece with a little soya spread. I didn’t have walnuts but I don’t think it suffered for it. Thanks so much, Joy!

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Melanie October 18, 2010 at 12:58 pm

Mmmmm – just discovered your website from Bakerella, and stumbled across this one and ran to make it! Didn’t have maple syrup, so I used honey, and I didn’t have walnuts (I don’t care much for them) so used the oh-so-healthy substitute of, um, butterscotch chips. ;-) Delicious!

I wonder if anyone has tried subbing some of the oil with applesauce? Does it make a difference if you did?

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Surcie October 19, 2010 at 5:17 am

I made muffins (only all-purpose flour and no nuts) and they were SO good! My 7 year old son, husband and parents absolutely loved them. They’re moist, not overly sweet and perfectly spiced. My son wanted a little extra sweetness so I made a bit of cinnamon icing and drizzled it on his muffin. This has a permanent place in my recipe book! (I, too, would love to know if someone substituted oil with applesauce.)

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Allie October 19, 2010 at 6:23 am

I made this at the weekend, having finally managed to track down a tin of pumpkin puree (as others have mentioned, it’s not a common thing in the UK) and it’s lovely. I made it gluten-free for my sister, who can’t eat gluten or dairy, with a mix of Doves Farm flour and fine cornmeal. My sister thought it was delicious, and us ‘normal people’ agreed!

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