Turning the kitchen over to the masses

I'm not much of a baker, you may have noticed. I'm much too enamored of switching ingredients mid-recipe, and baking has all that chemistry stuff going on what with the measuring and the baking soda and whatnot. However, I'm working toward probably 5 quarts of pumpkin pulp from my bumper crop of small sugar pumpkins, so I had to turn it over to the peanut gallery (my daughter and husband).

Ms. peanut, aka Nga Jee, is actually quite a good baker, and is the family's Official Maker of the Bouche de Noel. For some reason, the two of them felt that pumpkin bread could not be baked without playing Michael Jackson's Beat It very loud. I believe there was dancing as well. I stayed out of the kitchen. Being terminally adorable when together, they also carved their initials into the loaf before baking (and yes, they used a loaf pan instead of the 8x8 cake pan the recipe called for, but it's delicious anyway.)

Found this recipe somewhere on line; apologies for not saving and linking the URL.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon orange zest
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup pumpkin pulp
1/4 cup mild molasses
1/4 cup milk


Stir together flour, gingerroot or ground ginger, finely shredded orange peel, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until combined. Add egg and beat well. Beat in pumpkin and molasses on medium speed until smooth. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to the pumpkin mixture, beating until smooth. Pour into a greased and lightly floured 8x8x2-inch baking pan.

Bake at 350F/176C for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.