It's the Great Pumpkin Bread, Charlie Brown!

We all know that the holidays carry with them one constant: Food! More specifically, desserts.

This entry is a good way to ease in to the holidays, and it addresses an unrelenting cultural phenomenon: the sudden and intense worship of the pumpkin. In October we carve them up, and for the rest of the holiday season we're downing slice after slice of pumpkin pie.

For something a little different, I make pumpkin bread. The reason behind this is twofold:

1) A girl can only eat so much pumpkin pie before it starts to loose it's novelty.
2) My mom raised me so well that I could never eat a slice of pumpkin pie for breakfast without feeling ridiculously guilty (blueberry pie is a whole different ballgame).

With those two things in mind I created this pumpkin bread recipe. It's sweet, moist, has a little spice to it, and goes great with a cup of coffee in the morning -- or after dinner! The cream cheese glaze makes the cake, I mean, bread!

Preheat your oven to 350*f, and we'll get started.

The Great Pumpkin (Bread)
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground Clove
1/2 tsp. ground Nutmeg
1 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs, whisked lightly
1/4 cup Butter, melted
1 (16 oz.) can Pureed Pumpkin

1) Grease a loaf pan with butter. You can use a baking spray, but I am like a petite, northern, Paula Dean. I like my butter.

2) In a medium bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt.

3) Next, add the eggs and butter. Incorporate them in to the flour mixture.

4) Mix in the pumpkin until the batter is smooth.

5) Pour the batter in to the greased loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (about 35 minutes).

After the loaf comes out, let it cool. Once you can handle it, take it out of the pan and place it on a rack. After it cools, top it with the cream cheese glaze.

Frosting, SOMETIMES, is a little excessive. This is already a sweet bread, but it's so nice to have the warm spice of the bread with the coolness of cream cheese. Using a thick glaze instead of a full on frosting works this magic without overwhelming the main event.

Cream Cheese Glaze
1 (8 oz.) package Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar
1/4 cup Butter, softened
1 tblsp. Vanilla Extract

In a bowl, combine all of the above ingredients. Beat on HIGH until the mixture is smooth, for about a minute. The glaze should fluff up a bit. It should look and taste like cheese cake batter, but it will be a little thicker. Keep it in the fridge until you're ready to glaze your bread.

This bread is so delicious, I actually like it better than pumpkin pie! It strikes a great balance between spicy and sweet, breakfast and dessert... It's the Great Pumpkin Bread, Charlie Brown!