Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed (dark) brown sugar (I used light, since it’s what I had on hand)
1 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil, but coconut is much better for you)*
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups pumpkin puree, or one 15-ounce can of pumpkin
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cup apple juice
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped dates**
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 X 5-inch loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, blend the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil with an electric mixer on medium speed, until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the pumpkin puree, and blend until smooth.
- Sift together the dry ingredients. To the creamed mixture add in the following order, beating after each addition just until incorporated: a third of the flour mixture; half of the apple juice; half of the remaining flour mixture; the remaining apple juice; then the remaining flour mixture. Stir in the chopped nuts and dates. Pour the batter into the pans. Bake in the oven for 1 hour- 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. (I have one glass and one metal loaf pan. The loaf in the metal pan was ready in about 1 hour, the glass pan loaf took an additional 10-15 minutes). If the tops are browning too quickly, cover lightly with aluminum foil the last 10-15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pans. Cool on a wire rack.
- Coconut oil can be a little expensive. If you have a Costco membership, they’ve recently started carrying a large tub of coconut oil for around $15. Great buy!
** A quick way to chop dates is to place them in a food processor with 1 tablespoon flour for each cup of dates. Pulse until the dates are the size of corn kernels. The flour keeps them from clumping together.
