Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Banana Bread

It might still be one thousand and a half degrees over here in South Asia still, but fall temperatures, Gilmore Girls, all things pumpkin, and bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils are on our hearts over here. Hello, September, right?

This recipe combines all your favorite things — pumpkin spice seasoning, low sugar, and white chocolate chips (but honestly, you could use regular chocolate chips too :)

Over here, there are no cans of pumpkin puree lining our supermarket doors, so you gotta start with the basics: buying a pumpkin, cutting, deseeding, and peeling it, boiling it, then pureeing it yourself. it’s honestly not that hard, (especially if you do it ahead of time) and I like to do it in batches ahead of time. While I only used 2/3 cup of pumpkin puree in this recipe, I used the rest of it for dinner that night making a sage/pumpkin/cheese sauce for some pasta for an easy meal. I literally brought the pumpkin puree to a boil, added some Amul Cream (and some cream cheese that Brodie decided to make — also fairly easy) and added onion powder, garlic powder, and some rubbed sage that I brought from the states. I also added a couple ladles of pasta water to make the sauce smooth. Poured over the pasta and baked with cheese on top until all melted and delicious.

BUT let’s get back to fall, ya’ll.

Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Banana Bread

serves 6-8 - 1 hour 20 minutes

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg (room temperature)

2/3 cup pumpkin puree (steamed kadoo pureed)

5 Tbs ghee (or coconut oil, melted butter, whatever your preferred oil is)

1/3 cup brown sugar (1 tbs water, 1 tbs jaggery melted in microwave for 30-45 seconds, then stir your sugar into the mix)

1.5 cup maida (all purpose flour)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (1/4 tsp each of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1.5 cups white chocolate chips (you can also use semi-sweet chocolate chips, or chopped nuts, whatever you prefer)

1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Cinnamon crust:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 165 degrees celsius (350 degrees F). In a large bowl, mix together your mashed banana, egg, brown sugar, ghee, pumpkin puree, and vanilla if using.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together your maida, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt. Pour your dry ingredients into the large bowl with the wet ingredients and stir until just incorporated.

3. Fold in your white chocolate chips. Line a 9x5 bread pan with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the paper lined pan.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the additional sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over top of the batter in the pan, and swirl with a toothpick or knife.

5. Bake for 50-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm with butter and chai.