Pumpkin Bread

The office had its annual Christmas party yesterday. In typical fashion, my boss paid me to bring something on his behalf. I brought a vegetable tray. But on my behalf I wanted to bring something sweet since not many people signed up for desserts. While unpacking in our new place I noticed a bread pan which made me think of this pin: pumpkin bread with browned butter glaze.

Delicious- amiright?!

The recipe was pretty straight forward, but I still enlisted Justin since I have bad luck when I try to bake on my own. It turns out I needed him by my side the entire time...

The first problem (and I think main problem) arose when, after scrubbing the bread pan) I noticed a good amount of rust. I felt uncomfortable baking in it and since it was pretty cheap, I threw it away. So what to do next? Well, since the recipe was enough for two loaves, I simply decided to put it all in one 9X13" Pyrex. I heated the oven while I made the batter and then set the timer to 5 minutes less than the recommended time in the recipe. Next mistake.

As I was in the kitchen cleaning up dishes and trying to get everything else situated in the new place I began smelling the delicious scent of pumpkin bread. I love pumpkin. I honestly can't think of a pumpkin flavored food I don't love. I mean, have you tried Jamba Juice's Pumpkin Smash? You need to! Anyway.... Back to cleaning dishes...

The smell was delicious and in my mind I kept thinking, "I should check it" but thought, "It's only been baking half an hour and it's supposed to bake a full hour." about 15 minutes later the smell changed to one I am all too familiar with- burning. Sure enough, I opened the oven and it distinctly smelled like burning. I took out the pan and tested it. While the very tip of my testing knife had parts stuck to it, I could see that the sides and bottom of the pan were black. So I turned the oven off and let the bread/cake creation cool. My heart was sad.

The browned butter glaze made up for my disappointment though. THIS. STUFF. ROCKED. In all honesty, I think this will be my permanent recipe for pretty much anything needing a frosting that isn't super sweet already.

I browned the butter for about 10 minutes- wait until the butter is foamy on top but there are little brown bits at the bottom- this stuff is like gold. Next I mixed it with the 2 c of powdered sugar and eventually 4 T of powdered sugar to get the stuff dreams are made of. I am not kidding. And I don't normally think much of frosting. I mean yes, I'll eat it out of the can directly from the store like any other normal person, but I don't think a frosting has ever changed my life like this. It tasted kind of like toffee and was sweet but not overpoweringly sweet. It... Yeah, I can't describe, you just need to try it.

The verdict: try it, but with a bread pan and in an oven you're already familiar with (this was my first time baking in this oven). The bread itself had a very good flavor and I'm sure it would be good on its own. But boy did that frosting make up for it being burnt.

Here's the lone picture. The lighting wasn't great and I had to use my phone because my regular camera is still packed up in a box somewhere upstairs.

My sadder version.