I’ve finally done it. I’ve given in to my basic girl tendencies and busted out the pumpkin pie spice. Of course I didn’t use it in the expected way. Instead of making a sweet dessert, I made a semi-savory bread to serve along side my White Chicken Chili.

The savoriness comes from the pistachio add in. It’s composed of brown butter, crushed pistachios with sea salt, turmeric, cumin and cayenne. I know it sounds weird, but don’t knock it until you try it.

The batter came together pretty quickly. First I cut the butter and sugar together. Then I added the eggs. I slowly added the pumpkin spice and flour 1/2 cup at a time. Once combined I folded in the pistachio mixture and created this beautiful batter, that tastes pretty good too. I know, don’t eat raw eggs. 🤷‍♀️

The bread baked in 2 loaf pans for 60 minutes at 350-degrees F. I checked for doneness with a toothpick. Then I cooked the bread on a wire rack.

I find that I enjoy this bread best warm with a little bit of butter spread on it. It’s just the right amount of savory and sweet, and oh so yummy to eat.

Pumpkin Pistachio Bread

Ingredients

For Pistachio Add-Ins

• 3 TBSP butter
• 1 cup chopped, shelled pistachios with sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

For Bread Batter

• 2/3 cup butter at room temperature
• 2 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F. Grease two 9” x 5” bread pans, and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, melt 3 TBSP butter over MEDIUM heat. Continue cooking until golden brown, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. It should very an amber color and smell slightly nutty when complete.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the pistachios, turmeric, cumin and cayenne. Set aside to cool.
4. In a large bowl, beat 2/3 cup butter and sugar until crumbly. Do not cream it!
5. Add the eggs 1 at a time, using a hand mixture to beat each one in thoroughly.
6. Then beat in the pumpkin, water and pumpkin spice until well combined.
7. Beat the flour into the batter, 1/2 cup at a time on low speed until just moistened.
8. Finally, fold the pistachio mixture into the batter with a rubber spatula.
9. Divide the batter into the prepared loaf pans.
10. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until the center of a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf.
11. Allow the bread to cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 2 loaves.

I normally stink at making bread, but this recipe was super easy and turned out perfect. I will definitely make this again for Thanksgiving, as an alternative to regular dinner rolls.