Vegan Tuesday -- Pumpkin Cinn-A-Zag Bread

This is a fantastic recipe from the wonderful new cookbook The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes by Kris Holechek. I used a combination of pumpkin and acorn squash that I roasted to make the puree.

You would never know that this bread was made without eggs or dairy products--it's rich and delicious and not heavy or dense. I love the cinnamon swirl running through the middle. This bread would make a wonderful breakfast for holiday guests. The bread freezes well and is especially nice lightly toasted.

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup apple butter or apple sauce

1/2 cup milk alternative

1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with margarine or oil.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, apple butter and milk. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, set aside.

Pour half of batter into the loaf pan, then sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Pour remaining batter on top. Draw a knife through the loaf in several directions to mix the zig-zag layer around.

Bake for 48 to 52 minutes until center of bread is set and a toothpick comes out clean. Let loaf cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 45 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen and turn bread out of the pan to finish cooling on the rack. Store leftover bread covered at room temperature.