My Aunt Noni was from a little town outside Biloxi, Mississippi. And I don’t mind tellin’ you, she was a fabulous cook. As a matter of fact, (see story of her culinary skills here) she was so skilled at making her Southern specialties, that the country club which she and my Uncle Frank belonged to, would ask her to come and cook for all the visiting celebrities and CEO’s. As it turned out, one of those country club’s special celebrities that always requested my Aunt Noni cook for him, was Elvis Presley. As a matter of fact, he loved her fresh pumpkin bread so much, that he’d have her bake him extra loaves to take home with him.
So, every Halloween while everyone else was at home carvin’ out their pumpkins, Aunt Noni was busy cuttin’, peelin’ and cookin’ her pumpkins for the King of Rock-and-Roll!
Elvis’s Fresh Pumpkin Nut Bread
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Bread
Cuisine: Southern
Serves: 8
PREP TIME
10 mins
COOK TIME
60 mins
TOTAL TIME
1 hour 10 mins
INGREDIENTS
3 cups sugar
4 eggs (beaten)
2 sticks butter (melted)
2 cups fresh pumpkin (See My Homemade Recipe Here)
â…” cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 ½ cups flour (unbleached)
1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
1 cup raisins (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a big mixing bowl, beat the eggs and add the sugar and butter. Mix well. Now add all the ingredients except the flour and nuts.
Sift the flour in another big bowl, add the nuts and raisins to the flour and coat them well. This way they won’t sink to the bottom of the bread pan when you bake them.
Add the flour and nuts and raisins into the butter and egg mixture and mix well. I know it smells great but try not to eat it!
Grease and flour a big bread pan. Pour the pumpkin batter into the bread pan (or pans depending upon what size they are) and plop on the counter a few time to get the air bubbles out.
Bake at 350° for one hour. It’ll rise up real nice and be a really rich, delicious, and thick bread. YUM!