Pumpkin Pecan Breakfast Loaf with Cinnamon
A dense, moist loaf built on canned pumpkin, oats, and almond butter, sweetened with maple syrup, spiced with cinnamon and clove, and baked with pecans across the top.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Not every loaf that gets called breakfast bread earns the pan, and this one earns it by being honestly dense. It is closer to a baked oatmeal you can pick up in your hand than to a cake, and I would rather tell you that now than have you waiting on a light, airy crumb that is never coming. Bake it on a Sunday afternoon, let it cool all the way down, and you have eight slices to work through over the week. Two slices with coffee is the breakfast I eat standing in my own kitchen more mornings than I would like to admit, and it travels in a bag better than anything else I have tried.
The structure question is the interesting one. With no egg in the batter, three things share the work. Canned pumpkin brings the moisture and enough body to carry the oats, almond butter brings fat and a little stickiness, and four tablespoons of ground flaxseed stirred into warm water turn gelatinous in about ten minutes and give the batter something to stretch on. I grind one cup of the oats into a rough flour so the crumb is fine rather than lumpy and leave the rest whole so you can still see them in a slice. The melted coconut oil goes in last so it does not seize against the cold pumpkin.
Spicing is where a pumpkin loaf usually goes wrong, either so timid you taste nothing or so heavy on the clove that it tastes like a candle. Two teaspoons of cinnamon, a bare eighth of a teaspoon of ground cloves, and a tablespoon of fresh grated ginger is the balance I keep coming back to, and it is the fresh ginger that makes the loaf taste alive rather than like the inside of a spice jar. Pecans go over the top rather than through the batter, so they toast in the oven's heat and stay crisp against a soft crumb. Maple does the sweetening and the pumpkin carries the rest.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups gluten-free rolled oats, divided
- 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
- 4 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1/3 cup smooth almond butter, stirred well
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 3/4 cup pecan halves
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Heat the oven and line the pan: Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on the two long sides so you can lift the whole loaf out later. Rub the exposed ends of the pan with a little of the melted coconut oil.
- Make the flaxseed gel: Stir the ground flaxseed into 3/4 cup of warm water and leave it for 10 minutes, until it thickens into a loose gel that falls slowly from a spoon. Do not shortcut this. Watery flax will not hold a crumb together and the loaf will bake into a wet seam.
- Grind part of the oats: Put 1 cup of the oats in a blender or food processor and run it for 30 to 40 seconds, until you have a coarse flour with a few larger flecks left. Tip it into a bowl with the remaining whole oats, the cinnamon, cloves, and salt, and whisk to combine.
- Mix the batter: Whisk the pumpkin, almond butter, maple syrup, grated ginger, and the flaxseed gel in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in the melted coconut oil. Fold in the dry oat mixture with a spatula until no dry patches remain. The batter is thick and will hold the mark of the spatula.
- Fill the pan and top it: Scrape the batter into the pan and press it level, pushing it well into the corners. Lay the pecan halves over the top in rows and press them lightly so they sit in the surface rather than on it. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is firm and springs back and a skewer comes out with moist crumbs and no wet batter.
- Cool completely before slicing: Leave the loaf in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then lift it out by the parchment and cool it completely on the rack, at least 2 hours. Slicing warm gives you a crumbling mess, because this loaf sets as it cools. Cut into 8 thick slices with a serrated knife.
Variations
- Blueberry pumpkin: Fold 1 cup of blueberries into the batter at the very end and add 5 minutes to the bake time.
- Chocolate and pecan: Scatter 2 oz of chopped dark chocolate over the batter before the pecans go on so it melts into the top of the loaf.
- Seedy top: Swap the pecans for a mix of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds pressed into the surface for a crunchier, less rich crust.
- Walnut and orange: Use walnuts in place of the pecans and add the grated zest of one orange to the wet mixture.
- Less sweet, more spice: Cut the maple syrup to 1/4 cup and raise the cinnamon to 1 tablespoon for a loaf that leans warm and spiced.
Storage & Leftovers
Wrapped in parchment inside a sealed container, the loaf keeps at room temperature for 2 days and in the refrigerator for 5. Refrigerated slices firm up and taste drier straight from the cold, so I plan on toasting those rather than eating them as they come out. Slice the whole loaf before you store it.
Reheating is really toasting. Give a slice 4 to 5 minutes in a toaster oven at 350°F (175°C), or 2 minutes a side in a dry skillet, or a skillet with a half teaspoon of coconut oil if you want the cut faces crisp and a little caramelized. Thirty seconds in the microwave warms it through and leaves it soft.
This loaf freezes better than most things in this book. Freeze the slices flat on a tray, then stack them with parchment between and bag them for up to 3 months. Toast straight from frozen, adding a couple of minutes, and do not thaw on the counter, which leaves the crumb damp.
Notes & Tips
- Why flaxseed gel and not chia or banana: Flax hydrates into a smooth gel that disappears into a crumb. Chia stays in visible beads and makes a slice feel gritty, and mashed banana would bring its own strong flavor and a lot more sweetness to a loaf that already has pumpkin in it.
- Grind a cup of the oats: Whole oats alone give you a loose, granola-like slab. A cup of them run to flour is what turns the mixture into a batter that slices.
- Cool it completely, then slice: This is the rule with any bake bound by seeds and starch. The crumb sets as it cools, and a warm loaf will come apart on the knife every time.
- Stir the almond butter first: The oil that separates and sits on top of the jar is doing real binding work here. Stir the jar all the way to the bottom before you measure.
- Watch the top, not the clock: Ovens vary more than recipes admit. Look for a top that springs back and pecans that smell toasted, and tent the pan with foil if the nuts darken early.
- Slice the whole loaf before storing: Sliced ahead, breakfast is a two minute job all week. Stored whole, it is a knife, a board, and a decision you do not want at seven in the morning.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Pumpkin, oats, and almond butter make the loaf what it is between them. The pumpkin brings moisture and color, the oats bring the body and the chew, and the almond butter brings the fat that keeps a slice tasting rich rather than dry.
- Canned pumpkin is one of those ingredients that is simply cooked squash in a can, which is why it tastes sweet and earthy with no work at all. That deep orange is beta-carotene, the form of vitamin A that plants carry, and it comes along with a soft, whole-food carbohydrate that suits a first meal.
- Oats bring the soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which is the same thing that makes a pot of porridge thicken as it sits. In a loaf it shows up as a moist, close crumb that holds together in your hand.
- Pecans toast on top and turn deeply buttery in the oven's heat, and they bring the unsaturated fats and the crunch that a soft slice needs against it. Toasting is what draws that flavor out, so the nuts belong on the surface where the heat reaches them.
- Cinnamon, fresh ginger, and a small amount of ground cloves are what make this smell like fall the moment it comes out of the oven, and the fresh ginger in particular gives the loaf a warmth at the back of each bite that dried spice alone does not.
- As you eat, catch the cinnamon and clove in the steam coming off a warm slice, and let the loaf have a few unhurried minutes at the table rather than traveling out the door in your hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use almond butter that is not smooth, or another nut butter?
Any smooth nut butter works, and peanut butter makes a loaf that tastes strongly of peanut. Tahini works too and takes the loaf savory and a little bitter, which is good with the cloves. Stir whatever you use thoroughly, since the oil that separates on top is part of the binding.
My loaf sank in the middle. What happened?
It came out too early. The middle of this loaf sets late, and one pulled at the first clean skewer will settle as it cools. Bake to a top that springs back under your finger, and if the pecans are getting dark before that, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the pan.
Can I bake it as muffins or a square pan?
Yes. A lined 12-cup muffin pan bakes in 28 to 32 minutes and an 8-inch square pan in about 35. Both cool faster than the loaf does, which is an advantage on a Sunday, but you still have to let them cool completely before you take them out of the pan.
Does this fit a low-FODMAP breakfast?
It does, at two slices. Pumpkin, oats, pecans, and maple syrup are all comfortable at these amounts, and the sweetness comes from the pumpkin and the syrup rather than from dried fruit or honey. The spicing is cinnamon, clove, and fresh ginger, none of which get stripped out of the recipe.