Being Martha Stewart

Lots of bloggers write about their culinary adventures for all the world to see. I like reading about said adventures so, in an effort to mask just how lacking in personality I am, I'll jump on the bandwagon.

After an attempt at pumpkin cheesecake on Christmas Day (damn you Norway and your lack of pre-made graham cracker crusts) I had some leftover pumpkin in a can, purchased safely in July before the pumpkin shortage crisis of 2009.

I went to my favorite recipe website, Recipezaar.com, to see what was in the 'ol cookbook. Yes, I am awesome enough to have an account there which stores saved recipes in a "cookbook". That makes me a foodie, right?

In the time I've had an account with The Zaar (as we foodies call it) I've collected quite a few recipes over the years. 184 to be exact. A quick search for "pumpkin" reveals this tasty sounding delight: Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf. I like pumpkin. I like chocolate. I like loaves. And had all the ingredients in the house, which is vital on a Sunday when the grocery stores are all closed. I would've murdered for such a luxury as a grocery store employee in high school, but that's a story (rant?) for another day. Back to the food.

My blogging-about-cooking idea came a wee bit late, as most people take pictures during the entire step-by-step process. Well, my dough was all mixed up before the light bulb went off in my head so all I have is a before and after shot of my culinary creation:

Before baking:



After baking:



Was it good? Yes. Was it great? No. But I think I know why. One nifty tool on the Zaar is the ability to change the size of the recipe. The original recipe made 3 loaves and, pumpkin shortage crisis notwithstanding, I didn't have enough to make 3 whole loaves. So I adjusted the recipe to make only 1 loaf. Because of that I don't think there was enough of the "pumpkin spices" (cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) in the reduced size recipe to make the bread taste super super pumpkin pie-y, which I was expecting.

The Zaar also lets you view the nutrition facts of all their recipes. This information I usually ignore. Useful tool, though, if you care about silly, vapid things like fitting through doorways and premature death.

All in all the Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf is a tasty carbonanza that stinks up your house real nice and pretty. I will make it again one cold winters night, and add more spices, but I've got to get my hands on more canned pumpkin first!