doctored-up pumpkin bread

I love the day when the cans of organic pumpkin puree hit the shelves at Trader Joes. No other brand out there compares. This fall, I stocked the pantry and started pulling out our favorites, including Southwestern Pumpkin Soup and the deadly Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares. This weekend, though, I really wanted to make a pumpkin bread as a nice reward after umpteen million hours of yard work. The thing is, I am wary of pumpkin bread recipes because I have never found a good one. They are either too spongy or too spicy or too blah. Figuring I didn't have a lot to lose, I made up my own version. I think we found a winner.

Coconut Pumpkin Bread
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 cup (1/2 can) pumpkin puree
1 3/4 flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t cardamom
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix together sugars, oil, applesauce, eggs and cocnut milk. Stir in pumpkin. Stir or sift together dry ingredients and fold into wet mixture. Stir in coconut and nuts (if using). Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for an hour.

(This recipe would probably work without the white sugar if the brown was increased a bit. It would also work just using 1/2 cup of oil and no applesauce, and vice versa. And, as for spice, use ones that you like. Just be sure to get a good pumpkin puree, if you can.)