These loaves make fantastic breakfast bread, slathered with salted butter, or a lovely accompaniment to Fall and Winter soups.

Loaves can be cubed and served as an aperitif with a dry cured sausage or ham and a glass of dry Riesling. Thin slices would accompany a selection of good cheeses beautifully.

This recipe presents a wonderful opportunity to collect ingredients from your local Farmer’s Market. Butternut squash and pecans are in season in our region. Many of your neighbors likely have full Rosemary bushes and will not begrudge you a snippet of the herb.

If Olive Oil is not to your taste, melted unsalted butter can be substituted. Loaves will be slightly more dense, but no less excellent.

Using the shredder attachment of your food processor is well worth the added cleanup. A box style grater can be used but is more time consuming.

 2 large eggs
1 C. Cane Sugar or Coconut Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
3/4 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 C. peeled, cored and shredded Butternut squash
1 C. peeled, cored and shredded tart apple, such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 C. All-Purpose Gluten Free baking mix (such as Bob’s Red Mill Cup for Cup mix)
1/2 teaspoon each
ground allspice
ground ginger or white pepper
fresh grated nutmeg
ground clove
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 C. chopped Pecans

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Using butter or EVOO, coat interior of two standard loaf pans.

Combine eggs and sugar in bowl of stand mixer and cream together on medium speed until pale and fluffy.

Add Vanilla extract.

Add Olive Oil

Mix briefly to combine.

Add shredded Butternut and Apple on top of egg/sugar/oil mixture. Add baking soda and salt and mix briefly to combine. Combined ingredients will become slightly watery.

Combine All-Purpose Mix, spices and rosemary in a separate bowl and mix together with a whisk or spoon.

Add dry mix to wet ingredients in stand mixer. Add Pecans. Combine on medium speed until well mixed.

Divide batter between two loaf pans, smoothing tops with a knife or spatula.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until medium brown in color. Use a toothpick to test center for doneness (toothpick should be bare of batter or crumbs) or use fingers to lightly press down in center of loaf. Loaf should spring back to the touch.

Allow to cool 10-15 minutes and turn loaves out onto clean cutting board. Allow the loaves to rest on their sides until well cooled.

Can be stored several days, wrapped in wax paper or in a sealed container.

Reheating slices on a lightly oiled or buttered griddle will bring texture back to near fresh baked.