Butternut Squash Bread

I grow a lot of butternut squash and Marquis grapes from which I make raisins. I also have a walnut tree, so this is the perfect recipe to use up some of my goodies. To keep calories down and nutrition up, I used whole wheat flour and substituted half Splenda and half erythritol for the sugar as well as olive oil for the butter. I added two teaspoons of maple extract, a dash of nutmeg, a dash of cardamom, a dash of black pepper, and cut the cloves in half (I prefer a robust flavor profile). This is one of the most delicious foods I've ever eaten! I didn't need to put butter or anything on it. Everyone who has tried it wants me to make more, more, more!

Absolutely delicious! Since many reviewers said it made two loaves, I used a big pan. I sprayed it with butter flavor spray and sprinkled with white sugar. It gave the outsides a tasty crunch!! I also used only half the cloves as others suggested.

I liked the recipe original recipe as posted but very salty for my taste so I made it again with 1/2t salt (instead of 1-1/2tsps) and I replaced the cloves with more cinnamon. Delish! My kids were blown away when I finally told them it was made with a vegetable!

My family doesn't like butternut squash soup, despite my many attempts and variations to get them to like it, so I needed to use some up and didn't want to freeze it. I modified the recipe at the link in the following ways: Replaced shortening with 1/3 c. applesauce and 1/3 cup oil Replaced butternut puree with the soup Omitted the water Replaced cinnamon and cloves with Penzey's pie spice Replaced 1/3 c. flour with 1/3 c. sourdough starter None of the optional ingredients We ended up with 2 short standard loaves and 2 mini-loaves and they were done in 45 and 35 minutes respectively. The soup was savory, so the sweet bread has this fun peppery-ness to it. I told the family it was "like a banana bread" and they all liked it. Then I told them it was butternut squash bread made with the leftover soup and they looked at me like I was very mean, but then they finished two loaves in two days, so I think they got over it.

I added 1/2 tsp of ground ginger and backed in 4 small loaf pans (7-1/2 x 3-1/2) for 40 minutes. Came out perfectly for our tastes!

Flawless. I had to substitute butter instead of shortening. I also had to use two 8x8 pans and cook for 40 minutes. This beat my expectations.