Reduced Calorie Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from Sharon H.

Cooking Spray
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 tsp table salt
2 eggs, large
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup brown sugar Splenda, packed
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tablespoons unsalted pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare an 8 x 4 baking pan by spraying with cooking spray.  I like to line my pan with parchment so I can remove the loaf easily after I take it from the oven. Laying the parchment over the cooking spray makes it stick to the sides. Then I press the parchment into the pan and clip it with clothespins to hold it in place until I pour my batter in the pan.

DO NOT PLACE CLOTHESPINS IN THE OVEN.

Mix all ingredients, except the walnuts and the pumpkin seeds, in a bowl with a blender. Stir in chopped walnuts. Pour into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Now, I was feeling a little experimental so I actually baked two loaves, both were exactly the same except I left out the honey in one loaf. I did this to see if it still tasted good enough with the mindset that someone with diabetes might be able to enjoy this recipe as well. 

The loaf without honey still had a slight sweetness, but tasted good, just less sweet. Leaving the honey out lowered the calories slightly and changed the total carbohydrates by almost 7%. Nice.

Nutritional Information: (with honey)
Based on 12 servings, each serving 2.4 ounces

Calories: 228
Total Fat: 14.2 g (1.9 g Saturated)
Cholesterol: 30.8 mg
Sodium: 191.7 mg
Potassium: 75.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 22.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.6 g
Sugars: 12.7 g
Protein: 4.3 g

Removing the honey lowered the calories to 199 per slice, the total carbohydrates to 15.2 g and sugars to
5.1 g.

 

- Recipe courtesy of Cathy Pollak