Cookin' and Schoolin': Pumpkin Bread...

Miles and I had cooking school yesterday. It was such a fun day! Last week during our lunch break we watched "The Chew" and Michael Symon made Chocolate Pumpkin Bread, well Miles just had to make it. We already had all the ingredients, including a pumpkin that needed to be cooked and eaten, so we made it. It turned out great! I also made my nephew's birthday cake (a brownie, ice cream, cool whip cake), which was actually pretty fun, a much better experience than the last time I made the same cake. Then it was on to turkey prep, which of course Miles had absolutely no interest in helping with. Everything turned out just like I wanted...except the giant pile of dishes.

The pumpkin bread was really Miles's baby, he helped clean out the pumpkin, roast it, peel it, measure out the ingredients....well everything. I just guided him and took it out when it was ready. I cut off the stem end of the pumpkin, cut it in half, scraped out the guts, and then lightly oiled a cookie sheet. I place the pumpkin, skin side up, on the pan and roasted it at 350 degrees for about 30 minute, until it is lightly browned and soft. We did this a couple days ahead of time. Then the day of we peeled it, then pureed the pumpkin in my food processor. It wasn't quite wet enough to mix thoroughly, so I added a little eggnog to loosen it up enough to blend into a smooth puree.

This makes the pumpkin puree needed for the recipe, I am sure you could use a can of pumpkin, but like I said we already had a pie pumpkin that needed to be eaten. Measure out 1 1/2 cups for recipe, I froze the rest for a future recipe. We then assembled the recipe according to the original directions. Miles did all the work, he is a great helper. He mixed all the ingredients together and folded in the candies.(I think it would be just as good without the candy, but don't tell Miles)