Pumpkin Spider
Bread
Yields: 1 loaf
Ingredients:
1 cup apple cider
1 cup canned
pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable
oil
3/4 cup firmly
packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons
freshly grated orange zest
2 cups all-purpose
flour
2 teaspoons double-acting
baking powder
1/2 teaspoon
salt
1/4 teaspoon
baking soda
1/4 teaspoon
ground mace
1/4 teaspoon
cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon
ground cloves
1/2 cup chopped
walnuts
In a saucepan
boil the cider until it is reduced to about 1/4 cup and let it
cool. In a bowl
whisk together well the pumpkin puree, the eggs, the oil, the
brown sugar,
the zest, and the reduced cider. Into the bowl sift together the
flour, the baking
powder, the salt, the baking soda, the mace, the cinnamon,
and the cloves,
add the walnuts, and stir the batter until it is just
combined. Transfer
the batter to a well-buttered 8 1/2-by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan
and bake the
bread in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 1 hour, or
until a tester
comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan.
Remove bread
from pan and ice with a glaze of 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar and 1 Tablespoon orange juice plus milk or water to thin. Decorate
with tiny plastic spiders (I like to use the little rings that come in orange and black during the fall for Halloween treats)
as decoration--be sure that you do not allow children to put in their mouths!!