This moist, gluten free pumpkin bread is full of real, unprocessed ingredients like honey, almond meal, almond butter, pumpkin and arrowroot powder.
I have a small confession to make. My first week of going completely unprocessed hasn’t been too successful. It was a super busy week, with a thousand activities to juggle. Stress makes me eat. Might be why I have 15 extra pounds I need to shed.
No excuses though. It’s typical for moms, especially me, to put myself on the bottom of the priority list. I know next week will be better. Especially because I took the time to take care of ME and make myself this unprocessed gluten free pumpkin bread.
I won’t take total credit for posting this today. This bread is something I have been working on and tweaking for a couple years. You’d think I would have it perfected by now. But, since I make this bread for me specifically, for MY taste and MY health benefit, well, you can imagine that I just don’t make this often enough.
This bread is super moist and MILDLY sweet. While I may not be completely unprocessing as I hoped last week, I wasn’t THAT bad. I typically do not like to overload on sugar in my quick breads, muffins or scones. But, no one will stop you from drizzling a little on honey when you eat this bread. Well, I certainly won’t!
And speaking of honey, that’s the unprocessed sweetener I chose for this recipe (my personal favorite). The bulk of the bread is made with almond butter, almond meal and some arrowroot powder. It’s not vegan, as I do use eggs.
It is also filled with all of my favorite nuts and fruits: almonds, pistachios, sesame seeds and dried cranberries. You can totally substitute with other nuts and dried fruits, like walnuts, macadamia nuts, pepitas, raisins and chopped dried apricots.
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Most importantly, it’s fabulous with my morning tea… even on a Sunday morning! I like to take my slice of pumpkin bread, toast it in my toaster and then slather with a healthy spread of cream cheese. Mmm… this is the perfect fall morning breakfast! YUM!
Want to go unprocessed in your home? You can learn more about eating unprocessed here.
Quick breads are really a great snack cake, lower in sugar than typical cakes. Go beyond banana bread with some of my more unique quick bread recipes:
- Whole Wheat Pomegranate Banana Bread with Pistachios
- Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Olive Oil and Blueberries
- Olive Oil Beet Bread with Walnuts
- Skinny Whole Wheat Chocolate Banana Bread
- Mango Bread with Whole Wheat Flour and Protein Powder
Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
- ¼ cup almond butter
- ¾ cup pumpkin purée
- ⅓ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup almond meal
- ¼ cup arrowroot powder
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup chopped dried cranberries
- ¼ cup chopped pistachios
- ¼ cup pepitas
- ¼ cup almond slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ºF. Coat a 9-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk almond butter, pumpkin purée, honey and olive oil until smooth and creamy.
- Mix in baking soda, baking powder, salt, almond meal, arrowroot powder until incorporated.
- Whisk in eggs one at a time.
- Mix in cranberries, pistachios and pepitas by hand.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Sprinkle over the top of the batter with almond slices.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes.
- Let bread rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
First, awesome that you made this both unprocessed and gluten free! Second, I love the variety of textures with the bread itself, the nuts and the berries.
I bet this would make an excellent breakfast!
Jamie @ http://www.mamamommymom.com
You should be proud of yourself for all the steps you’ve taken towards your goals. I know how hard it is to change the diet and lifestyle. Thanks for this wonderful recipe! I also don’t like my baked goods too sweet so this sounds right up my alley.
Your bread looks beautiful. I’ve been trying to go at least a whole lot less processed too. My weaknesses are sugar and flour. I’ll have to try your bread – it’s perfect!!
This looks great! I’m always looking for gluten free breads!
This looks so amazing Laura. I am so impressed you did it gf and unprocessed. You rock.
Mmm- I love all the goodies packed into that bread. How delicious!
This pumpkin bread looks so yummy and healthy. I’m right there with you Laura. I need to lose 30 lbs but we can shed 1 pound at a time together. I haven’t cut out all processed foods but I’m trying to protion control and make better decisions!
Laura I’m glad to hear you took some “Me” time for yourself. The bread is a wonderful “Me” treat. Love your those little white pumpkins too.
Thanks, everyone, for your kind words and encouragement. I think with every child I gave birth to, I acquired more and more of the “Momma Guilt” gene!
Take it easy on yourself. It is tough to completely change the way you eat. This bread looks amazing, love pumpkin bread!
Putting yourself first will always allow you to be there for everyone else, otherwise you’ll run out of steam, feel unappreciated or get sick. I’ve not done unprocessed but I do mill my own flour so I get all the good bits.
Amen!
ooh , call this cake 🙂 so full of yummy ingredients seems more like a decadent wholesome dessert !! Love it ! This challenge is driving me nuts trying to make everything with unprocessed ingredients, so don’t beat yourself up for the baking powder. It ‘s very wholesome & unprocessed with that too. Can’t wait to see the rest of your recipes this month. All the best … with the unprocessed I mean. Know how tough it is 😉
I think the toughest part is that I’m trying to be all healthy, and the hubs and the kids are eating normally. It’s not that we eat a lot of junk, but I’m not about to make all this bread, pasta and crackers from scratch! I’ll never leave the kitchen! Thanks, Sue, for your encouraging words!
Now that’s a beautiful pumpkin bread Laura!! I haven’t made anything pumpkin this year yet. I’m not sure why I’m always so behind when it comes to baking seasonal goods. I can almost smell your delicious bread here…
YUM! I would be slathering this bread with butter right out of the oven! YES…I said BUTTER! Beautiful pictures!
ha! ha! Love butter! I like it with some cream cheese, actually!
Oh this looks awesome! I’m always looking for gluten free recipes. Thanks for sharing!
I love how healthy and delicious this bread must be!!Love the use of almond flour,the nuts and pumpkin in here.So yummy 🙂
Wonderful gluten-free recipe! I can’t wait to try this, I think I will have it with a cup of tea this coming Sunday!