Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread

First week of September. The light shifted. The afternoons got that long, slanted quality that Hartford gets in early September, even when the temperature is still summer. The school buses started running. The sound of the bus stopping at the corner at 7:32 AM came back, after the summer pause. I had forgotten how that sound marks time.

Tuesday food bank: pollo guisado — back to a Caribbean week — and an avocado salad. Yolanda made the chicken. Marcus made the avocado salad. The kitchen was a four-person operation now. I was teaching less. I was watching more. I was tasting at the end and signing off. The training was working. Yolanda was nearly ready to lead. Marcus was nearly ready to teach.

Wednesday I had my annual physical. Dr. Patel — same primary care doctor for fifteen years — checked everything. Blood pressure: high, but managed. A1C: borderline, slightly higher than last year. He said, "Carmen, the diet has shifted." I said, "Dr. Patel, I have been eating my own cooking for sixty years and my A1C has been borderline for fifteen years. This is not new news." He said, "Carmen, but the trend." I said, "Dr. Patel, what is the trend?" He said, "Carmen, the borderline is creeping. We will check again in six months. We may need to start metformin." I said, "Dr. Patel, that is not the news I wanted." He said, "Carmen, I know. I am giving you the news anyway." I drove home. I told Eduardo. He said, "Carmen, we will do what the doctor says." I said, "Eduardo, I do not want metformin." He said, "Carmen, what you want and what is needed are sometimes different things. We will see what is needed." He was being practical. I appreciated it. I also did not love it.

Thursday Mami had a lucid morning. She asked about the empanadillas. I told her the children had made them. She smiled. She said, "Carmen, the children are coming up. The hands are passing." I said, "Mami, yes." She said, "Carmen, my hands are tired. Your hands will be tired in twenty years. Lucas's hands are starting." I said, "Mami." She said, "Carmen, the chain. It is not breaking. It is moving." I said, "Mami, the chain is moving." We sat. She slept.

Sunday dinner: ten. The grandchildren were excited about school. Isabella showed me her backpack. It had three Frozen characters on it and one of her own initials embroidered by Jenny. I told Isabella the backpack was very fine. She agreed. Wepa.

Dr. Patel told me to watch the sugar, and Eduardo told me to listen to Dr. Patel, and I told both of them that I understood — but Sunday was still Sunday, and Isabella still showed me her backpack with the three Frozen characters and the embroidered initial, and the grandchildren were still excited about school, and you do not send them into September empty-handed. The light was already that long, golden, early-fall slant. Pumpkin bread felt right: something warm, something the season calls for, something that smells like a kitchen that has been used with love for a long time. I made one loaf for the table and told myself one slice was enough. It was enough. Mostly.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 65 min | Total Time: 1 hr 20 min | Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds), for topping

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line it with a strip of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the long sides for easy lifting.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger until evenly combined. Set aside.
Whisk the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add the pumpkin puree, oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Whisk until fully incorporated.
Combine. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold gently with a rubber spatula until just combined — a few streaks are fine. Do not overmix or the loaf will be tough.
Fill the pan and top with pepitas. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Scatter the pepitas evenly over the surface, pressing them in very lightly so they adhere.
Bake. Bake on the center rack for 60–70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Tent loosely with foil after 45 minutes if the top is browning too quickly.
Cool before slicing. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then lift out using the parchment overhang and transfer to a wire rack. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing — this allows the crumb to set and the spices to deepen.

Nutrition (per serving)

Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread — September Light, and the Things We Carry Forward