Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Bread

Sweet potatoes are such a great, versatile food. Is it healthy? Is it a dessert? I got a request for an interesting twist on sweet potatoes a while ago, and to me this is pretty interesting. We feed Oscar canned pumpkin with his food, and sometimes this leads to leftover pumpkin. Since the two are both orange, both sweet, and both technically healthy, why not combine them into a delicious dessert bread? This is great when spread with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. It's even good plain :)

I started with the Joy of Cooking's recipe for pumpkin bread. A few changes here and there.....

Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves.

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 tablespoon butter softened

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup canned pumpkin 

2/3 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes

When I mashed my sweet potatoes, I left it a little chunky. This gave it wonderful color when cut, and great burst of flavor as well. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a bowl add flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, ground cloves, baking soda, and baking powder.

2. In a large bowl add sugar and butter. Beat together until fluffy.

3. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and pumpkin/sweet potatoes.

4. In three batches add flour mixture, mixing after each addition until just combined. 

On the left : Pumpkin, sweet potatoes, eggs, sugar, and butter. On the right : after dry mixture is added with milk mixture

Spoon into a prepared loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Be careful not to overcook! I find it super easy to overcook thick dessert breads like this but I think it might just be my gross, burnt bread loaf pan. 

Even Oscar knew I used his food to make my dessert!