Acorn Squash - Raisin bread recipe

What's a holiday dinner without a Winter Squash delicacy on the menu? Even though we had Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant, but I still baked some goodies to share with friends and neighbors. While I was rifling through my recipes, I spotted the old, tattered and stained sheet in which resides my banana-walnut bread recipe. A friend gave it to me several years back and since then I have made it countless times, always with great success. Whenever V and I find the bananas we bought are too icky ripe to eat, I throw them in the freezer and use them later for banana bread. Trust me, it makes the best banana bread.

This time, I decided to make a slight variation to this time-tested recipe. Okay, maybe not so "slight", considering the variation was the main ingredient, i.e. the bananas. I swapped the bananas out with acorn squash flesh. Ooh, the beautiful peachy color of the dough and finally the bread itself was so enticing. The baked squash aroma and the taste were also out of this world. V and I had this for breakfast almost for a whole week. So here's the recipe for Acorn Squash - Raisin bread, it makes 2 loaves.

Dry ingredients:

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
1/2 cup raisins


Wet ingredients:

1 medium sized acorn squash
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 buttermilk or yogurt
1 tsp vanilla

Method:

To prepare acorn squash:

1. Wash and microwave the acorn squash whole for 1 min
2. Cut into 2 halves and remove the seeds
3. Lay cut side down in a microwavable dish with 1/4" of water
4. Microwave on high for 8 - 10 mins
5. Let cool. Scoop out the flesh. You will have around 2 1/2 cups
6. You will need only 2 cups for the recipe. Sprinkle some brown sugar on the rest and enjoy with a spoon!)

Make the bread:

• Pre-heat oven to 350C
  
• Mix all dry ingredients except raisins in a large bowl
  
• Add the wet ingredients including 2 cups of acorn squash flesh
  
• Mix with an electric hand mixer
  
• Add the raisins and mix
  
• Butter and dust 2 loaf pans with flour
  
• Divide dough into the 2 loaf pans and bake for 1 hour until a knife inserted comes out clean
  

See WHFoods website for the benefits of eating Acorn squash and other winter squashes.