Baking

I think my home stay can tell I love BAKING! I make cookies, breads, or cakes at least once a week. It's a great hobby when I feel stressed or need something sweet. Last week, I made ginger bread cookies out of Christmas tree and reindeer shapes :) Yesterday, I made pumpkin bars...it turned out quite lovely. Full of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger with icing on top...a real Holiday treat! Thought I'd share the recipe:

Ingredients

• 125g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice or ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 120ml vegetable oil
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250g pumpkin puree
• 110g raisins
• 65g sieved icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

Preparation method

Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 30 mins | Extra time: 4 hours, cooling

1.

Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Grease and flour a 23x33cm or similar sized baking tin.

2.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda; set aside. In a large bowl beat the eggs, oil and sugar together until smooth. Stir in the pumpkin, then the dry ingredients. Finally, stir in the raisins.

3.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and spread evenly. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow to cool before adding the glaze.

4.

To make the glaze, stir together the icing sugar with the maple syrup. If glaze is too thick to drizzle from a spoon, just add a little water. Drizzle over the cooled pumpkin cake before cutting into bars.