Issei and Nisei farmers with Heart Mountain’s agriculture program grew and harvested a wide variety of innovative crops such as Daikon, egg plant, Chinese cabbage, Swiss chard, turnips, tomatoes and watermelon. Some of which had never been grown in the regions before. Pumpkins, however, weren’t raised through the agriculture program. But in nearby Clark, Montana, folks can wander through Gallagher’s Corn Maze and pick up a pumpkin from their patch.
Thinking about the root cellar at Heart Mountain reminds me of another root cellar I frequently went into. Every fall in southern Utah, my parents stored bushels of apples and pears down in their root cellars. Pumpkins and large squash found their way into this earth-based chill chests. They always seemed to be trick-n-treat ready with their dank atmospheres and spiderweb decorations!
Today’s post swirls together a lot of history, a special WWII-era root cellar visit, those harvested pumpkins Mom and Pop stashed away and one delicious harvest recipe. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread with Brown Butter Icing! Quick, pumpkin bread is scrumptious alone, but a swirly cream cheese center rises it to harvest heaven. Pour on browned butter icing and this pumpkin cream cheese bread is simply blissful!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread with Brown Butter Icing is a typical quick bread, using baking soda as the leavener. The spiced batter is easy to stir, so hand-held or standing mixers aren’t required. A necessity though is having room temperature ingredients for the cream cheese swirl. This layer blends smoother and won’t result in chunky swirled appearance.
Whisk Away 
Layer Batter with Cream Cheese Swirl 
Run a Knife Through Layers to Swirl
In our house, the Brown Butter Icing is mandatory. Son B loves everything iced, glazed, frosted and filled. Using this icing is completely optional, but I’d say give it a go. You won’t regret it! Just be sure to watch your boiling butter carefully. There’s a fine line between nutty-smelling and golden brown and burnt!
In closing, I must send a tremendous thanks to several people for their help in this post’s research:
- Mack Frost, Rights & Reproductions, Digital Scanning & Printing in the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West
- Greg Matthews, Special Collections Librarian, at Washington State University’s Manuscripts, Archives & Special Collections
- Nora Plant, Audio-Visual Archivist, at the American Heritage Center and University of Wyoming
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread with Brown Butter Icing
Spiced, moist pumpkin bread is yummier with a luscious cream cheese swirl and delightful brown butter icing!
Recipe is adapted from Land O’ Lakes Pumpkin Swirl Bread.
- Prep Time: About 20-30 Minutes
- Cook Time: 65 Minutes
- Total Time: About 1-1/2 Hours
- Yield: Two-9″X5″ Loaves
Ingredients
For Cream Cheese Swirl:
4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla
For Pumpkin Bread:
3–1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt (kosher, table or sea)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2–2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/3 cup water
1–15 oz. can pumpkin puree
4 large eggs
For Brown Butter Icing:
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1–3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp. salt (kosher, table or sea)
1 tsp. vanilla
3 to 5 tbsp. milk*
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two-9″ X 5″ loaf pans. Set aside.
To Prepare Cream Cheese Swirl:
Using a standing or hand-held mixer, beat cream cheese, sour cream and granulated sugar until smooth. Add egg, lemon zest and vanilla. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
To Prepare Pumpkin Bread:
Sift flour, baking soda, salt cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a medium size bowl. Set aside.
In large bowl, combine granulated sugar, vegetable oil, water, pumpkin and eggs.** Beat until smooth. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture. Beat again until smooth, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Pour about 1/2 of the bread batter into the bottoms of each prepared loaf pan. Spread the Cream Cheese Swirl mixture evenly over both batter in each loaf pan. Pour remaining bread batter over both loaves. To create the swirl effect, pull a knife through the batter and filling layers.
Bake loaves for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Let pans cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove bread from pans and allow to cool completely on wire rack. Frost with Brown Butter Icing.
To Prepare Brown Butter Icing:
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Let butter boil for 7 to 10 minutes until a golden appearance and nutty smell is reached. Watch butter carefully to avoid burning.
In a medium sized bowl, combine browned butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and 3 tbsp. milk. Whisk until smooth. For a thinner icing, add milk in teaspoon increments until desired thickness is reached. Pour icing over cooled pumpkin bread loaves.
Notes
*I used 3 tbsp. milk for a thicker icing. Adjust as necessary based on your icing preference.
**The pumpkin bread batter is loose enough to mix by hand. However, a standing or hand-held mixer can be used.
IMNPB
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