A distinctive, multipurpose loaf is produced by the combination of the flavor of pumpkin and sweet spices with the grainy texture of polenta. As an alternative to pumpkin, cooked sweet potato or butternut squash can be used. With savory or sweet foods, serve warm or chilled.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Servings: | 9 |
| Yield: | 1 8-inch baking dish |
Ingredients
- 2 cups canned pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 egg whites, lightly beaten
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
- 2 cups polenta or yellow cornmeal
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
- In a blender or food processor, blend pumpkin, butter, eggs, and egg whites. Mix in the brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Blend until smooth, and transfer to a medium bowl.
- Mix yogurt and polenta into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly before slicing.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 286 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 47 g |
| Cholesterol | 53 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 10 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 867 mg |
| Sugars | 18 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I followed the recipe exactly. I would have to agree that it was a bit strong on the cloves side of things. I would like a little sweeter taste and slightly more pumpkin flavor to make it great.
Makes excellent muffins!
This recipe marries some of my favourite flavours! Some reviewers seem to have an issue with the texture, which may come from some confusion over the word ‘polenta.’ In many places not North America, polenta is the name for plain, dry cornmeal. In other countries (like Canada, where I am from) polenta is a dish made from boiling yellow cornmeal; you can buy it precooked in tubes. If you use the precooked stuff, this recipe will come out a little different: imagine making oatmeal cookies with oat porridge.
My husband, who is not gluten-free like I am, loves this! He eats it broken up with milk poured on it like cush. 2 cups of pumpkin~1 can. I use 4 whole eggs instead of any whites, 1/2 cp agave for brown sugar, reduce the cloves to 3/4 tsp and prepare from beginning to end in the blender. Easy, smells wonderful, tasty and he doesn’t realize how healthy he is eating!
I felt that this recipe was a solid “ok”. I substituted pumpkin pie spice, but found the end result on the bland side. The texture was the more problematic part for me; it was like moist cornbread, but not in an entirely pleasant way. The cake did rise nicely, which I wasn’t expecting. I wish I could figure out what tweaks I could do to make this more to my liking. On the up side, I needed to use up a bunch of polenta, which this did.
Used mashed fresh sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin and cut cloves back to 1/2 tsp. Absolutely loved this!
I loved it. Made a 1/2 recipe, and used two eggs instead of the egg whites. Also used pumpkin pie spice instead of nutmeg and cloves, cornmeal for the polenta, light sour cream for yogurt, and splenda instead of brown sugar. Very nice pumpkin flavored cornbread without being too sweet or too rich.
Call this like it is–polenta is cornmeal, so I used 2 cups of cornmeal! I changed the brown sugar to 1/4 cup agave syrup, and instead of eggs and egg whites, I just used 4 eggs. I didn’t know whether to expect something like Indian pudding or a pumpkin cornbread; but I think it was like a combination of the two. With whipped cream, this could easily be a dessert, as it is, it’s like cornbread that. goes with soup! Great recipe!
Too bland 🙁
The problem with this recipe isn’t the baking soda or salt it’s the cloves. Decrease the cloves or change it to pumpkin pie spice (2 t) instead of the other spices, and it’s GREAT!!!! You can change the sugar to Splenda or fructose, change the yogurt to fat free yogurt or sour cream, and this recipe fits the weight watchers core plan! Very good, moist pumpkin corn bread!
This recipe is actually a good jumping-off point. I adjusted a few things… reduced the salt/baking soda by half, and added 1/2 c Splenda for some extra sweetness. I didnt have all the individual spices on hand, so I just used pumpkin pie spice (1 1/2 tsp). I didn’t use store-bought polenta, but instead made my own homemade. And while I had to let it bake for longer than 45 mins (total time of 1 1/2 hours), it was a fantastic flavor and really great for my low-calorie/low-fat lifestyle. I can see a lot of things to do with this recipe, but it is a great start. Thanks for sharing your idea! Jules