I’m a huge fan of baked goods. Who isn’t, really? Unfortunately, most of them are full of gluten and other things that I can’t have. This means, I’m always on the lookout for delicious, healthy gluten free goodies to make for my family. And if that recipe includes veggies, then I’m absolutely going to try it.
So when I got a chance to review* Gluten-Free for Good: Simple, Wholesome Recipes Made from Scratch by Samantha Seneviratne, I jumped at it, and I’m so glad I did. It was in this glorious book that I found this fantastic recipe for maple glazed butternut squash bread.
Y’all, this butternut squash bread is so amazing. It’s moist, it’s sweet, and oh so delicious. And made with squash, why have I never thought of this?! It totally counts as a serving of vegetables, right?
Butternut squash is a great ingredient to use for baking because it’s high in antioxidants, boosts your immune system and reduces inflammation, and contains lots of vitamin A, with decent amounts of vitamin C, manganese, potassium, and magnesium as well.
Maple Glazed Butternut Squash Bread
Ingredients
- 1 small butternut squash 1-2lbs, halved and seeds scraped out
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 4 large eggs separated
Glaze Ingredients (Optional)
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 6 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Roast squash, cut side down until tender, 50-60 minutes.
- Once cooled, scoop into a food processor and process until smooth.
- Reserve 3/4 cups of squash puree for the recipe. The rest is for you to use however you wish.
- Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
- Oil a 9 inch square pan and line with parchment paper, leaving a 2 inch overhang on each side.
- Whisk together flours, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a large bowl, stir together brown sugar and coconut oil. Add squash puree and maple syrup.
- Add egg yolks and whisk to combine.
- Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients and set aside.
- In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to medium peaks, 2-3 minutes.
- Stir a third of the egg whites into the batter to loosen it, then carefully fold the remaining egg whites into the batter.
- Transfer the batter to prepared cake pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 45 to 55 minutes.
- Transfer the pan to a rack to cool.
Glaze (Optional)
- Whisk together confectioners' sugar, maple syrup, coconut oil, salt, and enough water (just a drop or two) to make a smooth, pourable glaze.
- Using the parchment, lift the cake out of the pan.
- Drizzle the glaze over the top, then sprinkle it with the nuts. Let it stand at room temperature to set before serving.
Notes
- Optional: Sub 3 cups of gluten free all purpose flour for almond flour, oat flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Sub coconut palm sugar for brown sugar and omit glaze for refined sugar free.
- Nutrition information is for the butternut squash bread only
Nutrition
Yum, right? I can’t even tell you what a hit this was in our house. I’ll never tell my boys that it had veggies in it, because they couldn’t tell. I used gluten free all-purpose flour instead of the individual flours, and it came out perfectly. I also added a bit of cinnamon to the glaze, and it’s so delicious.
Y’all… this cake is so moist. It’s light and airy instead of dense like most gluten-free cakes. You can also use another type of squash (or even pumpkin!) instead of butternut. Acorn squash and sweet potatoes would be amazing; substitute as you see fit!
What’s your favorite way to use veggies as a treat?
- I was given this book by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. All thoughts & opinions are my own.
Pumpkin bread is the BEST. As we’re increasingly cutting the gluten out of our lives, I’ll give this recipe a go! How was the rest of the cookbook?
The rest of the cookbook was great! And this bread turned out so amazing and fluffy and moist… not at all like most of my gluten free baked goods. HIGHLY recommend!
My jaw seriously DROPPED when I saw how moist that bread was. OMG. I am DEFINITELY going to be trying that.
Many of my gluten-free breads end up really dry, and just not…good, lol. But this looks PERFECT! Thanks so much for sharing! <3
My other GF goodies always end up really dry and dense, but this was PERFECT! I couldn’t believe it!
This sounds good, and not nearly as difficult to make as I thought it would be. Was it very sweet? I need to cut out sugars again, so I’m wondering if I could get away with reducing the amounts called for in the recipe …
It really wasn’t very sweet, it was really good. You could probably cut out the brown sugar a little but I wouldn’t cut out too much because it really was perfect!
This looks delicious!
Thanks girl! It was superb!