Pinspiration: slow cooker pumpkin bread

 

Are you on Pinterest? If so, I'm sure you, like thousands of others, have a pin board named "Yummy Food to Make" or "Recipes I Want to Try" or "Hellz Yeah" or some other such cleverness.

Now, show of hands: how many of you have actually made any of those recipes?

(Crickets, crickets, crickets)

Exactly.

That's what inspired this new feature: Pinspiration.

As a food blogger, it's hard to come up with interesting new ideas for things to cook every single day, since I rarely make the same thing twice anymore. Therefore, I really appreciate all the inspiration I get from things I see on Pinterest.

So I decided to create a feature to show some love for all of your pins.

First up, a yummy pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and crystallized ginger made in the slow cooker, courtesy of Katie at Mom's Kitchen Handbook, inspired by a slow cooker banana bread recipe from Jane of The Zen of Slow Cooking.

Shut. The. Front. Door.

Not lying, not a typo: the slow cooker. Now you know why the original pin caught my eye.

To be fair, it's not as exciting as it seems. Really, you just put a batter-filled loaf pan inside your crockpot to use it as a heat source. But still -- it's fun and very handy. As one of my friends pointed out, "I wouldn't leave my house with a cake baking in the oven but I would if it was in the crockpot." Or how about when your oven is already in use? Perfect.

This is an easy recipe to whip up and is not loaded with fat and sugar. In fact, it has no sugar at all, calling for maple syrup instead, which pairs beautifully with the pumpkin flavor.

The only downside is that the top of the bread doesn't really crisp up the way it would if you baked it in the oven, so it's not the best-looking bread I've ever made, but who cares? You made it in the crockpot, for cripes' sake!

In my version, I left out the nuts ('cause that's how I roll) and swapped half the olive oil for unsweetened applesauce; be sure to check out the original recipes (below), if you decide to make it yourself.

What are your favorite pinned recipes that you might never make? Want me to try 'em for you? Leave a comment with a link below. And be sure to follow me on Pinterest to see what else pinspires me.

Link love:

• Mom's Kitchen Handbook: Slow Cooker Pumpkin Bread
• The Zen of Slow Cooking: Slow Cooker Banana Bread