The BEST Pumpkin Bread with Brown Butter Maple Icing

Ingredients

½ cup butter, softened (I used Land O Lakes)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin puree (the puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling!)

2 eggs

1 & ½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 & ½ cups all-purpose flour

FOR GLAZE:

½ cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp maple syrup

2-3 Tbsp milk, optional if glaze is too thick

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally grease a 9" loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a bowl combine all of the above bread ingredients and beat at medium speed with a handheld mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until well-mixed.

Pour the bread mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for approx. 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out mostly clean or with a couple moist crumbs (not wet). Cool for about 15 minutes, then very gently remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While bread cools, make your glaze: in a small saucepan, heat butter over medium-low heat until melted. Continue cooking, watching butter carefully, until it sizzles and begins to turn amber in color, about 4-5 minutes. Do not overcook because it can quickly burn! When butter looks caramel-colored and smells kind of nutty, it's done. Remove butter from heat and stir in the powdered sugar and maple syrup until a soft glaze has formed.

Pour the glaze generously over top of the pumpkin loaf and let it set, about 30 minutes. Cut into slices and serve!