The recipe
The Pumpkin Bread Baked in Coffee Cans
Barb Stone’s Pumpkin Bread mixes nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, oil, eggs and salt before pumpkin, water, baking soda, flour and chopped nuts are blended in. The batter is then divided among three well-greased one-pound coffee cans and baked until a toothpick comes out clean.
That coffee-can method is the detail that instantly dates—and distinguishes—the recipe. The source notes that these small loaves are handy for one or two, and that extra loaves can be frozen or kept refrigerated when well wrapped.
Why it matters
Why This One Is Worth Bringing Back
The ingredient list is familiar—pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and chopped nuts—but the method is what gives this recipe its archival personality. Instead of standard loaf pans, Barb Stone calls for three well-greased one-pound coffee cans, each filled only halfway.
That detail captures a practical kitchen habit that is easy to lose when older recipes are rewritten into modern formats. The source even explains the appeal: the small loaves are handy for one or two.
For another fall bake from the same archive, try Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake or Raw Apple Muffins.
This Pumpkin Bread is preserved from 75 Years of Caring and Sharing, printed page 156.
Modern kitchen notes
If You're Making It Today
These are modern editorial suggestions, not changes to the archived recipe. When a variation comes directly from the original source, we will say so.
The coffee cans are part of the source method
The printed recipe calls for three well-greased one-pound coffee cans, filled only halfway. If you use a different pan today, treat that as an adaptation rather than silently changing the preserved method.
Use the source’s doneness test
The bread bakes at 350°F for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, with a toothpick used to check doneness.
Cool before removing
The source instructs you to let the loaves cool for 10 minutes before taking them out of the cans.
Recipe card
The Preserved Recipe
Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 c. sugar
- 1 c. canola oil
- 4 eggs
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 c. pumpkin
- ⅔ c. water
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 3 c. flour
- 1 c. nuts chopped
Instructions
- Beat first six ingredients together, then blend in remaining ingredients in order listed. Grease well 3 one-pound coffee cans. Fill each only ½ full. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Test with toothpick. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. Freeze remaining loaves or keep in refrigerator several weeks if well wrapped.
Notes
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This recipe traces back to a Jersey County community cookbook created in the spirit of sharing, service and local connection. If you’d like to carry that spirit forward, consider supporting the Jersey County Historical Society and its work preserving local history for future generations.
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From the archive
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