450 g pumpkin puree
450 g all purpose flour
400 g sugar
4 eggs
225 g butter, melted
120 ml water
100 g walnuts or pecans
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla sugar
¾ tsp salt

For the filling
225 g cream cheese, room temp
100 g sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ tbsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp butter for the pan

1. Butter two bread pans (approx 28x10x6 cm), preheat oven to 180 degrees (celsius).
2. Place pumpkin slices in the oven to bake for about 45-60 min, depending on the size of the slices. When the pumpkin is soft (test by cutting it with a knife) remove from oven, let it cool and use a spoon to scrape off the flesh from the skin. Then blend in a puree consistency.
3. Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until fragrant, about 8-10 minutes. Let cool and chop up roughly.

Make the filling
4. Use a mixer or whisk to beat the cream cheese until soft and then add the sugar. When creamy, beat in the eggs one by one. Stir in the flour, set aside.

Make the batter
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg. Set aside.
6. In a large bowl beat the eggs lightly, then add sugar and cooled melted butter. Stir in the pumpkin puree, water, vanilla and chopped nuts.
7. Lightly stir the flour mixture in the pumpkin mixture, be careful not to overmix, that will make the bread tough and not as light. It’s ok if the batter has a few chunks of flour in it.
8. Pour a quarter of the batter at the bottom of both pans. Now pour half of the filling in each pan in the middle. Top it off with the rest of the batter and even it out with a spatula.
9. Place both pans in the center of the oven and bake for 55-65 min until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to let cool for at least 10 min. Then you can turn over the pans to remove the breads and slice them to serve. Can be served both hot and cold either with some butter or Nutella.

Recipe: Ārija Avota
Photo: Ieva Andersone (IG: @photoievaandersone)