Pumpkin Bread

I bought a huge box of community cookbooks a while back and I'm just now getting a chance to go through them. I've started on The Jackson Cookbook, which was a cookbook by the Symphony League of Jackson. My favorite part of these cookbooks is often not the recipes inside but the little snippets, notes, and clippings I find tucked away.

In this cookbook, I found a typed recipe for Pumpkin Bread inserted in the pages.

2/3 cup shortening

2 2/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1-lb can pumpkin or two cups (Also 1 lb. of butter nut or banana squash can be substituted for the pumpkin. If squash is used, cook it in a little water and mash it up.)

2/3 cup water

3 1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

2/3 cup raisin or dates, chopped fine

2/3 cup nut meats, broken

Cream shortening and sugar thoroughly; add eggs, pumpkin and water. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices; add to pumpkin mixture. Stir in nuts and raisins or dates. Pour into two 2-quart loaf pans. An orange may be ground up, peeling and all, and added to the mixture for variety and extra moistness. For best flavor, bake the day before serving.