Instructions: * Note: Pignoli nuts can be substituted for the pinon nuts.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, pumpkin, sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in pinon nuts. Place batter in a greased 6- x 9-inch bread pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in bread comes out clean.

Comments: Spaniards arriving in New Mexico in the late fifteenth century found the Pueblo people along the Rio Grande growing many kinds of squash, including pumpkins, which continue to be an important ingredient in the cooking of all the major tribes of this region.

There are few kinds of nuts available in the Southwest, but pinon nuts - found in the cones of the pinon pine, a dwarf tree that covers the rocky hills of New Mexico and Arizona - provide delicious compensation.

In the Pueblo recipe above, these two traditional ingredients are combined in a spicy, cake-like bread. Serve it lightly toasted as a sweet bread or at room temperature for dessert.

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