Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

So yummy.  You know how much Dave liked the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars?  Well, this was like making it ok to have them for breakfast.  Because it's not a dessert if it's bread, right?  Soft, sweet but not sugary and perfectly spiced with a hint of chocolate.  Plus this makes a ton of bread.  I don't even want to think about the number of muffins that could be created with this recipe.  It's pumpkin, so the bread stays moist.  And I don't think it needs dressed up at all with a glaze or anything, but someone with a slightly sweet cream cheese spread might think otherwise.  Overall, you need to make this.  One for you.  One for your Thanksgiving hostess (oh, that's you too?).  And one for the freezer.  Or do what I did and make mini loaves that you can share to spread the joy.  I like mini loaves for gifts to random people I want to thank, like my hair stylist, a teacher, a particularly helpful coworker.  It's homemade, so that's always a thoughtful gesture, but it's small enough and easy to make that it doesn't seem like an overly dramatic gesture (like a tray of 5 dozen cookies might seem.  To some people.)

Have I mentioned how adorable I think Maria and Josh at Two Peas & Their Pod are?  I know I have, but for real, they are adorable.  And they make awesome food.  Really, they have amazing recipes and beautiful food.  This recipe was no exception.  It's a solid recipe and comes together very quickly.  I don't know any other recipe where I get such a large quantity with so little effort.  Maria uses canola oil which I subbed for vegetable oil since that's what I had on hand.  And I wouldn't be opposed to adding more chocolate chips, maybe an extra 1/2 cup.  Maria also makes three loaves in 8 x 4 pans, but my tool kit consists of a set of mini loaf pans, one 8 x 4 pan and one 9 x 5 pan.  Since I knew I wanted to do some sharing, I opted for the 9 x 5 (since my 8 x 4 was going to be put to use in another way--more on that next week) and the mini loaves.  I'm fairly confident that three mini loaves equal one regular loaf, so if you have a lot of people to share with, you can make up 9 little loaves and pass them out to everyone you see!



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups sugar
15 ounces canned pumpkin (one can; not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
2/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 to 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, vanilla and eggs.  Mix until smooth.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among your greased loaf pans.    I used an ice scream scoop to drop three scoops of batter into each mini loaf pan and then scraped the remainder into my 9 x 5 inch bread pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes for mini loaf pans or 60 minutes for standard pans.

Remove from oven and cool in pans on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Then run a knife along the edges to loosen the loaves from the pans.  Remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

When freezing bread, I wrap mine in foil, then place in zip top bags to maintain freshness.

Makes 3 standard loaves or 9 mini loaves.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

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