Bake: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Stephanie Saltz grew up watching her mother bake pumpkin chocolate chip bread instead of cookies each Christmas.
“At the time I thought we were being ripped off,” she says. “All of the other families I knew made cookies at Christmas!”
But now, as a mother herself, Stephanie fully understands what she gained. She finds herself spending every Christmas baking loaf after loaf of this bread that she wraps in brightly colored cellophane and gives to anyone and everyone – just like her mother did before her. This small thing has a big impact.
“I remember giving my neighbor a loaf one year after she had just had a baby. The following year she still remembered how the bread has sustained her spirits in the early days with a newborn at home.”
Stephanie included the recipe in a book she made for her eldest son as he prepares to move out into his first apartment.
“I realize now that my mom made this bread as something others could recieve. And it’s a tradition that I am so grateful to be able to carry on.”
Ingredients
1 2/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2
Mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice in a large mixing bowl.
Step 3
In a separate bowl, beat sugar, oil, and eggs until well blended. Add canned pumkin and water.
Step 4
Stir in flour mixture and fold chocolate chips into batter. Pour into a greased bread pan(s)*.
*Recipe makes one large, two medium, or three mini loaves.
Step 5
Bake for about one hour or until toothpick inserted in bread comes out clean. Cool in pan before removing loaf.
Step 6
Slice and eat or wrap and share!
Put Your Own Twist On This Recipe!
Add or substitute nuts, craisins, raisins, chopped dates, or sunflower seeds for chocolate chips.
Replace the water in the recipe with apple or orange juice for a fruitier tasting bread.
Omit the oil in the recipe and add 1/4 cup extra water to create a pancake batter instead of a bread batter. Make sure to flatten pancakes with a spatula while cooking so they don’t get too puffy.
Reinvent leftover bread by blending 2 eggs, 1 1/2 cup half and half, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and pouring mixture over 4 cups of cubed pumpkin bread in a greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and serve warm topped with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for a festive twist on bread pudding.
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