Thursday, December 11, 2008

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf

Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf

This is a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread, but we like to call it Super Chocolate Awesome Bread. These were literally the first words out of my friend's mouth when he took a bite.

It's one of two recipes i've tried from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking- the second one being the Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins, which were also nicknamed Super Chocolate Awesome Muffins. The same friend had already devoured two before I'd had two bites. They were that good.

It's the simplicity of these two recipes that made me want to try them first. Both can be mixed up in practically no time, and they yield beautiful, moist cakes oozing with melting chocolate. The pumpkin bread is quite spicy; several people actually thought it was gingerbread. I'm tempted to try it without the chocolate, as i've been hurting for a good plain pumpkin bread recipe.

For the muffins, I bought already over-ripe bananas from Penn Mac. It's usually a good place to go if you don't want to wait for bananas to ripen. The espresso powder in the batter is a nice, dark complement to the chocolate. The coffee flavor was hard to identify in the final product- I thought it was nicely balanced. You can view a reprint of the recipe here, but the original uses only semisweet chocolate.

Not all of the recipes in this book appeal to me, but I liked these two so much that i'll probably try a few more!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove
1/2 tsp ginger
2 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree (15oz can)
3 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup water, room temperature
1 cup (12 oz) chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the middle. Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans or line them with foil or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the oil and pumpkin puree. Add the granulated sugar and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract and water. Mix in the chocolate with a rubber spatula.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix (and don't worry if you see a few small streaks of flour). Divide into the two pans and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then unmold leave to cool completely.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those red pots are really cute. I want to get colorful kitchen stuff because it reminds me of the vintage kitchens... So what do you think about the book? Are the recipes in that book somewhat extreme? When I glanced at them, they seemed really decadent and insane. Not that that's a bad thing but it makes it hard to bake things from it all the time, you know?

Christine said...

That just looks awesome, I don't even need to taste it to be sure!

Anonymous said...

Loaf breads are such a great gift to give to friends and family during the holidays. Pumpkin chocolate chip sounds delicious!

lew said...

so this is nothing to do with your pumpkin chocolate loaf but to do with your gingersnap recipe from oct 2007. honey there were PERFECT! by far the best gingersnaps i have had, i made them for the Humanities Texas Holiday Book Fair and people loved them!! thanks lisa lisa...ps i miss you and da burgh, cant wait to see you in February. muah, ciao ciao!

Pittsburgh Needs Eated said...

Amanda-

Many of the recipes in the book are too decadent for my everyday baking purposes (especially some of those layer cakes and pies)- I did want to try the sour cream coffee cake, sugar cookies, marshmallows, and peanut butter krispie treats though.

Ray Creations said...
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