Throughout fall and the upcoming holiday season, I always want to bake sweets, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. I learned this recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf from my grandmother. Every Thanksgiving she would make it and as a family we would eat it when we woke up Thanksgiving morning before we started preparing for the feast later that day. Because it’s pumpkin, this recipe is perfect for fall and the holidays! It’s sweet enough to eat for dessert yet it goes great with coffee for a morning meal.
This bread is absolutely delicious. I look forward to the fall and holiday season every year just for this bread. It’s the perfect bread to eat on Thanksgiving or Christmas morning, or just any day in between. If you have a large family, you may even want to make two loafs because it will go quickly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and maybe even turn it into a fall or winter tradition of your own.
Ingredients:
1¾ cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1¼ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate cut into chunks
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter and flour a 9×5 inch non stick loaf pan.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Stir together.
In a separate bowl, beat butter until softened. Add sugar and continue beating. Add eggs and beat until well blended. Add pumpkin, vanilla, and flour mixture until just well blended.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler over medium heat or in microwave for about 1½-2 minutes. Spoon half of the batter into the loaf pan.
Drop a spoonful of chocolate on top of batter then swirl chocolate into batter with a wooden skewer. Repeat with the remaining batter and chocolate.
Bake for about 1 hour or until skewer inserted into center comes out clean.
Let cool for 15 minutes then invert onto a wire rack.
