Welcome to another edition of Borrowed Flavours. It’s been a while, and I apologize. The holidays are always a hectic time and there was some plague taking out the entire province. In this edition, we will be looking at making pumpkin bread with chocolate chips. I promised myself in September that I would bake some, and here we are months later. I’m a huge fall girly, so I will happily eat pumpkin anything year round. I was still happy to have my kitchen smell like fall, even if it was the beginning of January.
VIEW RECIPE HERE: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread – Dinner at the Zoo
For those new here, Borrowed Flavours is a little subsection I decided to start. Long story short, I try out recipes I found online, while still crediting and linking to the original author. You can read more about it here.
Let’s Dive In
The best part about this recipe is that it’s one bowl. ONE BOWL ONLY! The bread also bakes for around an hour, so it’s great to get all the dishes done while it bakes.
I’d also like to note that I did slightly modify the recipe. I didn’t have enough chocolate chips, so I used what I had which was just under a cup. Most of it went in the loaf and the rest of the chocolate chips I just threw on top. I also used avocado oil in place of vegetable oil. The modifications were small, but the loaf still turned out and it was highly complimented.
Another thing I’d like to mention is if you’re using a ceramic loaf pan, you will have to reduce the cooking time and it might cook longer. Keep a close eye on it when it reaches the end of the recommended cooking time. My last creation in a ceramic pan was a total waste because I forgot to reduce the temperature.
The Process
As I mentioned before, this recipe only uses one bowl which is a huge bonus for anyone who hates doing dishes. Although it’s best if you set up everything before you start, if you have to scramble for some sugar or eggs, it won’t matter since it’s all going in the same place and it’s not time sensitive.
I highly recommend using a mixer or a spatula when you start mixing in the eggs, oil, and other liquids. The original recipe just stated to use a whisk, but I found the batter was pretty hefty, so I switched to a spatula. A spatula is also awesome for making sure all the batter ends up in your loaf pan.
The original author, Sara Welch from Dinner at the Zoo, mentioned tossing the chocolate chips in flour before adding them in. This will prevent the chocolate chips from sinking into the loaf. Way back in 2020, I made pumpkin bread with chocolate chips but skipped that step. While the bread still turned out, I do recommend tossing the chocolate chips with flour if you have the time. It’s nice to have that extra precaution just in case.
Don’t skip greasing up your loaf pan. It only takes a few seconds, and it makes the removal so much easier. Even though I used a nonstick loaf pan, I still greased up that bad boy, and it was so easy to flip the pan and remove the bread. I like to use butter to grease the loaf pan, but you can use cooking spray or oil. That being said, wait until the bread has cooled down before removing it.
This isn’t a standard rule, but I find it works best for me and it might help someone else. My general rule is always bake for the minimum amount of time (that the recipe states), check it, and then go from there. To give you an example, the original recipe stated to bake the bread for 55-65 minutes. I baked it for 55 minutes and then checked it. It wasn’t ready yet, so I put it in for another 5 minutes. Although, I found the 5 minutes to be a tad too much so I think 3 minutes would suffice, but it still turned out so I’m happy!
Variations
Here are some variations to try. Get crafty and get creative!
- Switch up your chocolate chips. Try dark, milk, white, or a mix
- Swap out the chocolate chips for dried fruit. Raisins or cranberries work really well!
- Add in some nuts. Throw in a handful of walnuts or pecans for extra crunch
- If you’re using nuts or fruit, top the loaf with pumpkin seeds if you wish
- Omit all mixins and create a glaze for the top after baking. You can keep it simple or try a maple glaze or almond glaze.
Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips Recipe
The recipe can be found here: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread – Dinner at the Zoo
Still hungry? Check out more Canuck Kitchen recipes to satisfy your cravings.
Yummmm! I’ll definitely have to try this recipe 🙂