Went walking with my new friend Rachel this morning and we talked about obsession with all things pumpkin. It's in the air this time of year.
Not that I am one of those obsessed people. In fact I might have been the opposite - I remember once having a pumpkin mask applied during a facial and it stung like a thousand evil bees. Made me a little wary of those innocent looking pumpkins. But I have been making this recipe since college and no one has ever claimed I was inflicting torture by serving it.
I have received marriage proposals, venture capital offers, eye rolls of ecstasy and pledges of eternal friendship - all resulting from baking this bread. And so, in honor of all the co-workers, family, friends, neighbors, Teacher Appreciation Day eaters, random school bake sales, pre-school morning treat eaters, high school advisory breakfast eaters AND new friendships, I'll post it.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread/Muffins/Whatever
The original recipe MAY have called for this to be baked as muffins, but I have really only made it in mini-loaf pans, until last week, when I made a double batch and just needed to get it all baked. Then I finally tried muffins, which came out great. Be sure to fill your cups very close to the top to get that magical muffin top goodness.
Although I haven't tried, if the butter freaks you out, it might work to do 50/50 butter and applesauce.
I will say that this recipe is worth the butter.
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted and cooled enough to not cook the eggs
1 cup plain, canned pumpkin
2 eggs, preferably at room temp
1 cup sugar
1 2/3 cups flour
1 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (I measure this generously)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp (fine) salt
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Heat oven to 350ยบ
Coat whatever you are baking in with no-stick cooking spray.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl. To save doing more dishes than necessary - I melt the butter in a medium microwaveable bowl and let it cool for a bit. Then mix in pumpkin and eggs.
Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then fold in chocolate chips. Don't over mix. Mo one like tough muffins.
Here comes the whatever-you-like part. I use mini loaf pans, but muffin tins work great too, and I am sure you could make this in a regular-size loaf pan too. You'll just have to wait the extra time for it to bake, which I guarantee will be torture. Fill your receptacle(s) almost to the top. I don't think I've ever had spillage from this recipe and I have made it about 10,000 times.
My mini loaves take about 20 mins (give or take) in my oven, muffins maybe 15-18. Watch carefully for doneness, a toothpick will come out clean when done. Try again if you hit a melted chocolate chip. Remove immediately and let cool in pans 10 mins before removing from pans. Then try to control yourself. Usually I've inhaled two loaves before I break my pumpkin trance and realize what I've done.
And here's hoping you will make many new friends and maybe score some venture capital with this recipe.
