Chocolate Orange Pumpkin Bread

This easy pumpkin bread recipe scented with orange and filled with chopped chocolate is a winner. When buying canned pumpkin, make sure you buy the can with "pure pumpkin" on the label and not one that says "pie mix" or that already has spices mixed in. For the chocolate, we love using a dark chocolate, but milk or white chocolate would also be delicious.

No fancy equipment, very few dishes to clean and only minutes in the kitchen.

Yield: Makes one 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch pumpkin loaf

You Will Need

• 8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1-1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 scant cup (215 grams) pure pumpkin, see note below
• 3 ounces (85 grams) chocolate, roughly chopped or chocolate chips (about 1/2 cup)

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 325° F. Grease an 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. You can also line the bottom and two sides with parchment paper. If you leave an inch or two hanging over two sides, it makes for easy removal after baking.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves to combine.
3. In a large bowl, rub the sugar, orange zest and vanilla together until fragrant then add the butter and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each egg. Stir in the pumpkin.
4. Switch to a spatula or large spoon then fold the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture in two parts, folding just until combined. Be careful not to over mix the batter. Fold in most of the chocolate, leaving about a tablespoon to scatter on top.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smooth the top then scatter reserved chocolate on top.
6. Bake until the loaf is golden brown, pulls slightly away from the edges of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, 55 to 75 minutes.
7. Cool the loaf in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
8. Store loaf loosely covered at room temperature 2 to 3 days or wrap well and store in the refrigerator up to a week. Since it's just the two of us, we store in the refrigerator then when we want a slice we'll give it a couple minutes in our toaster oven to warm up.

Notes and Tips

We use canned pumpkin and have developed the recipe so that you can make two loaves from one (15-ounce) can. There are just less than two cups of pumpkin puree in one can, which is why we call for a "scant" cup of pumpkin. This just means that you should use slightly less than 1 cup of pumpkin to make one loaf.

 

Source: Adam @ Inspired Taste