Chocolate Takes Pumpkin Bread to the Dark Side
Every week, we spotlight a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Below, Billy Green of Wit & Vinegar presents his super dense pumpkin bread enriched with rich cocoa. The recipe appears in Green’s recently released cookbook, Whip It Up! Over 75 Fast, Fun and Easy Recipes.
Photo: Billy Green
By Billy Green of Wit & Vinegar
You guys, all I want to eat right now is pumpkin in the form of baked goods. Maybe pumpkin in the form of anything.
I’ve somehow managed to have a loaf of this pumpkin bread in my fridge at all times for the past few weeks. It’s been amazing, though sometimes I feel very attacked whenever I open the fridge, because there’s this beautiful loaf of pumpkin bread giving me major eyes. I mean, it’s wrapped in foil, but I know it wants me.
Spiced Chocolate Pumpkin Bread
Makes one tall 8-by-4-inch loaf
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 ¾ cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa, sifted for lumpage
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 stick of butter, cubed up to melt evenly
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare your pan by lining it with parchment paper. Use enough parchment so that two longer sides peek out from the sides of the pan. Grease the pan and parchment with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients to combine, set aside.
In a medium-sized saucepan, melt down the butter over a medium-low heat, making sure you don’t brown it. Once it’s melted, turn off the heat and stir in the sugar until it’s completely combined. Add the pumpkin puree, stir until combined, and add the eggs, one at a time, until also completely combined.
Carefully mix in the buttermilk, then add that mixture to the dry ingredients, using a rubber spatula to fold it all together until just combined. Then add the chocolate chips and stir just until they’re evenly distributed. Don’t over mix.
Pop the batter into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out almost clean, though a few crumbs are fine. Let the bread cool for about 10 min then use your parchment handles to lift it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Bread tastes best when completely cooled.
More delightful breads to try out:
Spoon Bread from ‘Southern Soups & Stews’
Chocolate and Cinnamon-Swirled Banana Bread to Cure Those Morning Blues
New Yorker Rye from ‘The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook’
