Pumpkin Hot Chocolate Chip Bread

I know, this looks a bit last month. More pumpkin? Really? Its December, Cort!

I don't really think pumpkin has a season, and if it does, it extends clear until January. After making some Pumpkin Apple Cider last week I had a good amount of pumpkin puree left and knew it was time for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread. Wanting to try a new recipe, I scoured some of my favorite places for inspiration, including Sally's Baking Addiction. I especially love her cookies, and the fact that her name is Sally.

My dad calls me Sally and has for years. It started as a joke because of a nickname we gave my sister, but it stuck and I like it. So, when I told my parents about Sally's Baking Addiction, they thought it was a clever name I came up with. Sadly, no, but she's got some great stuff, including a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread. But, it called for orange juice,  and less pumpkin than I had. Another recipe I found called for yogurt, but I was out of that too. So what's a Little Red Hen to do? Improvise and do it myself!

It is December, so while I didn't have orange juice or yogurt, I did have hot chocolate! Let's try that! I'm so glad that I did because adding some hot chocolate to Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread intensifies the chocolate flavor, and the bread turns out moist and delicious! Any kind of hot chocolate will do. I used Stephen's Gourmet Hot Chocolate with Mini Marshmallows.

This recipe makes two 8x4 inch loaves. If you only have 9x5 inch loaves, I would make one full loaf and a couple mini loaves. I like thick, tall loaves of bread, so 8x4 inch pans are my favorite for quick breads. I had to use a dark pan and a light aluminum pan and both worked equally well, but of course the darker pan baked more quickly. Can I add that I don't always use a timer when I bake? So, I don't know exactly how long the bread took to bake. Roughly an hour, so just keep an eye on it after 50 minutes.

Some of you may be turned off by having two loaves of chocolaty, spicy, moist pumpkin bread, but I can't see a down side. Either you have one loaf to share, one loaf to freeze, or one loaf to eat now, and another to eat after dinner. Win-win.

Pumpkin Hot Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup prepared hot chocolate
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/3 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1-2 cups chocolate chips (you be the judge)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare 2 8x4 inch loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl,stir together pumpkin puree, oil, sugars, and eggs. 
3. Add soda, flour, salt, spices, and hot chocolate. Stir until just combined. 
4. Pour evenly into loaf pans. Bake for about an hour, until center is set.
5. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove loaves from pan and continue to cool on a cooling rack.

Bake the bread. Share the slices.