Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Bread

A Pumpkin Quick Bread that with chocolate swirled in takes the concept of pumpkin to another level!

I love pumpkin so much that I look forward to the fall to try all different kinds of it. I roast them and create different flavor profiles for each pumpkin bread I bake.

So be on the lookout for me sneaking around porches for pumpkins that have not been carved....

 As for this recipe, it started out as a Banana Nut Bread recipe from the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Hawaii that I visited when I was 13 and it stuck with me. Recently I was able to relocate it and realized the similarities between the textures of bananas and pumpkin flesh and exchanged them one to one. And added in chocolate. It came out perfectly and then, once again, I moved “up here” and had to convert it.

A side tip on chocolate chips used for the chocolate ganache you will make for the chocolate “swirl”. 

Costco is now selling Kirkland brand chocolate chips for half the price of Tollhouse which I have been loyal to since I was a kid. One to one, they stack up pretty darn good. 

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE SWIRL BREAD 

Makes 1 large, 9-by-5-inch loaf 

Note: I have included both high and low altitude versions so you can make this recipe at different locations as you move around. 

Chocolate Ganache for Chocolate “Swirl” 

Ingredients 

1 cup heavy cream 

1 cup chocolate chips/broken pieces of chocolate 

Directions 

1. Place chocolate chips/chocolate in a glass or metal bowl (to transfer heat) with room to accommodate the heavy cream. 

2. In a stainless steel pot, bring heavy cream to a boil, turn off heat and pour over chocolate; let sit a few minutes to melt then whisk to fully incorporate both ingredients until you see no trace of heavy cream. Cool. Set aside.

Note: You may have close to 1 cup extra; use to make hot chocolate, pour in your coffee or

drizzle on pancakes, waffles, pound cake….. 

Pumpkin Bread Ingredients: 

	High Altitude	Low Altitude	Change
All-purpose flour	2¼ cups + 3 Tbsp	2¼ cups	Plus 3 Tbsp
Baking powder	1/4 tsp	¼ tsp	No change
Baking soda	¾ tsp	1 tsp	Minus ¼ tsp
Kosher or sea salt	½ tsp	½ tsp	No change
Pumpkin purée	1¾ cups	1¾ cups	No change
Granulated sugar	¾ cup - 2 Tbsp	¾ cup	Minus 2 Tbsp
Dark brown sugar	¼ cup	¼ cup	No change
Vegetable oil	¾ cup + 3 Tbsp	¾ cup	Plus 3 Tbsp
Large eggs	3	2	Plus 1 eggs
Vanilla extract	1 tsp	1 tsp	No change

Assemble and Bake Pumpkin Bread

1. Preheat Convection Oven to 350 degrees or Conventional Oven 

2. to 375 degrees.

3. Place 2 strips of parchment paper in a greased loaf pan to cover sides and bottom.

4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside. Using a whisk is the best way to incorporate dry ingredients.

5. In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the pumpkin puree, vanilla, sugar, oil and eggs and mix with paddle attachment until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every few minutes.

6. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

7. Pour half of the mixture into the loaf pan.

8. Drizzle in a little of the chocolate ganache on top of the mixture, take a skewer or paring knife and swirl in the chocolate to create a marble effect. Pour remaining batter on top, drizzle more chocolate on top and repeat “swirl”.

9. Bake for close to one hour but always watch your bread.

When is it done?

●      When a toothpick comes out clean

●      The bread springs back with the touch of your finger

●      Internal temperature reaches between 200 - 205 degrees.

“Watch the dough, not the clock”

TO ROAST YOUR OWN PUMKIN:

1. Preheat a Conventional Oven to 425 °F or 375°F

2. Place the entire pumpkin as is in the oven for about 15–20 minutes, just until the pumpkin has started to soften.

3. Remove it from the oven, let it cool enough to handle and cut it in half.

4. Scoop out the seeds and stringy fibers.

5. Leave the skin on as it will continue to separate from the pumpkin.

6. Put the halves back on the sheet pan, cut-side down.

7. Continue roasting until completely tender, perhaps another 20-30 minutes, depending on size, until you can pierce the “meat” easily

8. Cool slightly and peel skin.

9. Purée in your food processor. If it seems a bit “watery” just strain