Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Pumpkin Bread

My in-laws were here this past weekend, good times!  No, really, I have good in-laws.  They came to see Bubby play soccer, we did some visiting, some shopping and we visited the best darn Pumpkin Patch in Northern Colorado.  Seriously, this place rocks!  A good time was had by all ... although, really Weather Gods ... 87 degrees in October????  I think not!

Osborn Farm

I was feeling quite domestic prior to their visit so in addition to cleaning my house, I set myself up for failure by trying to bake some of the BEST PUMPKIN BREAD EVER on Friday evening, prior to their arrival.  I will share the recipe below because I am just awesome that way.  I tried.  Ok, what the heck is up with this town because every darn place I went to try to buy canned pumpkin was out!  A shortage of canned pumpkin, you say?  In October?  Nice.  I had one can already, I needed one measly can!  No.  Go.  So I improvised and mashed up a small can of yams.  Ya know what, NO DIFFERENCE!  Now, I would not suggest using only yams ... but the half-and-half mixture worked well.  Also, you can cut a little of the sugar out and replace some of the oil with applesauce.  Really. 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread!
-actual recipe

3 cups flour (I use all purpose whole wheat)
2 cups sugar (really, cut this down a little)
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chips (throw the whole bag in there ... the minis are great)
1 1/4 cups oil (subs. some applesauce)
2 or 3 small cans of pumpkin (you domestic types can use real pumpkin maybe 3 1/2 cups cooked/mashed)
4 eggs
2 tsp cinnamon (I use a lot more!)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda (soda!)
I toss in some ginger and nutmeg too, but I'm weird ...

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray three small loaf pans or two regular loaf pans.
In large bowl combine flour, cinnamon, salt and soda.  In a medium bowl beat eggs and then add sugar, pumpkin and oil (applesauce too).  Add wet to dry and mix until all moist.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Spoon mixture into pans.  Bake at 350 for 65 minutes then check (usually takes 70 minutes or so in my oven).  Place on wire racks to cool (mostly) ... wrap in aluminum foil while still warm to keep moist.  Will freeze well!  Enjoy ... if your Hubby is anything like mine, immediately freeze two of the loaves and dole them out sparingly for good behavior.




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