Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

I’m feeling rather sheepish about this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread.

You see, I’ve been baking and perfecting this particular recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread for almost seven years, but in more than three years of blogging, I’ve never shared it.

This Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread is positively wonderful, the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever baked or eaten, and a recipe I became known for during the years I worked at Target’s corporate headquarters. Yet, for a variety of invented reasons, I procrastinated publishing it.

My first invented reason was I thought it would bore you. Do you really need another recipe for something so basic as pumpkin chocolate chip bread, when so many recipes already exist?

Of course, all of my co-workers who raved that this was the best pumpkin chocolate chip bread they’d ever eaten (and begged me to bring it for team breakfast in July) had already tried many versions of pumpkin bread too, yet they still insisted I make this one in particular. Clearly, this pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe has something unique to offer

Then, I told myself that it was too early for pumpkin. My Pinterest feed disagreed. It’s a pumpkin palooza every time I log in. My second excuse fell flat.

Finally, I came to the real reason that I was hesitant to share this pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe: it had been too long. I’ve been baking this pumpkin chocolate chip bread at least three times per fall since 2008, yet after three years of blogging, I hadn’t posted the recipe. Are you familiar with the sentiment that longer you wait to call an old friend, the more hesitant you become to do so? That is how I felt about this pumpkin chocolate bread.

Well, I’m picking up the phone at last. All my delaying has accomplished is to keep this incredible pumpkin chocolate chip bread recipe from your life, an omission I now recognize as borderline criminal. This pumpkin chocolate chip bread is everything, everything pumpkin bread can and should and must be.

It’s is incredibly moist and tender, uses an unapologetic amount of pumpkin (none of this “half-cup” business found in most recipes—I want my pumpkin chocolate bread to taste like pumpkin and not leave me with an awkward amount leftover in the can), and it smells and tastes like fall. The spices are warm and rich, the oats add an incredible texture that you’ll never want your future pumpkin bread to be without, and the melty dark chocolate chips raise the pumpkin bread satisfaction level from “high” to “transcendent.”

One fact I will divulge to you about this pumpkin chocolate bread that I never mentioned to my co-workers is that it’s healthy. The recipe is 100% whole grain, contains a moderate amount of sugar (especially when compared with standard pumpkin bread recipes), and contains only a scant 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (by comparison, I found some popular pumpkin bread recipes that contained four times as much). Because this healthy pumpkin bread recipe has SO MUCH PUMPKIN, it’s insanely moist on its own, no excess oil required.

I’m sorry I waited so long to share this wonderful recipe for healthy pumpkin chocolate chip bread with you. Let’s both devour a few extra slices to make up for lost time. It’s one of my favorite things to bake in the fall, and I hope that you love it as much as I (and my former co-workers) all do. Have a slice or three, call an old pal, and forgive me?

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Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Incredibly moist pumpkin chocolate chip bread that tastes like fall. With lots of warm spices, chocolate, and oats, this is the best healthy pumpkin bread!

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour — or white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats, — plus additional 1-2 tablespoons for sprinkling on top
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons melted and cooled coconut oil — light olive oil, or canola oil
• 1/3 cup non-fat milk — , unsweetened almond milk, or unsweetened soymilk (plus 1 1/2 tablespoons)
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened pumpkin puree — (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
• 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips — (I love Ghirardelli, plus additional for sprinkling on top)

Instructions

1. Place rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9x5-inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 cup oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large, separate bowl, beat together the eggs, brown sugar, and oil on medium speed until combined. Add the milk and pumpkin and beat again until evenly combined. Add the dry ingredients, then gently stir them in by hand, just until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top, then sprinkle with oats and chocolate chips. Bake the loaf for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a cooling rack, then let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Gently turn the loaf out onto the rack to cool completely.

Recipe Notes

• Store leftover pumpkin bread in an airtight container lined with paper towels for up to 4 days at room temperature or 7 days in the refrigerator. It can be frozen, wrapped tightly and placed in a ziptop bag, for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature prior to serving.
• You will have a small amount of pumpkin leftover. Try it mixed into oatmeal with a bit of maple syrup, cinnamon, and pecans or walnuts for a lovely fall breakfast.

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Easy Homemade Bread, Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

All text and images © Erin / Well Plated.

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