Chocolate Pumpkin Bread Recipe

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This chocolate pumpkin bread is not only perfect for fall, it’s delicious and filling too. Plus, you get both the benefits of real pumpkin and whole grains!

Sweet bread is always a delicious option for breakfast or dessert. Serve with a cup of coffee or tea, and you have a beautiful moment of delicious meditation. Just don’t leave behind all those delicious moist crumbs. You’ll want to enjoy every last bit of this!

What Spices Are In Chocolate Pumpkin Bread?

While many recipes call for pumpkin spice (a.k.a pumpkin pie spice), this recipe simplifies the flavor profile a bit by bringing in just two, tasty spices. For this recipe, you’ll just need cinnamon and nutmeg.

If you want to add more spices, you can also try adding a ¼ teaspoon ground cloves and a ¼ teaspoon ground ginger. But the recipe does not call for them.

Why Is My Pumpkin Bread Dry?

Any sweet bread that is too dry typically doesn’t end up that way on accident. Here are some things to double-check to make sure this doesn’t happen.

1. Measure your flour accurately. If you tend to scoop extra flour out of the bag, or fail to level it off in the measuring cup, you could be adding too much flour that will make your bread dry.
2. Check your oven temperature. Every oven bakes differently. But if yours bakes on the higher side, it can dry things out pretty quickly. A simple oven thermomenter that sits in the oven should be able to give you an accurate read.
3. Adjust the oil and pumpkin. If you make this recipe and feel that it is still too dry (it shouldn’t be), you can always add more pumpkin or oil to the batter the next time you make it. A ¼ to a ½ cup more of pumpkin should do the trick, and/or another ¼ cup of oil.

Healthy Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

What makes this recipe a more nutritious option? Using clean, whole-food ingredients always makes things healthier. In this particular recipe, these ingredients make things healthier:

• Whole Wheat Flour – Any whole grain flour will always be a healthier choice than white, processed flour. Why? Because whole grains convert to sugar in the body much slower than white flour. So your body doesn’t get the same “sugar jolt” that it will get from white flour.
• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – This outdoes sweetened cocoa powder by leaps and bounds simply because you get all the nutritious benefits of cocoa without any of the added, processed sugar.
• Chocolate Chips – Yes, it’s sweetened chocolate. But they type of chocolate chips you use here can make a noticeable difference. There are chocolate chips on the market that are stevia sweetened and are made of dark chocolate. This makes them pretty healthy compared to regular chocolate chips! Lily’s is my favorite brand. But there are others on the market as well. (Not paid to promote Lily’s. It’s just what I use.)
• Pumpkin Puree – As long as it’s pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling), pumpkin is a nutrition powerhouse! It’s a superfood for good reason. So don’t be shy with eating pumpkin!
• Granular Sweetener – The type you choose will make a difference. Sure, you could use regular, processed, white sugar. But it will do a number on your body. Better choices are Sucanat, coconut sugar, or monk fruit. Yes, they are still sweeteners. But they are far easier on the body than the processed stuff. So choose wisely.
• Molasses – If you use blackstrap molasses, you are getting a nice dose of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals!

Ingredients In Healthy Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

Whole wheat flour – Use the regular variety. Do not use whole wheat pastry flour for this.

Unsweetened cocoa powder – Make sure there is no added sugar. You can use cacao powder instead if you wish.

Baking powder – Make sure it’s on the newer side or it won’t be as effective.

Salt – I used pink Himalayan salt, but use whatever you normally bake or cook with.

Ground cinnamon – No added sugar here. Just the cinnamon.

Ground nutmeg – You can grate this fresh if you prefer.

Chocolate chips – I use the 365 sugar-free dark chocolate chips from Whole Foods. Lily’s and Enjoy Life are also good brands.

Pumpkin puree – if canned, make sure it’s not pumpkin pie filling.

Granular sweetener – I used brown xylitol for this to avoid spikes in my blood sugar. But it’s not a clean sweetener. Use whatever you are comfortable using. I’ve made this with coconut sugar and it turns out great!

Molasses – Blackstrap molasses is best here if you can get it.

Large eggs – These work best if used at room temperature.

Pure vanilla extract – Don’t use vanilla flavoring.

How To Make Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

Preheat oven to 350° degrees F. and line a standard loaf pan with parchment paper.

Spray the parchment with oil.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, sweetener, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1 cup of chocolate chips (all your dry ingredients). Reserve the last ¼ cup chocolate chips for topping your bread.

Next, add the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl.

Stir everything together. It will feel dry at first, but keep mixing. It will become a proper dough once stirred enough.

Pour the batter into the oiled loaf pan. Smooth it out and press it evenly in the pan so the top is level.

Sprinkle the leftover ¼ cup chocolate chips over the top of the dough. Bake for 40 minutes.

Let the bread cool on a counter, on a wire rack (cooling rack).

Once cooled, slice and serve.

How To Store Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

This will keep in the fridge for up to 4 or 5 days.

How To Freeze Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

This one is so-so in the freezer. It will obviously freeze, as will any food. But the freezer does tend to dry it out a bit. So make very sure you pack it super well. Perhaps wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and then put it into an airtight container with a tight-fitting lid.

Recipe Supplies

For this recipe, you’ll want a standard bread loaf pan, parchment paper, and a mixing bowl. Click on any of the images to be taken to that product on Amazon. (Affiliate links)

More Healthy Sweet Bread Recipes

• Persimmon Bread
• Cinnamon Bread
• Lemon Blueberry Bread
• Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Bread
• Apple Bread
• Oat Flour Banana Bread
• Raspberry Banana Bread
• Snickerdoodle Pumpkin Bread

Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf Recipe Card + Video

Adapted from: Carrots And Cake

Recipe from the Gracious Pantry® archives, originally posted on 10/12/2010.