My Chocolate Pecan Pumpkin Bread recipe is what you’ve been waiting for all summer. Spicy and sweet with crunchy pecans and sweet little nuggets of chocolate nestled into moist and delicious pumpkin bread. As I write this the smell is driving me crazy, and of course, it’s taking 10 minutes longer in the oven than I had anticipated.
Pumpkin Bread Spice Mix Ingredients
For my Pumpkin Bread recipe, I use fresh ingredients in my Pumpkin Spice Mix rather than dry spices. Freshly grated ginger, orange zest, and vanilla bean are what give the spice depth. They help bring a bright and complex dimension to the whole Pumpkin Spice thing we all love. Once you taste a Pumpkin Spice Mix recipe made this way, you’ll never want anything else.
- Fresh Ginger
- Orange Zest
- Vanilla Bean
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
My Chocolate Pecan Pumpkin Bread is great in muffins as well as a loaf. As a loaf, the recipe is a little too small for 2 loaf pans and maybe a little too big for one loaf. I use a lower temperature of 325F for a longer amount of time. A) so I don’t burn the pecans on the top with a higher heat, and B) so the batter doesn’t expand too quickly and spill out over the sides while baking. When you pour the Pumpkin Bread batter into the loaf pan, some of you experienced bakers will give the ¾ full pan a side-eye look of doubt, but I promise at a low temperature the pumpkin bread will bake up beautifully.
This pumpkin bread recipe smells amazing! The pumpkin spices, roasting pecans, and warm chocolate fresh from the oven are like a little slice of Heaven.
Pumpkin Bread Ingredients
- Pumpkin Puree: A good quality pumpkin puree in a can is perfect for this pumpkin bread. Using fresh pumpkin is better for some recipes, but there isn’t a noticeable difference when making pumpkin bread. So just use the canned stuff and save yourself the work.
- Chocolate Chips: Dark chocolate, pumpkin, and pumpkin spice are an excellent combination. I use large chips in my recipe, however, small chips or chunks work great a look nice in the slices of pumpkin bread.
- Nuts: Although I use pecans, you can substitute other nuts in this recipe. I’ve used walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and macadamia nuts in pumpkin bread and they are all excellent. If you have nuts allergies, you can definitely omit the nuts from the recipe.
- Pumpkin Spice: A good pumpkin bread needs a great pumpkin spice mix. My pumpkin spice is excellent! Using fresh ginger, orange zest, and vanilla bean is what adds so much depth of flavor to this pumpkin spice mix.
- Butter, Sugar, and Eggs: Very traditional baking ingredients. They add the richness and sweetness to the pumpkin bread. One thing I like that might be new to you is European-style butter. It is what butter should taste like and I use it for all my baking recipes.
- All-Purpose Flour and Baking Powder: Again, very traditional baking ingredients. However, If you prefer gluten-free pumpkin bread, you can substitute almond flour 1:1 for the all-purpose flour. The only change I would make with almond flour is to add one additional egg to the pumpkin bread recipe to help make up for the lack of gluten.
Here is my Chocolate Pecan Pumpkin Bread recipe:
Chocolate Pecan Pumpkin Bread
Equipment
- Loaf Pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter Room Temperature
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 Can Pumpkin Puree 15-Ounce Can
- 2 Teaspoons Fresh Ginger Finely Grated
- 2 Oranges Zest Only
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract or 1/2 Vanilla Bean, seeds scraped
- 2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
- 3/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
- 2/3 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
- 2/3 Cup Chopped Pecans
- Cooking Spray For the pan
Topping
- 1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
- 1/4 Cup Chopped Pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F, spray a 9 X 5 loaf pan
- In an electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar with the paddle until light and fluffy
- Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, with the mixer off, add the eggs one at a time, paddling each until completely incorporated before adding the next
- Add the pumpkin puree, salt, orange zest and ginger, paddle on low until completely incorporated
- Sift together all the dry ingredients
- Add the dark chocolate chips and chopped pecans, stir until completely incorporated
- Place batter into the loaf pan, sprinkle the top with remaining dark chocolate chips and chopped pecans
- Bake for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle, comes out clean
- ***I live at roughly 700 feet above sea level and used a convection oven. The amount of time it takes with your oven and climate may be different than my experience.
I love a warm slice of pumpkin bread for breakfast!
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