The kids and I cook together quite a bit. In fact, I can't enter the kitchen these days without my three year old on my toes, shouting, I want to help! I want to help! As you may imagine, the more we cook together, the more smoothly our cooking adventures tend to go. The boys understand the lay of the land in the kitchen. Mostly. Wildly running their hands through a floured table is still irresistible to them. But, for the most part, our cooking moves along smoothly. They mix, they measure, they stir, they smell, they taste. We move along like a well-oiled kitchen brigade. Until I handed my three year old a ramekin of eggs, mistakenly assuming that he'd pour them into the mixing bowl, as he'd poured in the oil and water. Rather, he inserted his hands into the dish of raw eggs and attempted to pick one up. I've never seen such an adorably puzzled reaction. I guess we've still got a few things to work on.
This recipe is a little unplanned extra for the week. I ended up with a bunch of leftover pumpkin puree, which would have been a pity to waste. So, I stuck it in the fridge while I waited for pumpkin inspiration. Then, after passing a loaf of pumpkin bread in the grocery store, it occurred to me that I could use my leftover pumpkin in exactly the same way I use my leftover, over-ripe bananas! I went straight to my favorite banana bread recipe and made a few tiny adjustments; a little extra sugar to account for pumpkin not being as naturally sweet as bananas, a little extra cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg. Adding chocolate was a no-brainer for me. The resulting bread is sweet, delicious, and seasonly perfect.
We'll be making this recipe again next week, in muffin form, for my little guy's nursery school Halloween party! To make as muffins, follow the same recipe, but reduce the cooking time to about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a loaf pan by greasing and lightly flouring the bottom and sides. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Posted in Baking, Breads, Chocolate, Cooking with Kids, Desserts, Food, Recipes and tagged baking, bread, chocolate, Cooking, cooking with kids, Food, kids, pumpkin, Recipes. Bookmark the permalink.
How am I suppose to not make this ?
You won't be disappointed! I'm feeling sad right now that we've already eaten it all, cause I could really go for another slice!
This looks delicious! I think its great the kids have an interest in the kitchen, start them off early!
That bread looks so good and the steps are so simple! I must get myself a pumpkin!
What beautiful pictures! I love the one of your little helper and truly enjoyed the story of the egg. Those are memories that will stay with you and he will love hearing about it when he gets a bit older. Pumpkin and chocolate sounds wonderful!
I'm glad you found such a great inspiration for using your leftover pumpkin… this looks great!!
I don't believe this. I found the recipe and 15 minutes later…in the oven. Thank you so much!
okie dokie…as I said 15 minutes to the oven and a little over an hour later, half of the loaf is gone. What happened? The smell coming from the oven made me cut into the second I took it out. The first slice didn't last near long enough. And darn if there wasn't a knock on the door. I had to offer some because the sweet pumpkin arouma was all over the house.
Now how do I explain this to Charlie? 'I baked it for you baby but it sure didn't make much'. Yep…I think I'm going with that!
Haha!!! Yes, I also have a bad habit of quickly knocking off a whole loaf. It's good hot and I love it cold too! Makes a great breakfast. Glad you are enjoying it!
My sister Mary made this for Thanksgiving (she added chopped walnuts and doubled the recipe, cooked for the same amount of time) it was FABULOUS and there weren't any crumbs left…we were fighting over the last bite!! She used canned pumpkin puree by the way. It's a new family tradition.