Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

My MIL gave me a subscription to Cooking With Paula Deen. What a great gift! Last month she did a whole spread on breads with different variations. Banana, tea, pumpkin... you get the picture. I didn't think I'd be that interested in the tea breads but there's a lavender variation that sounds amazing...

Anyway, was in baking mode this weekend, made the this one and it hit the spot just as the air got crisp! Love it! The kids have been asking for it daily... since I'm rationing it out to make it last...

Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

2 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
4 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 cups sugar
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves
8 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, oil, and water. In another large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Gradually add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in the chocolate. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire rack.

p.s. Just nix the chocolate to make plain ole pumpkin bread.

Here are the other two variations I haven't tried yet...

Ginger-Pecan Pumpkin Bread
Prepare pumpkin bread as directed. Stir 1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger and 1 cup chopped pecans into batter before pouring into prepared pans.

Rum-Raisin Pumpkin Bread
Prepare pumpkin bread as directed. Soak 1 cup raisins in 1/4 cup rum for 15 minutes. Stir raisins and rum into batter before pouring into prepared pans.