Harvest Loaf

Halloween is just two days away, and I can hardly believe that I have only made one pumpkin dessert. I professed my love for all things pumpkin in that last post, so you would think I’d be baking everyday. (I was a little late on posting that up; I made those bars like the second week of October.) Well, I ran into a little problem. Make that a big problem, a pumpkin shortage problem. I couldn’t find canned pumpkin anywhere. Talk about annoying. I even went to the little stores, and the ones in the not so nice neighborhoods and there was no pumpkin to be found. I mention this to Brian and he immediately gets on the Internet to see if we can order it online. Of course you can, you can find anything online. But we didn’t have to resort to that. This past Monday I had had it. I posted up on my facebook how annoyed I was and I got quite the response from friends telling me where to find it. I ended up calling a few places before I went and my neighborhood Vons had some in stock. Brenda, at Vons, told me to come fast, as it was going quickly. (Side note, as I asked around and researched, apparently there was a bad crop of pumpkins this year, so not as much to can. I was also told grocers were holding off most of the pumpkin until right before Thanksgiving.) I head to Vons, and pay an outrageous $2.50 a can. Total rip off! My mom died when I told her, her discount grocery store, Winco, had it for $1.00! I bought eight cans, and Brian told me he didn’t care what I had to pay!

The recipe I made with my newly obtained canned pumpkin was mini harvest loaves, per Brittany’s request. It’s an oh so tasty pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and a cinnamon nutmeg glaze. It was a “secret recipe” of a family my mom knows, and last year she managed to get the recipe. (So now I’ll post it on the Internet, they’ll love that!) One thing I did differently this year is I used mini chocolate chips instead of the regular ones. I was thinking of my dad who likes the taste of chocolate but doesn’t like how the chips are hard in the soft bread. The beauty of the mini chips is that they melt into the bread and don’t really stay in chip form. He loved it!

Tips for making the loaves: I usually double the recipe because it uses a whole 15 oz. can of pumpkin that way. The doubled recipe will make about six to seven mini loaves. You’re welcome to use a regular loaf pan, but for some reason I have a hard time getting that size to bake right. Also, when I made it I didn’t have any cloves, so I just went with out, I couldn’t tell the difference.


Harvest Loaf Recipe:

Just mix it up!
1 3/4 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 C sugar
1/2 C butter
2 eggs
3/4 C pumpkin
6 oz chocolate chips (or mini cho. chips)

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes for a small loaf pan. (Makes about 4 mini loaves.)

Spice Glaze:
1/2 C powdered Sugar
dash of cinnamon and nutmeg
1-2 Tbs milk