Chocolate Pumpkin Bread + GIVEAWAY

{ November 23, 2010 @ 11:10 am } · { Bread, Breakfast, Giveaway }
{ Tags: B.Flay, Chocolate, pumpkin }

See that? There’s no beautiful crust on the end of that sizable chunk  of pumpkin bread.

Why, you ask?

My grandma ate it. That’s right. She went around the entire perimeter of my beautiful chocolate pumpkin loaf and ate all the good parts.

Hence, no lovely pictures of the entire loaf. I apologize for that. So does my 93-year-old grandmother.

Anyway..

I somehow scored the week off since I have no interviews scheduled. That means lots of blog things happening! I haven’t gotten time off to really spend on this blog since it began (chalk that up to the perils of medical school) so I’m quite excited to try out a few new things in both the kitchen and here on the internets.

First up, this chocolate pumpkin bread. Ooooooh baby is this good! I’m making B.Flay’s Pumpkin Bread Pudding for Thanksgiving and started with making the pumpkin bread yesterday. But then I felt guilty that I made this wonderful pumpkin loaf and had to tell everyone that it was not for eating! So.. another pumpkin loaf was born with a few adaptations because why the heck not? I’ll be posting the regular recipe with all its glory soon but for now please please please try this recipe out. It’s fantastic. Half the loaf was gone in a matter of minutes. The other half will likely not make it through the day.

Secondly, I received a lovely email asking if I would like to be a part of a list of 100 blogs for students a few weeks ago. Of course, I said yes! My first little bit of press out there and I’m ecstatic about it. I’m featured at the wayyyy bottom of the page under Student Bloggers. Also featured are lots of other blogs I happen to read so please visit the website here and give some love!

I am holding my very first giveaway here at small town oven! Wooooooo!! Up for grabs is a $35 gift certificate from CSN Stores which features a ton of products including kitchen/dining things such as the apple peeler I reviewed last month, decorating items, and even little holiday gifting ideas for your loved ones (which may or may not be yourself I won’t tell)!

Here’s the deal.

1. You comment, you get an entry.

2. You subscribe to the RSS feed, you get an entry. (For Google Reader, you can click here.) Comment again for another entry.

3. Post about the contest on your blog, facebook, twitter or what have you. Comment with a link to the posted link for another entry.

Contest ends in one week: MIDNIGHT, NOVEMBER 30TH.

Chocolate Pumpkin Bread
adapted from Bobby Flay

Makes 1 9″ loaf.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1/4 c vegetable oil
• scant 1 c pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 c water

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9″ loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray or extra butter.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger in a large bowl. Set aside.

Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, and oil on high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl often. Add pumpkin puree and blend well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated. Then, on low speed slowly add the dry ingredients and the water. Mix until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 60-75 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing and eating!

Note: I also folded 4 oz of chopped white chocolate at the end but as you can tell by these pictures they melted away. If you want to add a handful of white chocolate chips I think they could go great but I might cut back a little bit on the sugar.

Look for updates including a longer blogroll and a new Facebook page coming soon!

Happy Turkey Day to you and yours. Sharing is caring so try not to eat all the “good parts” (ie the crust on this loaf) on your own!