Holiday Baking – yummy & moist Pumpkin Bread

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five loaves of pumpkin bread on a white trayphoto: we heart this

Hooray – baking season is upon us! We just stocked up on the freshest spices known to mankind at the grand opening of the striking Spice Station in Silverlake, CA (more about this foodie haven in future wht posts), going for a holiday baking theme with fresh ground cinnamon bark, nutmeg, cloves and ginger included in our purchase. Just hours later, the fabulous Krista sent us this offering – a simple recipe for delicious, perfectly spiced and super moist Pumpkin Bread. ~wht

I love the holidays. I especially love the baking that occurs during the holidays. Now some people like to give cookies as gifts, and I love those people when I’m the recipient, but I personally love to give out pumpkin bread. It’s kind of my own personal holiday tradition. I’ve been making this recipe for about twelve years now. It’s my go-to hostess gift, coworker gift, holiday party offering and Christmas morning breakfast staple. This is the one baked good that I make that I always get asked for the recipe. Because it’s the holiday season and a time for giving, I’m going to share my favorite recipe with all of you!

• 3 1/2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 3 c. sugar
• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 c. water
• 2 c. canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips – optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift dry ingredients together.

3. Blend wet ingredients separately on low speed using either a stand mixer or hand mixer.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture on low speed until thoroughly combined.

5. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. If you are making mini loafs, one batch of this will fill approximately 6 mini loaf pans.

As you can see above, we went with mini loaves – they’re perfect for seasonal giving. And because chocolate makes everything better, we poured half the batter into three loaves, and then mixed in about a half bag of chocolate chips to the remaining batter for variety.

Tip: Lightly coat the chocolate chips with flour in a shallow bowl before adding to the batter. This keeps them all from sinking to the bottom of the pan. ~wht

6. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until knife inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. If using mini loaf pans, baking time will be about 30-35 minutes.

7. Place on wire cooling racks and cool completely before removing from pan.

8. Once fully cool, wrap loaves in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and let them “cure” for about 8 hours. This is an important step because the flavor of the bread is best after this resting time and when wrapped, the bread will become nice and soft.

If you are using those holiday print ceramic mini loaf pans (available at most craft stores) and giving them as part of your gift, cool the loaf in the pan and then wrap the entire pan and loaf in plastic wrap.

If you want to be festive, tie it up with a bow and add a colorful gift tag. I’m a firm believer that half the gift is in the presentation!

This is the best pumpkin bread recipe I’ve ever come across and it is always a crowd pleaser. I hope it pleases your own crowds! Happy Holidays!

Author

  • krista

    Lives in the middle of nowhere with her amazing hubby and two codependent dogs that love to hate each other. She enjoys dance parties of one and last minute road trips, prays for Angela Lansbury's immortality and can never own enough blush. She averages one "Silence of the Lambs" quote a week and feels no shame over this. Perhaps she should. skin tone: NW15 skin type: sensitive/oily favorite beauty product: Blush, lots and lots of blush

22 Comments

  1. I’ve gotta try this now! My stomach totally growled as soon as I saw the pic. I think I’m gonna try it as muffins though! Can’t wait!

  2. That’s a great tip about the chocolate chips! I had never heard that before, and that can really make a big difference. Grazi!

  3. This sounds scrumptious beyond belief. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe– I’m going to give it a try!

  4. As I sit here typing, with a big bite of pumpkin bread in my mouth, I can assure everyone- it’s delicious!
    .-= stef´s last blog ..Gifts for Goths =-.

  5. This sure looks super yummy! Stef, you have good taste, so it’s gotta be good!

  6. As a consumer of this recipe for the last 12 years. I can guarantee you will enjoy it. Being a purist, it was only recently that I had a soft pumpkin cookie with chocolate chips. I was pleasantly surprised about how the tastes combined. I’m sure that the addition of chips to this recipe will give it a new dimension too. The au naturel version is still my favorite.

    This was the first recipe where I knew that Mom’s wasn’t the only cooking for me. (As you can tell, Krista has a cadre a fantastic recipes and dining ideas).

  7. This is baking in the oven as I type. It’s going to be torture having to wait eight hours, but I know it’s going to be worth it!

  8. Mmm, this is some good pumpkin bread! The recipe is super easy – Stef and I produced the pictured perfect little loaves on our first try (after consuming a few rounds of champagne cocktails)! This bread is the softest and moistest I’ve ever had – I think the curing of the bread must help keep it so moist. You all should definitely try this one.

    Thanks Krista for sharing your divine recipe! We hope you don’t feel we corrupted your recipe with the chocolate chips – we figured you would understand the lure of a big old bag of chips just sitting there waiting to be used! Mike, you are a lucky man – how do you not weigh 1,000 pounds with all the deliciousness coming out of your kitchen?

    Oh, and the trick with flouring the chips really works! Thanks to my housemate Eric for sharing that with us – he supervised our day of wht cooking. (We’ll have more baking, plus our cocktail in upcoming posts).

    Go Jean! let us know how your bread turns out!

  9. Thank you so much for the awesome shout out!!! I do have to agree that its an awesome shop! Anyway, now that i have access to pretty much every spice i’m totally trying this! It sounds so so yummy!!!

  10. Yeah, it’s almost midnight and I’m like, “I’m pretty sure I have all the ingredients for this in the pantry…” This bread is too good. It will take all of your restraint to not eat a loaf to yourself…in less than a day…*hangs head in shame*
    I hope you all enjoy it!

  11. Oh my, this bread is amazing. I ate some this morning, and is so hard to not just eat the entire loaf myself, haha. I ended up putting chocolate chips in all the loaves, because, well, I love chocolate. But I will definitely have to try it without the chocolate, too. Great recipe, and so, so easy.

  12. Jean, so glad you liked it! I had to make myself stop eating from it all too.
    We’re lucky to have Krista share her recipes with us. Check out here others too. Do a search for “recipes”.
    Her shortbread is insane too. Should be illegal!
    .-= stef´s last blog ..Smashbox Wish Holiday 2009 =-.

  13. My shortbread is illegal in 32 states. Okay, maybe not really, but it is really good :)

  14. Oooooh MY! It’s 7am as I write this and my tummy is growling just looking at those gorgeous little loaves in the picture. Isn’t it true that the simplest recipes are always the best? But the challenge is finding the GOOD, simple recipes (I’ve tried my fair share that are simple and produce something pretty icky). So thank you for taking the guesswork out of pumpkin bread for us–I cannot wait to try this and I’m super grateful you shared it with us. Who doesn’t love a stellar pumpkin bread recipe?? :)

  15. I think this may be the first bread I bake in my new oven which comes in two days!! Hurry up new oven.. I’m hungry!! Sounds great Krista….all your recipes ROCK the Mic! :)

  16. I think this is going to be my Holiday gift to my co-workers…. Thanks!

  17. This is such an awesome bread! Krista is the best cook and I can’t be happier that I get to partake of her culinary skills.
    I like my bread natural. I can’t condone the chocolate infiltration however. Chocolate and pumpkin don’t mix in my opinion.

  18. Baking is one of my favorite pasttimes and pumpkin bread one of my favorite treats. This sounds REALLY yummy. I may add a pinch of cloves to mine as well.

  19. This looks obscenely delicious. I’m making a note of this page… Thank you so much for the recipe.

  20. This is the most delicious pumpkin bread EVER! I’ve made it a couple times and it always turns out amazing<3
    Thanks so much Krista!

  21. I’m happy to hear that everyone has been enjoying this recipe! I’m excited it’s finally cold enough outside to warrant making it again–I love the Fall :)

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