Kick-Ass Pumpkin Bread

Raise your hand if you went to high school for a couple of years in the late nineties and signed everybody’s yearbook with “Have a kick ass summer!” That’s how this pumpkin bread is. Totally kick-ass.

No, this blog hasn’t turned into Thug Kitchen, I’m just seriously so in love with this bread that I can’t describe it without swearing. It is a perfectly spiced pumpkin bread, dotted with mini chocolate chips and swirled through with an amazing cheesecake filling. Sounds complicated to make, doesn’t it?

It’s not. 10 minutes to the oven, I promise.

It is a rich, dense, moist, perfect fall bread. And, a fun new twist on pumpkin bread if you’re sick of the plain old stuff.

You can make this recipe into two 9 inch loaves, 6 mini loaves, or 24 muffins. Whatever you wish.

Enjoy!

Recipe slightly adapted from Your Cup of Cake

Ingredients
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree (I use Libby’s)
4 eggs
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1/2 C. applesauce
2/3 C. milk (I used whole milk)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 C. sugar
3 1/2 C. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 C. mini chocolate chips.

Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 C. sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 Tbsp. milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease loaf pans, muffins pans or whatever you are using for baking. I lined mine with a parchment paper sling for easy removal.

2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla extract and sugar.

3. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.

4. Combine the 1st and 2nd bowl and stir only until combined.

5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and milk together until smooth.

7. For Loaf Pans: Pour a little bit of batter into the loaf pan, spread to cover the bottom and then spoon cream cheese filling and spread it on top. Continue to alternate until your pan is 3/4 full and then sprinkle with some extra chocolate chips and bake for 60-80 (yes, it really will take this long!) minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean. If your bread starts to get too browned on top, cover it with a piece of foil.

8. For muffins: Fill each muffin tin 1/3 full, then spoon your filling in the pan, then top with another spoonful of pumpkin batter. Bake for 14-18 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.