Harvest Loaf

Words can’t even begin to describe my love for Harvest Loaf.

I actually just typed my “loaf” for Harvest Loaf. That’s how excited I am about this bread…I can’t even type or think straight. Off to a good start already!

Oh – and before I forget to tell you – please keep in mind as you look at pictures that I made a double recipe. For those of you concerned about my general well-being and waistline – I’ll have you know that I shared my Harvest Loaf with some pretty fortunate folks. For the record though – I could have easily housed both loaves by myself. No help needed.

Feel free to follow suit on the double recipe thing regardless of whether or not you’re sharing. I won’t judge 🙂

Harvest Loaf is considered a quick bread because of the fact it doesn’t contain yeast – so there’s no waiting around for anything to rise before baking. Think banana bread, zucchini bread, etc. These are all in the same, quick bread family.

It’s no coincidence that this quick bread never lasts too long in my house either. It goes real quick.

Here’s a bowl of our dry ingredients – we’ve got some flour, baking soda and salt.

To that, you’re going to add some warm and delicious spices – nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and ground cloves. If you don’t have all of these in your pantry, you can add a little more of this or that, but I would recommend this exact combo only because they work so well together.

Four spices adds more depth of flavor than one, two and even three – so shoot for all four.

Wrangle up your wet ingredients and combine them in another bowl. What’s what, you’re wondering?

Well, we’ve got some melted butter, unsweetened applesauce and a little canned pumpkin puree. Oh! Want another reason I doubled this recipe? Two recipes uses an entire can of pumpkin. So, instead of ending up with half a can of pumpkin and no idea how to use it – I doubled up. I’m no dummy.

Those eggs that were waiting patiently next to our bowl will get added on in along with some sugar.

Whisk your wet ingredients together until everything’s nice and evenly incorporated.
Have your dry bowl standing by because…

You’re going to pour your dry ingredients into the same bowl as your wet and whisk everything. While you want the batter to come together, you don’t want to over mix – otherwise, you’ll have a tough Harvest Loaf on your hands. Little lumps and bumps are okay, so leave ’em be.

If you’re in the mood – and I always am – go ahead and add a ton of chocolate chips. Then, add a couple more…just in case there weren’t already enough. Then, make like you work for Hershey’s quality control department and sample a couple for yourself. Mmm…

Then, focus.

Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the chocolate into the batter and pour everything into a greased pan.

See there? One of my loaves is studded with chocolate chips while the other is plain pumpkin. The plain one was made with Eric in my mind since he doesn’t really dig chocolate chips.

Some of you out there right now are like, “OMG – how can you marry him!? What kind of person doesn’t like chocolate?!”

My response? The kind of person who’s not even tempted to touch my chocolate-laden loaf, that’s who. For that – and many other reasons – I think our marriage will work out juuuust fine 🙂

After about an eternity hour you will be rewarded with this. Aw, yeah.

And as if they don’t already look good enough, we’re about to top those loaves off with a super simple sugar and spice glaze. Just add some cinnamon, nutmeg and powdered sugar to a small bowl and whisk in enough milk until you get this kind of consistency.

I love that picture – almost as much as I love this glaze. I guess glazing optional, but why would you deprive yourself of something so delicious? Why!?

Yield: 1 loaf (9×5″ or 8-1/2×4-1/2″)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 65 minutes

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
Optional: chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts. If adding both, use 3/4 cup of each, but if only using one optional ingredient, go for 1-1/2 cups.

Sugar & Spice Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9×5-inch loaf pan and set aside.

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. In another bowl, combine melted butter, applesauce, eggs, sugar and pumpkin. Mix wet and dry ingredients together and then fold in chocolate chips and/or chopped walnuts (if using).

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 65 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

While the bread is baking, make the glaze by combining sugar and spices in a small bowl and adding milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you achieve desired consistency. Pour the glaze on top of your bread after it has had a chance to cool a bit.

Pour on the glaze and pat yourself on the back for going the extra mile. Had you not done so, your loaves would just be naked and sad. We wouldn’t want that.

Warm, melt-in-your-mouth morsels of chocolate, scrumptious spice cake and a sweet glaze.

Ummm…yum.

I probably should have saved this recipe until September since it’s full throttle on fall flavor, but I just couldn’t hold out. No way, no how.

I hope you don’t mind 🙂

Tagged: breakfast, cinnamon, cravings, freezer friendly, pumpkin, quick breads, recipes, vegetarian