Flash forward many more trial runs to a bread that I am confident is the best “healthier” pumpkin bread ever. And, hey, it doesn’t burn on the tops or sides and slices very nicely. So naturally I have been DYING to share it with you all. I hope you guys love it as much as we do!!With some of my past pumpkin recipes I’ve found a common thread of errors of people making the recipe. Those two errors? Making the recipe with either pumpkin pie filling (not pure canned pumpkin) OR using the entire can of pumpkin.So I promise I wasn’t trying to yell at you in the recipe by capitalizing the “NOT”s. I would just hate for the bread to not work out for you if you miss those small little details. Trust me, I’ve been there before! It’s easy to just assume the whole can of pumpkin goes in the bread, but unfortunately your bread will be a pretty wet mess if you do that. I did try a whole can for one loaf and it was just too much!
Also I am totally crazy about combining chocolate and pumpkin. However, this bread is also great with chopped nuts instead of the chocolate. Of course, I’ll always pick chocolate when making it, but if you like nuts better, use those in place of the dark chocolate. Oh, and dark isn’t a MUST it just “makes this bread healthier”.
There is a fair amount of sugar in this bread, but far less than most pumpkin breads. I tried using other sweeteners (honey and maple syrup) but highly preferred the flavor and texture of the loaves with brown sugar. If you are used to super healthy treats you can probably get away with reducing the sugar amount by 1/4 a cup. If you aren’t, leave it at 3/4ths a cup.
Hooray for pumpkin season!!
The Best Healthy Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Bread:
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling and NOT the entire can)
- 1/2 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup flour (white or white-whole wheat)*
- 1/2 cup oat flour (blended oats)
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped nuts, optional
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a bread pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the pumpkin, Greek yogurt, egg, vanilla, coconut oil (measure in MELTED form), and brown sugar until well combined,
- In another bowl, stir together the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, flour, and oat flour (measure oat flour AFTER blending the oats; to make oat flour, put old fashioned or quick oats in a blender and pulse them until they resemble flour).
- Mix the wet and dry together until just combined (over-mixing will yield a denser bread). Stir in the chocolate chips if desired.
- (If you are a huge spice lover you may want to increase spices – taste the batter to decide!)
- Pour into the prepared bread ban and bake for 55-65 minutes or until a fork when inserted into the center comes out clean or the bread starts to pull away from the edges. If needed, tent the top with tin foil if the top of the bread is baking faster than the rest.
- Err on the side of barely under baking the bread for a softer and denser pumpkin bread.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge. (I microwave a piece for 10-15 seconds before enjoying). Best eaten within 3 days otherwise tightly wrap individual pieces and freeze.
NOTES
*White flour will produce a “lighter” bread while the white whole wheat will produce a denser bread. I do not recommend plain whole wheat flour.
With Love From the Trench Kitchen,
xoxoErika♥
