From Thanksgiving through Christmas, you can usually find me baking up some goodies, watching holiday rom-coms, or hosting parties … or all of the above! So it’s the perfect excuse for me to create a new fresh-from-the-oven treat, like this vegan dark chocolate-pumpkin bread. It’s basically a glammed up pumpkin bread. It’s big on chocolateness. It has a just-right amount of sweetness. And, as a bonus, it’s 100% plant based.
Description
From Thanksgiving through Christmas, you can usually find me baking up some goodies, watching holiday rom-coms, or hosting parties … or all of the above! So it’s the perfect excuse for me to create a new fresh-from-the-oven treat, like this vegan dark chocolate-pumpkin bread. It’s basically a glammed up pumpkin bread. It’s big on chocolateness. It has a just-right amount of sweetness. And, as a bonus, it’s 100% plant based.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon sunflower or avocado oil, divided
- 1 1/4 cups + 1 tablespoon whole-wheat pastry flour, divided
- 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, divided
- 1 (15-ounce) can unsalted pumpkin puree
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon chia seeds
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon pure almond or chocolate extract
- 3 tablespoons chilled unsweetened green or black tea (or water)
- 1/3 cup + 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder, divided*
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks (about 60% to 65% cacao)
- 1/3 cup shelled, roasted, salted pistachios, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly brush a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan with 1 teaspoon of the oil. Dust with 1 tablespoon of the flour. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together the remaining 1/4 cup oil and 3/4 cup of the sugar until combined. Add the pumpkin, chia seeds, extracts, and tea and stir until well combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/3 cup of the cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until evenly mixed. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and pistachios.
- Evenly transfer the batter to the loaf pan. Using a small fine mesh strainer, dust the top with the remaining 1 teaspoon cocoa powder. Then sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
- Bake until springy to the touch, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and completely cool. Cut into 18 thin slices or 10 thick slices and serve.
Notes
*Go ahead an add a little extra cocoa powder if you like extra-dark chocolate!
- Category: snack, dessert
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 thin slice
- Calories: 150
- Sugar: 14g
- Sodium: 125mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 23g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 2g
- Cholesterol: 0g
Pumpkin is so great with chocolate, and pistachios too? YUM!
Yep, I’m a fan of this flavor trio, Sarah! Thanks!
5/5 stars! Just amazing. Dense, chocolatey, not overly sweet and with the nice crunch of the pistachios. Wonderful! Thank you!!
I’m thrilled you’re enjoying this, Penny!
Have you tried this with any substitutes for the oil? (Trying to avoid all oils). I know you can use things like applesauce etc, but wondering about texture variance.
Hi! I haven’t tried any other substitutes for oil here. I already made so many other modifications when I developed this recipe, I worry it’ll lose it’s richness if you use applesauce instead of oil. Texture should probably still be fine. But if you eat avocado, perhaps pureed/mashed avocado would be a better swap. Let me know if you try it!