Monday, January 25, 2010

Monica Monica Pumpkin Eater

Pumpkins are some of my favorite things- to eat and to look at. They just make me happy in all their orange globe glory. I still have two pumpkins sitting on my back porch because I can't bear to throw them away. I don't usually cook with pumpkin but I do love to bake with it. It just adds so much moisture to breads.

My all time favorite bread comes from Great Harvest Bread Co. And at $6.99 a loaf it better be good! It just has a wonderfully moist and dense texture and the pumpkin and spices are the perfect balance. I've tried many pumpkin bread recipes and none have ever compared. Except for this recipe. It's nothing like the loaf from Great Harvest but it is equally delicious.

The recipe comes from Elissa of 17 and Baking and is rippled with a cream cheese filling, which puts it over the top. It's tender and pumpkiny and lighter than most pumpkin breads I've tried. I find that baking with oil instead of creaming butter with sugar will yield a moister bread but in this case the recipe uses melted butter so you don't have to wait for your butter to soften- bonus! It was great warmed for a few seconds in the microwave but I also really loved it cold right out of the fridge. Give it a try and decide for yourself.

Cream Cheese Rippled Pumpkin Bread from Joy of Baking via 17 and Baking

Printable Version

Cream Cheese Filling:

  • 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Pumpkin Bread:

  • 1 cup toasted pecans or walnuts (optional)
  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 cups granulated white sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1– 15 ounce can pure pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9″x5″ pans.

For the Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese just until smooth in a stand mixer or food processor. Add the sugar and process just until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing just until incorporated. Do not over process. Stir in the flour. Set aside.

For the Pumpkin Bread: Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs until lightly beaten. Whisk in the sugar and melted butter, then stir in the pumpkin, water, vanilla extract, and (optionally) nuts.

Stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, being careful not to overmix. A few streaks of flour are fine. Divide the batter in half. Take one half and divide it between the two pans. Pour half of the cream cheese filling into each pan, then top with the remaining half of batter. Smooth the tops and bake an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool loaves to room temperature.

Makes 2 9"x5" loaves.

NOTE: The recipe says to divide the batter in half when you pour it into the pans. I didn't do this (obviously!) and my layers were a little off but it was still good.

54 comments:

  1. OMG I love that swirl through the top. Wow I need some of this seriously right now need some.

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  2. What a yummy looking bread. I agree, I love to bake with pumpkin too.

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  3. Oh that looks yummy!
    I love pumpkin, I'm getting sad the shelves in the grocery stores near me are running out of pumpkin puree-I heard Libby is closing the plant for 6 mo. and there may be issues next Thanksgiving when the rest of the country plans to buy more so stock up if you can still find it :)

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  4. Absoluty a delicious bread... I love it....
    A kiss from Spain

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  5. I too, love to bake with pumpkin. This bread sounds so yummy! Thank you for sharing!

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  6. That is one good looking pumpkin bread. I will have to try it. I love making quick breads!

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  7. indeed this does look amazing. I made a zucchini bread with cream cheese filling a while back and that just makes it even more delicious!
    When I lived in HOuston there was a Great Harvest close to me, but up here in NJ there aren't any that I know of and oh how I miss it...

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  8. Mmmmmm, delicious. I haven't always loved pumpkim, but I certainly do appreciate it now. And anything with cream cheese must be good, right? Thanks for sharing...I have a similar recipe in the stash I'm working my way through right now.

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  9. How I would love to have a warm slice w/ a cup of coffee right now. I also like Great Harvest's Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread.

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  10. monica, you are tugging on my heart strings....looks delicious!

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  11. love love love that cream cheese swirl!

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  12. I'm not a fan of pumpkin, but cream cheese filling just might make me turn the corner. Looks beautiful!

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  13. It looks good Monica. It really does but those pecan bars keep distract me. :)

    If you're warming in this in the microwave that means the cream cheese isn't cold.....have ya changed your mind? :)
    ~ingrid

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  14. A friend used to give me a loaf, like this, for Christmas. She never fulfilled her promise to share the recipe with me. Ha! You found it!
    I agree-- pumpkin and cream cheese-- swoon! This looks terrific.
    PS: Can't wait to see you post the recipe you were making when we talked. Hint, hint.

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  15. I have one lone can of pumpkin sitting in my cabinet, and I think I just decided what I'm doing with it!

    This looks so yummy!

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  16. I can't wait to try this!!! I, too, love the giant squash-yum!!

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  17. I love anything&everything pumpkin. I will definitely be trying this recipe :)

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  18. Yummie...the pumpkin bread with cream cheese filling looks absolutely delicious...great pictures as well :-)

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  19. This bread would not last long in my house!! But, if it did...do you think it should be stored in the fridge, since it has a cream cheese filling? I never know what to do with cooked cream cheese goodies--to put them in the fridge or not!? :)

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  20. YUMMY! I LOVE ANYTHING THAT INVOLVES PUMPKIN...THIS LOOKS SO GOOD! THANKS. COME SAY HI :D

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  21. I love it when we find a Great Harvest...they always hand you those huge samples:)

    This looks amazing, I love the cream cheese swirl.

    Sue

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  22. You had me at cream cheese AND pumpkin! :-D

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  23. Look at that swirl of cream cheese in the bread! I love anything pumpkin really. Pumpkin and cream cheese go so great together.

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  24. I just found a can of pumpkin in my pantry and some cream cheese in the fridge... I'll be making this soon! That swirl sounds awesome.

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  25. Krugers, Yes put it in the fridge. It will keep for several days that way. If you like it at room temp just microwave a slice of it for about 10 seconds.

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  26. This bread is awesome - and yours looks so good! That cream cheese ripple is seriously picture perfect. It makes me want to put on mittens, dash everything with cinnamon, and bake some pumpkin bread.

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  27. This is my favorite bread in the world. I have a friend that makes this to give at Christmas. I find out who else got them and I get on the phone calling and trying to 'sweet talk' everyone out of their pumpkin bread. (Hey it works, I have 4 loaves in the freeer)

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  28. I'll bet that's delish with that swirl of cream cheese through there. Oh yeah!

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  29. It looks wonderful and very morish. Love the ripple

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  30. I've been lurking for awhile now but this post made me come out from hiding. Love the recipes you share! Thanks for being so generous.

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  31. I can never get enough pumpkin desserts. Definitely one of my favorites. I'm gonna have to compare this recipe to my own and see if it's as similar as it looks. (Which is delicious, btw!)

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  32. look at that lovely ripple going through there! I can almost smell it from here!

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  33. What a gorgeous cream cheese swirl! We are huge pumpkin fans too!

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  34. Super yum! Problem is I'd probably eat the hole loaf myself!

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  35. I literally just drooled. This looks amazing. AMAZING!

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  36. Mmmmm, I have some pumpkin in my cabinets begging to be used! I think I know what I'm making on Sunday! Thanks for the yummy photos, I'm drooling at my dest at work right now! Can't wait to make these!

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  37. I love Pumpkin Bread! It is my favorite. Your whole blog looks awesome! The photos look professional--I am so jealous. I need to ramp mine up a bit. I just don't know what I want to do with it yet.

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  38. I too love pumpkin bread - and that swirl is calling my name! (can't you hear it?)

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  39. I love anything pumpkin. I cannot wait to try these!

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  40. JUST made this tonight and I am sitting here eating it!!!! Its DELISH!!! Thanks so much for posting this recipe, I am getting in to the fall mood!

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  41. Made this over the weekend. We are all loving it! Glad I made both loaves, the first one was gone the first evening!

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  42. This was so good and a big hit at Thanksgiving. I can't wait to make it again. Thank you so much for sharing.

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  43. This seems like way way way too much cream cheese. My bread ended up with a thick layer, not a swirl. I suppose I will see what the end result looks like when I take them out of the oven but I'm not very optimistic.

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  44. Hi! This looks amazing! Any way I could sub pumpkin pie spice & if so, any idea how much? I don't have cinnamon or nutmeg on hand but do have the PP spice. Thanks :)

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  45. Marina, that would be fine. Pumpkin pie spice has cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. So your bread mat have a little different flavoring with it will still be tasty. Just substitute equal measurements of PP spice for the cinnamon and nutmeg. In this recipe, that would be 1 3/4 teaspoons.

    Monica

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  46. Wonderful recipe. It was delicious. Greetings from Mexico !!!

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  47. Wonderful recipe. It was delicious. Greetings from Mexico !!!

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  48. I made a quick strussel topping set it off!

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Thank you for your supportive comments. I appreciate each and every one of them!