(Vegan) Pumpkin Spice Bread

After yesterday's meltdown fiasco with the gingerbread scones, I wanted to try another vegan recipe but one that I knew would be more, shall we say, foolproof. A basic quick bread, this recipe was certainly easy enough to put together (even with the distraction of watching football and entertaining a friend), and it had the added bonus of filling my kitchen with the warm, spicy scents of the holidays. It was hard to wait until it was cool enough to slice, but it was definitely worth the wait! Much like the (vegan) banana muffins, the texture of this bread was much lighter than I expected it to be, especially given the fact that I swapped out some of the AP flour for whole wheat pastry flour which is denser than its counterpart. Also, this bread was incredibly moist, with just the right amount of chew to it, living up to the promise of the warm spices which gave it a delightful richness. I will definitely be making this again!

(Vegan) Pumpkin Spice Bread

original recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets 

by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

Ingredients:
3 Tbs. ground flaxseed
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 (14-ounce) can pumpkin puree (NOT to be confused with pumpkin pie filling)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups AP flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (I like dark chocolate)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a glass measuring cup, whisk the flaxseed and water together until thick and creamy.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, apple sauce, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and flaxseed mixture.

In a separate bowl, whisk (or sift) together all of the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring just to combine. Fold in the chocolate chips then pour the batter into (2) 8"x3"x2" loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick blah blah blah. Cool in the pans for 15 minutes before turning the loaves out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Slice and enjoy right away (after they've cooled, of course), or wrap in heavy duty foil and freeze for another day.

Enjoy!