It’s pumpkin season ya’ll (yes, I just typed that word), and the interwebs are bursting with recipe after recipe using pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, and all things pumpkin.  I decided to jump on the bandwagon by creating this Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Layered Bread with Dark Chocolate Chips and Walnuts.

Guess what?  I’m always nervous about trying to create a recipe for baked goods.  When making non-baked foods, it’s easy for me to adjust and tweak things to taste during the cooking/ recipe development process.  With baking, I usually have one shot to make things right before it goes into the oven.  After that, I have to start from scratch in order to perfect a recipe after a failed attempt (which can get pricey, especially with the higher cost of Paleo baking supplies).  This first time I made this, it was delicious, but had too much moisture.  It was more like eating bread pudding than a simple loaf of pumpkin bread.

I tweaked the recipe by substituting different flours, adding additional ingredients, and reducing others.  As past experience, I’ve had to make several batches of some cookies before getting it right (and for one particular recipe, I didn’t get the consistency I wanted even after 5 batches), and I wasn’t sure how many versions of this I would have to make before it came out.  But, as it turns out second time was the charm!

And now I get to share this recipe with you guys, which I am excited to do.  If you love chocolate and pumpkin (which, if you’ve managed to read this entire blog post, I assume you do 😉 ), you are going to love this recipe.

I have lots of pumpkin puree at my disposal, so if you guys have any requests for recipes using pumpkin (or other fall fruits) please let me know so that I can whip something up to share with you.  Enjoy!

Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Layered Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

Servings: makes 12-15

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup butter (melted and cooled)
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips plus 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, divided
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup coconut flour (sifted)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tbs coconut oil (to grease the pan)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 inch bread pan with coconut oil (you can also use butter), and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
3. Place 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips in a small bowl.  Place the bowl in the microwave, and heat on high for 25-30 seconds. Remove bowl from the microwave and stir the dark chocolate chips.  Place the bowl back in the microwave and heat an additional 25-30 seconds.  Continuing the process of heating and stirring the dark chocolate chips until the dark chocolate chips have melted completely.
4. In a large mixing bowl, add almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt.  Stir to combine.  Set aside
5. In a separate bowl, add eggs, pumpkin puree, honey and vanilla extract.  Stir to combine.  Then add the melted and cooled butter, and stir to combine.
6. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir the mixture thoroughly to combine.
7. Let the batter sit on the counter for 3-4 minutes (this lets the coconut mixture soak up the moisture).
8. Measure 1 cup of the batter, and pour it into the small bowl of chocolate.  Mix the batter and chocolate together until fully incorporated.
9. To the remaining batter, add 1/4 cup of the dark chocolate chips and 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.
10. Take half of the regular batter, and place it in the bottom of the pan.  Use a spatula to smooth out the batter evenly along the bottom of the pan.
11. Take half of the chocolate batter, and place it in the bread pan on top of the regular batter.  Use a spatula to smooth out the batter evenly.
12. Continue layering regular batter and the chocolate batter in the bread pan.
13. Once you have finished layering the batter, place the bread pan in the preheated oven and bake the bread for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.
14. Once the bread is finished, remove from the oven and let cool on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes before removing the loaf of bread from the bread pan to cool further.
15. Serve and enjoy!