This Healthy Pumpkin Molasses Quick Bread with Chocolate Chips is a moist, nutritious quick bread that is perfect for fall and winter!
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Heads up!This recipe was originally published in 2011. It’s been a family favorite ever since and I’m excited to share it with my newer readers! New photographs have been added, but the text is the same. Enjoy!
I have a new favorite fall recipe and am excited to share it with you. I can’t think of a better introduction than that because this bread has me seriously in a daze.
Yes, it was starting to rain in the picture below. I only took a couple pictures before it started pouring and none of them turned out that great. But I couldn’t be bothered to wait and reshoot it–this recipe needs to get in your hands sooner rather than later. This blog is about the recipes, after all, not the photographs. (ETA: I kept the original photograph here for you to see! It makes me sentimental for a different time in blogging…)
Who would have thought the marriage of pumpkin+molasses+chocolate chips could create such an intensely good depth of flavor? Oh, but it does, my friends, it does. This bread is moist and is bursting with flavor.
The predominant flavor is the molasses, with subtle undertones of pumpkin, spices, and chocolate. Meghan calls it “chocolate bread” and has been requesting it for every meal. I’m okay with that because along with being delicious it’s also wholesome and full of nutrients.
I use blackstrap molasses in this recipe, which I love because it is an excellent source of iron and calcium. Those are both things I need to be aware of getting enough of, especially as a pregnant woman. Meghan won’t eat red meat at all and doesn’t drink cow’s milk, so I also need to ensure she’s getting her iron and calcium from other sources. I’ve been trying to find more and more ways to use this nutritional booster to my recipes. This pumpkin molasses bread is one of my favorite ways so far. 🙂
If you’re looking for more ways to include pumpkin in your day, check out these Healthy Pumpkin Muffins!
Recipe Ingredients: What You’ll Need
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses *
- 1/2 cup sucanat *
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 coconut oil, melted (or your favorite baking oil)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup plain pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons apple or orange juice
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or sub raisins or dried cranberries)
How to Make Healthy Pumpkin Molasses Quick Bread with Chocolate Chips
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine molasses, sucanat, applesauce, oil, eggs, pumpkin, and apple juice with an electric mixer. Add the dry ingredients and then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon your mixture into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 45-60 minutes. (Mine was perfect after 50 minutes)
- Let bread sit for 10 minutes, then turn the bread out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool completely. Don’t be afraid to have a slice while it’s still warm, though. Nothing beats warm bread fresh out of the oven! 🙂 Enjoy!
Healthy pumpkin molasses quick bread with chocolate chips
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 slices 1x
Description
This Healthy Pumpkin Molasses Quick Bread with Chocolate Chips is a moist and delicious quick bread that is full of nutrients and perfect for fall.
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses *
- 1/2 cup sucanat *
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 coconut oil, melted (or your favorite baking oil)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup plain pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons apple or orange juice
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or sub raisins or dried cranberries)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine molasses, sucanat, applesauce, oil, eggs, pumpkin, and apple juice with an electric mixer. Add the dry ingredients and then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon your mixture into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 45-60 minutes. (Mine was perfect after 50 minutes)
- Let bread sit for 10 minutes, then turn the bread out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool completely. Don’t be afraid to have a slice while it’s still warm, though. Nothing beats warm bread fresh out of the oven! 🙂 Enjoy!
Notes
Heavily adapted from this recipe
*affiliate links
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 221
- Sugar: 18 grams
- Fat: 5 grams
- Carbohydrates: 37 grams
- Fiber: 5 grams
- Protein: 4 grams
I hope I’ve emphasized enough how much I love this bread. It is truly a new favorite and will be made often in this house from here on out. If you like the distinct flavor of molasses, pumpkin spices, and chocolate, you will love this bread, too.
If you make this Pumpkin Molasses Quick Bread with Chocolate Chips recipe, or any Happy Healthy Mama recipe, I would LOVE to see it! Please take a pic and share it on Instagram or the Happy Healthy Mama Facebook page and tag me @happyhealthymama ?
Also, if you try it (or have already tried it!), would you mind rating the recipe? It’s VERY helpful for me and other readers if the recipes have ratings and reviews. I appreciate you!
Hi Maryea- it’s Liza Barrett from Williamstown! I’ve been enjoying your blog for a while now – and would like to make this bread but I am gluten free- do you think another type of flour would work okay? I realize coconut or almond might change the flavor a bit – but I’m thinking of experimenting. Would love your thoughts and if there is a particular alternative flour you’d recommend. Thanks! Hope you all are well- hi to Jack and Fran if they are still there! 🙂
PS: pictures on the big are always GORGEOUS!
Hi Liza! When it comes to GF baking with regular recipes, I have had good luck with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 GF blend. If you’re looking to not use a blend like that, it’ll definitely take some experimenting. I love almond and coconut flours, but they really change the texture a lot. Have you tried cassava flour? It’s pricey, so I don’t use it all that often, but I’ve found it to be a great 1 to 1 replacement for wheat flour in a lot of recipes. It’s mild in flavor and doesn’t cause a gritty texture like coconut and almond flour do. I think it’d be great here, but like I said it’s a bit pricey. You can check it out from my Amazon link here: http://amzn.to/2yRX8y6 Let me know what you try and how it goes!
Maryea!
Again, this recipe is a wild success. We LOVE it. I grew up in a molasses factory – my uncle owns a molasses company here in Canada – so whenever I see molasses in a recipe (esp blackstrap) I MUST try it. I hope you don’t mind but I’ve shared your recipe (the link to your site) on their FB page because it is too tasty not to share with other molasses fanatics like me.
Thanks so much. I love all of your recipes and I love seeing your family growing up, happy and healthy!!!
xo
Sara
Hi Sara–I’m so glad you liked this and thank you for sharing the recipe! 🙂
I have been wanting to try this recipe and I finally did! I did make a few changes though. I don’t have white whole wheat flour (could you explain what that is?), so I used half and half all-purpose and whole wheat, and the major change I made was I didn’t have pumpkin I wanted to use (have plans for the small bit I have left!) so I substituted 1 cup of cooked, mashed sweet potato. If you’re really looking for the pumpkin this would obviously not be satisfying, but I really liked it!
How funny–I made this bread this weekend, too! White whole wheat flour is made from a variety of wheat that is white. It has the same nutrient value as regular whole wheat flour, but is lighter, sweeter, and more mild. I like using it for breads instead of regular whole wheat flour as it produces a less dense bread. I love sweet potato so I bet this was great in this bread, too!
For a double recipe I used 4 c whole wheat, 2/3 c honey, 6 tbsp milk (I did not have juice). The rest of the ingredients were kept the same. Happy Halloween!
So, I made it today and it was a hit. I used honey instead of sucanat. I doubled the recipe because I knew it would turn out well :). We have guests tomorrow, so this will make a nice dessert since it is indeed like a cake, not like a bread :). Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m really glad to hear that using honey worked. Did you up the dry ingredients at all or just leave them the same?