Pumpkin bread two ways! This recipe can make two loaves and I decided instead of making two loaves of the exact same thing, I made two different ones. A chocolate chip pumpkin bread and a cheesecake pumpkin bread.
The chocolate chip pumpkin bread is entirely vegan and I honestly think the flax makes the recipe a little "nuttier" and a better fit for fall! But the difference in taste is hardly there, so if you have some vegan loved ones you want to cater to I highly recommend it!
The cheesecake recipe could be made vegan by just replacing cream cheese with vegan cream cheese and the egg with a flax egg. I would recommend Trader Joe's Vegan Cream Cheese. I haven't tried the vegan version of the cheesecake so you will have to let me know if it turns out well.
INGREDIENTS
VEGAN BATTER: (makes 2 loaves)
- 3 tbs. Ground Flax Seed*
- 7 ½ tbs. Water*
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 tsp. Baking Soda
- 4 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 2 cups Canned Pumpkin (100% pumpkin puree)
- ⅔ cup Brown Sugar
- ⅔ cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 tbs. Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ cups Chocolate Chips (for chocolate loaf)
- ¼ cup Pumpkin Seeds (for cheesecake loaf)
CHEESECAKE FILLING: (makes one loaf)
- 1 8 oz. package of Cream Cheese
- 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 tbs. All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
* If you don't mind the batter recipe being non-vegan you can replace the two flax "egg" ingredients with just 3 eggs
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line two loaf pans with parchment.
Make your flax eggs, in a small bowl combine the ground flax seed and water. Let set for 10-15 minutes. Until it takes the form of an egg-like consistency.
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice.
In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, flax eggs or eggs, and vanilla extract.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry.
Split the batter in half into two separate bowls.
In one-half of the batter, mix in the chocolate chips. Pour into lined loaf pan.
For the cream cheese filling, with an electric mixer, beat together all the ingredients until smooth.
The other half of the batter will be used in layers. On the bottom of the pan put a thin layer of pumpkin batter. Then add all the cream cheese filling. Then another layer of pumpkin batter.
Using a butter knife make a swirl pattern on the top and finish with pumpkin seeds.
Bake the chocolate loaf for 45-55 minutes and bake the cream cheese loaf for 65-75 minutes.
THE BATTER
First, you need to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Then in a large bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice.
You also want to make your flax egg by combining the ground flax seed and water. Let that set for 10-15 minutes so the "egg" can set up.
Like I said above, you can totally replace the flax egg with 3 regular eggs if you don't care about the batter being vegan.
Next combine pumpkin, the sugars, vanilla extract, and the flax egg.
Lastly, stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper and grease with either butter or a non-stick spray.
Now if you're going to make two different types of pumpkin bread like me, here is where I split the batter in half.
CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN BREAD
For the chocolate chip batter just pour in as many chocolate chips as you would like. More or less than the recipe, whatever you want! You can also top the batter with more chocolate chips but I opted to not.
Bake for 45-55 minutes.
CREAM CHEESE PUMPKIN BREAD
With an electric mixer, beat together all the cream cheese filling ingredients until smooth.
If you want to keep the recipe vegan, replace the cream cheese with vegan cream cheese and the egg with a flax egg.
Now for assembly, with a greased and lined loaf pan, spread half the pumpkin batter across the bottom. Then, add all the cream cheese filling. Lastly, add the rest of the pumpkin batter.
I took a butter knife and just across the top layer made a swirl pattern going back and forth. Then I topped it with pumpkin seeds!
Bake the cream cheese loaf for 65-75 minutes.