Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

Autumn has arrived to my part of the country and what better time to make this pumpkin chocolate chip loaf cake than October. Pumpkins are abundant here but, despite that, I took the easy route and used canned pumpkin for this recipe.

The recipe consists of the usual cake ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. ground cloves
pinch nutmeg

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 t. vanilla extract
1/3 cup mil
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Coat the inside of a 9x5 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium bow.

Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla. Stir in milk.

Turn mixer to low and add flour mixture about 1/2 cup at a time. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake until it is firm to the touch and a tester inserted comes out clean - about 1 hour. Let cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes then inverst onto a wire rack to cool completely.

The finished product was not as I expected. For starters, my oven must not be properly calibrated for, though it was set at 350, after an hour and 10 minutes, the top of the cake began to brown and the middle was still gooey. Upon removal from the oven, the middle immediately collapsed into a heap. My family and I (a husband and a 13 year old son) weren't too thrilled with this cake, at least not as a dessert. My husband has proclaimed it an excellent breakfast bread, I guess because of the shape. This is not one I will make again. Looking forward to next month and happy baking to all! Jill

Apple Pie in a Jar

Thanks to Kelsey of The Napping Chef for the idea of pie in a jar. In a recent post, she reveled in the making of blueberry pie in a jar. Since I live in western North Carolina, and we have a fairly large share of the apple market on the East coast, I altered the recipe to make apple pie in a jar.

The ingredients were simple: peeled, sliced apples; sugar; thickener; spices. The trick was in getting the proportions correct. I tried several thickeners and liked corn starch best, eliminating pectin (awful) and tapioca (just ok). After some tinkering, I settled on the following:

Apple Pie in a Jar

4 cups sugar

1 cup corn starch

1 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon

nutmeg and cardamon to taste (personal preference rules here)

10 cups water

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Fill STERILIZED jars with peeled, chopped apples. Fill jars with sugar/spice mixture. You may have to insert a knife into the apples in order to fill the jars with liquid. Clean rims before closing. Process in a hot water bath for 30 minutes. To ascertain that jars are sealed, press down on the lid. If it does NOT pop back up, you're done!

My neighborhood is rife with old, unsprayed apple trees and the neighbors have been very generous to share. My friend has peeled all the apples, making my work much easier. We are going to sell them at the local High School's craft fair as a fundraiser for our children's band trip. I think they will make excellent Christmas gifts!