Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

For Round 13 of Operation Baking Gals, I made some Vanilla Cake Mix Coolers
and some pumpkin bread. I went in search of a pumpkin bread recipe and found one that included 1 cup of mini-chocolate chips - just the amount I had left over from the last time I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip. Since I'm all about not letting ingredients go to waste, I thought I'd try this one out.

The recipe I found yielded three loaves, which seemed a bit much, but I'm glad I made it. I sent one to our soldier, Josh; part of one to his wife, Kara; a few slices to my friend, Sara; and uh, Tim and I *might* have eaten the rest. Maybe.

Aside from the deliciousness of this moist, rich bread, I was pleased to find a reason to pull out some of the bread pans my grandmother had given me. There are a lot of baking pans that she passed on to me when I moved from Pittsburgh, and I feel like I don't use them enough.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9x5 inch loaf pans.


2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.


3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

Source: allrecipes.com