Pumpkin Bread (Mini Loaves)
Pumpkin Bread (Mini Loaves) is pumpkin chocolate chip bread baked in mini loaf pans then spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove. These individually-sized treats are perfect for snacking or gifting for the holidays.
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Zulka® Sugar. Thank you for supporting me and the brands I work with as sponsored posts help pay for website hosting and groceries.
Now that the weather is cooling down in Pittsburgh, it’s finally feeling like fall.
I had my first two pumpkin spice lattes of the season from two local coffee shops. Both were made with homemade syrup and not as sweet as a certain national chain.
Then I bought a can of pumpkin for pumpkin biscotti and small pumpkin pie.
Then I started thinking about how it’s been way too long since I’ve had pumpkin bread, so naturally I had to make Pumpkin Bread (Mini Loaves) to satisfy my craving.
Much like my mini banana bread, these mini pumpkin bread loaves are a scaled-down version of spiced pumpkin chocolate chip bread that captures the essence of fall in every bite.
Mini loaf pans are convenient because they provide built-in portion control for snacking.
I don’t know about you, but I can easily eat one large loaf by myself. By baking two mini loaves, I can eat my mini pumpkin bread without overindulging.
Or increase the recipe and give a mini loaf of pumpkin bread as a gift for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
What pan do I need to bake Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves?
Before you get started, you will need one of two types of pans:
If you use the 5×3 pans, you will make 2 pumpkin bread mini loaves. If you use the 8-cavity pan (roughly 2.5×3 per cavity), you will make 4 loaves.
What if I don’t have mini loaf pans?
If you don’t have small loaf pans, use a muffin pan to make 6 muffins or double the recipe for a 9×5 loaf pan.
Ingredients For Pumpkin Bread Mini Loaves
To make mini pumpkin bread, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Sugar: In addition to adding sweetness, Zulka® sugar helps keep your bread moist as well as contributes to their golden brown color.
- Butter: Creaming the sugar and butter together helps create little air pockets for rising and a tender crumb.
- Egg: Use a standard large egg.
- Pumpkin: Use canned pumpkin puree. Make sure it doesn’t say pumpkin pie mix.
- Vanilla: Helps boost the pumpkin flavor.
- All-purpose flour: Measure your flour by spooning it into your measuring cup. Using the scoop and pack method adds too much flour.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger: Collectively known as pumpkin pie spice, these spices are iconic with pumpkin.
- Baking soda: Helps the bread rise.
- Salt: Also helps boost flavor.
- Chocolate chips: Use semisweet or dark chocolate as milk chocolate may be too sweet.
For the sweetener I used Zulka® Morena Pure Cane Sugar which is granulated sugar made by squeezing and evaporating the juice from freshly-harvested sugar cane.
Because their refining process doesn’t include any bone char or animal by-product, their sugar is vegan friendly.
The replacement for granulated sugar is 1:1, which means you don’t have to make any adjustments. Where it says 1 cup granulated sugar, you simply use 1 cup Zulka® sugar.
Follow the Zulka® Instagram for more info and recipe inspiration.
How To Make Pumpkin Bread Mini Loaves
Here’s how to make mini pumpkin bread loaves from scratch:
- Cream together your butter and sugar.
- Beat in your egg, pumpkin, and vanilla
- Gradually add your flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Flour is very finicky so if you overbeat your batter, you’ll end up with tough, dry bread.
- Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If they start to brown too quickly, loosely cover with some foil.
Store pumpkin bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
What To Do With Leftover Canned Pumpkin
Since you won’t use a whole can of pumpkin for your small batch pumpkin bread, here’s what to make with leftover pumpkin:
Pumpkin Bread Mini Loaves FAQ
Yes! Use chopped nuts, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, or even white chocolate chips.
Yes, you can substitute 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove.
Yes! After cooling, wrap each loaf in plastic wrap then place in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 2-3 months.
To defrost, unwrap then sit at room temperature until completely thawed, about 2-3 hours.
Yes, you can double my mini pumpkin loaf recipe. Multiply everything by two and either use 4 mini pans, fill all 8 loaf cavities, or put it all in one 9×5 pan.
The bake time for mini loaves should be the same, but you’ll need to bake your 9×5 loaf for 50-60 minutes (covering it with foil halfway through). Always check with a toothpick for doneness.
More Mini Loaf Recipes
Now that you have your mini loaf pans, you can bake the following recipes:
- Mini Angel Food Cake baked in mini loaf pans
- Lemon Crumb Muffins – Follow the recipe exactly but use loaf pans instead.
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread – Cut in half or make as directed and have 4-8 mini loaves.
- Cinnamon Apple Bread – Cut in half or make as directed for a double batch.
Pumpkin Bread (Mini Loaves)
Pumpkin Bread (Mini Loaves) is pumpkin chocolate chip bread baked in mini loaf pans then spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground clove*
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger*
- 3/4 cup Zulka® Morena Pure Cane Sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two 5.75x3 mini loaf pans or 4 cavities of an 8-cavitiy mini loaf pan.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, clove, and ginger.
- In a large bowl mixing bowl on high speed (with the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), beat together the sugar and butter until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.
- Scrape down the bowl then beat in the egg, pumpkin, and vanilla until incorporated.
- Turn your mixer speed to low then gradually add the flour mixture. Don't overbeat the batter.
- Switch to a rubber spatula, scrape down the bowl, then stir in the chocolate chips.
- Transfer the batter to the pans. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If your bread is browning too much, you can loosely cover the tops with foil. Cool for 15 minutes then invert from the pan. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- *Instead of individual spices, substitute 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger.
- To double this recipe, multiply everything by two and either use 4 mini pans, fill all 8 loaf cavities, or put it all in one 9x5 pan. The bake time for mini loaves should be the same, but you'll need to bake your 9x5 loaf for 50-60 minutes (covering it with foil halfway through). Always check with a toothpick for doneness.
- Enjoyed this recipe? Check out my Mini Banana Bread and Mini Angel Food Cake.
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