Healthy Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Loaf

Michelle Levine | Holistic Health & Wellness Coach www.michlwellness.com @michlwellness

Fall is just around the corner, and with it comes everyone’s favourite seasonal flavour – pumpkin! Aside from being an autumnal staple, pumpkin is also surprisingly good for you. When cooked, pumpkin is full of antioxidants and nutrients and is a great source of immune-boosting vitamins A and C, extra important this time of year.

Pumpkin has a mildly sweet flavour, which makes it perfect as a replacement for higher sugar, higher-calorie ingredients. It’s also great in savoury dishes like soups and pasta sauces.

Ingredients

• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp peanut butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 2 and 1/4 cups rolled oats (I used gluten-free)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 loaf pan, lined with parchment paper

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
• Add all your ingredients, starting with the wet ones, to a food processor. (Do not add the chocolate chips here!)
• Process the ingredients until smooth. It’s ok to have a bit of texture to your batter but try to get it as smooth as possible.
• Stir in your chocolate chips
• Pour your batter into the loaf pan. Add a few chocolate chips to the top of the loaf for good measure (because, why not!)
• Bake the pumpkin loaf for 25 minutes. Test for readiness by poking the middle with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it’s ready! If you have batter still stuck to the toothpick, put the loaf back in the oven for another 3 minutes.
• Once the toothpick comes out dry, remove the loaf from the oven and let cool for 25-30 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and place on a drying rack to finish cooling completely.

Optional notes

1. You can change the peanut butter for any natural nut butter. It will change up the taste but give the same overall effect
2. I’ve also made these with dark chocolate chunks, and they’ve been AWESOME.
3. You can leave out the chocolate altogether and just make a pumpkin oat loaf
4. These can also be made as muffins. All the instructions are the same but pour the batter into 12 muffin tins and bake for 22-25 minutes.
5. This recipe freezes really well! Cut the loaf into slices, wrap individually and freeze. Pop in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and it makes a warm, gooey treat!

Michelle Levine | Holistic Health & Wellness Coach | www.michlwellness.com

@michlwellness

Michelle Levine is a Holistic Health and Wellness Coach and lifestyle blogger. She strives to share easy tips for living your healthiest life, offering personalized meal planning, lifestyle tips, and one-on-one coaching. Find more of her recipes at michlwellness.com, and keep up with on social media at @michlwellness.