VEGAN SPELT PUMPKIN BREAD

I unabashedly embrace pumpkin, pumpkin spices, and all of their inevitable unions. Starting in September, I see this impulse online to trash this completely harmless flavour combination because it is widely liked. I used to be like this! Now I just celebrate letting people love what they love. For me? It’s this vegan spelt pumpkin bread. Breakfast, snack, dessert, all day goodness!

It’s a simple loaf directly inspired by my spelt banana bread and my spelt zucchini bread. 2020 is the year of the loaf cake for me apparently. I wonder why that could be! Those everyday, simple-to-make indulgences seem to come in handy on a frequent basis.

This vegan spelt pumpkin loaf isn’t too sweet. Of course the chocolate brings things up a bit, but the loaf itself is naturally sweetened with maple syrup and the indulgence level isn’t overbearing or anything. Any liquid sweetener will work in its place.

Cannot believe tomorrow is October first. This year has had its extreme ups and downs, but it’s also going by so quickly. Sending you a lot of love from here to keep going, to keep nourishing yourselves (in whatever form that takes!), and to keep looking after each other. All we have and all we need is each other :)

VEGAN SPELT PUMPKIN BREAD RECIPE

Print the recipe here!
SERVES: Makes one 9×5 loaf (about 8 thick slices)
NOTES: You could easily substitute the following flours 1-to-1 for the spelt: whole wheat pastry flour, whole kamut flour, whole wheat flour or whole grain spelt flour (being mindful of the fact that whole grain flours will make the loaf more dense), and all purpose flour. I tried this pumpkin bread with a gluten-free all purpose flour mix (Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1) and it fell apart! Proceed with caution with any flour substitutions.
-Any add-ins you like are great! Use up to 1 ½ cups total of whatever you like.
-You can definitely just whisk together all of the wet ingredients in a bowl. I just like to get them SUPER smooth.

2 cups light spelt flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
¾ cup dairy-free chocolate chips/chunks
¾ cup pumpkin seeds or chopped walnuts
1 ½ cups cooked pumpkin puree
½ cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
½ cup melted coconut oil (or avocado oil, sunflower oil, melted vegan butter etc), plus extra
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×5 loaf pan and then line it with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment as well and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the spelt flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, chocolate chips, and pumpkin seeds. Stir with a spatula to evenly mix.

In an upright blender, combine the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut oil, orange juice, and vanilla. Blend on high until totally smooth and creamy.

Pour the pureed pumpkin mixture into the large bowl with the spelt flour mixture. Use your spatula to get all of the pumpkin mixture you can out of the blender. Gently stir and fold everything together until JUST combined.

Scrape the vegan spelt pumpkin bread batter into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top with your spatula. You can garnish the top with extra pumpkin seeds and chocolate chips if you like. Bang the filled loaf pan on the counter a couple times to evenly distribute the batter and to fill all spaces of the loaf pan.

Bake the vegan spelt pumpkin bread for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake tester/paring knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Allow the pumpkin bread to cool thoroughly before slicing and enjoying.