Hello world! It has been a little while, I can’t  believe I shared my previous post almost 18 months ago. These past 18 months have been *interesting* to say the least… 

On a personal note, we welcomed our second baby girl to the world and have been enjoying spending time as a family of four which makes us feel extremely lucky and blessed! 

On a more general note, the world is a very different place today, we can’t shake people’s hands anymore (!!) and everytime we leave the house, we must not forget our masks.

It’s a weird time to be alive but the good news is, we can still cook and bake and make our bellies happy! 

This pumpkin bread is very earthy, fragrant, lightly sweet, not too heavy and very addictive! I could not help but adding chocolate chunks to it but feel free to discard them from the recipe if you don’t want them.

The Ras el hanout sugar on top of the cake is optional but I guarantee that it’s totally worth the extra 3 minutes and calories, it gives the bread a delicious crumb that really bring this bread to another level!

Do you think by the time I write my next blog post we will all be able to hug each other? I guess not, so in the meantime I am sending you a huge virtual hug with this comforting Ras el hanout and chocolate chunk pumpkin bread.

Enjoy!

Ras El Hanout and chocolate chunk pumpkin bread

INGREDIENTS

• 260g plain flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 teaspoon ras el hanout

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 180g brown sugar 

• 2 large eggs

• 120g butter, melted and more for buttering the pan

• 60ml black tea (black tea bag soaked in hot water)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 320g pumpkin puree

• 140g dark chocolate chunks or chips

Ras el hanout sugar (optional)

• 3 tablespoons caster sugar

• 1 teaspoon ras el hanout

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ras el hanout and salt together until combined. 

• In another bowl, whisk the eggs and brown sugar together until well combined. Add in the melted butter, black tea and vanilla extract and whisk until combined. Add in the pumpkin and whisk again until combined. 

• Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and gently mix together using a spatula. Do not overmix the batter because this will make the bread gummy (it’s totally fine if we can still see some flecks of flour in the batter). Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

• Butter a loaf pan (21.5 x 11.5 x 7 cm / 8.5" x 4.5" x 3") and pour the batter into the pan. Use a spatula to gently spread the cake mixture evenly over the pan. Sprinkle the sugar all over the bread making sure you also put some in the corners.

 • Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with  a some small moist crumbs.

 • Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the pan.