S'mores Pumpkin Bread

Given how well our S'mores Banana Bread turned out I have been contemplating making other s'mores breads for a little while now.  S'mores pumpkin bread seemed like the obvious next step.  This afternoon while working from home I had a break and all I could think was s'mores!!!!!!  I started rummaging through the cupboards and we literally had everything we needed, except eggs.  So I ran to the grocery store quickly for eggs and threw together a batch of s'mores pumpkin bread.  As I was stirring in the marshmallows and chocolate chips I started getting a little concerned about how much batter I was creating, but I decided that I was just being silly.  And then I started to fill the loaf pans and realized it totally wasn't going to fit.  So I abandoned about 1/4 cup of batter (which I made sure to taste and it was delicious) and filled the loaf pans as full as I dared.  I got a little scared at the last second and put the loaf pans on top of a sheet pan just in case there was an exploding/oozing pumpkin bread situation.  Luckily, nothing exploded (more on that later), but better safe than sorry.

As the pumpkin bread baked it smelled amazing and I kept getting more and more excited.  After the timer went off the first time I checked it, noticed it wasn't fully cooked and put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.  Alex then went and checked it out, stabbed it with a toothpick, which he brought over to me, and pulled the pumpkin bread from the oven.  After I finally finished up my work for the evening and ate some dinner at my laptop I decided that I deserved a slice of pumpkin bread for dessert.  And then I looked at the pumpkin bread and saw that my beautiful loaves of pumpkin bread were crazy and cratered.  Turns out the pumpkin bread wasn't fully cooked and it sank like the Titanic.  Womp womp.  But I promise that the end pieces that I did try were delicious.  And I promise that I will make the pumpkin bread again, but I will make sure it is fully cooked.

Recipe after the jump!

S'mores Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

generous pinch allspice

2 tsp baking powder

3 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

6 large eggs

2 cups canned pure pumpkin puree

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup part-skim ricotta

2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, plus additional for garnish

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus additional for garnish

1 cup mini marshmallows, plus additional for garnish

1/2 cup crushed graham crackers, plus additional for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans.  Whisk together dry ingredients (flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in a medium mixing bowl.  Using a stand mixer or electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together.  While beating, add eggs 1 egg at a time.  Then add pumpkin puree, vanilla extract and ricotta cheese.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 3 batches.  Stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows and graham crackers.  Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans and let it settle.  Tap the pans on the counter a few times to even out the batter and to let air bubbles rise to the surface.  Top each loaf with a sprinkle of chocolate chips, marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs.  Place loaf pans on a baking sheet and cover with tented tin foil to prevent marshmallows from over-browning and drying out.

Bake cake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 60-65 minutes, removing the tin foil after 50 minutes.

Cool pumpkin bread on a rack and cool completely before serving.