Chocolate Butternut Squash Bread
Hi guys.
I’ve been feeling rather overwhelmed this week. So I’m glad today is Friday. I have a date night with my sisters filled with shopping and dinner SO I’M EXCITED. If you live in Houston then you probably know there is this fab thing called The Nutcracker Market. It’s all the holiday shopping you can ever imagine – christmas gifts, festive food, stockings, trees, holiday decor, etc- aisles and aisles of holiday cheer all under one roof. So that’s where I’ll be tonight. Going there always feels like the start of the holiday season to me:)
Yesterday I went to the gentlest yoga class of my life. We just laid there and focused on breathing. I honestly felt like I was having a touch of a panic attack because I felt like I couldn’t remember how to breath. It sucked…as has a lot of this week. So then I 1) came home and baked this loaf of bread, 2) had supervision for work (aka all the RDs I work with talk on the phone for an hour), 3) photographed this bread and 4) went and met with my therapist, and 5) went out to lunch with a coworker. And THEN I started to feel better. Thursdays are the day I see clients late, so my mornings those days are rather flexible.
I’m reassessing my workload and decided to not accept any new clients through the end of the year, which is the right choice. There are a couple things I’m working on for the blog/online that I want to have more time for. Stay tuned!
When making this bread, I wanted to enjoy the baking experience…so I didn’t take any process shots while whipping this guy up. Baking is especially nice when the weather is really fabulous out. It was actually cold (in my opinion) in the morning yesterday. IT FELT SO GOOD.
So the cold(ish) weather was calling me to put fall in a loaf of bread. So here we are putting butternut squash + cinnamon in bread with chocolate.
I have mixed feelings on butternut squash. It is not my fav starchy vegetable, but if it’s in a baked good or used to make a pizza sauce…I’m a fan. Like a butternut squash sauce pizza with chicken, blue cheese, feta and, perhaps, some bacon…that sounds like a great idea.
But plain roasted butternut squash…no thank you.
I have not french toasted this bread yet, but I 100% plan to asap.
Chocolate Butternut Squash Bread
Yield: a loaf of bread
Ingredients:
dry ingredients
1 cup oat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp dark cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
wet ingredients
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup butternut squash, roasted & mashed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 tbsp vanilla
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add in wet ingredients. Combine until a batter forms. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Top with additional chocolate chips for prettiness. Bake at 55 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before popping out of the loaf pan and letting cool for a bit more or just slicing. ENJOY!
You can totally use canned pureed pumpkin instead of mashed butternut squash.
