Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Bread

For a girl who isn't crazy about pumpkin, I've sure been baking with it a lot lately. I found this recipe over at Fake Ginger, and to be perfectly honest, it wasn't the pumpkin part of this loaf that got me interested, it was the cinnamon chips. The cinnamon chips are not easy to find - so I apologize in advance if you live around me. I bought mine while on summer holidays in San Diego - I'd seen them used in a handful of recipes and could never find them at home. So when I stumbled upon them while grocery shopping on our holidays, I grabbed a couple bags and brought them home with me. Then I promptly forgot what the heck I'd bought them for in the first place. 

So when I found this recipe, I was pretty excited to finally try them out. The cinnamon chips don't hold their shape quite as well as chocolate chips do when you bake with them. They kinda melt into the batter a bit, aside from the lone chip that remains intact in the photo below, but I liked that about them. They're delicious and they definitely make this loaf a lot more interesting. I suppose you could substitute chocolate chips  - or just bake without any chips at all (but then you might want to increase the cinnamon or add some other spices). What I do know for sure is that I'll be very sad when I've used up the last of these chips.

Recipe for Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Bread
(Source: adapted from Fake Ginger)

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, pumpkin and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, mix until incorporated. Stir in the cinnamon chips. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.