Hey guys!  I have a new recipe to share with you all.

Now, I’m not going to lie–I like healthifying stuff (that’s not a word, but moving on…)

Truth be told, you can usually subtract half the sugar in most recipes and you’ll hardly be able to tell the difference.  In case you didn’t notice, we Americans like our sugar so apparently every recipe needs to have 2+ cups of the stuff.

A lot of times, these “experiments” end up in disaster. I once tried to make brownies using chocolate protein powder and it tasted like a cross between a Necco wafer and a cocoa sponge.  Thankfully, I finally discovered a semi-healthy recipe that actually tastes great:

Chocolate chip pumpkin bread!

Now, in no way shape or form is this dessert low-carb, low-sugar, low-whatever.  But it IS higher protein and lower in calories than your average dessert bread, all while tasting just like it was made in a bakery. Plus the protein makes it easy to just have one piece of the stuff, instead of doing that fun trick where you keep cutting off “slivers” and convincing yourself that “slivers don’t count” (guilty as charged).

Most dessert breads rely on copious amount of oil to make them moist–but here I’ve replaced the oil with a container of greek yogurt and two bananas.  Between the yogurt and the mashed bananas, even after an hour of cooking this bread comes out like the delicious dessert bread you know and love.

So if you a) like pumpkin b) like chocolate and c) love pretending dessert breads are healthier than pieces of cake, make this!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread (adapted from Courtney @ Sweet Tooth Sweet Life)

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed (I used frozen ones that I defrosted)
• 1 6 oz container plain greek yogurt
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tbls. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Combine bananas, yogurt, sugar, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine both flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.   Toss the chocolate chips and walnuts into the flour mixture.  Finally, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.

Pour the mixture into a 9×5 loaf pan lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray (this speeds up cleaning time).

Put it in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes, or when a toothpick comes out clean. My bread took 55 minutes, and I took it out because I noticed the sides were browning and would burn soon if I didn’t do it.  This is a very moist bread like I mentioned, so sometimes the toothpick trick won’t work.  Keep an eye on the color of the bread and if it’s past 45 minutes and looking a little too dark, take it out. Breads will continue to cook in the pan anyway.

Good luck  keeping this around the house for more than a day or two!

Fun fact:

There are 1927 calories in one cup of vegetable oil. Here I replaced that with two bananas and a container of greek yogurt, which comes out to approx.  310 calories. Hence why it’s totally okay to add all those chocolate chips 😉