Chai Spiced Pumpkin Bread

I was in Williams-Sonoma a couple of days ago to see what is new for the holiday season.  I love this store, especially at this time of the year.  It just smells so good the moment you walk in the door.  They were handing out samples of their Pumpkin Spice Quick Bread and Five Apple Cider Concentrate.  The bread was extremely moist and flavorful and the cider had just the right amount of sweetness and spice.  I knew that I would be making some pumpkin bread this weekend.  Even though I live in a tropical climate I like to pretend that it is fall and make the appropriate recipes.

After doing a quick search I came across a recipe for Chai Spiced Pumpkin Bread that was posted by 28 Cooks back in December of 2006.  I love Chai and I love pumpkin bread so this seemed to be a match made in heaven, and I already had all of the ingredients in my cupboard.  In fact, I was so eager to make this bread that I ended up making two loaves - one for us and one to share. 

With my trusty little sous chef helping to measure and mix, everything came together very quickly and before I knew it, they were in the oven.  The kitchen was soon smelling of warm and wonderful spices.  It was hard to wait the twenty minutes required cooling time before we cut into it.  I suspect that it won't be around for long and I might have to make a few more loaves to enjoy during the week. 

I only made two changes to this recipe.  One was to drop the salt from 1 1/2 teaspoons to 1 teaspoon.  After tasting the loaves I think that I will drop it even more next time to 1/2 a teaspoon.  It did taste a little salty and I don't know if this was because the salt was boosted by all of the other spices or not. The other was to sprinkle some demarera sugar on the top of the loaves before they baked because I like a crunch topping. All in all I really like the chai taste with the pumpkin and think I might try it in another few recipes as well.

Chai Pumpkin Bread

1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter, at room temperature
1 c canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
2 chai tea bags, steeped in 1/2 c boiling water
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c whole-wheet flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each cardamom, ginger, and black pepper
1/4 tsp each cloves, nutmeg, and allspice

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, use a mixer to beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, eggs, chai tea liquid, and vanilla and stir until well combined. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices and stir just until evenly moistened. Pour into prepared 8" loaf pan. Bake 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool at least 20 minutes before serving.