If there’s a food out there that’s more quintessentially autumnal than this pumpkin cream cheese bread, then we haven’t found it yet. We know plenty of folks that wait all year long for September to roll around so they can have pumpkin spice everything but this bread is so darn delicious that we think we should all be eating it year round. Because why not? Pumpkin and cream cheese in the spring isn’t a bad thing, you know.
We’re incredibly fond of the combination of pumpkin and cream cheese (but who isn’t?) and this quick bread is a testament to the beauty of that delicious duo. The tang of the cream cheese plays off the subtly spiced bread so well. And that cute little smiley ribbon of cream cheese running through it ensures that you get a little bit of that goodness in every bite. You don’t even need to spread anything on this after you slice it up! The delicious filling takes care of that.
This bread isn’t too tricky to mix up at all, but one important note: when you go to layer your batter and filling in the pan, you put 1/3 of the batter in, then the cream cheese filling, then the rest of the batter. Make sure that that first layer is only about 1/3 of the batter. If that first layer is too thick, the bottom of the bread won’t bake through, and the bread will come out kind of dense and sad. And then you’d be sad. We don’t want that.
When you bake this one, watch your bread, not the clock. It takes a while to cook through, but all of a sudden it will lose its jiggle. It took ours the full 75 minutes listed in the directions, but that might not be the case for you. It may take less time… it may take more. The toothpick trick will help you know when it’s done, but if your cream cheese ribbon is higher up, just know you might see some cream cheese filling stuck to the toothpick even when the bread is ready to come out.
We find ourselves wanting to bake up another loaf of this as soon as the first one is gone. (And believe us, that usually doesn’t take too long.) It’s a fall favorite for sure, but it’s so good it stays in our hearts and minds throughout the year. We won’t tell anyone if you sneak a loaf in in May. We’ve been known to do it too.
