Pumpkin Bread Another Way

As I mentioned, despite my best intentions, I keep screwing up the amounts of thawed pumpkin I have on hand.  When I went to make the pumpkin pie for the Chief Taster's family's Thanksgiving, I read the recipe card (in my own handwriting, thus removing my last excuse) and found that I didn't need 2 C of puree, but 1.5.  This explained why my previous pie barely fit in the crust--I had used 2 C for that one.

I did it right for Thanksgiving, but then I had a tiny portion of leftover pumpkin, and I wasn't really sure what to do with it.  A couple weeks ago, I remembered it was still in the fridge, and I figured I should use it or toss it, and I hate to throw food away, so I decided to make pumpkin bread again.  I was all wound up for it when I remembered that I needed 1 C for a half-batch, and I only had 1/2 C.  Then I measured it (good call), and found that I really only had about 1/4 C.

But I still wanted to bake something, because it had been raining all day, and I was done working on Plan B for a while, and I had Spanish Chicken simmering away in the Crock Pot for five more hours, and it felt like fall, dammit, so I wanted to bake something.  Still, I only had 1/4 C of pumpkin puree.

Of course, there's also some leftover sour cream in the fridge that will pass its Use By date in a few more days.  Pumpkin puree is sort of creamy.  Sour Cream Pumpkin Bread doesn't sound like a bad idea, per se.

Kids: this will NOT taste like a creamsicle.

So I did it.  What follows is a sort-of recipe, or at least a record of what I did.

3/4 C pumpkin puree/sour cream slurry (I had about 1/4 C puree and 1/2 C sour cream.  I might have gone with 3/4 C sour cream, but that was all I had.)
1/2 plus 1/3 C sugar
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 t vanilla
2 large eggs
1.5 C flour (you can use whole wheat if you want.  Go ahead.  Pretend this is healthy.)
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t baking powder
1/2 C chocolate chips

1. Move oven rack so the tops of the loaves will be in the middle of the oven, and preheat it to 350F.  Grease just the bottom of an 8x4 inch pan.
2. Combine pumpkin slurry, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs.  Mix well.  Really well.  Don't leave any lumps of sour cream.  Add everything except the chips. Mix well.  Add chips.  Mix again.
3. Pour batter into loaf pan.
4. Bake 50 to 60 minutes (I was closer to 65 before the toothpick test passed).  Check with a toothpick (inserted in the center, it should come out clean.  If it doesn't, give it a few more minutes).  Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.