When the weather starts to cool down, it’s time to turn on the oven and make quick breads. Even though “quick” breads still take an hour to bake, it’s so worth it—especially for this pumpkin bread with cream cheese. With a moist, tender crumb, flavors of pumpkin and fall spices and a tangy cream cheese swirl, this is the ultimate quick bread for fall.
Ready to learn how to make pumpkin bread with cream cheese at home? It can be made entirely from scratch with a recipe from home and lifestyle guru Joanna Gaines. Since we love her other recipes, like chocolate chip Bundt cake and banana bread, we knew Joanna wouldn’t steer us wrong.
The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the bread to cool!
How to Make Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese, Just Like Joanna Gaines
Ingredients
For the cream cheese filling:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the pumpkin bread:
- 1-¾ cups flour
- 1-½ cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Tools You’ll Need
Directions
Step 1: Prepare the cream cheese filling
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla. Mix with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer on medium speed until smooth. Set aside.
Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients
In a separate bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
Step 3: Mix the wet ingredients
In a mixing bowl, add the pumpkin, melted butter, egg, milk and vanilla. Mix on low speed until smooth. Gradually add in the dry ingredients mixture, mixing slowly until just combined. Mix for 30 seconds on medium-high speed.
Step 4: Layer the batter and filling
Scoop one-third of the pumpkin batter into the prepared loaf pan. Spread half of the cream cheese filling over top with a spatula. Add another third of the pumpkin batter. Spread the rest of the cream cheese filling over top, and then drop spoonfuls of the remaining pumpkin batter over top. Use a knife to cut through the batter to create a swirl on top.
Step 5: Time to bake!
Place the prepared loaf pan in the oven. Bake the pumpkin bread for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Insert a toothpick to be sure it comes out clean!. Once fully baked, remove the pumpkin bread from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes in the pan before transferring the loaf to a cooling rack. Then cool for one hour before serving.
Here’s What I Thought
To me, there’s nothing better than a thick slice of a quick bread paired with a cup of coffee. It’s the ideal breakfast, and it can also be a wonderful afternoon snack. And for fall? This pumpkin cream cheese bread is at the top of the list.
While the ingredients list looks long at first glance, this pumpkin cream cheese bread comes together quickly. It’s a simple mixture of wet and dry ingredients to form a tasty batter. Just be sure not to overmix after you’ve added your flour mixture. Overmixing any quick bread results in the gluten developing too much, ultimately giving you a tough, chewy bread.
Every bite of this pumpkin bread is full of flavor. However, if you love the fall flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg, I’d say you could certainly double the amount of those spices! Once the loaf has cooled, you’re left with an incredibly moist pumpkin bread, of course, with the surprise of a cream cheese swirl when you cut it open. There’s a smooth tanginess from the cream cheese swirl, making the flavor and texture of the bread that much more interesting.
And as a bonus, it has even more flavor the next morning! It’s truly addictive and honestly difficult to stop at just one slice. I’ll definitely be making this recipe all autumn long.
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Molly Allen