Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bread with Pumpkin and Nutella

This treat is inspired by Half Baked Harvest's Cinnamon Swirl Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Butter Bread.   The perfect warming, spicy, chocolatey treat for the holiday season.  

After eyeing this recipe for a few weeks, tonight's cooler temperature and Thanksgiving less than a week away, I just decided to get into it.  I added my own flair with a touch of Nutella, and swaps for ingredients I didn't have on hand, but also wanted to experiment with.  I'll include both the original ingredient, with my swap below. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup pumpkin butter (see below for substitute)
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup melted salted butter
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup. (I used D'vash Date Syrup) 
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I didn't have, so I nixed) 
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Chips) 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons of Nutella (I added this!) 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a (9x5 inch) bread pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the pumpkin butter, pumpkin puree, melted butter, maple syrup (or Date Syrup), eggs, and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and salt, mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
3. In a bowl, combine the granulated sugar with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cinnamon.
4. Spoon half the pumpkin batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, reserving 2 tablespoons of sugar for topping the loaf. Add dollops of Nutella on top of sugar.  Add the remaining batter over the sugar. Run a knife down the center of the loaf 1-2 times to gently swirl the sugar. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over top of the batter.
5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 55-65 minutes, or until the center is just set. I usually cover the bread with foil at the 30 minute mark to prevent the top from burning.
6. Remove the bread and let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting...or just eat it warm with a smear of butter, scoop of vanilla ice cream or a warm cup of tea.  Enjoy!

RECIPE NOTES
Pumpkin Butter Substitute: you can use 1/2 cup additional pumpkin puree plus 2-4 tablespoons all purpose flour. Start with 2 tablespoons flour, then add 1-2 tablespoons more of the dough feels a little to wet. Don't add more than 1/4 cup additional flour.