Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 of a bag of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, pumpkin, eggs, and applesauce until smooth (I put these in my Kitchen Aid for about a minute).
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and beat until smooth and well combined. The batter will be thick. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Do not over mix. Spoon the batter into loaf pan.
Bake until the top is brown and crusty looking, about 60 minutes. A knife inserted into the center should come out clean.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for ten minutes. After ten minutes, carefully take the bread out of the pan and allow it to cool completely on the wire rack.
Makes one loaf, adapted from Pumpkin Bread with Dates recipe on williams-sonoma.com