Thursday, September 18, 2008

Quick Breads: a treat for now or a gift for later.

If you are new to baking, quick breads are a good place to start. Quick breads do not use complicated ingredients or techniques. They do not require the time that other breads do either because they use baking powder or baking soda instead of yeast. There are a wide variety of quick breads. They range from the down home goodness of cornbread to the almost dessert like sweet breads like banana bread.

These breads freeze well. Make a double batch when you are baking, and freeze the extra. To protect the bread in the freezer, wrap the bread in plastic wrap and put into a freezer bag. It will keep nicely for up to three months.

Quick breads, especially the sweet varieties, are a nice addition to holiday gift baskets or trays. If your gift is for a small family or you would like to include a variety of breads, a mini loaf pan is a great tool to have. Many recipes will also work well as muffins too. Just remember that you will need to adjust baking times for the smaller loaves. Recipes calling for an hour of baking time in a full sized loaf generally take about 40 minutes in the mini loaf pans. Loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Here are a couple of my favorite sweet quick breads recipes.

Cranberry Nut Bread

A delicious quick bread. Great for the holidays. Slices best ...

See Cranberry Nut Bread on Key Ingredient.



If you have a Amish Friendship Bread starter, it is a great source for making gift breads. Make it in the traditional cinnamon variety or try other varieties too. If you don't have a starter, you can make your own. Not familiar with this bread or want to make your own starter? I talked more about it in this post, Chocolate Banana Amish Friendship Bread.

Pumpkin Cranberry Amish Friendship Bread

A delicious variation of the original that uses half the ...

See Pumpkin Cranberry Amish Friendship Bread on Key Ingredient.



Apple Spice Amish Friendship Bread

A nice fall twist to Amish Friendship Bread.

See Apple Spice Amish Friendship Bread on Key Ingredient.



Quick breads are easy to make, give delicious results, and store well in the freezer. Mix up a double batch of quick bread and enjoy some now, and freeze the rest for gifts later.


Other edible gift ideas:
This Season's Bounty. Next Season's Gifts

4 comments:

  1. Oooh, I love all of these. The cranberry nut especially. Pretty photos, too.

    Thanks for the recipes. Time to start thinking about the holidays already.

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  2. Yummy! I love making quick breads for later or giving as gifts. Thank you for sharing your recipes!! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. TL,
    Yes, thinking is as far as I've gotten, but at least it is a start! :)

    Sherry,
    You're welcome

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  4. Thanks so much for all the wonderful homemade Christmas ideas. I've copied several and plan to give them a go this weekend. Your pictures of those cookies made me drool all over my desk here at work...*sigh* you're killing me!
    Merry Christmas

    ReplyDelete