Quick Bread Round-Up

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The gifts I've made for our neighbors this Christmas are simple baskets that include a small bread board, a jar of cranberry conserves and two loaves of quick bread, one sweet, the other savory. I've made a lot of bread this year and I had to puzzle what my choices for gifting would be. I could have used any of the recipes that appear in today's round-up, but I finally decided to make a seasonally colorful French olive bread and streusel topped pumpkin and pecan bread that I particularly enjoy. I've found that quick breads make wonderful token gifts for the holidays. They are easy to put together and they are always appreciated. There is a good deal of truth in that old saw, "Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven." So, if you still have gifts outstanding, may I suggest that you fire up the oven and have a go at one of the recipes that appear below.




Olive Bread















Hawaiian Banana Bread










Lemon Poppyseed Bread













Date and Hazelnut Bread












Coconut Bubble Bread











Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread










Pumpkin Apple Bread












Strawberry Tea Bread











Pumpkin Pecan Bread with Streusel Topping










Toasted Coconut Bread

An Assortment of Christmas Confections - Pink Saturday

With Christmas just a week a way, those of us who contribute to Pink Saturday were asked to share a favorite carol with our readers. I am especially fond of Art Garfunkel's lovely arrangement of "O Come All Ye Faithful." I hope you will enjoy it, too.





I suspect that most of you are finished with your holiday baking or know exactly which sweets and treats remain to be done. On the off chance that you still need an idea or two, I'm including recipes that are or have, in the past, been part of our Christmas celebration. These are confections that don't fit neatly into other categories. They are all lovely recipes and I'm delighted to share them with you.






Candied Walnuts












Southern Nut Cake













Forget-Me-Not Fudge













Christmas Pudding













Pink Peppermint Patties













Baby Jesus Birthday Cake













Candied Orange and Lemon Peel













Kris Kringle Ginger Cakes













White Chocolate Truffles












Caramel Corn







This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Holiday Coffee Cake and Muffin Round Up

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...While it may be wretched excess, I think a holiday breakfast or brunch is incomplete without a coffee cake or muffins on the table. Butter, after all, needs a vehicle on which it can be spread. I watch what I eat for most of the year, and go so far as to lose 5 pounds just before the holidays begin. Then my reserve crumbles and I start to eat foods I wouldn't normally allow to cross my lips. When January rolls around I have, of course, regained the 5 pounds I lost back in October. Now, the cynics out there will note that I've lost and gained the same 5 pounds for 50 years running, and because everyone knows cynics have a mean streak, they'll also gleefully do the math for anyone who will pay attention to them. Ignore them. The optimists, however, will see Mrs. Feeziwig and say only that she "knew how to keep Christmas well." Really well. The recipes in today's round-up are for the optimists among you. They have all been tested and eaten with complete abandon and wouldn't be here if they weren't delicious. I hope you find something here that tempts you. Here are the recipes for some of my favorite coffee cakes and muffins.






Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake










Pom Koec - Belgian Coffee Cake











Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake











Blackberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake










French Breakfast Puffs











Coffee Walnut Snack Cake











Raspberry Streusel Muffins












Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze











Morning Glory Muffins










Budapest Coffee Cake














Marionberry Muffins

My Christmas Bread Round-Up

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I am inordinately fond of bread. As telling as this holiday list may be, the number of sweet breads I've chosen not to include is even more enlightening. Worse still, I've been testing new breads and will be adding a few more to the list before the Christmas holiday is here. It's not hard to tell that I've been seduced by those spores that cause flour and water to rise to poetic heights. The first time I read those classic words from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, my response was "Amen, brother." I was even willing to forgo the jug if it meant I could have butter with my bread. Actually, most of today's featured breads don't need butter, but its availability keeps panic from setting in. To make my Christmas list, a bread had to be delicious, but I also tried to pick ones that had a story to tell or memories that could be shared. I'll let you be the judge of how well I did. Here are my favorite Christmas breads. I hope you'll try them.







Cinnamon Meringue Coffee Ring












Dresdener Stollen












Walnut Coffee Cake












Cougnou (Bread of Jesus)












Panettone












Julekake ( Norwegian Christmas Bread)











Swedish Coffee Ring with Apricots and Almonds












St. Lucia Buns











Cranberry Bread Pudding with Orange Hard Sauce











Schnecken (Snails)

My Christmas Cookie Round-Up

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I don't bake a lot of Christmas cookies these days. I try to gauge the number and type I do make based on the number of people we'll actually be entertaining during the holiday season. Truth be told, I prefer to make cakes or pastry for our guests because there are rarely leftovers to snack on. Cookies are an altogether different story and Bob and I, both infirm of purpose, end up eating way too many of them when they are in the house. Having said that, I know it wouldn't be Christmas without a cookie or two, so, I've gone through my recipes and created a list of those I'd be likely to serve this season. The list is neither extensive nor unusual. As a matter of fact, it is terribly old-fashioned and if you link to the stories and recipes that accompany the pictures, you'll find that most of the cookies come from old-world kitchens. This year I plan to limit myself to three types of cookies. One of them will, of course, be rosettes, but the jury is still out on what the other two will be. They haven't spoken to me yet. I'll keep you posted.






Pan de Polvo (Mexican Wedding Cakes)










Bittersweet Chocolate Snowballs











Moravian Spice Cookies












Florentine Lace Cookies











Pfeffernusse











Rosettes










Lebkuchen Bars












Speculaas










Linzer Cookies











Swedish Ginger Crackles









This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.