Holiday Goodies: Quick Sweet Breads

Today I am posting three of my favorite quick bread recipes. I love to give breads as gifts. Just wrap them in colored cellophane and tie on a ribbon and they are ready to go. You can also put them into baskets, boxes or tins or on a pretty holiday plate.

There are a variety of ways to bake these breads. Each recipe will fill a regular size Bundt pan or two 9x5 loaf pans. You can also bake them in muffin tins, mini loaf pans or mini bundt pans. They can even be baked in coffee cans or other food cans. Pans should be sprayed with cooking spray and dusted with flour for each recipe. Fill pans about 2/3 full. When baked in one Bundt pan, breads will take around 1 hour to bake - start checking at 50 minutes to prevent over baking. Smaller pans will take less time. I usually start checking at around 30 minutes, then every 5 - 10 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Start checking muffins or very small mini loaves at around 20 minutes.

Any of these breads are delicious as is, but you can make them even more special by frosting or glazing with a cream cheese icing. You can also top with a streusel topping before baking. I have included a streusel recipe below.

Streusel Topping
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons chilled butter
1/3 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in nuts. Sprinkle on bread, cake or muffins before baking.

Zucchini (or Carrot) Bread
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini (or carrots)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup raisins or chopped nuts (or ½ cup of each) (optional)

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour pan(s).

Beat eggs until fluffy. Mix in oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients. Add to zucchini mixture. Mix well. Stir in raisins and/or nuts if using.

Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake at 325 until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Glaze or frost with cream cheese or vanilla icing, if desired.


Spiced Pumpkin Raisin Bread
1 15 oz can pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups raisins or coarsely chopped nuts (or 1 cup of each)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour pan(s).

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, sugars and vanilla until well-blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, soda, salt and spices. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Stir in raisins and/or nuts. Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Judy’s Special Banana Bread
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups coarsely chopped nuts or chocolate chips (or 1 cup of each)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour pan(s).

Cream butter and sugars until light. Add vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Whisk together flour, salt, soda and cinnamon. Add to creamed mixture and mix to combine. Stir in mashed bananas, nuts and/or chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pans. Bake at 350 until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.