At Holiday time, I think nothing says “I care about you” more than a home-baked gift. It’s been a tradition of mine, for a number of years, to make either an assortment of cookies and candies, or some mini loaves of sweet bread for my friends and family. I know I love to get baked goods, so I assume others appreciate it too!
I’m always on the hunt for a yummy sweet bread, especially with a holiday twist. I came across this Cranberry Bread recipe and knew I could adapt it into mini loaves to share with friends. It has a lot of ingredients, and a few extra steps that turn it into a unique and decadent bread. It’s perfect for gift giving – and says you cared enough to spend some time on creating a lovely homebaked gift. Now, I love a great pumpkin or banana bread, but this Christmas Cranberry Bread goes a step beyond. There’s nothing hard about it, just a few extra steps and extra bowls, but the WOW factor makes it worth while. Of course, in my book, anything with Mascarpone Cheese it in has to be DELISH!
Christmas Cranberry and White Chocolate Pound Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 3/4 Cups Flour - sifted 3 times see directions
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 Cup Cranberries fresh or thawed
- 1 Cup White Chocolate Chips or half of 12 oz bag
- 1/2 Cup Butter - room temperature
- 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
- 1/2 Cup Mascarpone Cheese
- 3 Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 Tbs Browned Butter - for the top of the loaf before baking
Frosting
- 1/4 Cup Butter - softened
- 4 oz Cream Cheese
- 1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
Garnish
- 1/2 Cup Craisins - for sprinkling on top of baked loaf.
- 1 Tbs Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 Cup White Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Grease and flour 4 mini loaf pans, or 1 lg bread pan and line with Parchment paper.or parchment pan liner or mini loaf pan papers (like muffin cups)
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, and sift 3 times. Don't skip this step! Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, brown 2 1/2 Tbs butter, until golden, but not burned. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in mixer.
- Add the eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture.
- Add the Heavy Cream and Mascarpone, and beat on medium speed until well blended.
- Gradually add the sifted flour mixture and beat with mixer on low.
- Gently stir the White Chocolate Chips into batter.
- Toss Cranberries with a Tablespoon of flour until coated, then gently fold into batter.
- Divide the dough between 4 mini loaf pans, or all of it in one large loaf pan. Spread the top until smooth.
- With a knife, make and indentation down the center of the batter in the pans, and spoon the browned butter into this furrow.
- Bake in oven for 50 min for mini loaves, or 55 to 65 minutes for large loaf. Test for doneness by inserted toothpick - coming out clean.
- Cool in pans for 15 min, then remove from pans and cool on a rack.
- Prepare Frosting, then frost the tops and partially down sides of the loaves. Let frosting set for a few minutes before adding a handful of Craisins on top. .
- Prepare Garnish Glaze by heating White Chocolate and oil over low heat until melted. Let it cool enough, so it won't melt the frosting when you drizzle it.
- Now drizzle the White Chocolate glaze over the top of the sprinkled Craisins.
- Serve immediately, or wrap in cellophane to gift a mini loaf to a friend. They'll love the decadence of it!
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