What is a good holiday sweet bread?

Question

A sweet loaf of bread maybe with nuts? Any ideas

Answer 1

This quick bread gets rave reviews when given as gifts. Enjoy! And Happy Holidays!

STRAWBERRY NUT BREAD

1 16-oz. bag frozen strawberries, thawed & drained
2 cups granulated sugar
1-¼ cups oil
2 large eggs
3 cups flour
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup coarsely-chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottoms only of two 9” loaf pans & set pans aside. Slightly mash berries; set aside. In large bowl, mix sugar & oil. Stir in berries until well mixed. Stir in eggs until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredients, except walnuts., just until moistened. Gently stir in walnuts. Turn into prepared pans & bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done. Cool for 10 minutes in pans. Transfer to wire racks & cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Store at room temperature for up to four days or refrigerate for up to 10 days.

Yield: 2 Loaves

Answer 2

Orange Apricot Sweet Bread

Ingredients
About 1/2 cup (1/4 lb.) butter or margarine
About 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon hulled cardamom seed, crushed
1 tablespoon finely shredded orange peel
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
About 1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup diced dried apricots


Preparation
1. In a bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter, 2/3 cup sugar, and cardamom with a mixer until fluffy. Add orange peel, egg, egg yolk, and sour cream. Beat to mix well.
2. Stir together soda, baking powder, 1 cup flour, and diced apricots. Add to butter mixture and stir until evenly blended.

3. Butter and flour-dust a 5- to 6-cup baking pan or paper baking mold (5 in. wide, 3 in. deep; 7 in. wide, 2 1/2 in. deep; 4 1/2- by 8 1/2 -in. loaf pan; or 8-in. square or round cake pan).

4. Scrape batter into pan and spread level. If using smaller molds, fill no more than 1/3 full. (You'll have about 1 1/2 cups batter.)

5. Sprinkle batter evenly (in one or more pans) with 1 tablespoon sugar.

6. Bake on rack slightly below center in a 350° oven until bread springs back when lightly pressed in center, and just begins to pull from pan sides, 35 to 40 minutes for the whole loaf, less for smaller portions.

7. Let cool on a rack. Serve warm or cool, inverted from pan, then turned top side up.

Yield
Makes a 4 1/2-by 8 1/2-inch loaf; 6 to 8 servings

Answer 3

Pumpkin bread and zuchini bread are both very good and easy to make for the holiday season.Also they are great to give as a gift!

Answer 4

In foods class we recently made a Sweedish tea ring. It was so yummy. It uses a yeast dough (very simple) and you roll it into a ring with apples and nuts. When it is down baking you can glaze it with this really awesome icing!!!

Here is a variation:
SWEDISH TEA RING

2 pkgs. dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water
1/2 c. lukewarm milk (scalded then cooled)
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. butter, softened
4 1/2 to 5 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 1/2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn dough on floured board, knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Place in greased bowl, turn greased side up, cover in warm place and let rise until double (about 1 1/2 hours). Dough is ready when touched. Punch dough down and follow next recipe.

1/2 of dough recipe
2 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. nuts

Roll dough into rectangle 15 x 9 inches. Spread with butter, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and nuts. Roll up beginning at wide side. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal well. Stretch to make roll even. With sealed edge down, shape into a ring on a lightly greased baking sheet. Pinch ends together. With scissors make cuts 2/3 of the way through at 1 inch intervals. Turn each section on its side. Let rise until double. Bake at 350 degrees. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. If desired, frost while warm with sweet icing.

Answer 5

http://bread.betterrecipes.com/sweetbreadrecipes.html

That site seems to have a lot of ideas. Also if you want to make it festive you could use food coloring for a nice red color, or green lol if you do not mind serving green bread. Hope you find one you like.