Cranberry White Chocolate Quick Bread Mix in a Jar

Nothing says I love you better than a gift from the kitchen, especially one that fills the house of your recipient with the aroma of sweet, fresh baked bread. This recipe makes a moist and delicious quick bread, but the dry ingredients can be layered, ahead of time, in a quart-sized jar for gift giving.

The jar can be decorated in any number of ways to reflect the occasion. Be sure to attach a recipe card or an embellished tag with the recipe, additional ingredients needed and baking instructions before presenting your gift.

I created this recipe for the winter 2010 Category Craze-E Contest on Food.com when the category was gifts from the kitchen, which I love! Beautiful red and white layers make this a great Valentine gift for friends, family or your child's teacher. These instructions make one quart jar and one loaf of bread, but feel free to double or triple the recipe to make several gifts at a time.






Cranberry White Chocolate Quick Bread Mix in a Jar

For Gift:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I use fresh grated, but ground is fine)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

For Making the bread:
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tablespoon milk


To make the gift jar: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and then spoon into a quart-sized jar with a tight-fitting lid. (I use a wide-mouth funnel to easily get the ingredients into the jar.) Tap the jar gently on the counter top to settle the flour.

Combine the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and pour over the flour in the jar.

Continue the layers with the dried cranberries, then the white chocolate chips and finally the pecans. Put the lid on the jar and decorate as desired.

To make bread: Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9x 5 loaf pan.

Pour all the dry ingredient from the jar into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.

In a small bowl, use a fork to beat the eggs lightly and then add the sour cream. Continue mixing with the fork until the sour cream is incorporated.

Add the melted butter to the dry ingredients and then add the egg and sour cream mixture. Stir just until combined.

Spread into prepared loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in pan and then turn out onto a cooling rack (with a layer of foil or waxed paper under the rack, to keep your counter clean.).

Stir together powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle or spread over top of loaf. Serve immediately or cool completely before slicing, to keep the slices looking nice. Yield: 1 loaf