We perfected a spread of savory elements, hot and cold punches, veggies and yogurt dip, crackers or homemade bread in just the right size for nibbling. But desserts . . .
Desserts were a problem from the start. The first several years we made Christmas cookies. This turned out to need more time, kitchen space and oven space than I had. Even with the kids helping, cut-out cookies were an all-day project (not to mention the mess of flour, frosting and sprinkles on every inch of the kitchen and the kids). The whole experience left me feeling like the Grinch rather than getting in the Christmas spirit.
Finally inspiration hit. For a few years I had been baking pumpkin bread for fall bake sales at church and school. They always sold out, and I received a lot of compliments and requests for the recipe. So why not make dessert breads for the open house?
When we finally settled into the breads that everyone liked (and that we liked, too, since there were always leftovers!), we usually served up pumpkin bread, chocolate bread, and a festive lemon and cranberry concoction. Dessert was solved!
The dessert breads are wonderful for serving as “nibbles.” The lemon and cranberry looks especially good using those fancy bread tubes you buy at Aunt Sue’s home kitchen party. And all are great for holiday giving.
This particular recipe is a riff on a Lemon and Blueberry Bread I first encountered in Cooking Light magazine. I converted most of the “light” elements back to standard, but kept the addition of lemon yogurt, which added a tang and an extra dimension of lemon to the bread.
Lemon-Cranberry Poundcake
Ingredients:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup butter – softened
- ¼ cup (4 oz) cream cheese — softened
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour — divided
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 oz lemon low-fat yogurt
- 3 teaspoons lemon extract
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking pans with cooking spray.
- Beat together sugar, butter and cream cheese at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine 2 tablespoons flour and cranberries in a small bowl, and toss well. Combine remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with yogurt in small amounts, beating well after each addition. Fold in cranberries and lemon extract; pour cake batter into your prepared baking pans, about ¾ full. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes. A tester inserted in the center should come out clean, and the cake should spring back when lightly pressed.
- This recipe will fill two standard loaf pans, four mini-pans, or three to four bread tubes. You can also bake in a 10-inch tube pan and glaze with ½ cup powdered sugar mixed with 4 teaspoons lemon juice while still warm.
(Some helpful tips: Bake bread ahead of time and freeze loaves for holiday hosting or gift-giving. It’s easy to double or triple the recipe if your mixer has the power and your oven has space. For easy serving, cut the bread while still frozen with a heavy knife, and let thaw on the serving plate.)
