Christmas Baking: An Inland Empire Girl Tradition and Keepers from the Recipe Box

At holiday time each year I do baking as gifts for family, friends, and neighbors. Some years I do a variety of cookies. Other years I mix it up and do breads and candies. This week-end I did holiday breads. The biggest reason I chose the following breads is because I still had a bumper crop of rhubarb and zucchini waiting in the freezer to be used. I love being able not only to give people homemade bread, but also home grown produce!I started with a recipe I haven't used very often. After JEJ did a taste test he decided it was a keeper. These Fresh Rhubarb Loaves combine tart rhubarb, the fragrance of nutmeg and other yummy ingredients to create a loaf that can be served at breakfast, brunch, or as a snack.



Fresh Rhubarb Loaves
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg ( I use a bit more nutmeg from the spice bottle)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups finely diced rhubarb
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon


Cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add the egg and beat until well blended. To the flour add the soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. With the mixer on low, combine the four mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Blend in the vanilla. By hand stir in the nuts and lastly the rhubarb.

Pour batter into two greased and floured 9x5x2 inch bread pans. Sprinkle the mixture of sugar and cinnamon on top of unbaked loaves. ( I skipped this and just sprinkled them with white sparkling sugar when I took them out.) Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely before removing from pans.



I also made Zucchini Bread Plus which is posted here. The delicious Pumpkin-Chip Bread was the third recipe I mixed up and it can be found here. All three of these recipes are found in the Best of Friends, Etc. Cookbook by Darlene Glantz Skees.