White Chocolate Cranberry Bread

Last year when my mom came for Thanksgiving, she brought a loaf of this delicious tea bread with her. We gobbled the bread for breakfast one morning with our eggs and fruit. The combination of whole cranberries, white chocolate and toasted pecans in each slice makes for a lovely and festive presentation for any holiday table. Blessings...

Recipe: 

6 oz. good quality white chocolate, finely chopped, or chips
2-1/4 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
8 tbsps. (1 stick) salted butter, at room temp.
3 large eggs, at room temp.
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tsps. vanilla extract
1 cup fresh or frozen whole cranberries, not thawed or chopped
1 cup toasted, coarsely broken pecans (mom used macadamia nuts)
1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly butter and flour a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan and tap out excess flour.
2. Melt and cool the chopped white chocolate.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt and baking soda.
4. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer set on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. One at a time, beat in the eggs, beating well after each addition, and scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Beat in the buttermilk, followed by the tepid white chocolate, orange zest and juice, and vanilla. The mixture will look curdled. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture, and beat just until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
6. Stir in the cranberries, nuts and white chocolate chips. Spread batter in prepared pan.
7. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean, about 1-1/2 hours. After 45 minutes, turn loaf pan in the oven and cover the loaf with foil if it's browning too fast. I need to do this in my oven for such a lengthy baking time.
8. When bread is done, remove to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing the bread from the pan. Cool completely before cutting.

Yield: 12 slices
1.7 gms. fiber per slice

Note: Toast pecans in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. They should smell fragrant and be lightly browned.
Note: This loaf freezes beautifully

Recipe adapted from "Tate's Bake Shop Baking for Friends," by Kathleen King