Christmas Bread

Christmas Bread

Holiday quick bread is tasty but high in calories. Our Recipe Makeover slashes the calories while staying flavorful with cherries, bananas and macadamia nuts. Add to a party or give as a holiday gift!

Rating:

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars (21 ratings made) Rate
Serves: 16 person(s) Change

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 1 hr
Extra Time: 20 mins
(for cooling)

Yield: 16 x slices (or 1 loaf)

Heart-Friendly Recipe Low Sodium Recipe Diabetes-Friendly Recipe Low-Carb Recipe

About this Recipe Makeover

Quick breads can be a delicious addition to brunch or holiday meal. Many quick breads use high calorie ingredients as illustrated in the traditional recipe.

Christmas Bread is a healthier made-over recipe. To make it even lower in calories, cholesterol, carbs and sugars, we further adapted it by replacing maraschino cherries with dried cherries, and butter with low-cholesterol vegetable spread.

Ingredients Convert to Metric Show Makeover Show Traditional

  • 10 oz dried cherries, deseeded *
  • 2 Tbsp cherry juice *
  • 1/3 cup low-cholesterol vegetable spread, softened
  • 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
  • 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts or walnuts
  • 1 (10 oz) jar maraschino cherries
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coarsely chop cherries; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, put butter, brown sugar, eggs and cherry juice. Mix with an electric mixer on medium speed 3 to 4 minutes, or until well mixed. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with mashed bananas, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in cherries and nuts. Lightly spray a 9x5x3-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Spread batter evenly in pan.

Bake in a preheated oven 1 hour, or until golden brown and wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. When cooled, wrap in plastic wrap or store in a tightly covered container.

Variations:

* If desired, replace dried cherries and 2 Tbsp. cherry juice with a 10- oz. jar maraschino cherries (use the maraschino juice in the recipe).

Can serve bread with nonfat or low-fat cream cheese, if desired.

Serving suggestions are not included in the nutritional analysis.

Tips:

For holiday gifts, wrap homemade loaves in colorful gift bags or wrapping paper with bows.

Thanks to Cherry Marketing Institute, adapted by CalorieKing