With all the creamy, spicy goodness of eggnog in a quick bread, Eggnog Bread is a delicious addition to your holiday table, and it makes a yummy gift, too!
Put eggnog in your quick bread
‘Tis the season for eggnog, especially homemade eggnog…it makes celebrating the New Year extra special for me. I love this creamy, spicy (and hopefully spiked) treat, both as a drink and baked into my favorite pastries. Eggnog Scones are one way to savor the flavor, and Eggnog Bread is just as tasty, studded with pecans and golden raisins and drizzled with an eggnog glaze…yummmm…(pausing as I wipe away drool from my keyboard).
Eggnog bread is a type of quick bread, aka tea bread or tea cake, that’s leavened with baking soda or baking powder and baked in a standard loaf pan. Quick bread recipes vary far and wide in their flavoring options, but at heart they are a form of pound cake. Some of my favorites are Orange Glazed Cranberry Bread, Limoncello Cake, and Sourdough Pumpkin Cake. You can find all my quick bread recipes here.
Same batter, different forms
The wonderful thing about quick breads (besides coming together in about 15 minutes, hence the name “quick bread”) is their changeability. You can bake them in the aforementioned loaf pan, but the same batter can be used to make many different sizes and shapes of breads or cakes. In general, any quick bread recipe that makes about 10 cups of batter can be made in:
- Two standard loaf pans
- Eight mini loaf pans (which are a great size for gifting)
- One 12-well muffin pan
- Two 24-well mini muffin pans (great for 2-bite muffins)
- One full-sized 10- to 12-cup bundt pan
- Two small 6-cup bundt pans (for mini bundt cakes)
How’s that for versatility!
Back to Eggnog Bread
My Eggnog Bread recipe is enough for one bread in a standard loaf pan, but it can be easily doubled to make any of the versions I’ve listed above. I’ve had this recipe for many years, originally cut out of the December 1989 edition of Better Homes & Gardens magazine. Wow, how time flies.
If you don’t have any eggnog at hand, you can quickly whip up a batch of homemade eggnog using the blender method (since you’ll be baking the egg yolks). Just combine all the eggnog ingredients in a blender, pulse a few times, and you’re ready to roll! Also, if you’re using spirited eggnog (and I won’t judge if you do!), you can soak the raisins in the same spirit for about a 1/2 hour, then strain and toss them into your batter. Just remember that the Eggnog Bread becomes “adults only” please.
[Side Note: I didn’t use the raisins in the pictures below because there’s a family member that doesn’t like raisins. . Crazy, but I honored their request and left them out this time.]
Golden, delicious, smelling of holiday spices…I want a slice now! It’s good unadorned with glaze…
…but add the glaze and you’ve really got something special! Besides, everthing’s better with glaze, don’t you think? Here our Eggnog Bread is all dressed up for New Year’s celebrations.
Eggnog Bread brings all the goodness of eggnog to your dessert table. The flavor is rich and spicy, and the eggnog glaze really brings it home. And having A wee dram along with a slice just adds to the seasonal celebration. All together now…”Happy New Year”!
Slainté! L’chaim! Cheers!
Tammy
Eggnog Bread
Special Equipment
- parchment paper
Ingredients
For the bread
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (12-3/4 oz, 360g)
- 1/2 cup sugar (3-1/2 oz, 100g)
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 egg, beaten, at room temperature
- 1-3/4 cup eggnog (14 oz, 400g), homemade or store bought (See Recipe Notes)
- 1/2 cup canola oil (3-1/2 oz, 100g)
- 1/2 cup pecans (2 oz, 57g), chopped (optional)
- 1/2 cup golden raisins (3 oz, 85g), optional
For the glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar (2 oz, 56g), sifted
- 2-3 tsp eggnog
Procedure
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 5- x 9-inch standard loaf pan with baking spray, line with parchment paper, then spray the paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg
- In a medium bowl combine the egg, eggnog, and oil; add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Stir in the nuts and raisins (if using).
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cover with foil after 50 minutes if bread browns too quickly.
- Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
- When bread is completely cool, wrap in plastic wrap and store overnight.
- To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar to remove any lumps (I like this sifter).
- Stir the powdered sugar with enough eggnog to make drizzling consistency (adjust using additional eggnog or powdered sugar). Drizzle over bread. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
This was delicious! And a great way to use up the rest of my eggnog! Seems like a new holiday tradition.