How's the holiday baking going? Are you at your neighborhood grocery store every couple days buying pounds of chocolate, butter and sugar every couple days? I sure hope you are so I am in good company!

I have made so many cookies in the past few weeks! I'm pretty sure I'm going to turn into a cookie by Christmas. This delicious, moist, flavorful quick bread is the perfect way to diversify your holiday sweet game. The melted white chocolate and condensed egg nog add the perfect amount of moisture and flavor.

This recipe will take some time to make, but the good thing is most of it is not hands on time. So why do we spend the time condensing the nog? Well, it will allow us to add more into the bread than if we didn't - 1 1/2 cups is a lot of liquid for this recipe, 3/4 cup is perfect. We don't need all that water - just the deliciousness! Added benefit: it will just slightly start to caramelize which adds a nice depth of flavor to the bread.

As usual, here are the tips to success with this recipe!

Condensed Egg Nog: Make sure you make this recipe at a time when you can stir the simmering nog every five minutes or so for about a half hour. You may be tempted to turn up the heat to move the process along, but don't do it! A slow, low simmer with lots of stirring is best. You don't want egg nog caramel! That does sound yummy though...

Ingredient Temperature: It may take extra time to have room temperature butter, eggs and cooled down chocolate, but it is important for the ingredients to be around the same temperature. Plus do you know what you get when you pour hot liquid over eggs?

Stirring: I feel like I say this so often, but don't over mix! There is a reason why we don't use the mixer to stir in the flour mixture. Only stir so the flour is just incorporated. Lumps and streaks of flour are allowed.

Go forth and bake some bread!

White Chocolate Egg Nog Bread

Delicious, moist, flavorful quick bread with a delicate egg nog flavor

Serves: 9

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups egg nog (I've used both original and vanilla)
8 ounces (approx. 1 1/4 cups) white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups (187.5 grams) all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature

Instructions:

Add the egg nog to a small pot and heat over medium heat until it starts steaming
Lower the heat to low and simmer the egg nog, stirring every few minutes, until it reduces by half (3/4 cup). This can take around 40 - 50 minutes (or longer). When it starts to look like a little more than half, I pour it into a liquid measuring cup to check the progress then return it to the pot
Once the nog has reduced, add the white chocolate chips and stir constantly until the chocolate is melted into the condensed egg nog. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool for approximately 10 minutes
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment paper (my preference) or grease and flour
While the chocolate mixture is cooling, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to a large bowl and stir to combine. Set aside
In a large bowl attached to a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium high speed until creamed - approximately 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix on medium low until incorporated - approximately one minute
With the mixer on low, gradually add the chocolate mixture and continue to mix until combined.
Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and stir in the flour mixture. You want to be sure not to over mix - it is OK to have some streaks of flour and for the batter to be lumpy
Add the batter to the prepared loaf pan and cover loosely with foil
Bake for approximately 55 - 65 minutes or when a cake tester comes out mostly clean with a few moist (not wet) crumbs. Remove the foil when there are 15 minutes remaining in the cook time
Leave the loaf in the pan for a few minutes to cool then transfer to a cooling rack to continue to cool. Wait until the loaf has cooled completely to cut.