December 20, 2018
Christmas Bread is the gift I give to neighbors, friends, and co-workers every year
Every year for Christmas I make Christmas Bread. It’s one of my favorite traditions, and I always make a ton of loaves to gift to our friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
It’s a delicious sweet bread that is great for dessert or breakfast, and always gets rave reviews (in fact, several of Philip’s co-workers wouldn’t even tell their wives about it every year so they could eat the entire thing as soon as they got it. I got in trouble one year when I mentioned the bread at a work party and some of the wives had no idea what I was talking about…ha!)
My Christmas bread gets amazing reviews – I could eat an entire loaf by myself.
The best part is that it’s super easy, and besides taking an hour to bake, it comes together really quickly. In years past I’ve cooked two at a time (since I only had two bread pans), but this year I picked up a few disposable ones and cooked 4 at a time so it went much faster and made my life a lot easier.
Also, my boys probably ate two entire loaves on their own, and would have eaten much more if I’d have let them. So it gets their stamp of approval as well. It would also be a perfect dish for Christmas morning!
Christmas Cinnamon Bread
I make this recipe every year for our friends and neighbors for Christmas! It's actually a coffee cake recipe, but I always make it in loaf pans so it's easy to wrap up and gift.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr
Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Servings 2 loaves
Ingredients
Batter
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
Brown sugar filling
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
How to make this bread
Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of 2 loaf pans (9 x 5 x 3)
Prepare brown sugar filling and set aside.
Beat together sugar, butter, vanilla & eggs in large bowl with electric mixer on medium for 2 minutes.
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat flour mixture andsourcreamalternately into sugar mixture on low speed until blended.
Spread 1/4 of the batter (about 1-1/2 cups) into each pan, then sprinkle each with 1/4 of the filling; top with another 1/4 of the batter, and then top with 1/4 of the filling.
Bake for about 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool slightly; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack.
Let cool completely, then wrap up and take to your friends, or eat the whole loaf by yourself (no judgements here).
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39 Comments
Natali says:December 24, 2014 at 9:05 am
Mmmm, this sounds and looks delicious! Thank you for sharing and happy holidays!
http://lartoffashion.blogspot.com
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- Mary sessoms says:
December 14, 2023 at 12:56 pm
Do i use light or dark brown sugar in yhis recipe?
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- K says:
December 22, 2023 at 8:46 am
LIGHT! ANYTIME IT’S NOT SPECIFIED In the recipe, it’s best to use light. Good luck!
- Paige Cassandra Flamm says:
December 24, 2014 at 9:09 am
This bread looks delicious! It kinds of reminds me of this amish friendship bread my mom used to make all the time!
Paige
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- Vanessa says:
December 20, 2018 at 1:50 pm
do yoy have greek yogurt? I would try that as a subsTitue before applesauce
- Vanessa says:
December 20, 2018 at 1:51 pm
Sorry that was for the comment below
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- Brianna Soloski says:
December 24, 2014 at 3:40 pm
This looks delicious. I’m a little sad I’m lacking the sour cream to make it – would applesauce be an okay substitute?
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- Kiely Edmonds says:
December 24, 2014 at 5:08 pm
YUM. this makes me happy.
xo, k
pocket of blossomsReply
- Aspen Ballard says:
December 28, 2014 at 8:24 am
This looks AMAZING! I didn’t eat any Christmas cinnamon bread this year 🙁
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- Matthew & Alisha Woolsey says:
December 16, 2016 at 3:00 pm
I saw you post this on Instastories the other day and wondered how long you cook them for in the smaller pans?
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- Merrick says:
December 16, 2016 at 11:40 pm
Same time — 1 hour! If you do mini loafs, maybe 45 mins?
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- ashley says:
December 13, 2018 at 2:10 pm
yum!!!
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- Yándary says:
December 20, 2018 at 9:56 am
Oh, I’m so glad this link is working again! I was looking for it just yesterday and kept getting an error message. Love this recipe!
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- Amanda Linehan says:
December 20, 2018 at 11:32 am
me too! I was going crazy getting an error message when I was wanting to bake it for our church fellowship and then decided she must be re-posting it soon with updated photos or something. whew!! 🙂
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- Merrick says:
December 20, 2018 at 3:20 pm
So sorry!! Didn’t mean to mess you up — hope you still have time to make it!
- Patricia says:
December 20, 2018 at 11:38 am
I do something similar; I make pumpkin bread in four loaf batches. Last batch is in the oven right now. It’s easy and everybody loves it. So win win in my book.
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- Allie says:
December 21, 2018 at 11:18 am
Id love a hair tutorial on tHe Hair you have here!
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- Elena says:
December 22, 2018 at 8:58 pm
Just made these this afternoon for our FAMILY Christmas. People were going for seconds and scraping the sugary remnants off the plate. It was DELICIOUS!! Definitely making again. Thanks so much for sharing!
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- Elena says:
December 22, 2018 at 8:59 pm
HAHA DON’T KNOW WHY FAMILY IS CAPITALIZED…
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- Merrick says:
December 23, 2018 at 10:41 pm
I’m so thrilled you guys loved it! It’s a winner for sure!
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- Nicole Price says:
January 21, 2019 at 12:41 pm
i MADE THIS CINNAMON BREAD LAST WEEK FOR A GROUP OF PEOPLE. eVERYONE LOVED IT AND WANTED MORE. 2 LOAVES WERE GONE IN A MATTER OF MINUTES. THANKS FOR THE RECIPe!
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5 Easy and No-Stress Neighbor Christmas Gifts | Merrick's Art says:
November 6, 2019 at 1:14 am
[…] Homemade Vanilla | Homemade Salsa in a Jar | Cinnamon Sweet Bread […]
Reply
- Liz says:
December 14, 2019 at 2:25 pm
Do you know if this freezes well? Looks delicious!
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- Kelli says:
November 6, 2021 at 9:56 am
Love this idea. Just wondering what you used and where to buy clear bags to wrap up bread?
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- Jamie says:
December 3, 2021 at 6:50 am
I Have the same question on where you suggest getting the clear wrapping
Reply
- Ashley says:
December 31, 2022 at 6:41 am
Clear CELLOPHANE wrapping is sold in most big box stores by the wrapping paper.
- Ashley says:
December 31, 2022 at 6:41 am
Clear CELLOPHANE wrapping is sold in most big box stores by the wrapping paper.
Reply
- Laurie says:
December 10, 2021 at 2:41 pm
Just made this. your instructions say to end with 1/4 of filling in the bread pans. When the bread is baked and you take it out of the pan, of course you turn it upside down so the filling ends up on the bottom, Not what I expected.
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- Nikki says:
December 21, 2021 at 7:31 pm
If you line your pans in parchment, You can just lift it right OuT. It’s not as easy if you’re doing like an 8” round, but for quickbread Tins its Simple and better for you anyway.
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- Jihye says:
December 16, 2021 at 7:18 am
I’m thinking about doing these this year. You mentioned you got some disposable pans and baked four at a time. Is that the mini loaf pan? Trying to figure out how many batches I need to make.
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- Aoife Nic Shamhrain says:
November 9, 2023 at 1:45 am
thanks for this. how long does it keep?!?
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- Strong says:
November 12, 2023 at 1:25 pm
Do you know if this would work in a bundt pan?
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- Betty says:
November 21, 2023 at 10:52 am
my friend made this & the bread was good but the top layer of the cinnamon/brown sugar filling came out on top of the bread powdery. She had to scrape off the cinnamon so as not to inhale it. I did not see any liquid added to the filling so is this normal?
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- Rhonda says:
December 30, 2023 at 10:55 am
What about adding some cold butter to the topping/filling mixture and cutting it in with a dough blender to make it like pea gRavel? I’m making another batch today and trying it. I’ll Report back.
Reply
November 25, 2023 at 3:01 am
[…] gatherings. How about a Pizza Quesadilla for a quick bite on a busy day! I’m going to try this Christmas bread recipe to see if it will work for neighbor gifts this year. Finally, how cute are these Melted Snowman […]
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- Marie says:
November 25, 2023 at 12:01 pm
THIS HAS INSPIRED ME TO MAKE AND GIVE OUT TO OUR NEIGHBORS AND EMPLOYEES. THANK YOU! I HAD MY 15-YEAR-OLD MAKE A BATCH WITH GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR FOR OUR FAMILY AND IT TURNED OUT PERFECTLY DELCIOUS! MY ONE QUESTION IS DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR GETTING IT OUT OF THE PAN WITHOUT HAVING TO TURN THE BREAD OVER, CAUSING ALL THE BROWN SUGAR ON TOP TO FALL OFF? MAYBE LINE THE PAN WITH PARCHMENT PAPER? THANKS AGAIN!
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- Dee says:
December 12, 2023 at 12:47 pm
DOES the material of the pan make a difference in bake time – paper v aluminum v ceramic? thank you!
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- Kenda says:
December 12, 2023 at 4:54 pm
this sounds delicious! I was wondering How many mini loaves this recipe wouls make and what would the approximate cook time be for them?
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Natali 
Mary sessoms 
K 
Paige Cassandra Flamm 
Vanessa 
Brianna Soloski 
Aspen Ballard 
Matthew & Alisha Woolsey 
ashley 
Merrick 
Patricia 
Allie 
Elena 
Nicole Price 
Liz 
Kelli 
Jamie 
Ashley 
Ashley 
Laurie 
Nikki 
Jihye 
Aoife Nic Shamhrain 
Strong 
Betty 
Rhonda 
Marie 
Dee 
Kenda 