With an abundance of holiday sweets around, their powers of temptation start to reach a new height. It can be a bit overwhelming to balance a helping of healthier options at this time of the year, but this recipe has you covered for a more savoury situation.

The contrasting flavours alone, salty cheddar and sweet, tart cranberries make a flavourful combination. While I’m always up for bread that’s soft and warm, I’m not a huge fan of fruitcakes. They’ve always reminded me of bricks and seemed unappetizing – so having something warm and crumbly cooling on the kitchen table seems like a perfect way to wind down.

Strong cheddar, an aromatic and comforting food, reaches new heights when paired with cranberries, which come with a slew of health benefits. These little rubies are high in antioxidants, which mean they provide heart health and cancer prevention benefits. Cranberries have also been known to help relieve skin conditions. With all the sweets going around, ingesting a few cranberries could help balance out your more indulgent intake.

A handful of pecans add the perfect crunch to this soft and crumbly bread. Pecans are also rich in nutrients and minerals and contain fiber, which helps with digestive and heart health.

If there’s one reason you should try this recipe, it’s for its very simplicity. This is an easy dough recipe that doesn’t require a mixer. Just give the ingredients a good stir and then pop it into the oven. It’s the same old routine, which should only take about 20 minutes, in between all those holiday movies and visits from relatives.

Serving:One loaf for the whole family
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons of white sugar
¼ cup of unsalted butter, diced into ½ inch cubes
2 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup of dried or fresh cranberries
1 cup of chopped pecans (optional)
1 large egg 1
¼ cup of buttermilk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour pan. Set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add butter. Though the recipe calls for all-purpose flour, if you have bread flour on hand that works well too.
   
3. Add cheese, cranberries and pecans to dry mixture. Fold gently.
   
4. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and buttermilk.
   
5. Pour milky egg mixture into dry mixture. Combine all the ingredients.
   
6. Pour batter into floured pan. Place in oven and let bread bake for 55-65 minutes. Take bread out once top is a light golden brown. Insert a skewer towards the centre to test whether bread is cooked. If the skewer comes out clean, minus a few crumbs, then the bread’s ready for cooling.
   
   

Tip: To prevent the top of the bread from browning too much, create a foil tent overtop of the pan. This proved really helpful for me!

7. Let bread cool completely before serving. Otherwise, bread may crumble.

When serving the bread, it’s best eaten warm. A bit of butter or jam works really nicely with this bread, but you’ll find that it can also be flavourful on its own.

Store bread well-wrapped and it should last for about three days. Alternatively, freeze the bread and just de-thaw when you’re in the mood for a savoury treat, though with the holidays in full motion, who wouldn’t want a piece of this loaf? This is the perfect treat for a season of sharing.

Recipe adapted from joythebaker.com