amazing for gifts. Prepare ahead of time and freeze. delicious and rich
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 2 – 9×5 inch loaves |
Ingredients
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup margarine, softened
- 4 eggs
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 (10 ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained and juice reserved
- 2 (12 ounce) packages semisweet chocolate chips
- 2 (8 ounce) packages chopped pitted dates
- 1 cup flaked coconut
- 2 cups chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. In a third bowl, combine the buttermilk, baking soda, vanilla extract and maraschino cherry juice.
- Stir the milk mixture and flour mixture alternately into the egg mixture until a soft batter is formed. Fold in cherries, chocolate chips, dates, coconut and pecans. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake in preheated oven for 90 to 120 minutes, until loaves are firm and a toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 507 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 71 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 302 mg |
| Sugars | 46 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made this tweaking a few ingredients due to my pantry limitations and previous disappointments while using a different recipe. Nuts? I used SLICED Almonds vs. slivered. I toasted them on the stove before adding to the final batter. The sliced vs slivered gave the bread a more delicate texture. I also used half dried Cranberries along with half sliced Maraschino Cherries in a jar, and omitted the Dates. The tartness of the cranberry vs. the sweet cherry gave a nice interchange of variety to the palate. I also increased the salt a bit and used half whole milk unflavored yogurt and half milk instead of buttermilk, which gave a little more fat for satiety sake. Of course, I added vanilla to meld all the flavors together, as well as the recommended reserved cherry liquor which hued as a delicate pink shade after baking. Brilliant suggestion from Lovesmurf posting. I highly recommend waiting to serve for a day or more while keeping it wrapped in plastic, thus ensuring an equalizing of moisture from the fruit ingredients. I received raves from all who partook. P.S. I think milk chocolate chips or chunks would work well too.
Talk about a chunky monkey colossal of a bread. It’s thick, dense, sturdy and full. We liked the bread but felt I could have decreased the amount of chocolate chips by 1/2 that it calls for. Loved the fact of mixing the milk, baking soda, vanilla and juice from the maraschino cherries together….what a neat science trick in the kitchen to show my youngest when it grew and foamed up. She thought that was pretty amazing. I will make again but would totally decrease the chocolate chips. Not that I don’t love chocolate but the amount with all the other additions was so chunky that in spots where the chips settled, the bread fell apart and hands were covered in chocolate. Tastes great with a pat of butter smeared on to the slices when served. TY Another note, I used 3 smaller loaf pans. But will note, don’t use large loaf pans…the batter wont’ bake all the way through and will burn on the outside before it gets completely done. Smaller loaf pans and or muffin tins are better.
I love this!!!!!!!! This bread has become a staple for the holidays. I do cut the sugar down by 1 cup and cover the bread with reynolds wrap for the end of the bake time to keep the bread moist.
The dates and coconut added a bit more sweetness to this recipe. We liked it, but I would probably leave out the dates and coconut next time. Thanks for a great recipe!
I had another recipe for Bishop’s bread that had almost no liquid. I liked this a lot better. I added a cup of candied cherries to the recipe so each piece would have the cherries in it. Otherwise I wouldn’t change a thing.
This was a good start. I left out the dates and coconut. Next time I will add more cherries. My husband wanted more chocolate chips but using less then called for was just fine. I will make again.
A little disappointing, but I may try it again. It had a bit of a flour-y taste so next time I may use a little almond extract to enhance the cherry flavor. Also, my oven baked this in more like an hour not the hour & half or more that the recipe called for. However, I got 3 loaves out of this instead of 2 (..even though I measured my pans and made sure they were 9×5); so if you used bigger loaf pans and got only 2 loaves you might need the extra baking time. Also, mine came out a little crumbly and dry. Maybe it needs more butter or eggs ???
After trying this last Thanksgiving, I made loaves and loaves at Christmastide to take to parties and give as gifts. EVERYONE RAVES about this bread! Very pretty plated, unusual so it stands out from the standard cookies. I cannot recommend this enough! Christine from Texas