Sweet and salty, this White Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Bread is perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert! A great loaf for the holidays, Cranberry Bread freezes beautifully too!
Love holiday bread recipes? We’re loving this apple cinnamon bread, pumpkin bread and of course monkey bread this season too!
Why this Recipe is Best
This White Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Bread is the most delicious way to enjoy your holidays with your morning coffee. It also works as a dessert, afternoon snack or party food to share. I love a recipe that does it all!
You’ll love the sweet bread with the nutty pecans! And the melted white chocolate on top adds the perfect finishing touch.
If you’re making the effort to make Cranberry Pecan Bread from scratch, it’s a huge plus when you can make two loaves at once! Eat one now and put the second loaf in the freezer for later. Future you will thank your past self for thinking ahead!
Ingredient Notes
- Vanilla Yogurt – The yogurt makes the bread extra moist and sweet! I used regular vanilla yogurt but Greek style vanilla yogurt would work well too.
- Dried Cranberries – Craisins or a similar brand of whole dried cranberries.
- White chocolate candy wafers – These are perfect for creating a smooth topping that sets well but doesn’t get too hard or dry. I love Ghirardelli melting wafers.
- Pecans – I use coarsley chopped pecan halves for sprinkling over the white chocolate.
- Vanilla extract- we love using our homemade vanilla extract in this sweet bread. But a teaspoon of this homemade vanilla bean paste recipe takes it over the top!
Step by Step Instructions
Combine wet ingredients. Beat the butter and sugar together, then add eggs, almond and vanilla extracts gradually. Mix until fully combined.
Add dry ingredients. Be careful not to overmix–a few lumps are okay. Gently fold in the cranberries.
Bake. Divide the batter between two greased loaf pans and bake for about 60 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf should come out clean.
Let the bread cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Glaze. Melt the white chocolate wafers in a microwave safe bowl. Drizzle over the cooled bread and sprinkle with chopped pecans.
Let the glaze set for a few minutes, then slice and serve!
Recipe FAQs
Wrap the loaves in foil then in gallon sized ziploc bags for best freshness! From here you can store the bread at room temperature or stash in the freezer for longer storage.
Frozen bread will stay good for about 2 months.
I used 2 a 9 x 5 loaf pans. The recipe will work with other size pans but you may need to adjust the baking time.
You can but I find the melted chocolate chips tend to dry out a little more quickly when the glaze sets.
Yes, to make this safer for those with nut allergies, feel free to leave the pecans off. You’ll still have a delicious White Chocolate Cranberry bread!
More Holiday Desserts
- Turtle Fudge: the perfect treat to add to your holiday gift giving list!
- Cranberry Christmas Cake
- Rugelach
- Turtle Candy
- Swedish Heirloom Cookies: some call them Snowballs, or Russian Tea Cookies, but whatever you name them, just bake and eat them ASAP 🙂
- Pecan Egg Nog Cookies: these little unassuming bites melt in your mouth and I guarantee people will be asking for the recipe!
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White Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Bread
Ingredients
FOR THE BREAD:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cup vanilla yogurt
- 1 ¼ cup chopped pecans
- 1 ½ cups whole dried cranberries
FOR THE GLAZE:
- 10 ounces white chocolate wafers melted
- ¼ cup pecan halves chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two loaf pans with baking spray, set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in almond and vanilla extracts. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly mix in yogurt, by hand, just until blended. Do not overmix. Fold in the cranberries and the pecans.
- Pour batter into two loaf pans, evenly.
- Bake loaves for about 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove and cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before adding glaze.
- For the glaze, melt white chocolate wafers for 1 minutes in the microwave in a clear, glass bowl. Stir until smooth and drizzle over cooled bread. Immediately sprinkle with chopped pecans.
- To store, wrap loaves of bread in foil, then in a ziploc bag. Store on counter or keep in freezer until ready to use. ENJOY!
Notes
- Wrap the loaves in foil then in gallon sized ziploc bags for best freshness! From here you can store the bread at room temperature or stash in the freezer for longer storage. Frozen bread will stay good for about 2 months.
- To make this safer for those with nut allergies, feel free to leave the pecans off. You’ll still have a delicious White Chocolate Cranberry bread!
Nutrition
White Chocolate Cranberry Bread tastes like Christmas cheer! Enjoy this bread with your morning coffee all winter long and bake up an extra loaf to share with a friend!
Can this cranberry bread be made with fresh cranberries instead of dried?
You don’t say how much pecans that go into the bread. I also chose to do white chocolate morsels in the bread instead of the glaze. We’ll see how it works out. In any event while I was mixing the ingredients I tasted the bread dough before I put it into the oven and it tasted delicious.
1 1/4 cup goes into the bread 🙂
What an absolutely fun surprise to have your son home for Thanksgiving! Love this fun sweet bread! I need to stock my freezer with some batches of bread and cookies ASAP!
I miss my kids already 🙂
Looks yummy will give it a try with dried cherries since I am allergic to cranberries. In fact I would bet any type of dried fruit would make a great variation. Thanks for the recipe looks like a winner.
Can you use White Choc Chips in this?
About what size loaf pans did you bake this in?! Thank you!
This will definitely not cure my sweets addiction haha. I’ve been trying to cut back a little but with the holidays coming this is a great recipe to try out, thanks for this 🙂