Sometimes I like to think that Christmas and New Year’s are the chocolate cookies of the Oreo, and the time between those two holidays is the cream filling.  For me, this is the best part. You have one holiday down, one to go – and now you have a week in between to enjoy yourself.  There was a time when I liked to work during those days – it was nice and quiet as most people were on vacation, and you could get a lot of stuff done.  Now that both of my kids are off from school – I like to be home with them.  Some years we go away, other years we are home just doing nothing.  Those are the days that baking usually ends up being the activity.

I have been on this kick lately to have my older daughter make Banana Bread all by herself.  I have a ton of frozen bananas and so whenever I know she has some free time, I pull some bananas out of the freezer and send her on her way. The last batch she made was terrific.  So – when does a sweet bread turn into a quick bread?  I have wondered this for a long time.  So – I decided to Bing it and find out.  The first thing that came up was a definition from Wikipedia:

“Quick bread is a type of bread which is leavened with leavening agents other than yeast. Quick breads include many cakes, brownies and cookies, as well as banana bread, beer bread, biscuits, cornbread, muffins, pancakes, scones, and soda bread.”

Well, now that makes a ton of sense.  Technically most of the sweets I make without yeast can be considered a quick bread.  So now that we have settled, we can move onto this latest recipe from Cooking Light.  This was definitely a quick bread, and a delicious one at that – and completely suitable for kids to make.  It is great for dessert with some whipped cream on the side, or with a nice espresso in the morning.  It is definitely quicker than making a coffee cake, but then again, without yeast, isn’t that just another quick bread?

Ingredients

Streusel:

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Dash of salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Bread:

• 9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3  large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fat-free buttermilk
• Baking spray with flour (such as Baker’s Joy)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare streusel, combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons melted butter, stirring until well combined. Stir in nuts. Set aside.

To prepare bread, weigh or lightly spoon 9 ounces flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Combine 5 tablespoons butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in vanilla. Beating at low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat just until combined.

Scrape half of batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with baking spray; sprinkle with half of streusel mixture. Spread remaining batter over streusel; swirl. Sprinkle remaining streusel on top of batter. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here:  Streusel Quick Bread