When I got married, my mom gave me a little notebook with favorite baking recipes from our home.  Last year, I shared our childhood banana bread recipe from this book.

Another favorite is this recipe for a cranberry white chocolate cake.  It has the perfect blend of moistness with sweet and tart flavors, and it’s always a hit at the holidays.  It originally came from a Baker’s chocolate ad in an magazine, though we’ve tweaked it a bit over the years.

Ingredients:

• 7/8 c butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 Tbsp orange juice
• 1 Tbsp grated orange rind
• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups cranberries
• 6 oz white chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Grease and flour a 9″ tube or  bundt pan
• Beat butter and sugars with electric mixer
• Beat in eggs, orange juice, and rind
• Beat in flour and baking powder
• Stir in cranberries and chocolate chips
• Bake 1 hour
• Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Turn onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

I make this cake every year for our holiday party, and it has become a popular tradition!

What are some of your childhood holiday favorites?

“Jewels”