Chocolate Walnut Cranberry Pear Tea Bread & A Tate’s Bake Shop #Giveaway! #TwelveLoaves

In recent months, I finally seem to be getting the hang of bread baking. After struggling in the past, I’m now finding it a joy to make bread. It’s wonderful once you start to feel more comfortable with something in the kitchen because it finally allows you to let your creativity start flowing. But there are still times when I yearn for the ease of a quick bread. This month seems to be getting away from me. I’m the perpetual preplanner. Honestly, by this time I’ve already baked everything I’ll be posting for the entire month and it’s just a matter of writing the posts to share them with you. This month is not going as planned.

This month has been a whirlwind of activity all about home improvement projects, working longer hours than normal and desperately trying to find time for some downtime. Sadly, that means I haven’t had the time I would like for baking and creating, writing and sharing. I do hope that this pace slows down soon but for now it’s full steam ahead at least until November. The things that are coming down the pike this month will keep me busy but in a very good way. In the meantime, I try to make the most of the time I have at home and in the kitchen. This bread is perfect when you want something a little sweet, quick and easy to make.

This moist chocolate bread is not overly sweet. It’s filled with the warm, nutty taste of chopped toasted walnuts paired with tart cranberries, sweet pears and just a handful of white chocolate chips making it perfect for this month’s Twelve Loaves challenge of using nuts, seeds or grains in a bread. Our hostesses each made lovely breads for us to feast our eyes on. Lora of Cake Duchess chose to use poppy seeds in her gorgeous braided challah ring with poppy seeds swirled inside and scattered over the top. Barb of Creative Culinary went the grain route with a very intriguing Quinoa and Date Bread. I can’t wait to give it a try. I love quinoa and I’ve never baked with it. Jamie of Life’s A Feast choose to use two different types of nuts making a Lemon Pecan Quick Bread with a Blueberry Swirl topped with almonds.

This month I was inspired by the new cookbook I was telling you about last week, Cooking for Friends from Kathleen King, owner of Tate’s Bake Shop. I also mention that Tate’s Bake Shop and KitchenAid are having a Bake-Off on their Facebook page! With a top prize of $1,000 and five additional winners receiving a KitchenAid stand mixer and a copy of Cooking for Friends, this is a contest I definitely want to be a part of. The challenge is to simply choose one of the five of recipes listed on the Tate’s Bake Shop Facebook page and put your own spin on it for your chance at these incredible prizes. I chose to adapt Kathleen’s Chocolate Pear Tea Bread which is a quick bread with pears and chocolate chunks. I decided to up the chocolate factor by actually making the loaf chocolate! If you like this Chocolate Walnut Cranberry Pear Tea Bread I would really appreciate your votes! Just CLICK HERE. Thanks!

Since you’re so kind I have a present for you! One lucky reader will win a Cookie and Bar Tower Courtesy of Tate’s Bake Shop. The boxes are assorted but typically include: three 7-oz boxes of cookies, one each of chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and white chocolate chip macadamia nut. Two rich, buttery raspberry bars, two chocolate chip and walnut loaded blondies, and two rich, dense and fudgy plain brownies round out this crowd pleaser. Each 7-oz box contains approximately 12 cookies, and bars measure 4″ x 2.75″ and all this deliciousness could be yours! Do you want in? Read on.

Here’s the scoop:

To Enter: {Mandatory Entry} Simply leave me a comment telling me, what is your favorite thing to bake? Is it bread, cake, cookies, cheesecake?

Optional Bonus Entries: Be sure to leave a separate comment for each of these that you complete since each individual item completed will be counted as an entry!

- “Like” Food Babbles on Facebook

- Head on over and vote for my Chocolate Walnut Cranberry Pear Tea Bread. Thank you!!

- Share this post on your Facebook timeline.

- Follow me on Pinterest and pin a picture from this post.

- Follow Food Babbles on Twitter

- Tweet the following: Enter to win a Cookie & Bar Tower from @TatesBakeShop via @KDBabbles http://wp.me/p2x6xO-1bN #giveaway

- Follow Food Babbles on Google+

Entries will be accepted until 9pm EST on October 22nd. Winner will be selected via random.org. The winner will be contacted by the email address provided and will have 24 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within that time frame, another winner will be selected via random.org. This giveaway is open to US residents only.

Good Luck!! And don’t forget you can also head on over to TatesBakeShop.com and enter the code: BAKEOFF to save $5 off an autographed copy of Baking for Friends!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

One Year Ago: Apple & Pear Pie with Gruyere Crust

*Disclosure: This giveaway is being provided by Tate’s Bake Shop. I was provided with a review copy of Baking for Friends. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Tagged as: bread, chocolate, cranberry, pear, walnut, walnuts, white chocolate