Last Minute Gift Idea

My mom is a teacher, so during the holidays she gets tons of gifts from her students. The other day, she brought home a gift from one student that I thought was so smart! It was a mason jar filled with all of the dry ingredients needed to make holiday bread. The ingredients were pre-measured and layered in the mason jar. The lid was covered in a holiday fabric and tied with ribbon, and the recipe for the bread was attached. So, when my mom decides to make the bread, all she’ll need to do is mix in the wet ingredients and bake!

Speaking of bread, BakingBites.com, a great blog for baking ideas, featured some adorable holiday bread pans. The pans bake mini loaves of bread that would be perfect to give as gifts.

Here’s a delicious and easy recipe for a unique Banana Salsa Bread that would be perfect to make in the bread pans:

Banana Salsa Bread

Ingredients:

• Vegetable cooking spray


• 1/2 cup butter, softened


• 1 cup sugar


• 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed


• 1 cup Pace Chunky Salsa


• 2 eggs


• 2 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 tsp. baking soda
  

Directions:
1) Heat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan with the cooking spray.
2) Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in the bananas, salsa and eggs. Stir in the flour and baking soda. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan.
3)Bake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
Tip: It's best to set the oven rack in the middle of the oven for this recipe.