8 Quick Breads and Muffins to Share or Save

As December gets closer, our coats get heavier, and our ovens start calling to us. This desire to bake through the winter coincides nicely with a number of holidays, with gifts giving us one more excuse to preheat the oven and bring out the usual suspects: flour, sugar, butter, and eggs.

Quickbreads and muffins are some of the fastest, easiest baked goods you can whip up, and they make fantastic gifts. Presented in a basket or miniature loaf pans, they're certain to please any friend, coworker, mail delivery person, or far-flung relative. And if you're feeling like more of a grinch this season, you can always save them for yourself -- they keep well in the freezer.

So heat up the oven, break out your favorite mixing bowls, and bake one -- or all -- of these 8 recipes for quick breads and muffins. Just be sure to double the recipe; someone will thank you later.

• Browse more breakfast recipes from our community
• Learn all about the chemical leaveners that make quick breads rise.
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