The holidays wouldn’t be complete without the familiar red and white stripe of the candy cane. This Amish Friendship Bread loaf is filled with chocolate and peppermint goodness with just the right amount of candy crunch.
With the holidays being such busy times, baking up a storm with excess starter is a great way to share the bread with others. We have a huge line-up of holiday baking treats to give you plenty of ideas. Think edible gifts, cookie exchanges, and more!
You can sometimes find candy cane instant pudding in the grocery stores in December, so if you see it, grab it and stock up for the season. Swap out the chocolate pudding for the candy cane and swap the peppermint extract for vanilla.
Some flavored coffee brands also make peppermint mocha latte mixes that add just the right amount of flavor: add 5 tablespoons and reduce cocoa to 2 tablespoons. Other than that, this is a super easy recipe that makes your kitchen smell AMAZING and gets everyone in the mood for Christmas.
If you want to make cupcakes, reduce baking time to 15-20 minutes, testing the center for doneness. Once cool, we topped ours with whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed candy canes. We like a finer dust here, but in the bread it’s better to have candy cane chunks.
We got a lot of great suggestions from Friendship Bread Kitchen Friends:
“Leave out the cocoa powder, candy cane and chocolate chips and stir in 1 cup of chopped Hershey’s Kisses candy cane flavored.” (Tamara Jessee)
“Use 2 small boxes of candy cane instant pudding and 1 cup of chopped walnuts.” (Emily Schaefer)
“I used two boxes of the Candy Cane instant pudding mix in my batter. I also used Betty Crocker Peppermint icing and topped with crushed candy canes.” (Stacey Hensley)
Chocolate Candy Cane Amish Friendship Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup oil
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup sugar (plus extra as needed)
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (plus extra as needed)
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 box chocolate instant pudding
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 2 candy canes crushed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° F (165° C).
- In a large mixing bowl, add ingredients as listed, reserving ¼ cup of crushed candy cane.
- Grease two large loaf pans and dust with sugar.
- Pour the batter evenly into loaf or cake pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar-cocoa mixture on the top.
- Bake for one hour or until the bread loosens evenly from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
- Sprinkle the top of the bread with the remaining ¼ cup crushed candy cane while still warm.
- ENJOY!
>> Have you tried this? Give it some stars and leave a comment below, letting us know how it worked for you!
The recipe talks about a sugar+cocoa mixture, but I don’t see the ratio in the ingredient list nor the instructions.
Hi Linda! We’re sorry about that typo. You can just top the bread with the additional sugar that you dust in the pans. However, if you want it a little extra chocolate-y, you can mix your ½ cup of sugar for dusting the pans with 1 ½ teaspoons of cocoa. Hope that helps!
What size box of chocolate pudding
1 small box works fine!
I used Andes peppermint baking chips instead of candy canes. Also, should the cocoa have been saved
to use on top of the cake? I put it in the cake; it’s really chocolatey. Good recipe.
I would definitely make this for my sister-in-law! She is a chocoholic like me, and she loves Christmas candy canes. The other one would be for my family at Christmas.
This recipe sounds simply delicious, it will be the perfect addition to the Christmas gifts for my mom and Aunt Marge, as well as close friends!
I made this today, but instead of adding candy canes, I added crushed Peppermint Kisses (white chocolate flavored Hersey kisses). I added a teaspoon of peppermint extract to add to the minty flavor since I only had chocolate pudding in my pantry. Yum!! I think it was perfect with mint chocolate chip ice cream!!
Sounds amazing, Lesa!
Thanks!!! Was wondering what I was going to do with my boxes of candy cane pudding. Picked them up because they’re seasonal and was going to make whatever was on the box. I used gingerbread pudding yesterday to make Friendship bread gingerbread style! Was a huge hit!! Made a double batch and used 1 box vanilla and 2 boxes gingerbread pudding. Amazing and delicious!!