The quick breads in our collection require little effort to pull together. These recipes are versatile enough to serve with breakfast, brunch—or as a midnight snack for Santa. Or you can give them away: Bake a bunch of loaves, freeze them, and then take them out and wrap decoratively for holiday gifts.

We've given these recipes a seasonal spin by adding fruits and nuts. In the recipe for Cherry-Almond Cake, we toasted the almonds to bring out their flavors; then paired with fruit. In many of these recipes—to save time—we used baking powder and soda for leavening, which means the cakes don't require long rising times. And we kept the embellishments simple—last-minute dustings of powdered sugar, streusels, or stir-together icings in place of fussy frostings.