Tasty Christmas bread with dried fruits and nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Remember that sifting these ingredients ensures that there will be no lumps in your dough.

In another bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Many of us use a hand mixer for this step, but if you use a stand mixer, 4 minutes on medium speed will be enough.

Add the eggs one at a time to the butter mixture, followed by the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour.

Add the nuts and mix until well incorporated. Here's a tip, if you lightly coat them in flour before adding them to the dough, you will prevent them from going to the bottom of the bread during baking.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.