Cranberry Bread

I love how festive cranberry bread looks with its beautiful red color piercing through. I feel that the inclusion of cranberries in any kind of baked good confers instant Christmassiness.

The cranberries add a wonderful tartness to the sweet orangey bread and the walnuts finish the flavors off beautifully with their nutty bite.

The way the aromas synthesize in this bread when baking is unlike anything else. It produces this heavenly seasonal scent that makes us sure that the holidays are upon us and almost brings a cheerful light into the darkness of winter.

My beautiful mother in law (to be) always makes cranberry bread for the holidays and this is the recipe that she likes to use. It was an introduction to cranberry bread for me having never tried it before and since then I have tasted a number of recipes but always come back to this one. It has always been the best cranberry bread I've ever tasted.

Make two loaves because I promise you one loaf won't last you a minute! 

Cranberry Bread: (makes 1 loaf)
(Adapted from Ocean Spray's Classic Cranberry Nut Bread)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons butter (softened) or vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 1 egg well beaten
• 1 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (my addition to the recipe)

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. 

Chop the Cranberries and walnuts and set aside.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Stir in the orange juice, orange peel, egg and butter.

Then fold in the chopped cranberries and walnuts.

Spread the mixture evenly in the greased loaf pan and bake in the oven at 350F for 55 minutes.

Allow to cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes.

I like to slice this after a couple of hours (If I can resist) it definitely needs that time to set for neat slices.