Tuesday, November 10, 2009

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.





27 comments:

  1. Gorgeous, beautiful color. The bread is studded with cranberries just the way I like it. :)

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  2. LOVE Cranberry Bread and this is a gorgeous recipe. Wowee it's stuffed with berries! Beautiful!

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  3. Beautiful bread! Looks very Christmas-y! I'm really loving cranberries right now!

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  4. Ooooh, gorgeous! Adding this to my "to make" list. Yum!!

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  5. That looks just lovely! The photos of the cranberries look awesome. I love fresh fruit.

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  6. This is gorgeous!! So festive!!
    I shall make one of these this season!!

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  7. Beautiful photos of those ruby berries! And from now on, I plan to chop those cranberries, just like you did. Up to now, I just threw them in whole, but I think your approach is much better. Many thanks!

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  8. I'm saving this one. Looks fab and I bet it tastes great too.

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  9. I love cranberries. That bread sounds so good.

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  10. Your cranberry bread looks lovely! I've already made 3 different cranberry breads in the last week, but I may have to try another!

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  11. That looks so delicious- gorgeous photos, and I love your tablecloth too!

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  12. That's an absolutely gorgeous loaf of quick bread! I love cranberries, especially the way they look :)

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  13. so so love and so so festive! just perfect with a cup of tea!

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  14. Thanks for the cranberry bread recipe! just what I need to make for a group of girls coming next week for a baking lesson and tea.

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  15. I love cranberries! This bread looks delicious, and like many people have commented, the cranberry color really pops out!

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  16. That looks divine. I had forgotten how pretty cranberry bread is- so festive! It's a lovely recipe and my family loves this bread. Now that cranberries are in the market, I'll make it.
    Wonderful photos!

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  17. I adore cranberry bread. Now that I've seen your yummy recipe I'm anxious to bake some!

    Your blog is lovely!

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  18. Yummy cranberries...would be great with chopped pears....

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  19. It sounds like sth very drool-worthy!!! I love your Christmasy bread and your beautiful photographs.

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  20. wow....looks so full of wholesome goodness. I love the colour of the cranberries all over.

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  21. Wow this bread looks so delicious, do you think it would work with cherries too? I have a whole lot I need to bake into something soon!

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  22. I'm not sure about cherries, I've never made cherry bread before :) Cranberries and Cherries are really different in taste, so I think the flavor of this bread will change a lot with cherries.

    You can always give it a try :)

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  23. this looks so gorgeous! It seems the perfect thing to have around if people are staying over at your house for teh holiday. Love the colors.

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  24. Wow, that is awesome! Looks very delicious!! Great work! :)

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  25. I made this bread today. The only change I made to the recipe was adding the zest of a whole orange rather than just a tablespoon. This is, by far, the best cranberry bread I have ever tasted. It is so tart, and moist, and fluffy. It's amazing. I made this for Christmas dinner, I don't know if it will last that long!

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  26. oh that looks DELICIOUS! i just bought some cranberries. i can't wait to try this!

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  27. I love cranberries too. I like the look of this recipe and need to go buy some cranberries.

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