cranberry bread

I’ve been meaning to share this cranberry bread recipe since, oh, back around Thanksgiving. That I’m actually doing so after such a long wait only proves how good the recipe really is. If it were mediocre, it would’ve faded from memory and never seen the bloggy light.

Or I suppose the long time lapse might prove that I’m lazy.

Or that I forgot.

Or that I didn’t really like it but have nothing else to write about so now cranberry bread it is.

That last one is not definitely not true. Well, at least the “not liking it” part is not true. Having nothing else to write about kinda is. I kept having other things to write about and so the bread kept getting scooched back. But not today! Today’s the day the bread’s gonna shine!

I have two proofs that this bread is good.

1. Thanksgiving evening when we all gathered at my parents’ place for dessert, the options were excessive: chocolate-orange bread, cranberry pie, pecan pie, pumpkin bars, apple pie, vanilla ice cream, cheesecake, and cranberry bread. The little humble cranberry loaf not only held its own, it stood out. Everyone said so.

2. At our family Christmas gathering, there was a meal of desserts (it appears we have a thing for dessert suppers)—well over a dozen exotic cookies, as well as an apple crisp and, again, that unassuming cranberry bread. And just as before, the cranberry bread got raves.

I made the bread myself somewhere between numbers one and two. In fact, if my memory serves me right, I think I made it the day after Thanksgiving. It was so good I had to have it all to myself as soon as possible. My husband ate a whole loaf (they were minis) in one sitting.

This recipe happens to be similar to a recipe I already have on this blog. But this bread uses more sugar and less butter, as well as dried cranberries instead of golden raisins. As a result, it’s more moist and a little sweeter, and it packs a satisfying cranberry punch. So good!

Cranberry Bread
Adapted from Cranberry Thanksgiving, by Wende Devlin and Harry Devlin.

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon orange zest
¾ cup orange juice
1½ cups dried cranberries
1½ cups fresh cranberries, chopped

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the butter with your fingers. Whisk in the egg, zest, and juice. Fold in the dried and fresh cranberries.

Divide the batter between four, greased mini loaf pans (or a couple larger pans). Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-70 minutes, depending on the size of your loaf pans. When the loaves are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, they’re done.

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (1.13.14).