Christopher’s Cranberry Bread
My son first made this cranberry bread in about the 7th grade. He does not remember this but somehow the recipe was written using his name, so it’s remained Christopher’s Cranberry Bread ever since.
It’s a great bread, full of flavor, ready for any Holiday occasion. We recently made it for Thanksgiving but we’ll be making it a couple more times over the holidays. There are other variations to use as well, but in this adventure, we just made with fresh cranberries.
The nice thing about this bread is that is it comes together quickly without pulling the stand mixer out. Just stir by hand!
Start by mixing the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
After mixing the dry ingredients, take the butter, cut into chunks and incorporate. This is usually done with a pastry cutter. We don’t own one, so a fork works just fine.
Chop the Cranberries.
This is the most time consuming part of the whole bread making. We always use fresh cranberries. They just take a while to chop into fine pieces.
After chopping, it’s time to incorporate the eggs, orange juice and orange zest. Do this all at once and mix well with a large spoon.
Now it’s time to add the cranberries, raisins and/or nuts. We did not use any raisins or nuts this time. We just doubled the cranberries.
That’s it! Be sure it’s mixed well by hand and it’s ready to go into the pan. The loaf pan should be greased or sprayed well. We do use parchment paper on the bottom as well to ensure it comes out perfect every time.
Ready for the Oven.
In a 350 degree oven it takes about an hour and 10 minutes to bake. It will make the whole house smell so good!
It’s done! A little cracking along the top just shows it is homemade.
Serve warm after cooling on a rack or serve later with a bit of softened butter. We like to toast it for breakfast the next day too. We’ll be making this several times this Holiday season!
Cranberry Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1tsp. grated orange peel
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1 1/2 cups light raisins (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries, chopped (double if not using raisins)
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Instructions
- Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into a large bowl.
- Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly.
- Add the egg, orange peel, and orange juice all at once, stir just until the mixture is moist.
- Fold in the raisins (if using) and cranberries.
- Spoon the mixture into a greased 9x5x3 in. loaf pan.
- Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes. The bread should start to pull from the sides of the loaf pan and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted into the center. Enjoy!
