Recipe 74: Cranberry Bread

So when I got home, I made my apartment even hotter by turning the oven on. While the oven preheated and I mixed the ingredients, I put the frozen cranberries in my strainer to thaw. One of my favorite things to make are probably quick breads. They are just that: very quick, and well, bread. And usually very sweet and addicting.

The base of this bread was the cranberries sugar, oil, milk, orange (or lemon, I used lemon) zest, vanilla and eggs. Then I added in the flour and other dry ingredients. I poured it into one large loaf pan and 2 mini loaf pans. The mini pans took about 55 minutes to cook, while the regular one took about 1 hour and 20 minutes, instead of the 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes suggested. My theory behind it taking longer is the moisture from the cranberries make it take longer to cook. So, I recommend drying the cranberries before adding them into the batter.

The cranberries are a bit bitter if you bite into one without any plain bread. But I was addicted to it. I (embarrassedly) ate an entire mini loaf yesterday. Even thought I didn't like the cranberry part. I think I'd make it again with not as many whole cranberries, maybe some orange craisins, and more walnuts!

From Betty Crocker's Baking Basics, 2009

Ingredients

3 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) cranberries

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons grated orange or lemon peel

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Directions

1. Move the oven rack to a low position so that the tops of the pans will be in the center of the oven. Heat the oven to 350. Spray just the bottoms of the loaf pans with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, stir the cranberries, sugar, oil, milk, orange/lemon zest, vanilla and eggs with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Divide batter evenly among the pans.

3. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a cooling rack.

4. Loosen the sides of the bread from each pan, using a metal spatula or table knife. Carefully tip each pan on its side on a cooling rack, then tap gently to remove the bread from the pan. Place the bread, top side up, on the cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing; cut with a serrated knife. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 10 days.