A great seasonal quick bread made with cranberries and walnuts and fresh burst of Orange Juice. This cranberry bread has been a staple at our Thanksgiving table for years.
There isn’t a holiday that I can’t remember this bread being a staple on our dining room table. I look so forward to the first bite into this bread filled with cranberries and walnuts with a slathering of butter on top! Some years I think I savor it more than the turkey itself.
It is a classic quick bread and very easy to make. Fall is really the best time of year to make this it because the cranberries, oranges and walnuts are all in season.
I will forewarn you on two things. The first is it can be a bit of a pain to cut the cranberries in half because they roll around on the counter. You can certainly put them in a food processor if you don’t mind them not being uniformly cut in half.
My method is just to get a very sharp small knife and cut one at a time. It only calls for a cup so it doesn’t take THAT long. But if I’m in a rush I will use the food processor, it does get a little noisy though.
INGREDIENTS TO MAKE CRANBERRY BREAD
- Dry ingredients – Flour, white sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Wet ingredients – Eggs, orange juice, orange zest, and melted unsalted butter.
- Berries – either fresh or frozen!
HOW TO MAKE CRANBERRY BREAD
- Once you’ve got all your cranberries set aside, sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and very gently fold it all together. This will take some muscle and I have broken a wooden spoon or two doing this. But the key is to not overmix!
- Bake it in the oven for approx. 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
I think what I like the most about this bread is it isn’t doughy or soft, it has a different texture all together. It’s firm, yet soft, fresh and all the ingredients are so flavorful on the tongue.
There’s nothing I don’t like about this bread. I hope you enjoy one of our treasured family recipes.
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Mom’s Cranberry Walnut Bread
Ingredients
DRY INGREDIENTS:
- 2 Cups Unbleached Flour (I use Bob Mils)
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 Cup Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
WET INGREDIENTS:
- 1 Large Egg
- ½ Cup Orange Juice
- Grated Orange Zest
- 2 Tbsp Butter, melted
OTHER INGREDIENTS:
- 1 Cup Fresh Cranberries, cut in half or chopped in food processor
- ½ Cup Walnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Spray a loaf pan with non cooking spray (and/or line it with parchment paper)
- Sift the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add the cranberries and stir.
- In another bowl, beat the egg and add the remaining wet ingredients.
- Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix using a strong rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Be careful not to overmix. Gently stir in the walnuts.
- Scrape the batter into the loaf pan with the spatula and even out.
- Bake for 50-55 min, check for doneness by inserting a knife into the center of the bread.
- Allow to cool and cut into even slices. This can be served as is or with cream cheese or butter.
Very delicious bread. Better than my moms! I couldn’t find her recipe so had to try this one ad it was pretty close. Using the unbleached flour was the trick I think. Thank you!
★★★★★
Very good just had to add a bit more orange juice, but a 10/10
★★★★★
Couldn’t be more pleased with this recipe ! So easy & even tastes better than it smelled baking. My new go to !
★★★★★
This is a great recipe. My husband asks me to make this at least once a week.
I don’t keep fresh cranberries around so I use cranraisins.
I pass this your mom’s recipe around.
★★★★★
Great recipe! I did add MORE cranberries and walnuts and I did add a drizzle of confectionery sugar and orange zest which was really good!!!
★★★★★
Can I do this in a bread machine
I have never tried it
Did you ever make this with white whole wheat flour and honey? I vaguely remember using
Those ingredients from your website. And having to add 1/2 cup more liquid to the flour mix
in order to get it to look like the batter in one of your pictures.
I don’t remember doing that. This is my mom’s recipe which is handwritten on a recipe card from years ago which I have never altered.
My mouth is watering! This looks relish, I will try it for sure.
So, I’m surprised that the recipe calls for fresh cranberries that haven’t been, um, ‘pre-treated’ with sugar somehow, given that cranberries are (so I hear) exceedingly tart on their own. Do they pick up enough sweetness from the batter to cover the tartness? The bread looks DELICIOUS, and I will enjoy trying this recipe at some point!
it is true. These cranberries don’t need anything except to be washed and cut up. The bread is not tart at all and is delicious. I hope you give it a try.
Oh I used to make this, a lot. Haven’t in so long. Thank you for the prompt!
Luna Crone