Considering how good they are, it’s quite shameful that their popularity is seasonal. I am not referring to anything involving the words “pumpkin” or “spice” but to cranberries, the tart red berries that are a featured item during the upcoming holiday season yet seem to be forgotten the remainder of the year.
I recently saw bags of fresh, whole cranberries at the grocery store and realized how you hardly see cranberries featured in recipes that don’t revolve around Thanksgiving or Christmas. Personally I like the “real” cranberry sauce with pieces of orange peel (as opposed to the gelatinous tube that comes from a can), as well as cranberry juice (with or without vodka). I also really like that holiday song, “Christmas Wrappings” by The Waitresses, about a young woman who keeps trying to schedule a date all year long with a young man and then they bump into each other at the grocery store on New Year’s Eve when they’re both buying cranberry sauce.
Did you know that it takes 4,500 cranberries to make one gallon of juice; our neighbors in New Jersey are the 3rd largest producers in the country (behind Massachusetts and Wisconsin); that they are grown in bogs which are flooded during harvesting time to make the berries float and thus easier to pick and that they are touted not only for their anti-inflammatory benefits but for helping to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol.
Now that the temperatures have dropped I’m always looking for excuses to turn the oven on to warm up our farmhouse kitchen so I don’t mind baking bread this time of year. I thought this recipe would come in handy to serve in lieu of rolls or to accompany any left-over brunch celebrations.
Orange Cranberry BreadIngredients:
2 cups flour3/4 cup white sugar1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted3/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon extract (vanilla or orange)
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (I HIGHLY recommend the mini graters sold at Dollar Tree)
1 egg, beaten1 cup chopped cranberries
Instructions:Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Take a loaf pan that’s 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 (come to think of it I also buy these at Dollar Tree hereinafter referred to as “DT”) and line it with a large piece of aluminum foil being careful not to tear the foil. If you do start over. The trick is to use a piece of foil that is much larger than the pan, start at one end to tuck it in and over the edges of the pan and then slowly move to the other end. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl and then add the melted butter, extract, orange juice and zest and the egg. Gently mix in the cranberries. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Then move the pan to a different shelf and bake another 20 minutes. Take a thin steak knife (DT- yet again) and insert it in the center. If it comes out without being sticky the bread is done. If not, bake another 5 minutes and check again. Let the bread completely cool, flip the pan over to remove it from the pan and then peel off the foil. Slice and enjoy!
What I liked most about this recipe was that the bread was moist and flavorful and that I could make it without the use of my counter-top mixers since BOTH of them are currently broken, (yet again). They are made by a company that takes great pride in the fact that their products are made in the United States and come in a multitude of colors. The irony of my broken “professional strength” mixer? It’s color is….yes, you guessed it, cranberry.
Felicia Fisher is the founder of Black Buggy Baking Company and lives in Oley, Pa. with her husband and three children who are all willing taste-testers.
To find out what Felicia’s baking up for her annual Thanksgiving Pie Sale visit her web page www.blackbuggybakingcompany.com or “Like” Black Buggy Baking Company on Facebook.
