Thanksgiving was always my mom’s favorite holiday, and now that I have children of my own I can see why. The holiday is all about giving thanks, sharing blessings and enjoying a wonderful meal together. The time together is so important for the kids to build memories and feel connected. Now that my own mother is no longer with us, Thanksgiving is even more important to me as it reminds me of my mom and how much she enjoyed cooking the turkey dinner. She relished getting up at 5 am to put the turkey in the oven (why on Earth did our mothers get up at that hour to put the bird in the oven??), making an apple and pumpkin pie the Wednesday before, and letting her five children watch the cranberries pop on the stove top.
Though I don’t put my bird in the oven THAT early, I still make my pies the Wednesday before and let the little turkeys pull up a chair to the stove top to watch all those cranberries pop their magic. I also love cranberries in muffins, breads, oatmeal, the list goes on. My kids have learned to love cranberries as much as me, and they love the sweet tang of this quick bread recipe. I will have more to share as the week goes on. Enjoy!
CRANBERRY ORANGE BREAD
2 T. water
1 stick dairy free margarine, melted
2 c. orange juice
1 c. water
Grated zest of 1 orange
5 c. flour
2 ½ c. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. whole cranberries, fresh or frozen
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray two 9 inch loaf pans with dairy free cooking spray. Set aside.
In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine 1 c. plus 2 T. water, melted margarine and orange juice. In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk.
Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Stir just until moist. Fold in the cranberries and pour into the prepared pans. Bake 50-60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
Oooh. This looks delicious! Thank you for the recipe. I will definitely try it.
Great! Let me know how it turns out for you!
This looks so good. I love anything cranberry.
Hi Kelly,
Can I post this recipe on my blog for Recipe of the Month? It’s so festive! I’ll link to your blog and give you full credit for your recipe, of course.
Let me know–send me an e-mail: nut-freemom@sbcglobal.net.
I recently found your website. Unfortunately, my son is allergic to wheat but I am trying some of your recipes for my daughter. I am trying to find recipes to give to my daughter’s school for them to use for their Thanksgiving ‘feast’. I made your pumpkin bread. It is delicious! I also tried this recipe last night and have a few questions. I halved the recipe, wanting to make one loaf with OJ and another with apple juice. I must have goofed up on one of the loaves. One was very runny, the other was more doughy. Both were still very gooey after the 60 minutes in the 325 oven. I ended up baking them for 70 to 80 minutes. They both ended up tasting very good though the thicker one did come up over the edge of the pan. So, here are my questions, should the batter be thicker like the pumpkin bread or thinner and more ‘pourable’? Why would they need so much extra baking time? The pumpkin bread was in the same oven and got done in 60 minutes. I was trying to bake 4 different kinds of bread at the same time in a strange kitchen so the chances I made a mistake are probably pretty good. At least tehy all tasted good. I sent samples in today for the teachers to try. Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.
Thanks so much Andrea for your comment! I have to tell you, after making this pumpkin bread a gazillion times, that you really need to follow the instructions exactly. There’s no need to halve the recipe, simply freeze the other loaf for later use. Apple juice won’t work, just use the O.J. I know sometimes we all want to improvise, but when it comes to baking (especially allergen free baking) it is very important to read the recipes ahead of time, make sure you have all the ingredients, and follow the instructions as they are written. Baking is like a science, and each ingredient has its own function to make the overall recipe successful. Believe me, I’ve encountered enough failures to learn this! Try the recipe again using my exact instructions, and I promise you will fall in love with this bread!!
Thanks for these wonderful recipes. One of my girlfriends made this Cranberry bread for a playgroup that included a child with allergies. It was absolutely wonderful!!!!
Thanks! I love that Cranberry bread…beautiful and festive…and tastes like a yummy poundcake!
I used dried cranberry, it turned out okay. But yours looks much nicer when the cranberry “melted” into the cake. But the kids loves it though. thanks…
Thanks for the feedback momoko. You really need to use fresh for this. Try it again and let me know what you think.