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I am a former fat girl who still loves to feed my friends and family. I bake and cook most weekends, and I want to keep track of it all here.I hope you enjoy my recipes, I look forward to sharing my cooking blog with everyone!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Cranberry Nut bread

Cranberry Nut Bread
This my family's favorite holiday treat, when i was little we left cranberry nut bread out for Santa, instead of cookies. Dad said Santa would be sick of cookies and loved having something a little different at our house. We make this every Thanksgiving and every Christmas. The extended family fully expects us to bring some with us to our family gatherings. As soon as we get to Grandma's house everyone swoops in to get some before its gone. This is the very best cranberry bread there is. Nothing says its Christmas to me more than Cranberry Nut Bread.

Place the frozen cranberries into the food processor.


Chop them pretty fine.


Put them in a bowl.


Add the sugar.


Mix thoroughly. The sugar will turn into a syrup. Do not skip this step, if you don't add sugar to the cranberries it is a disaster, a friend of my moms skipped this step once, it wasn't pretty, bad things happen. You don't even want to know....


See how pretty that is?


Grate some orange rind. I like to use my micro plane, but if you don't have one a cheese grater will work too.


In another bowl add all your dry ingredients.
Flour.


Baking powder. This recipe calls for A LOT of baking powder, I promise it is not a misprint, you really need 9 tsp. of baking powder for 2 loaves.


Salt.


Grated orange rinds.


Mix together.


Add the sugar.


Mix again.


Melt your butter.


take the pan off the heat and add the milk.


In another bowl (lots of dishes in this one ) beat 2 eggs.


Add to the milk and butter mixture.


Bring the wet ingredients and dry together, it's what they really want.


Look how syrupy and lovely that is.


Add the cranberries to the batter.
Fold them in gently, but don't over mix.


All mixed in, see how it's got some lumps? That's just right.


Add your favorite nut. The original calls for walnut, but I'm not a fan, so we use pecans.


Grease 2 bread pans.


Split the batter between them.


I am so excited!


Mmmmm, the house smells wonderful.


You probably should let the bread cool for a little bit. Don't burn yourself!


However, I like it all hot and steamy. The better to melt your butter dear...


Slightly sweet, a little tart and oh so yummy. Please do yourself a favor, if you like cranberries, try this bread. It's amazing!.

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
grind cranberries and mix with sugar. Set aside.

2 cups sugar
6 cups flour
9 tsp. baking powder
6 tbs grated orange rind
2 cups milk
6 tbs melted butter
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, add orange rind. Mix in the sugar. Melt your butter take off the heat and add milk, then the eggs. Add to dry ingredients. Stir just enough to moisten. Fold in sweetened cranberries, then nuts. Split between 2 loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour.