Classic Cranberry Nut Bread

Cranberry Nut Bread

First things first, though: Andrea from Cooking Books gave me the Kreativ Blogger award and tagged me with the Seven Things meme! Be prepared to read a lot of very random things about me.

Number 1:

Seven Things I Say Most Often

1. Awesome!

2. Bummer.

3. I’m going to bake.

4. I need to update my blog.

5. Um, good luck with that.

6. 點呀?

7. I need to update my lab notebook. -_-

Number 2:

Seven Things I Did Before

1. I took ballet lessons, and I was quite good at it. Seriously.

2. I’ve broke, my glasses. Twice in less than a month. Guess I was good at that too.

3. Found homes for 42 homeless bettas (7 of which I ended up personally adopting).

4. Kicked butt in Super Mario, Donkey Kong Country and Crash Bandicoot. Old school, but so classic!

5. Go on driving trips with a really good camera and just snap away (I wasn’t the one driving, of course).

6. Underbake things.

7. Overbake things.

Number 3:

Seven Things I Do Now

1. The darn very rewarding Ph.D. Alright so it still is fun and I’m still loving it.

2. Cook and bake! This is coming from a girl who could barely cook or bake a year and a half ago.

3. Stalk foodgawker.com and cakewrecks.blogspot.com

4. Work hard but also try to enjoy life?

5. Explore local bakeries and hidden dining gems.

6. Underbake things. But now I actually put them back in the oven and watch very carefully, in case I…

7. Overbake things. At least they’re still edible these days.

Number 4:

Seven Things I Want to Do

1.  Ph.D. Enough said.

2.  Travel.

3.  Read more. Not only scientific papers, but also for fun.

4.  Bake a tart, from scratch (including a *real* pastry crust).

5.  Bake biscotti for my mom.

6.  Bake the perfect loaf of bread.

7.  …Bake?

So many things bookmarked, so little time.

Number 6:

Seven Favorite Foods

1.  Apple pie. Apple anything.

2.  Cardamom

3.  Challah, or all bread for that matter. Give Jackie bread, and Jackie will demolish.

4.  Fresh ginger

5.  Tomato and eggs on rice. It’s a comfort food thing.

6.  Perfectly ripe fruit with dark chocolate or good cheese

7.  Pasta

Number 7:

Seven People I’m Tagging

*I’ve had a quick look around and many people have already been tagged for this. So, if you’re reading this and you haven’t been tagged yet, consider yourself tagged! 🙂

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Now back to the bread.

I haven’t baked a quick bread (leavened with baking soda and baking powder, instead of yeast) in a while, but Susan at Wild Yeast posted the classic cranberry nut bread from the back of the Ocean Spray bag. “Bake me into a loaf of  cranberry nut bread!” cried the rest of my [first] bag of fresh cranberries. How could I not?

From the back of the Ocean Spray bag, or from here

Ingredients

– 2 cups all-purpose flour
– 1 cup sugar (this may seem like a lot, but we’re talking fresh and assertively tart cranberries here)
– 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
– 1 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp baking soda
– 3/4 cup orange juice
– 1 tbsp grated orange peel (didn’t have this on hand but it would have been a nice addition)
– 2 tbsp vegetable oil (bag says vegetable oil, website says shortening; bag wins)
– 1 egg, well beaten
– 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
– 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used lightly toasted walnuts, put them into a Ziploc bag and used a rolling pin to break them up into little pieces)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in orange juice, orange peel, vegetable oil and beaten egg. Mix until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Spread evenly in loaf pan.

Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack or enjoy while it’s still slightly warm. Wrap in plastic wrap to keep it fresh, and note that like many quick breads, this freezes well.

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Want a slice? ^_^

Tags: cranberries, orange, Quick Bread, walnuts, whole wheat