Cranberry Orange Bread

This is a fun festive bread I like to make every year. This year a made a bunch of mini loaves and gave them away to teachers. The recipe originally called for nuts, but I always leave those out. You can also make a glaze to go on the top after the bread cools. For an even more orange flavor, try adding just a bit of orange extract to the batter.

Cranberry Orange Bread
adapted from christines-cuisine.blogspot.com 
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup of buttermilk
6 TBSPs butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/3 cup orange juice
1 large egg
1 TBSP grated orange zest
1 3/4 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped, divided

Optional Orange Glaze - 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 TBSPs orange juice

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8.5 by 4.5 inch loaf pan.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk buttermilk, melted butter, orange juice, egg, and orange zest.
4. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add in 1 1/2 cups of cranberries and mix until combined.
5. Scoop into loaf pan and sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of cranberries on the top.

6. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick in the center comes out with just a few crumbs - about 1 hour (if you are baking mini loaves be sure to adjust the bake time).
7. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes and then remove from pan onto cooling rack.
8. Drizzle with glaze if desired.

My small loaf pan makes 4 loaves with one recipe. It bakes at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
My mini loaf pan (even smaller) bakes at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

4 loaf pan

Mini Loaves