Taste Memories: Cranberry Bread

The finished loaf!

It may seem a little odd to be making cranberry bread in March, but I have a problem. When I see cranberries on sale in November/December it’s always oh my better stock up because they won’t be around long! Later the next year I start wondering why I have so many bags of cranberries floating around my freezer.

In the past before gluten-free this was my go to recipe for using up cranberries. It’s sweet, almost always turns out and makes any meal bright and cheerful because of the cranberries.

I hadn’t made it since going gluten-free because I was always scared it wouldn’t turn out right. This past week I decided to face my fear and see what happened.

It turned out wonderful! It was just as good as I remembered it and I got rave reviews from everyone I shared it with. So if you have some cranberries floating around your freezer I hope that will try out this recipe!

Cranberry Bread

 
adopted from a family friend’s recipe

Note: I used Orgjunkie’s favorite gluten-free flour blend for this recipe. (scroll down until you see it!) It is the best blend I’ve found for subbing cup for cup for my favorite recipes.

2 cups gluten-free flour blend (with xanthan gum)
1 cup sugar (can use turbinado or regular white sugar–with the turbinado it will turn out a bit darker)
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups orange juice
1 egg beaten
1/2 bag fresh cranberries (6 oz) (or straight from the freezer–not dried though!)
1/4 cup oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper (so the edges hang over the side for easy removal of the bread after baking) in a 9 inch loaf pan and grease the pan.

Shift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the oil until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal. Combine the orange juice and the egg. Pour the wet ingredients all at once into the dry ingredients and mix just enough to combine. Carefully fold in the cranberries.

Carefully place in loaf pan, spreading the corners slightly higher than the center. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. (1 hour was perfect in my oven.) Bread will be done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs on it.

Share with a friend!