Best Cranberry Bread EVER is one of my husbands favorite sweet bread recipes using cranberries. He would eat it all year round if he could.
But for the fact that fresh cranberries aren't in season except in the fall.
In desperate times I have made this cranberry bread recipe with dried cranberries also.
This sweet bread recipe is moist and delicious. It is the best cranberry bread recipe you will ever bake.
So as soon as I spotted the cranberries in the produce department of my grocery store I bought a bag and set about looking for my recipe.
But first, there is a little story about this recipe I must share. I found this recipe on the internet somewhere.
I did not note the name of the website I found it on.
Shame on me I know. There is no excuse for it, but it happens.
My Recipe Collection
So back to my story. I have been collecting recipes for years.
I have a big three-ring binder that I keep all my favorite recipes in.
It is full of page protectors stuffed full of recipes.
When I make a recipe, either one that I have torn out of a magazine, copied and saved from the internet, scribbled down on a scrap of paper or created myself.
I stick it in a page protector in a binder. I have some recipes in there from 10 years ago that I have never even made but keep telling myself that one day I might need.
So they stay there.
For the recipes that I do make.
If it turns out really good and one of my family members love it I jot a note on it for the times I am looking for something to make and don't really know what I want until I see it.
You know what I mean, don't you?
The recipe note says David loved it, made it 12/31/06. Two years in a row I made this delicious homemade cranberry bread recipe.
I will guess that I made it at least 5 times the first year. It could have been more, but it is definitely not less.
Double Recipe!
Because the first time I made it I only made one loaf. He ate that loaf in no time at all.
After that happened twice I got smart. I doubled the recipe and made two loaves every time after.
That way at least I had a chance to have a piece for breakfast the next day. That first loaf did not last the entire day let alone overnight.
Notice I said I made this recipe two years in a row.
Well, the third cranberry season rolls around and I can't find THE RECIPE!!!
I look all over the place. In the binder, in between the pages of my favorite cookbook.
Nope can't find it. So what do I do that year? I try some other cranberry bread recipes.
Now mind you I have made cranberry bread for many years and have those recipes in my binder to prove it!
But none those recipes are good enough.
My husband can tell immediately they are not THE RECIPE.
I don't know what it is about this cranberry bread recipe but it is so good and the husband can tell this difference when I tried tricking him with a different cranberry bread recipe.
He can be a pain sometimes.
Favorite Cranberry Bread Recipe Found!
The next fall rolls around and I am looking through the recipe binder and there it is THE RECIPE.
I am not sure what happened. Maybe the pages were stuck together.
I don't know for sure but I am happy to say THE RECIPE is safe and sound and I have made three loaves in the past two weeks.
Hubby is a happy cranberry bread eating fool.
How to make The Best Cranberry Bread Ever
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
- 2 tbsp hot water
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup orange zest
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. degrees.
- Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl.
- In a separate small bowl mix the egg, butter, hot water, orange juice and orange zest: stir until moistened.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened.
- Fold in cranberries.
- Spread into a large greased loaf pan.
- Bake 60 minutes in a preheated oven.
Recipe Expert Tips
- Orange juice: It takes 2 large freshly squeezed navel oranges to get almost ½ cup of fresh orange juice. You can add a bit of water to bring it up to a full ½ cup of orange juice if you need to. It's such a small amount it doesn't affect the flavor at all.
- Orange zest: Also for the zest. I just zested the two oranges I used. I didn't even measure it. Do whatever you are comfortable with. 2 large thick-skinned navel oranges will yield about ¼ cup of orange zest.
- Batter: The batter is very thick. Scoop it into your bread pan and smooth the top.
- Cranberries: If using dried cranberries for this cranberry bread recipe measure 1 cup dried cranberries and allow them to soak in the fresh orange juice. Strain the cranberries from the juice. Mix the orange juice into the wet ingredients following the recipe. Add the soaked dried cranberries to the recipe as written in step 5.
Helpful products for making the Best Cranberry Bread recipe
- Deiss PRO Citrus Zester Grater: Best zester fine fine citrus zest used in this recipe.
Print the Cranberry Bread Recipe below.
Email questions or recipe requests to flouronmyface@gmail.com. Follow me on Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
The Best Cranberry Bread Ever
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg (well beaten)
- 2 tablespoon butter or margarine (melted + plus enough to grease the pan)
- 2 tablespoon hot water
- ½ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup orange zest
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. degrees
- Lightly grease non stick bread pan with butter.
- Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl.
- In a separate small bowl mix the egg, butter, hot water, orange juice and orange zest: stir until moistened.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened.
- Fold in cranberries.
- Spread into a large greased loaf pan.
- Bake 60 minutes in a preheated 325 degrees oven.
- Cool completely on a wire cooling rack in the pan before slicing.
Video
Recipe Expert Tips
- Double the recipe: This recipe works fine if you double it. Make one loaf to test it out and see how you like it. Then next time double the recipe. You can freeze the extra loaf for another day.
- Orange juice: It takes 2 large freshly squeezed navel oranges to get almost ½ cup of fresh orange juice. You can add a bit of water to bring it up to a full ½ cup of orange juice if you need to. It's such a small amount it doesn't affect the flavor at all.
- Orange zest: Also for the zest. I just zested the two oranges I used. I didn't even measure it. Do whatever you are comfortable with. 2 large thick-skinned navel oranges will yield about ¼ cup of orange zest.
- Batter: The batter is very thick. Scoop it into your bread pan and smooth the top.
- Cranberries: If using dried cranberries for this cranberry bread recipe measure 1 cup dried cranberries and allow them to soak in the fresh orange juice. Strain the cranberries from the juice. Mix the orange juice into the wet ingredients following the recipe. Add the soaked dried cranberries to the recipe as written in step 5.
Joy
I made this cranberry bread exactly according to the recipe. I even purchased the recommended zester and it was amazing. Two loaves were gone in no time. I will definitely be making this delicious bread again this holiday season.