Cranberry Bread

Serves 12 slices. This recipe is still too dry, even with the reduction of ½ the cramberries en purée. I haven't solved this problem yet.

Ingredients

2 cups	all-purpose flour
1½ tsp	baking powder
½ tsp	baking soda
½ tsp	salt
1 tbsp	grated orange zest
1½ cups	fresh cranberries
½ cup	pecans, coarsely chopped (optional)
¼ cup	butter, softened
1 cup	white sugar (can be reduced by one-half)
1 large	egg
¾ cup	orange juice

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan. Mash/purée ½ cup of the cranberries.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in whole cranberries and pecans. Set aside.

3. Stir orange zest vigorously into sugar to impart the orange flavor. Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until smooth. Add egg and rebeat. Add zest and mix in thoroughly. Add cranberry purée. Stir in orange juice. Fold in flour mixture until just moistened. Pour into loaf pan.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until the bread springs back when lightly touched, about 1 hour. Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Wrap in plastic when completely cool.

Glazing ideas

Make a glaze of orange juice, vanilla and powdered sugar to drizzle over the top of the loaf while still hot.

1¼ cups	powdered sugar
3 tbsp	milk, orange juice, etc.
¼ tsp	vanilla, almond, etc. extract
—	orange, lemon zest, etc.

Beat chosen liquid(s) into sugar. Increase or decrease liquid to adjust how runny the glaze will be (adding liquid a tiny amount at a time).

Drizzle glaze over cake. If you drizzle before cake cools, the glaze will tend to be absorbed (it's a valid option). Wait for cake to cool if you want the glaze to be visible (as shown in picture above).