Not A Leaf

I made orange cranberry bread last night. It’s one of REB’s favorite things to eat and since it’s perfect to make during the fall season, it’s only appropriate I make it every year. I’m not going to lie, it turned out really well and when I woke up this morning, I found that half of it had already been eaten. I found a ton of recipes online but the simplest one was on all recipes. Of course I didn’t follow it exactly and changed a few things, because it’s more fun that way. I apologize for the photos. I wasn’t very elegant in being able to take photos while baking.

Usual Suspects:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup of sugar (though I didn’t measure is exact. I think I put in more. Oops)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons melted butter or margerine

2 tablespoons hot water

zest of one orange (Psh. Yeah, right. I used four oranges. Mine were smaller, but still. You can’t go wrong with more orange flavor)

1/2 cup orange juice

1 egg

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (I didn’t really measure this)

1 cup chopped walnuts (I didn’t really measure this, either. oops

Preheat your oven to 325º so it’s waiting for you when you’re ready. Never wait for it. You’re better than that.

Start by coarsely chopping the walnuts. I used more than 1 cup because I like walnuts. Use how much you want. You can take it out all together if you want…but I don’t know why you’d do that unless you’re allergic. Set them aside when done chopping. You’ll need them at the end.

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour. You can sift it if you want, but that’s too fancy for my liking.

Add the sugar to the flour. I used more than 1 cup by accident (whoops), but it just made the bread sweet. Nothing wrong with that if you ask me! Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt and then stir to combine the dry ingredients.

Zest your orange. I used four midnight oranges because they are sweet and delicious. I think if you just used Valencia or Navel, you’d be fine, but they looked ugly and gross in the grocery store, so they were overlooked (sorry, guys). I think midnight oranges are the way to go. I ended up zesting 4 of them. It really intensified the flavor. By the way, if you don’t own a microplane, get one. It’s one of my best friends in the kitchen.

The trick to this recipe is using the juice of the oranges instead of store-bought orange juice. Amazing flavor and makes good use of your zested oranges. I don’t own a juicer, except for REB. He’s a doll and an excellent helper.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and set aside. You can use the stove, but I’m lazy and used the microwave. Works just as well.

In a smaller, separate bowl, beat 1 egg. Add the zest, orange juice, melted butter and the hot water. I’m not lying when I say hot. You want it to be hot and add it quickly and then stir so you don’t scramble your egg.

Add the wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir until blended. Don’t overwork it or your dough will become tough. Warning: it will be VERY sticky.

Add the walnuts and fold in gently.

Add the cranberries. I used fresh (found in the produce section of your grocery store). You could use frozen, but I like fresh ingredients. I ended up using a heaping cup because I had added more than enough sugar. I wanted the tartness of the cranberries to offset the sweetness. Best choice I made.

Same as the walnuts, fold the cranberries in gently so you don’t make the dough too tough.

Pour the dough-batter-mixture into a greased loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3) and put in the oven in the middle rack. Bake for 1 hour. I ended up baking it for 45 minutes and then reducing the heat and letting it continue to bake for 15 minutes. This was because after 45 minutes, it was really brown and looked done, but the inside was still gooey – ick! Your bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Ta-da! If you can resist, wait 10 minutes to let it cool…

…but I didn’t, and cut it up right away.