Tuesday, June 26, 2007

A Cranberry Fixation

Cranberry Walnut Loaf

It seems that I have been baking a lot from blogs lately. But who can blame me; I suffer from an overload of recipes from so many food blogs that continually tease and entice me with their recipes. And my eyes are never satiated; my bookmarks are full of recipes that I have spied, salivated over and envied and the list keeps growing. So what I decided was that it was high time I start tackling some of those recipes rather than just letting them go to waste. If my online bookmarks could gather dust, I assure you there would be a thick mantle of dirt that no feather duster could remove.

So before virtual cobwebs start to form on these recipes, here is one of the oldest ones that has been sitting there for almost as long as this blog has been alive- Elise’s Cranberry Nut Bread Recipe. Now it not only seems that I have been baking from blogs lately, but it also appears that I have been baking with cranberries a lot too. I just can’t get enough of them, which I surmise is a probably a good thing for the waist, as now, instead of peering into the pantry and reaching for a packet of something no-so-healthy, I find myself reaching for that packet of dried cranberries. I’m sure my body will thank me for it at some point.

Cranberry Walnut Loaf

A reader did ask me not long after the past two cranberry posts whether there was a cranberry craze going on down here in Oz. Well the answer is, no there is no such craze, although it looks as if the craze is going in my kitchen.

To be honest cranberries aren’t at all a craze down under, and to think of it, cranberries seem more of a North-American thing (kind of like egg-nog) as it’s used in a lot of their holiday cooking, like Thanksgiving. I have actually never ever seen fresh cranberries in the shops or the markets, and if Australia does grow Cranberries, well I have never come across them. My entire experience with the cranberry has solely been through the dried and the tea variety, and at times at the deli when I buy a turkey panini that comes with a nice slathering of cranberry sauce in between. Other than that, this berry is quite foreign to me.

Morning Tea

So when I saw this recipe for Cranberry Nut Bread, I was quite excited to be able to use the dried cranberries that had been sitting in my pantry for quite some time. If you like fruits and nuts in cake then this is definitely for you- sweet, nutty and tangy all in one slice. I had mine with a cranberry and apple tea, but if that’s too much cranberry for you, then I think a nice Darjeeling or Russian Caravan will make a nice accompaniment.

I baked this bread in a rounded loaf tin but purely for aesthetics; you can just use an ordinary loaf tin if you wish.

Cranberry Nut Bread
recipe from this blog
serves 8

Cranberry Walnut Loaf

2 cups plain all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup dried cranberries (crasins), chopped

¾ cup orange juice
¼ cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp orange zest

Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Add the chopped cranberries and walnuts to coat with the flour mixture.
Mix together orange juice, butter, egg, and orange peel.
Add to flour, cranberry, nut mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended.
Pour into a greased 9x5 or 8x4 loaf pan.
Bake at 180°C for 55 to 60 minutes or until done (when a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean).
Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
Slice and serve with butter and tea.

Cranberry Walnut Loaf

24 comments:

Unknown said...

I am not too sure about the cake (as scrumptious as it looks) but you should probably save me some of that tea... It has me salivating at the thought of it ;)

Cookie baker Lynn said...

The bread looks delicious. Cranberries add such a bright note to food. What is a round loaf pan? I've heard of baking bread such as Boston Brown Bread in a coffee tin, but didn't know there was a real round loaf pan.

Anonymous said...

Wow, it seems that you are baking every other day. Nice bread. =)

Cheryl said...

Your pictures are always so bright and colorful. They just make me smile. What a beautiful cross section of this cranberry muffin.

Mari said...

I hooked too on your cranberry fixation! I was stalking all the dried fruit and nut stands at the markets this weekend, plotting a leisurely Sunday bake-a-thon, as soon as my friends stop inventing social engagements (sometime mid-July). Will you branch out to dried cherries and/or blueberries? ;-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the enticing recipe. My cranberries have found a home!

Aimée said...

I love cranberries! Thanks for posting this, it looks like an ideal winter brunch menu item....

Christy said...

Yummy I love cranberries! I just used up the last of my dried ones in some cookies of my own, but think I will have go and pick some up and try this recipe soon.

Hillary said...

I love cranberries too! I bet this bread would be even more delicious with whole cranberries instead of dried. Ocean Spray sells bags of frozen ones in America, maybe they do in Australia? Sorry if this is a tease, maybe I'll ship you some :)

Nora B. said...

Jen, your bread looks great! I like how you used the rounded loaf tin.

Anonymous said...

i think cranberries are grown in NSW... windsor farm? check out the cranberry jelly in the supermarket for moe information. anyway, one reason they may not be big in australia is that compared to other dried fruits they are expensive, or so my mum always says!

Rebuke said...

I know what you mean about the bookmarked recipes, mine are getting out of controll! And yet I keep adding more and more recipes to it >_<
The bread sounds delicious, I love cranberries (thought I hate the juice) and I am, as ever, captivated by your photographs.

anna/village vegan said...

Gorgeous! I adore cranberries, and your bread looks just scrumptious. I like the round shape...do you have a picture of the pan? I'm not quite sure how it would work!

Camille said...

Lovely !

Mallow said...

I love anything with cranberry (and yes, I am American!) I have never seen a round loaf pan...what is it exactly?

Anonymous said...

Wow, that looks scrumptious! I love cranberries too, use them all the time in biscotti, cookies, you name it! I have this odd fixation on dried fruit lately...hope this doesn't mean I'll become one of those fruitcake ladies near the holidays. ;)

That loaf pan looks very pretty, where did you get it? I searched online and all it came up with was half round tins...

Linda said...

how perfect. really looks delicious. so many cranberries!!!

Anonymous said...

That looks delicious!

Helene said...

Your fixations feed my addictions so keep at it! Gorgeous!

Jerry said...

See I should be doing what you are doing because I have sooo many things I want to bake or cook from blogs, but work and other things keep me from having fun!

Elise said...

What beautiful photos! So glad you like the recipe. It's one of my favorites. :-)

ayseyaman said...

Looks so delicious and lovely.
All of your recipe sounds great. :)

browniegirl said...

What delicious looking cranberry & nut bread. ANOTHER one for me to bake!! Cranberries are a fairly recent thing in South Africa as well. I am finding the dried ones at more and more shops (expensive!!)and recently found frozen ones at a berry farm. I am looking forward to doing something special with them!!

Fiona said...

I'm definitely trying this on the weekend, it looks scrumptious!

For the confused about the loaf tin: in Australia at least you can get a tin which is essentially a tube with a cap for each end. It's mostly used for date loaf in my experience. Mine's been lurking unused in my cupboard for a couple of years now, I'm finally motivated to use it. Here's one on ebay http://tinyurl.com/yqtorv