Cranberry Orange Nut Bread

A great breakfast or snack!

This sweet & tangy bread has been at every Thanksgiving dinner since I got the recipe from an elderly woman when I was a young bride.   I've never forgotten the advice she gave me while making this recipe.  She said, "Never use anything to mix this, except a wooden spoon!"   Now, I didn't understand at the time, but I took her advice, and to this day, I never use anything but a wooden spoon to mix it.   The funny part is...I still don't know why!  Haha!

This was another one of my mother's favorites, and she looked forward to it every year.  She also loved it when I made a filling with cream cheese, crushed pineapple and turned this and pumpkin bread into little sandwiches.  Oh, yum, I'm getting excited for the holidays again!

This is a bread you can make weeks ahead of time and freeze until the big day.  Pumpkin bread is another one of the "make aheads" on my holiday "to do" list!   Baking these ahead of time cuts down on the stress of the week before the event.


Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups cranberries, chopped
1/4 cup shortening or butter
3/4 cup orange juice
1-2 Tbsp. freshly grated orange rind
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350'F.   Grease a 8 1/2x4 1/2-inch loaf pan.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

Cut in shortening with a fork, until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. 

Combine orange juice and rind with egg.

Pour all into dry ingredients, mix with a "wooden spoon" just to dampen.  Don't over mix.

Carefully fold in chopped cranberries and nuts.

Spoon into a greased loaf pan, spreading corners higher than center.

Bake at 350'F. for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.


"If God sends us on stony paths, He provides strong shoes."  -Corrie Ten Boom