Cranberry Orange Bread

              I love fancy breads, like poppy seed or zucchini especially. I love eating them, but I have never actually made one myself. As you might have guessed, I perused Pinterest for some inspiration. I knew I wanted something with a little orange flavoring, so I came across this Cranberry Orange Bread. My taste buds started smiling as soon as I saw the picture.

I found the recipe through Pinterest on this blog. I think she did a great job with it, and I loved her little hints and tips throughout the recipe.

Easiness---8---As far as bread goes, I can’t imagine it gets much easier than this. You literally just mix the ingredients together and throw it in the oven. Just be careful to not over bake it, because you don’t want it to be too dry.

Yumminess---9---I would give it a 10, but I wish I had used fresh cranberries. It’s my own fault; I deviated from the original recipe, because I couldn’t find fresh cranberries at my grocery store. I ended up using Craisins, which weren’t terrible, but I bet fresh would have been even more flavorful.

Repeat---10---I plan to make this again very soon! I need to figure out the nutritional information, but I can’t imagine that it is too bad for you. I certainly didn’t feel like I was cheating myself by eating it for breakfast a few times.

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ cups flour, all purpose
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. kosher salt (I used ¼ tsp. iodized salt)
½ cup butter, unsalted at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 Tbs. grated orange zest, fresh (I used the zest of 1 medium size orange. I think it could have used a little more)
3 large eggs
½ cup whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup fresh cranberries (You can also use Craisins) plus 1 tsp. flour to toss cranberries in

Syrup:

4 Tbs. orange juice (bottled, without pulp)
4 Tbs. sugar

Glaze:

½ cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs. orange juice (bottled, without pulp)

DIRECTIONS

·         Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Spray a 9x5 or 10x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray and flour and set aside

·         In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside

·         In a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar and orange zest until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes)

·         Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated after each egg. Scrape the sides of the bowl after each egg

·         Add the milk and vanilla, mix until fully incorporated

·         Add the dry ingredients slowly while mixing, mix until fully incorporated

·         Toss the cranberries with 1 tsp. flour and fold into the mixture

·         Pour the batter into the greased and floured pan, and bake for 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees

·         Cool bread in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling

SYRUP DIRECTIONS

·         While bread is baking, make the orange syrup. In a small saucepan heat the sugar and orange juice. Bring to a boil and cook until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is slightly thickened. About 2 minutes. Be very careful this will burn if unattended.

·         Using a skewer, poke holes all over the top of the bread. After you poke the holes brush the bread with all the syrup. Make sure you use all of the syrup.

GLAZE DIRECTIONS

·         Allow the bread to cool completely before adding the glaze

·         In a small bowl whisk the powdered sugar and orange juice until it is the right consistency. I added the orange juice 1 Tbs. at a time until I achieved the right consistency.

·         Pour glaze over the top of the bread. I used a small spoon and went back and forth a few times to cover the whole loaf.