So, I know by now most of you who are cooking Thanksgiving dinner already have all your ducks in a row. You probably have all your courses planned, your grocery list written and your place settings made. You watched The Pioneer Woman kick Bobby Flay’s behind last week, and are armed and ready with your turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pie.
But…..what’s one more carbohydrate gonna hurt? (wink wink)
I feel compelled to share this recipe with you today for several reasons. The first being that Thanksgiving is a few days away and this cranberry walnut orange bread would be a lovely addition to a breadbasket.
The second reason is that I just love this bread. I really do. It’s probably my favorite quick bread ever, and I look forward to baking it every single year just as soon as fresh cranberries hit the market.
The original recipe is from the pastry chef I worked under while completing my culinary school externship back in 2008.
I don’t. It’s a good thing I have this blog to jog my memory sometimes.
Anyway, you must bake this bread! It’s slightly sweet and not overly-crumbly—the perfect vehicle for whipped cream cheese, apricot preserves or softened honey butter.
I especially love the crunch of the walnuts in this!
And, dare I say it makes a stellar French toast to boot? Just drench two day old slices in milk, egg and vanilla and drizzle with maple syrup.
Oh my…oh oh my. I’m totally doing that on Tuesday morning and you should, too.
Well? What are you waiting for! Get thee to the kitchen and get your bake on!
Cranberry Walnut Orange Bread
makes 1 loaf
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups fresh cranberries
zest of one orange
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 ounces butter, melted
1 egg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, orange zest, walnuts and cranberries in a large bowl.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the melted butter, granulated sugar and egg. Pour wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients and mix to combine. Note that the dough will be on the dry side and almost resemble sugar cookie dough.
Press the dough into a greased loaf pan and bake for about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. The top of the loaf will be a rich golden brown. Let cool before slicing.
**this bread freezes very well!
{ 82 comments… read them below or add one }
I love that photo of the cranberries coming out of the measuring glass. So pretty! And a slice with honey butter? Mmmmm.
Jenna, I just ate a Cranberry Orange Walnut Clif Bar (which was pretty good). However, I would MUCH prefer this bread. I know what I’ll be baking this afternoon!
homemade bread > clif bar…every time!
LOVE quick breads and this one looks so festive…must try using this bread to make french toast…sounds amazing!!
This puts “fruit cake” to shame. Well done! Pretty sure Laura would approve
Wow that looks amazing. I love how cranberries look whenever you bake with them. Delicious!
Quick breads have a special place in my heart. Love the bright red cranberries, I want a piece warm with butter, right now!
Cranberries are my favorite food this time of year! I think I might make this and have out for breakfast!
Oh man that looks great!
Yeah…quick breads are my favourite thing to whip up! As a newbie baker they are totally within my comfort zone and just feel so easy and natural to make. And wouldn’t you know I’m making a cranberry and maple loaf this week!
This looks excellent! I love cranberry and orange together – such an excellent combo! Also, your loaf pan is really cute.
Question: I made Bobby Flay’s pumpkin bread last night and forgot to add the 2/3 cup of water to the batter as I incorporated the dry mix – what would the water have done for the bread? Made it light and fluffy? I mean, my bread is dense, but not in a bad way…
yeah..it would have just given it a lighter texture. But since it’s for bread pudding anyway, it doesn’t really matter. Sounds yummy!
Gotcha, thanks!
I was actually lazy and just made the bread – it’s THE best pumpkin bread I’ve ever had…the combination of spices is amazing! It’ll be interesting to see how I like it with a lighter texture whenever I make it again.
How about I just come keep you company on Thanksgiving instead? I would be happy to help eat the many treats and dishes you have been coming up with.
Oh my gosh that looks delicious! Don’t think I’ll have room to add it to my roster this year, but if you want to come over and make me some french toast out of the leftovers, be my guest!
I plan on eating enough cranberries this year that my skin will turn red. I love them so much. I’m adding this to the list.
Thanks!
That looks so good and Thanksgiving-y! <–Totally a word.
This looks delish! And perfect for Thanksgiving morning…with a huge cup of coffee!!
Hey, cranberries are known for being healthy! So, if anything, this must be made for, you know … the anti-oxidants.
I’m so excited! I bought a bag of cranberries a few weeks ago without a real intention, and ended up just sticking them in my freezer. I think I’m going to make this bread just to have it for breakfast.
I’m already baking two desserts and now I want to make this too. Oh man
I have a huge bag of cranberries in my freezer from Costco. I will be trying your bread soon! Great recipe!
Ooh I love these photos! The fresh cranberries look delicious. I have some cranberries to use up and I think this may be their fate!
So, I have been trying to decide what to bring with my to my boyfriend’s family thanksgiving, they seemed to have everything covered and I had NO IDEA what to make… But I’m pretty sure you just answered that question for me!
Trying this today!!
wow. this recipe is actually sorta doable for me, the non-baker gal. and it looks yum. i might have to give it a try. thanks!
I LOVE cranberries~& the cranberry bogs on Cape Cod~ what a sight with an ocean of those glistening little jewels. Last night was up at 2 AM cooking cranberries in OJ to top yogurt this morning. This bread looks excellent, thanks!
wow! those photos are speaking to me.
Maybe for breakfast, like you said, great idea!
I have made too much pumkin bread yesterday so maybe I can make this for the next holiday which seems perfect for x-mas.
This looks positively fantastic. What a wonderful way to use up the 2, Costco sized bags of cranberries I bought
Jenna, the photos are gorgeous! I clicked on the “Remember that?” link and my, oh my my my your photos taking has certainly improved!
And thanks for the recipe: it’s now competing with the persimmon bread I had planned. Happy Thanksgiving!
-A-
Came back to look at recipe! (Still decided between this and persimmon bread)
And realized that my compliment might not have been expressed as one. It’s a compliment! Promise!
Once again this looks incredible and honey butter would be the perfect cranberry bread companion! It would also be great for a Christmas brunch
How funny, I made this exact bread last night! One of my holiday favorites. I like to pulse the cranberries a few times in the food processor (easier than chopping). I also add cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger for some spice!
I totally was not going to make this bread (because I have so many treats already stocked in my freezer) until you mentioned making french toast with it. I was planning on doing a baked french toast for Thanksgiving morning, and I’m using this bread.
I love how beautiful cranberry bread is.
I need to make this!!!
Great recipe Jenna! It sounds delicious. I love any use of cranberries around this time
This looks gorgeous!!! If food could be beautiful this is beautiful!
I’m impressed.
Growing up, we always had “gum drop cake” (aka ..Christmas cake…due to the multi-colors), but it was a year-round thing. I really need to make that again; you should try it. Just good old fashioned flour, butter, sugar, gum drops, etc…great especially if frozen and eaten cold.
I don’t normally just get up and bake something I just saw on a blog (it usually goes in a folder on my computer), but this really spoke to me for some reason and I had to make it NOW. It’s now in the oven, I can’t wait!
yesss! Hope it turned out marvelous!
It turned out great! You know, as I was eating it, I was really thinking that some cream cheese on it would make it even better. I will test that theory tomorrow, because I really have to go to the store to buy some and find out!
I know this is my zillionth comment, but I just want to say that this was even better today (a day later).
This looks awesome! I can’t wait to try making it with cranberries I picked up at the farmer’s market!
This looks great! And what a pretty loaf pan/dish that is. I too watched the throwdown…and was inspired to try out Bobby’s brussels sprouts myself…I was way too curious about the butter/vanilla bean twist-I omitted a few steps (no pomegranate seeds or molasses-I substituted Annie’s pomegranate vinaigrette drizzled on at the end) but I otherwise really liked the results! I’ll be making that one for Thanksgiving for sure…
This looks unbelievably delicious! The cranberries look gorgeous – I love that color.
oh my! so so pretty!
love,
cathy b. @ brightbakes
This looks delicious! Sweet and light, perfect for a thanksgiving breakfast!:)
Such pretty colors in the bread. Orange and cranberry are so yummy together.
I am making this NOW
What a glorious, perfect looking bread!
This is random but it’s cool that the cranberries don’t “bleed” and stain the whiteness of the bread. Whenever I make anything with blueberries they do that. And I have a red and white polka dot shirt that when I wash it, the red bleeds onto the white. Super random comment but that’s how my brain is working today
The cranberries are so vibrant! Love it – it sounds absolutely delicious!
this bread as french toast???? omg to die for!!! Love it!!!
For those of you in the south….whole cranberries are BOGO this week at Publix! Just stocked up last night so I thought I would share the good news
love em!
Wow, I ALMOST baked something exactly like this today except went for a different cranberry-orange treat. I’ll definitely be trying this bread over the next few days, though. Thanks!
Wow, I’ll definitely make this tomorrow morning! We don’t have Thanksgiving in Germany but it also makes a nice bread for a cold Tuesday morning;).Thank’s for sharing!!!
Thank you for posting this recipe, Jenna…I literally went out to buy cranberries and bake this as soon as I saw the recipe. It made my apartment smell HEAVENLY and is the perfect pre-Thanksgiving (why wait?) dessert. Yum!
Absolutely gorgeous I will go and bake ASAP!
This looked so good that I had to try it. Literally, the loaf is in the oven right now! One question: Why whisk together the melted butter and sugar and then mix it into the dry ingredients? I guess I am so used to mixing all the dry and then adding the wet that I am curious what this will do for the final product. I guess I could just be patient and wait, but I like to kind of hear the science-y stuff behind the food (Alton Brown fan!).
Beautiful pic of the cranberries in the glass! I haven’t made cranberry bread in a long time, but I might now.
Beautiful! What am i waiting for? a cool day maybe – it’s too hot to turn the oven on (dare i say it). It would make a stellar french toast!! Blissful. I adore cranberries! – and fresh cranberries, I love it.
Heidi xo
oooh yum! i made pumpkin apple cranberry muffins yesterday and they were great. i bet this is too!
This is delicious! Warm with whipped cream…Yum!
That is one gorgeous hunk of bread AND the final addition to my Thanksgiving menu. Thank you for sharing!
Wow this looks really good, what a great way to use fresh cranberries and zest an orange. I have a zester that’s begging to be used…
This loaf looks amazing and I love simple recipes! This would be great for the a light breakfast after our traditional thanksgiving morning run
You’re right… just when I thought I had all of my desserts planned… THIS recipe happened. It makes me want to leave working by faking an illness, speed home and rip open the bags of fresh cranberries i bought today
I made this yesterday……for my inlaws – they both love walnuts, and cranberrys. I haven’t tried it yet – I hope it tastes as good as it looks and smells!! I have also made your cin walnut bread…….they loved that one
Thanks for sharing!
I made this yesterday, and it tastes even better today. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
I made this just now and it tastes amazing!!! I love the tart burst of fresh cranberries. I also made your mushroom risotto recipe too. =)
I literally saw this post, got up, went to Trader Joe’s, and bought cranberries, and baked it. It’s cooling now, and I’m going to bring it to a Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, but one question: I know you said the dough would be crumbly like sugar cookie dough, but my dough was REALLY crumbly, and the finished product came together, rose, and browned, but still doesn’t look completely smooth on top like I’d expect a quick bread to. Is that supposed to happen? Or might the middle be a bit dry?
Oh my goodness, nevermind. I just cut a tiny piece off the end (no one will notice, right? I’ll wrap it up all pretty….) and it’s amazing. WIN, Jenna.
BEST BREAD EVER! Made it as an afterthought and it was the hit of Thanksgiving. Served it with a Honey/cin./vanilla butter and it was heavenly! THanks!
I made this bread this morning with a few modifications – aka what I had on hand. I loved it and will definitely be making it again.
So, I tried making this last night… And although the flavor is there… the look is not. I’m not sure what I did wrong but it was VERY crumbly when I was mixing the dough, but it seemed to smoosh together when I put it in the pan. But while it was baking it didn’t really rise, it browned and it tastes fine… But the finished product is a bit flat and still very crumbly.
Any thoughts on what I did wrong? Should I add more butter or egg next time?
I’ve never posted to your blog before but have been reading for two years and just have to let you know that this recipe won me major kudos with my boyfriend’s family! I brought it to his family’s day after Thanksgiving brunch and everyone was raving about it. Thanks Jenna!
I’ve been thinking about this recipe since you posted it last week and just HAD to make it. the loaf is in the oven, I can’t wait to see how it turns out! the dough was really dry and I actually had to mold it into the pan, so I’m a little nervous. can’t wait to try it!
This bread was WONDERFUL!!!! I was a little nervous when I first started making it because it was crumbly, but OH MY! I fell in love after the first bite! I also made some orange honey butter
Yummy!
I loved all of your pictures! They are one of the reasons that I wanted to make this bread. Thank you!
I love this bread. I made it last weekend and everyone who’s tried it has liked it. The cranberries are tart, but perfect with the rest of the bread. Thanks Jenna! And it’s better the second day, so I’d say make it a day in advance of when you want to serve it.
I made this bread recipe at least five times over the holiday season. I am making it today for a friends birthday. Had a hard time finding Cranberries, however, Safeway still had them. It is my new favorite sweet bread recipe!
Jenna, I just made this bread, but I couldn’t find cranberries, so I used blueberries and it is delicious! Thanks for this great recipe!
Can I make this with frozen cranberries instead?
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