Why do we only eat cranberries between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Why? They are delicious and nutritious! Dried cranberries broke through years ago to enjoy year-round glory but fresh cranberries still haven’t been able to escape the holiday niche. Enter Cranberry Nut Bread which is delightful in the morning with a cup of coffee or equally delicious in the afternoon with a cup of tea.
In recent years I have gotten a little bit better about stocking up at the grocery store on fresh cranberries in November and December but I have to admit that last weekend while doing a freezer inventory I found one unused bag of cranberries from last year. Sigh. Why? I love them. How did I let them linger in the freezer for nearly a year?
I don’t know. I have no excuse, only the promise to myself to do better and to ask you to join me. Let’s liberate the cranberry to a year-round fruit. We love cranberries, right? Tangent: I want to make this Cranberry Lime Ginger Sauce for Thanksgiving this year! Doesn’t it sound amazing?
Did you know that cranberries are only harvested for 6-8 weeks per year? I learned that watching the video below. It’s fascinating to watch.
Okay, let me tell you about this cranberry nut bread. I have lightened it up using apple sauce instead of oil in the recipe. The result is a light, moist loaf. There is also a swirl of cinnamon, sugar, and pecans in the middle of the loaf which adds a nice crunch and sweet balance to the tart cranberries.
I would love to hear if you serve cranberries at Thanksgiving and how you serve them. Does your family like cranberries? Do they prefer homemade cranberry sauce or the canned stuff? Do you have a favorite recipe? If you do, drop it in the comments section below.
How to Make Cranberry Nut Bread
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 55 minutes |
| Servings |
servings
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- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/3 cup Applesauce
- 1 cup cranberries coarsely chopped
Ingredients
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|
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan; set aside.
- In a small bowl, stir together 1/3 cup of the sugar, the pecans, and cinnamon; set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, beat egg with a fork; stir in milk and oil.
- Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in cranberries.
- Spoon half of the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the pecan mixture. Repeat with remaining batter and cinnamon mixture.
- Using a butter knife, cut down through batter and pull up in a circular motion to marble the cinnamon mixture.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan.
- Cool completely on wire rack.
Evelyn Rath
We use fresh cranberries. I always keep a couple bags in the freezer for recipes just like this. ♡
Diane Hartford
Me too! A local store was selling bags of fresh cranberries for $1.00 per bag. I cleaned them out!