The Dance between Cranberries and Oranges

Cranberries: red morsels of tartness that were most likely introduced to the Pilgrims by the Indians. We have no solid evidence that they were at the first Thanksgiving but they could have been. The Indians had been using cranberries for many years before the Pilgrims arrived.

I had a large bag of cranberries that I needed to use, so I made cranberry nut bread. The flavor of cranberries dancing with notes of orange and walnuts is one of my favorites. This recipe uses all three flavors and is given below.

Cranberry Nut Bread
2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1/1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons shortening
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 cups chopped cranberries
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Stir in orange juice, shortening, orange peel and egg. Mix until well blended. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Spread evenly in  loaf pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until wooded toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on rack  for 15 minutes. Remove from pan, cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. Makes one loaf.

This is quite easy to make, and people will be coming from all directions when they smell the aroma! I made a double recipe and my results are shown below. One loaf has nuts sprinkled on top.