Cranberry Banana Bread
January 14, 2009 by Marye Audet
Filed under Quick Breads
I am loving the after Christmas clearances at the grocery stores. I don’t know how it is where you are but apparently people around here did not bake, cook, or buy as much as usual because there are a ton of things clearanced.
I scored fresh cranberries for 50 cents a bag at the store the other day. Cranberries are quite the popular item here so I bought enough to make cranberry whatever at least a couple of times a month from now until November. Cranberries freeze really well, if you didn’t know that. Just toss the bags in the freezer.
Anyway, I normally make cranberry bread during the holiday season, but I also had a mushy banana so I made cranberry banana bread. I liked it a lot because the mellow sweetness of the banana tempers the sharp tartness of the cranberries. Nice.
Look, if you are going to the trouble to make cranberry bread don;t be cheap with the cranberries or nuts if you add them). Add enough to make it look like there are more than three in the recipe! I have seen cranberry bread that looks like it is literally “cranBERRY” bread…I always want to suggest that the person try using more than one finely chopped berry the next time.
The best way to chop the cranberries for cranberry bread is by hand. The food processor grinds them too much in my opinion. Cranberries are best when they are chopped in fourths or eights. More or less I mean, I don’t take hours with it.
Cranberry Banana Bread
- 1/4 c unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Grated rind of 1 orange
- 1 cup mashed banana
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cup cranberries coarsely chopped
- 1 cup pecans chopped, optional
- Preheat oven to 350
- Grease and flour a loaf pan
- Cream butter and sugar
- Beat in egg
- Combine dry ingredients
- Sprinkle about two tablespoons of the dry ingredients over the cranberries and toss
- Combine orange rind, banana, and milk
- Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture alternately with the milk mixture
- Fold in cranberries and pecans
- Bake for about one to one and a fourth hours
- Cool
Image:Marye Audet (c)2009, all rights reserved
I’ve never made anything with cranberry Marye, it’s because my family isn’t reall thrilled with cranberry sauce. But if i come across reduced cranberries I’ll get some. Maybe it would be more to they’re liking in a baked good. Oh did i hit the jackpot after New Years at the grocery store! MY store had Pfaltzgraff dish sets , the Java collection in for Christmas, nobody bought them at 49.99. I told my husband they’ll come down in price. I happened to send my husband to the store last week and knowing that i wanted them he looked to see how much they were, 17.50 for a 4 serving set!! I sent him back to get 3 boxes!! The next day they went back up to a sale price of 39.99, somebody evidentlt put the wrong sale sign on them when hubby got them!!
WOW! Bunny that is awesome! What a blessing
bananas and cranberries just seem to go together don’t they? I have a great cranberry lemon muffin that I make.. and substitute blueberries in season, or frozen in a pinch….
I am making Eggnog loaves right now…using up “on sale” and clearance eggnog….. oh, they are sooo good in July….. double wrapped in the freezer they last like nobody’s business… and taste like you just made them when you decide to open one….. mmmmmm…..
Vee, you are brilliant.
I love the way the banana mellows the cranberry.