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cranberry nut bread

Cranberry Week continues apace. Today’s installment: cranberry nut bread. (Or, rather, cranberry mini-loaves and mini muffins.)

The recipe:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder (when I’m using soy milk, as I did here, I like to throw in an extra teaspoon or two for good measure)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel (I don’t often have oranges on hand, so I substitute orange extract, mixed in with the wet ingredients)
1 beaten egg
1 2/3 cups milk (here, I used vanilla soy milk)
¼ cup cooking oil (here, I used vegetable oil)
¾ cup chopped almonds, pecans or walnuts (I used walnuts)
1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease the bottom and sides of your pan of choice. (The recipe calls for a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. I used a mini-loaf pan and a mini-muffin pan.)
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. (If you’re using orange peel, mix this in here as well.) Make a well in center; set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl combine the egg, milk and cooking oil. (If you’re using orange extract, mix this in here as well.) Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts and cranberries.
4. Spoon batter into your pan of choice. Bake in a 350 degree (F) oven until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. (The recipe recommends 60-75 minutes for a loaf pan. I found that 15 minutes worked well for the mini loaves, and 10 minutes for the mini muffins.) Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on the wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing. (I usually ignore this, as I have no patience, but I do find that the flavors are a bit richer the next day and the bread is easier to slice.)

Makes 1 loaf, 18 mini-loaves or a lotta mini-muffins.

(Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, with some modifications)