Saturday, December 26, 2009

Cranberry Beans & Cranberry Bread.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the wonderful gift of seed I received from Daphne's Dandelions last friday:
A packet of Ottawa Cranberry Pole Beans for the forthcoming garden!! They look delicious & can't wait for them to be in the ground! Once grown & harvested I will surely be passing on a few packets of dried beans of my own to spread into the gardening world.

As noted in my previous post I was quite disappointed due to the lack of black cranberries in my produce delivery. I had grand plans for cranberry walnut bread, chutney and a tart wonderful snack. Not to be deterred I was off to the neighborhood natural food store for a large container of dried local cranberries. They are a good substitution for what I was expecting.
In celebration of cranberries I made a delicious & incredibly simple cranberry walnut bread:


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


  1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg, orange juice and peel; stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Add the cranberries and walnuts.
  2. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 8-in. x 4-in. x 2-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

The recipe is easy and worked well enough, though I would reduce the heat 10-15 degrees and bake a tad longer next time. After years of cooking adventure I am slowly dipping my toe into the world of baking (primarily with bread making), and thus far I've enjoyed it.

2 comments:

Shaheen said...

What a wonderful gift to receive from another gardener, you'll have a little bit of Daphne's garden in yours.

I am sorry to read about the lack of cranberries in your veg box, but so agree with you that dried cranberries are a great substitute, which is what I will be using when the season is over. I love the look of this bread and am really thinking about making it. I will let you know how it turns out. Happy New Year to you and your family.

Shaheen said...

I made you cranberry and walnut bread the other day, it was truly delicious. I think I prefer it more than banana bread.

Have a Happy New Year.

http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.com/2009/12/cranberry-and-clementine-bread-for-us.html