Cranberry Nut Bread

I found three likely candidates for this recipe in my mother’s big green notebook. One is written by Marjorie and has a note attributing the original to “Aunt Florence.” Another is written by Dobie and reads much the same as the first, although he simplifies Marjorie’s instructions to cut each cranberry into quarters (“that is the secret!”) into coarsely chopping. The third is an anonymous printout of a recipe for “Cranberry bread” with my mother’s notes for multiplying the recipe on it. Bingo! I recall her gifting loaves of this to all the OTs one year for Christmas, so that one must be the winner. This recipe makes one loaf. Apparently, it freezes well, but since it’s never around that long, who knows?

INGREDIENTS 2 c flour 1 c sugar (part brown is ok) 1 ½ t baking powder ½ t salt 1 ½ t cinnamon ¼ c butter 2 t grated orange peel 1 6 oz can frozen orange juice concentrate 1 egg 1 ½ c coarsely chopped (quarter each one if you’d like!) cranberries* ½ c chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350⁰. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Combine egg, juice concentrate, peel and 2 T water and stir into dry ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in berries and nuts. Spoon into greased loaf pan that has been greased and floured. Check for doneness after one hour; top should be golden brown. Store overnight to develop flavor (says Marjorie here: “if you can wait!”).

*There’s a note here that says “I use more.” The McKays are cranberry people, so of course she did :-)