I would love going to the library when I was in elementary school. I loved the school library. The town library. I actually went after school with friends. One of my first cooking memories was finding an old book in the school library and copying out, by hand, a recipe for Cranberry Bread. I was probably about 8 years old, and I decorated the hand-written recipe with little ruby red cranberries. I can still picture that little piece of lined notebook paper. I felt so proud that I could make something (with the help of my mom) for my family and they enjoyed it (or at least said the did).
But the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree. And I am a bit of a recipe hoarder, just like my mother. She hasn’t been able to find my old Cranberry Bread recipe as it has been hidden away in the depths of ancient cooking magazines for years. So my search and experimentation began. This is a very close version of the romanticized loaf that I remember being so proud of as a child. But for my more adult and holiday-loving self I added pistachios for the green and red effect. It looks beautiful when sliced and is so delicious. One bit of bossiness here: Make sure you use the orange zest. Do not replace it for lemon. The orange zest is so fragrant and gives the perfect sweetness for the tart cranberries.
Cranberry Bread with Pistachios recipe adapted from food.com
Makes 2 loaves
2 cups fresh cranberries or 2 cups frozen cranberries, chopped
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pistachios
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Heat oven to 350ºF.
Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2 × 4 1/2 × 2 1/2 inches or 9 × 5 × 3 inches.
Whisk together flour, pistachios, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Mix cranberries, sugar, oil, milk, lemon peel, vanilla and eggs in another large bowl.
Stir in flour mixture until combined, being careful not to overmix. Pour into loaf pans.
Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack.
Loosen sides of loaves from pans and remove. Cool completely on wire rack before slicing.
Store tightly wrapped in refrigerator up to 1 week.
Try this bread toasted with a lashing of salted butter. Christmas brunch anyone?
