Cranberry Bread

I've had a love affair with cranberry bread -- that enticing contrast between the tart berries and the sweet bread -- ever since I made it decades ago from Recipes for a Small Planet. That healthy cookbook recipe used whole wheat flour, milk powder, etc., to presumably make it more nutritious. I've since given up on baking for health (why bother?).

This wonderful recipe is from a new collection from an estate sale near Dallas, Texas, (via eBay, of course). While I try to refrain from buying even more recipe collections (I have hundreds of recipes at home I've yet to try), in a weak moment I caved and bid on a binder full of recipes divided into three sections: Mom, Jennifre [sic] and Other. The cranberry bread is from Mom.

This bread is quick and simple to assemble -- with delicious results. (It's also easier than another cranberry bread I made a while back, which requires an extra step.)  And with fresh cranberries literally flooding the markets (farmer's and super), now is the perfect time to make this.

Cranberries, pecans and orange zest pack the flavor into this bread.

Mix the dry ingredients, add the liquid and mix just enough to combine. Add in the cranberries, nuts and zest and mix until evenly distributed.

Spoon the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake for about 80 minutes.

Let the bread cool slightly, and turn out from the pan.

I followed this recipe exactly, right down to the baking time. I used fresh cranberries from the farmer's market, but frozen would work fine too. I used butter for the melted shortening. The toughest part was finding frozen OJ in my neighborhood, where residents have an affinity for fresh-squeezed, organic and other manner of modern fancy juices. I also don't believe in refrigerating this bread, as the recipe author suggests.