Cranberry Orange Nut Bread

I opened my freezer the other day and looked in a couple of drawers that I tend to ignore. I probably should re-name one of them my "After Christmas, half-used bag of frozen cranberries drawer" because I had THREE half-used bags in there!  Not very thrifty, I know. But I wondered if anyone else out there does the same thing???


So I decided, natch, to make some cranberry bread.  Super Easy! and you don't need to defrost the beautiful burgundy colored spheres - just chop away and stir them into the batter.


Here's whatcha do:


Ingredients~


2 C flour
1 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 C orange juice
1 TBL grated orange zest
2 TBL shortening
1 well-beaten egg
1 1/2 C fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 C chopped nuts (I like walnuts or pecans)

Evidence!

Directions~


1. Preheat oven to 350.


2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. 




NOTE: I chopped the cranberries by hand instead of the processor because I didn't want the pieces to get too small. HOWEVER, they tend to roll around a lot at first and it can be a bit challenging to start the chop without them rolling of your chopping board. I put a couple of kitchen towels around my board and that kept the little jewels on board just fine.

3. Stir in the orange juice and zest, shortening and egg. (The shortening will be a bit "clumpy" at first, but just stir well).  Mix until well-blended. Then stir in cranberries and nuts.

NOTE: I like to toast the nuts just slightly, in a pan, then let them cool before adding them to the batter. They will cook a bit more in the bread, so don't brown them too much. Toasting them a bit brings out the wonderful flavor of the nuts.

5. Spoon into a greased or buttered 9X5 inch loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool on a rack for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove and cool completely before slicing.....if you can wait that long.

Enjoy!