Grandma’s Favorite Cranberry Orange Bread Recipe
Grandma’s favorite cranberry orange bread features a delicious combination of tart cranberries and sweet orange flavor. With a delightful, buttery texture, and soft crumb, this easy recipe will soon be a favorite of yours during the holiday season! Christmas morning wouldn’t be the same without Grandma’s cranberry orange bread. Every year this delightful loaf is what we would nibble on in between eagerly opening our gifts. Just the smell of it baking takes me back to my childhood. This original recipe is truly a family favorite this time of year.
Why YOu’ll love Grandma’s Favorite Cranberry ORange Bread:
This cranberry orange bread can be whipped up in no time, and enjoyed for breakfast, as a snack, or dessert. This recipe is easily customizable to your taste by adding crunchy walnuts, white chocolate chips, orange glaze, there are so many possibilities! This is also a great recipe to gift to friends as mini loaves during the holiday season. Be sure to keep this recipe on hand during the fall and winter season when fresh cranberries and oranges are readily available in grocery stores. This Bread is also a fun Valentine’s day recipe because of the bright pink color the cranberries provide.
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Tips:
- If the bread is getting dark, but not coming out clean with a toothpick or fork, you can cover the top of the bread loosely with aluminum foil or parchment paper. This helps reduce the risk of it getting too brown.
- Cranberries can be chopped in a food processor instead of by hand as long as you carefully watch that the food processor doesn’t chop the berries too fine.
- You can simply grease the pan, or be extra cautious and grease and flour the pan. I prefer to act on the side of caution, and find that greased loaf pans sometimes still stick so I flour my greased loaf pans.
- This sweet bread is excellent to make in mini loaves and give out as holiday gifts! Just adjust the cook time to 40 minutes.
- This bread stores well in the freezer for up to 2 months wrapped in plastic wrap and then wrapped again in aluminum foil.
- Don’t over-mix the batter. Over-mixing the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients causes gluten formation, which can give you tough cranberry bread recipe.
- You can also make this recipe as cranberry orange muffins. Make the recipe the same, and place the batter into greased muffin tins or cupcake liners; bake for 20-25 minutes until they start to turn golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
Optional Add-ins
Just like banana bread, you can add other delicious ingredients to this quick bread recipe. Mix any add-ins at the end of the recipe with the cranberries.
- White chocolate chips – 1 cup
- Walnuts – 1 cup
- Orange glaze – 2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice whisked and 1 cup confectioners sugar. Whisk together the juice and sugar until a smooth glaze forms. Pour over warm loaf before removing from pan.
Ingredients to make Grandma’s Favorite Cranberrry ORange Bread
Wet ingredients:
Orange Juice: freshly squeeze the oranges before making your bread. You will need fresh oranges for the zest and juice. Store bought orange juice changes the citrus flavors.
Butter: unsalted
Vanilla Extract: store bought or homemade
Egg
Dry
Dry Ingredients:
All-Purpose Flour
Sugar: white sugar or cane sugar will work
Baking Soda: Make sure the baking soda is fresh or else you could have a flat loaf of bread.
Baking Powder
Salt
Cranberries: Fresh, juicy cranberries (dried cranberries do not substitute well). Make sure to inspect for and discard and brown or shriveled berries before using.
Orange Rind: Freshly grate the oranges to use in this recipe.
Tools you May Need:
Loaf pan 8×4-inch
Large bowl ( you could also use a standing mixer)
Whisk or dough whisk
Knife
Cutting Board
Juicer (manual or electric)
How to make grandma’s Favorite Cranberry Orange Bread
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Butter a 8×4-inch loaf pan or line with parchment paper. A note on greasing the pan: This batter can be very sticky, for best results butter/grease pan and flour it afterwards for another layer of nonstick protection.
Thoroughly wash cranberries tossing any discolored or shriveled berries. Cut berries in half using a knife and cutting board. You can also use a food processor and carefully chop only until they are big chunks ( do not over process).
Thoroughly wash orange scrubbing well. Grate the rind on the fine side of your kitchen grater.
Cut the orange in half and juice the orange using a manual or electric juicer. Toss or compost the rest of the peel.
In the small bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla extract.
In the large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking power, and salt.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just barely combined leaving some streaks of flour. Now add in the chopped cranberried and fold in the berries until just incorporated.
Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 60 minutes at 350°F (175°C). Or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. There should be no streaking of wet batter. Some dry crumbs are okay. If the outside of the loaf is browned but the center is still wet, loosely cover the loaf with aluminum foil or parchment paper and continue baking until the loaf is fully baked.
Serve:
Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan for a few minutes. Remove the cranberry orange bread from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
Slice and serve. I love this bread served warm with butter.
Storage:
Store this quick bread in an airtight container ( I find this bread loaf also fits perfectly into a gallon size ziploc bag!) at room temperature for 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
This quick bread stores well in the freezer for up to 3 months wrapped in plastic wrap and then wrapped again in aluminum foil.
Pin it:
Grandma's Favorite Cranberry Orange Bread
Grandma’s favorite cranberry orange bread is a delicious combination of tart cranberries and sweet orange flavor. With a delightful buttery texture, and soft crumb, this easy recipe will soon be a favorite of yours during the holiday season!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups chopped fresh cranberries
- 1 tbsp orange rind
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Butter a 8×4-inch loaf pan. Or line with parchment paper. A note on greasing the pan: This batter can be very sticky, for best results butter/grease pan and flour it afterwards for another layer of nonstick protection.
- Thoroughly wash cranberries tossing any discolored or shriveled berries.
- Cut berries in half using a knife and cutting board. You can also use a food processor and carefully chop only until they are big chunks ( do not over process).
- Thoroughly wash orange scrubbing well
- . Grate the rind on the fine side of your kitchen grater.
- Cut the orange in half and juice the orange using a manual or electric juicer. Toss or compost the rest of the peel
- In the small bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla extract.
- In the large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking power, and salt.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just barely combined leaving some streaks of flour.
- Add in the chopped cranberried and fold in the berries until just incorporated.
- Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 60 minutes at 350°F (175°C) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. There should be no streaking of wet batter. Some dry crumbs are okay. If the outside of the loaf is browned but the center is still wet, loosely cover the loaf with aluminum foil or parchment paper and continue baking until the loaf is fully baked.
- Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan for a few minutes. Remove the cranberry orange bread from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
Notes
Storage:
Store this quick bread in an airtight container ( I find this bread loaf also fits perfectly into a gallon size ziploc bag!) at room temperature for 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
This quick bread stores well in the freezer for up to 3 months wrapped in plastic wrap and then wrapped again in aluminum foil.
Optional add-ins:
Just like banana bread, you can add other delicious ingredients to this quick bread recipe. Mix any add-ins at the end of the recipe with the cranberries.
- White chocolate chips - 1 cup
- Walnuts - 1 cup
- Orange glaze - 2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice whisked and 1 cup confectioners sugar. Whisk together the juice and sugar until a smooth glaze forms. Pour over warm loaf before removing from pan.
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This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure policy here.
